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15 weeks left, not that I've been counting (since 4th year started) or anything. Currently on path--necropsied a goat today, with a uterine tumor that involved the bladder, ureters (causing obstruction/hydronephrosis) and colon, with mets to the lung, liver, spleen, omentum, mesentery, diaphragm, and body wall. I actually like path during the day, as I learn a lot and generally am very hard to gross out, but sometimes I get these bloody dreams while I'm on path so my subconscious may feel differently.
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Mar 3, 2012 05:15
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wtftastic posted:This may seem like a stupid question, but was the goat euthed or die of natural causes (the tumors and metastasis)? She was euthanized due to the poor prognosis.
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Mar 3, 2012 05:31
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I love pulling foxtails out of dogs. So far this year there was one in the nose we got to go after with the rhinoscope and one in a nasolacrimal duct. We were discussing with the faculty how to proceed for this dog with a nasolacrimal duct obstruction that had come on acutely and been in place for a few months, and the conversation went something like this: Dr: We can try to do a contrast CT, and fish something out of there, but it's a horribly unrewarding procedure. We almost never actually find or remove the problem. Me: Why do we do it then? Dr: It's like drinking heavily and partying hard. It sounds like a great idea, until you wake up with a hangover and you tell yourself you will NEVER do that again. But, a couple weeks later, you've forgotten how terrible you felt so you do it again, with the same result. You last longer and longer in between binges, but you always go back and do it again. Fishing around in nasolacrimal ducts is like that. Me: Oh. A few hours later, we skip the imaging (to save money) and go straight to trying to pull something, anything out of this dog's face. First try, out comes this ginormous foxtail. Now I'm ruined for the rest of my career, because instead of a hangover-like sensation of failure and wasted money/time/effort I will always remember that the first time it worked.
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Mar 3, 2012 16:00
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We had one lecture where everyone was oddly attentive and actually answering and asking questions. The professor asked what was up, and someone pointed out that the internet wasn't working.
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Mar 4, 2012 01:16
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I had one interviewer ask me why I got a C in a biochem class in undergrad. That was fun. Other than that, there were questions about ethics (Old couple wants to euthanize their rambunctious golden retriever puppy, what do you do? Same couple, doesn't want to euthanize their ancient suffering dog, what do you do?). Really, though, half of the interview was talking about my recent trip to Thailand and Ultimate frisbee.
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Mar 6, 2012 15:51
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Wednesday is when I update my countdown. 14.5 weeks to go. Today the entire ICU and emergency student and resident squad was hanging around outside Radiology while one of our two patients got chest rads. A resident from the exotics service comes by, sees me standing around, and says "Can you help me take x-rays on 6 raptors?" Carefully wrestling birds with talons >>>>> standing around in a crowd watching a dog get its picture taken, so I helped her out with 5 of the 6 birds before being called back to ICU. 2 of them were barn owls, which have an utterly piercing scream when they are angry. I'm sure half the hospital thought we were torturing something.
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Mar 8, 2012 03:56
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Travic posted:Ah whoops. I totally missed that somehow. My biggest way of dealing with the stress of clinics is to leave as much of it at school as possible. I don't write records at home, if possible, I leave my pager in my locker if I'm not on call, I don't even wear a watch anymore unless I'm in the hospital. I really need that clear delineation between working and relaxing. Be prepared to be wrong constantly, even when you're right, because everyone will have a different way of doing X procedure or dividing up the differential list for clinical sign Y. Just learn to accept that this year, everyone else will have their preference and they won't care how another service does it, and when you graduate you can pick one of their many ways and do that forever. Food is important, and water is vital. Here, at least, many rotations it is too easy to get to 4 or 5pm and realize you haven't eaten lunch, had any water, or peed since 6am. This way lies unnecessary stress for your already stressed out self. That said, 4th year is a lot of fun. You see cool cases, do neat things, save lives, develop relationships with awesome clients. At some point you start to realize how much you know and it seems possible you really can do this next year for reals. That's about where I am--all the hard rotations are behind me, and I'm coasting through interesting rotations with chill hours and an upcoming externship in the Florida Keys. Some tips for being organized--I know a resident who keeps all the drugs she uses in a small address book, so they are alphabetical and she only needs Plumbs for drugs she hasn't used. I know several students who have all their class notes on their iPads, which are a lot easier to carry around the hospital than a computer, though still not pocket-friendly. Most people have notebooks for their current cases, and for taking notes in rounds.
