Exams, ahhh!

Exams start on Friday! Ahhhh! We start with our clinical skills exam on Friday and I'm not really sure what it entails yet because so much of what we did this block was review. We had some behaviour stuff, stuff about taking a history, a review of suture patterns, a review of one-handed and two-handed hand ties, and a review of instrument ID. I guess I could practice gloving and gowning but they've tested us on that twice already...
I had my food animal rotation last week and it was okay. It was good to kind of get around a cow and know that I can complete a physical exam. Our cow was exceedingly healthy so that was... disappointing in a way? They told us that the exams aren't wellness exams as second years, we're supposed to see something sick and diagnose and treat it but... my calf was healthy. Oh well.
I've been spending a lot of time in anatomy which is good and bad. It's good because I tend to avoid it and so I feel that much better about it but, on the other hand, I feel like I've been slacking in my other classes a little bit.
My MCB presentation, on white muscle disease and damage due to free radicals went pretty well. I haven't gotten the grade back, but I can't anticipate not getting a B or higher. It's 40% of my grade, so here's hoping!
I got a few new clients over the last couple weeks! I got to take care of a super cute golden retriever puppy just for a day, I got to take care of Rosie again, I took care of a cocker spaniel mix and poodle mix a couple times, and then an adult golden retriever this weekend. It's definitely a great way to make money on the side! I've also been using Swagbucks and tutoring on InstaEDU. It's not going to pay for school, but any money I don't have to take out in loans helps.

Zoey!

Rosie

Riley and Tess

Ty, the grown up version of Zoey

Ty's housemate, Kitty

I got moved into my new apartment... I ended up having to talk to the VP of the company that owned the building. After getting essentially no response from the general manager for two weeks, the VP fixed my problem in less than 12 hours. I now live in a one bedroom apartment in a little bit nicer of a location, although it kind of sucks being on the backside of the building -- still better than commuting to class every day though! It's nice having a little more space, but that wasn't my problem to begin with. I loved my little studio apartment (although getting more space for the same amount of money is fabulous) and I love living at this complex. I just didn't like the fact that I didn't have a bathroom for weeks and my complaints were largely ignored. The new apartment has some issues: the windows don't lock, the bathroom light doesn't work, and as of today the shower doesn't get hot but at least I have a bathroom! Funnily enough, the other apartments I was looking at when I moved here just opened two days ago! They started being built around the same time as this complex, but took a little bit longer. They're giving leasees one free month of rent, and it looks beautiful! I was really concerned that I won't be able to get into a studio next year because I really can't afford to live here in a one bedroom, but if that doesn't work out, I could move into a studio apartment that's 100 sq feet bigger than what my studio was for $100 less a month. I'll have to wait and see what my rotation schedule is like to really make that decision but it helps reduce my stress to know that I have options.

My plan for the days leading up to exams include making cling sheets for the physiology of bone healing, phosphorus homeostasis, antimicrobials (maybe pharmacology in general), complement cascade, bilirubin cycle, clotting cascade and fibrinolysis, and maybe some anatomy stuff with skulls. I'll probably start the MCB study guides tomorrow, and practice some suturing over the next few days. 

Calcium homeostasis and bone growth is done!

Oh, and I decided to make a change yesterday and go blonde! 

Halfway through!

Alright, we're officially halfway through block one! And, just like any other vet student, I feel perpetually behind. That's life!
Dog sitting has been picking up, with me getting a client every weekend, so that's pretty good. I'm doing some odd jobs on the side to make money, which doesn't really add up to much but when you're living 100% on loans, that's all you can do! I've signed up with something called Swagbucks and I basically play videos in the background of my laptop and computer and get points. I'm getting a couple $5 Amazon gift cards a week this way. For anyone interested, this is my referral link: www.swagbucks.com/refer/rwwilliams You don't have to sign up under me, obviously, but I get a little kickback from it, which is nice :)

Rosie that I dog sat for

Gus!