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Mar 9, 2012 05:08
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2 weeks of oncology, 2 weeks of surgery, 5 weeks in the Florida Keys, and then I'm DONE. Now, if only someone would hire me....
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Apr 1, 2012 17:37
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YourCreation posted:Good luck with the job applications! http://www.vinfoundation.org/ has some great resources for job seekers. Thanks, looks like there's a bunch of good stuff on there.
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Apr 2, 2012 00:40
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If the CO2 level is very low they definitely tend not to breathe, as the drive to breathe is normally based on CO2 being high. Was he being manually ventilated for a time, making his CO2 drop?
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Apr 4, 2012 14:26
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Khelmar, can we get some clear guidelines about what is and is not allowed in the way of offering medical-type explanations and suggestions? There was this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3477176 where the OP got probated and HelloSailorSign got banned. I can see the OP getting probated, since asking for vet advice isn't allowed and that was essentially the point of the thread, but HSS being banned for answering their questions was unexpected. He didn't offer more or less of a diagnosis than any of the rest of us vet students have offered for countless other questions, and he was clear that there were multiple possibilities. Also, the ban "explanation" says that he's not a vet. Would his post have been perfectly legitimate in 10 weeks, when he would actually be a DVM? Not trying to get him unbanned, just trying to figure out where the line is drawn so I (and other knowledgeable people trying to be helpful) don't also get banned.
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Apr 10, 2012 05:00
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There are plenty of cases where many of us have commented on specific cases. I guess it's the inconsistency that confuses me. Also, the "Punishment reason" still bugs me-- "You're not a vet. Stop doing this. Actually, stop posting." Again, would that have been allowed if he had been a vet? There still wouldn't have been a VCPR. There was this post, where I tried to give treatment advice without actually contradicting their vet and probably ended up doing so: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3475829&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post402127511 Here's Braki commenting on bloodwork: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3469069&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post401060556 Here's Asstro Van and HSS (likely correctly) contradicting someone's veterinarian: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3467150&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post400687931 Solis gave some incorrect information regarding cataracts, which is allowed under the rules because it's a general topic--how does that make sense? : http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3408341&pagenumber=12&perpage=40#post402197441 There are plenty of other examples from posters who are not vet students, it was just easier to track you all down. I put myself first to make it less like I'm picking on people, but it probably comes across as an attack anyway. My point is, the lines between what is ok to ask and answer has gotten very blurred and I would like to know where the line is drawn, if there is one. If the line is just that buttzilla doesn't like HelloSailorSign that would also be useful information. If the mods would prefer that everyone ignored all posts related to sick animals, that's cool too.
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Apr 10, 2012 15:07
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That is entirely possible.
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Apr 10, 2012 17:44
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Going back to last year's surgery labs, it was pretty interesting to watch the other students do their physical exams the morning before surgery. Some of them had..interesting styles of animal-handling skills. One exciting morning a student was literally yelling at her patient for the day, a squirmy GSD young adult, to hold still. "IT'S JUST A TEMPERATURE. IT WON'T HURT, DO YOU HEAR ME? IT'S JUST A TEMPERATURE!!!!" Did that actually make the dog hold still? No, it didn't. I went over and showed them how to restrain the dog without yelling at it or getting bit, and things went more smoothly after that. I know everyone has different levels of experience prior to school, but by third year you should know that dogs don't respond well to loud explanations as to why they should hold still. Also relating to surgery labs, clinics, and future jobs: when you are told not to post pictures, especially gory bloody ones, on facebook they actually mean don't do that. So many of my classmates do it anyway, from bloody surgery pictures from labs to pictures of patients in clinics. I have one friend who graduated last year who posts tons of cases and pictures on facebook, including a recent necropsy of all things. Dr. Chaco fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Apr 13, 2012 |
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Apr 13, 2012 03:52
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Khelmar posted:For example, if you want to hate yourself, UC Davis is a good place to go. What, you don't even like our Path department? Heck, I like our Path department, and our necropsy floor is pretty sweet. I would not recommend coming out here for a rotation cutting up dead things, though, unless you're into that kind of thing. Our Neuro rotation is good, if sometimes insanely busy, and they see a lot of cool cases (and not just down dachsunds either). The surgery departments are good, especially Soft Tissue--I doubt our Ortho department sees much that other places don't see, but our Soft Tissue people always have something new and exciting going on. Lots of thoracoscopic and laparoscopic procedures, stenting of various luminal structures, and emergency removal of various organs. If you're at all interested in dentistry, we have an amazing Dentistry and Oral Surgery service, which I understand many schools don't have as a rotation. They see lots of complicated extractions, some root canals, some orthodontic stuff, jaw fractures, and sometimes oral and facial surgery. Medicine is interesting and you see a lot of great cases, but often the workload and the hours don't jive with the educational value, in that you can be there for many hours each day, hating your life, without getting anything extra out of it. If you do ok with long hours, then that might be a good one to come out for, but I just don't do well on my 14th hour in the hospital so that rotation left me somewhat bitter. Services at Davis I would not recommend you come all the way out for: Cardio (very unpredictable case load, you could easily get a two week block with almost no cases), Small Animal Emergency (also somewhat unpredictable case load, but I hear other school have much busier ERs so if you wanted to go somewhere for Emergency, go to one of those places. I hear Penn is much busier than we are). Services that I particularly loved, usually because the faculty, residents, and/or techs were fantastic, but the service itself may not be any different or better than where you are: Derm, Ortho, Ophtho, Radiology (actually, I hear our radiology program is much better than a lot of places, particularly with regard to ultrasound). There is a Community Surgery rotation where students are the primary surgeons for spays and neuters and other routine sorts of procedures (mass removals, amputations, enucleations), but I don't know if they take visitors.
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Apr 16, 2012 03:40
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(I hate California)
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Khelmar posted:
Yes, add anesthesia to the list of rotations I recommend. Small animal, I know next to nothing about large animal rotations. Edit: Our roaches aren't very big, this is true. They sure are numerous though--I especially like walking around downtown on summer nights, watching them scurry across the sidewalk in front of me. Also being called in for CAPE in the middle of the night and turning on the lights in the treatment room, sending the roaches scattering in all directions.
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Apr 16, 2012 06:07
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Asstro Van posted:
My school used to have teams either assemble their own packs or buy them from the previous class. SCAVMA has been buying them up instead and renting them out, which is a much better deal, I think. Honestly, you won't use your pack again after the surgery labs. It would need to be cleaned, autoclaved, and maintained/sharpened, and somewhere to use it, and that all tends to come with the necessary instruments. I have needle drivers, a couple hemostats, and forceps, and that was plenty for me to practice suturing and whatnot. Edit: as long as we're on the subject of surgery, I did a spay and gastropexy on a rather large dog today. Fun surgery, and closing that ginormous incision was tedious, but also rather satisfying. Dr. Chaco fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Apr 18, 2012 |
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Apr 18, 2012 04:01
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The time has come for a surgical pack!
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I'm going to the Florida Keys for a month. That's the last rotation for me.
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Apr 18, 2012 14:45
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Sataren posted:I hope vet school isn't a repeat of lecturers reading their powerpoints all day like in undergrad. You are likely to be disappointed. There are a couple of schools where that isn't the case, or the entirety of the case, but my experience in vet school was actually more powerpoints than undergrad.
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Apr 22, 2012 23:34
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We still have the food program at UCD, for Hills and Purina.
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Apr 24, 2012 14:09
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I took out a puppy's eye (and his testicles) today. He barely noticed I did anything; he hates the e-collar more than anything else. Puppies are fun, surgery is fun, we all win!
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Apr 25, 2012 01:14
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2 weeks until graduation--2 weeks of cleaning the apartment, job interviews, returning my drat pager, and cleaning out my locker. It really hasn't kicked in yet that I'm done.
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Jun 2, 2012 03:05
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I got handmade cards with foam cut-outs, glitter, and feathers, from a pair of little girls whose puppy needed dialysis after getting lepto. The cookies were also very good. Today I spayed 8 cats at a TNR clinic. Everything from massively preggers to little bitty kitten uteruses. Uteri. Whatever. Surgery is so much fun.
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Jun 3, 2012 23:05
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 My relatives are like kids with a new game, and that game is telling everyone, including each other, that I'm a doctor.
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Jun 16, 2012 00:14
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Aww, thanks!
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Jun 16, 2012 01:33
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Topoisomerase posted:We watched your class's chosen commencement speaker on the feed in Ward 5 today, DOCTOR Chaco. My parents thought he was hilarious. But, my dad had the same question I did--what the heck ended up happening with the dog that belonged to the king of Thailand? He never ended the story. Maybe you can find out...
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Jun 16, 2012 05:49
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Today I made too much bread so I brought some of it to the Internal Medicine peeps. Remember, everything is way less awful if you remember to eat at some point.
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Jun 28, 2012 03:00
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Ear plugs help keep it all in once you get it there.