Sadie and Lance

The last week, in my apartment, has been a little frustrating. Since I moved in, I've noticed a bit of an issue with taking a shower and having water kind of drip all over the floor... When my mum stayed with me, she said to be careful of pulling the shower curtain all the way closed to prevent that from happening. Well, Taylor stayed with me for awhile and said that he thought my apartment smelled funny and that it was Piper. I didn't notice the smell, and I've had Piper for a year, so I didn't think that was the case. After he left, I noticed that the bathroom mat was soaked and just disgusting. Problem solved! Taylor hadn't been pulling the shower curtain closed and now there was standing water that smelled bad. I cleaned it up and it seemed to get better -- by the time he left, I'd started to notice the smell. Well, it came back... Then the filter light on the AC came on. Oh! It's the filter. Easy, fixed, done. Smell went away.. and it came back. What the hell? So, I took a shower one night and noticed that the floor was absolutely flooded... So, I did a test. I turned the water on, pulled the curtain and sat outside and watched it. No water was escaping around the curtain. I left and came back later to find the bathroom flooded. Great. I called maintenance and they investigated to find out that there was a leak behind the shower knob. They said they'd have to patch it and change some of the wood because it was rotting. Okay, fine, they told me a few days. That's doable. A specialty company came in to evaluate for more damage and found out that all the drywall was damaged and basically ruined, so they have to tear apart my entire bathroom after putting dehumidifiers in there because they found mold!
As of now, I have a blow up mattress in another apartment, and I'm basically living in both apartments... They told me it'll take 2-3 weeks (I'm thinking it'll take longer), and they can't help me move any of my stuff so I'm just out of luck. So, that's frustrating and I wrote a really long email to management about how ridiculous that is. If they can't provide a fully functional apartment for that amount of time, they're violating the lease.
Other than that, I went to the LA County Fair on Friday, since WesternU students got in for free, and that was a lot of fun! We didn't realize we were supposed to print the coupon so we just showed up with our IDs... Luckily enough, the gate captain let us in because we said we were vet students! We ate delicious, disgusting fair food, did an olive oil tasting, and saw all the animals. Since starting vet school, I have a hard time seeing animals in captivity at zoos, aquariums, etc. Petting zoos and circuses are especially difficult. I overheard someone say the animals brought in were from Cal Poly, so I'd assume they're taken care of but I don't know how they don't become acidotic, I don't know how the rabbits don't get stressed and die, and I don't know how the horses don't colic.

A little bit more exciting: I got to monitor anesthesia on a guinea pig last week! They kind of freak me out because guinea pigs and rabbits just tend to die... Mine was great however! His name was Peanut and he came in for a castration. He recovered remarkably well, which made me happy!

Recovering my piggie

Another week down

So, it's been three weeks now since school started and I'm definitely getting back into the swing of things. I've been talking to a couple people lately about my work load compared to undergrad and had an interesting realization of just how different it was. I was talking to Taylor and he said how he didn't have any homework for the day and it kind of hit me how, well, neither did I but I still had work to do. I rarely have homework, per se, but there's always something that can be done. There's always some other topic I could hit on or something I could learn. I'm never done.
This week we learned all about the equine forelimb, passive stay apparatus, osteochondrosis, bone healing, and I got to spend some extra time with some guys that resemble horses internally! I had my VACS rotation today with an organization called Bunny Bunch. I monitored anesthesia, for the first time, on a guinea pig and he was remarkably stable! Rabbits and guinea pigs freak me out under anesthesia because they're just not the easiest to deal with. My little guy went down easy, he handled surgery well, and his recovery was a little slow, but he was totally fine!
Preview Day was last Saturday. I participated for Surgery Club, in the hopes that we'd win $100! We didn't, but it was still a fun opportunity! I got to talk to a lot of prospective students and answer their questions about the school, applying, and basic lifestyles of a vet student at WesternU.
Tomorrow is the CVM Club Day, where all the CVM clubs are showcasing ourselves and hoping to attract new members. Surgery Club is going to be selling suture boards, as always. AAEP is selling our shirts, and I believe SC-VECCS is as well. I have a lot planned for Surgery Club this year, so I hope it pans out. We have two suturing events, one in November and one later in the year; a gastropexy/splenectomy wet lab; a scrub cap competition; and hopefully rescheduling our ultrasound wetlab that had to be cancelled last year.