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Jul 6, 2012 00:48
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Unfortunately, every clinic is different. I worked one place where the doctors had the techs/assistants do a lot of things, including holding animals during the exam (I think this is not terribly common), drawing blood, placing IVs, setting up surgery, monitoring anesthesia, treatments on hospitalized patients, vaccines and other injections. We also answered phones, occasionally acted as a receptionist, typed and filled prescriptions, mopped floors, and changed lightbulbs (I was the tallest). Other places, the doctor may do more of the procedural stuff (eg, draw blood themselves). In my opinion, the doctor's time should be too valuable to be doing things a tech can do quite well, if the techs are available, but every clinic is a little different. Some places will also have more techs or more vet assistants, so the types of tasks will be a little more split along those lines.
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Jul 6, 2012 04:16
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What does the rest of her application packet look like? GRE scores can be a big factor at some schools (as much as grades when I was admitted at UCD), and the amount/quality of veterinary experience can be important. If everything else was solid I wouldn't be too worried about a few Bs. Personally, I would finish the chem degree instead of retaking Bs--I think some schools won't even let you retake classes with anything above a C. Finishing the degree demonstrates the perseverance necessary to complete big projects, is a bit different than all the bio majors, and could potentially be useful for something until vet school works out (research maybe?) or a back-up if it doesn't.
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Jul 15, 2012 06:29
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Definitely have at least as many sets as days you'll be working between laundry days, and always have an extra set with you at work in your cubby or whatever in case you have to handle a contagious animal or you get something gross on you. A large percentage of your job is to be in situations where gross stuff happens.
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Aug 1, 2012 23:31
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How about illegible histories? There was one resident whose handwriting was so bad, he wasn't allowed to fill out path forms, only sign them after a student had filled it out. Most services had students do them anyway, but he was the only person I knew who was forbidden.
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Aug 11, 2012 17:46
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For heartworm prevention, I was told you should require a test just to make sure they don't have it, because once they are on preventative there's a false sense of security that the dog won't/can't have heartworm disease. Unfortunately this explanation may be kind of weak to an owner, especially one that gives heartworm prevention regularly, and I suspect the whole "bad reaction if they are positive and put on prevention" was introduced as a result. Or, that we used to think that, but hold onto that explanation when we know better for the same reason.
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Aug 13, 2012 16:36
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My surgery partners were a fair bit shorter than me. Remember, Topo can always stand on a stool, but you don't want to be bending over. Although, will they have you be doing the surgeon/assistant thing together, with someone else filling in the third spot, or will they have one on anesthesia and one on surgery each time? That would make more sense to me--you honestly don't need an assistant for spays and neuters, and as soon as 3rd year is done you'll forever be doing them alone anyway.
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Aug 17, 2012 04:41
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People call me doctor (and it sounds weird as hell) but I didn't really feel like one until tonight's emergency C-section. Mom and baby are both doing fine, and whoever it was that said that C-sections and GDVs only happen on Friday nights is so far correct.
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Aug 18, 2012 04:41
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Khelmar posted:
Wait...where are you thinking of that is both hot and humid? All the hot places I know are deserts and the only humid places I know are San Francisco and other coastal cities when it's foggy. I traveled a bit in undergrad for a sports team and we had to learn how to play in humidity for tournaments in places like Texas and Ohio. It was really something we had never experienced before.
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Aug 25, 2012 05:24
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Yup, those exist. Also chiropractic vets, naturopathic vets (whatever that means), Traditional Chinese Medicine vets, and quite a few vet that practice acupuncture.
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Aug 29, 2012 15:18
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Yeah, it's becoming pretty widespread. There is a professor at Davis who has an acupuncture service, and the clinic I work at now has one vet who performs acupuncture. The vets I've seen use it generally reserve it for cases where either traditional medical management hasn't worked well enough or is in some way objectionable, and I've only seen it used for things like arthritis and back pain. I honestly don't know if it works or not, but it somehow seems slightly more legitimate than true homeopathy (giving very diluted poisons) or the "chiropractic voodoo" described in the Animal Questions thread recently. I suppose all of the various alternative modalities may yet surprise me by being shown effective and becoming absorbed into mainstream medicine, but I'm not holding my breath.
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Aug 30, 2012 02:20
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Jesus. The pictures on facebook have always been more than enough for me.Khelmar posted:He's pretty passionate about everything. Going to the bar with him was always fun.
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Aug 31, 2012 03:24
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Third year. We came in from our Schalm lectures and there was caution tape and maggots and horrified vet students looking on.
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Sep 12, 2012 06:43
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