Two weeks in

I'm now two weeks into my second year of vet school, and I'm feeling pretty good! I'll be completely honest, I'm a little bit behind as far as course material goes but I planned for it and have made allowances. Taylor came and spent six days with me and I planned on doing what was basically the bare minimum while he was here, because I wanted to enjoy the time we had together. We actually figured out that, at least for fall semester, we won't go more than 4-5 weeks without seeing each other! It'll be nice to have a little consistency to our visiting schedule and it'll give me something to look forward to without looking too far ahead.
We started with our first week, learning about the elbow joint in dogs as well as diseases such as elbow dysplasia, hypertrophic osteodystrophy, and osteochondrosis. I definitely felt more comfortable in anatomy lab last year and was able to dissect our cadaver with more ease than before. It's crazy how far we've come in just one year!
Taylor showed up on the Saturday and we had a great weekend together. We went out for dinner with my friends... Taylor and I actually went out to eat a lot while he was here, but it was fun! We went to Back Abbey, In-n-Out, Sushi Martini... He came with Piper and I to the dog park, we cooked a nice dinner together while he was here... He even taught me to play League of Legends which was honestly more fun than I expected... it was such a nice visit and definitely what I needed to give me the motivation to get through this first block.

Hanging out by the pool

Tasty food and drinks at Bucca di Beppo

We're so cute

The whole gang!

Taylor left yesterday and it was sad -- it always is when I have to say goodbye to him. After dropping him at the airport, I had my equine physical exam test. It was pass or fail, which was somewhat comforting but I was so incredibly nervous about the exam. I feel like everyone here expects me to know tons about horses and that's just not the case. I rode them and owned them, and I love them but I really know very little about them medically. That being said, I passed which was a massive relief.
For this weekend, my goals include reviewing the information from last week (osteogenesis, osteophytosis, the various pathology and pharmacology topics discussed), as well as covering the major issues from this week (facial anatomy, ethmoidal hematomas, clotting cascade). I'll probably go hiking tomorrow morning, or do something somewhat active with Piper.

Being cute at Club Day with friends 

I'm bad at this blogging thing...

So, I basically didn't post all summer... not that I didn't think of it, I was just so busy! Then, of course, time went on and the longer I went without posting the more of a daunting task it seemed.
So, I finished my first year of vet school and managed to survive! All As and Bs which is good, although I would have liked all As. I ended up getting 3rd place in the ABVP Case Report Scholarship, so that was something nice to add to my CV as well as to my bank account!
I'd been home just a few days when we got the call from my aunt, back home in Australia, that my Nana was very yellow and in the hospital. Prior to that, she'd tripped over her cat and broken her hip and I guess turning yellow was a side effect of some of her medications so no one thought anything of it for awhile... It was determined that she had a pancreatic mass, although this was told to us to be cancer despite them never taking a sample or doing any kind of histopathology... She also had a pretty bad systemic infection and was placed on IV vancomycin and metronidazole for awhile. Within two days we were on a plane. We spent a little bit over a week in Australia and, I don't know about anyone else, but I tried to treat it as a family vacation instead of potentially the last time I'd see my grandmother. She was definitely more bright and alert than I expected, but her memory was pretty bad and she was fading fast. Since I've come back to the States, she seems to have gotten a bit better at recalling short-term memories but she still seems to get worn out from talking for too long. As always, it was so good just to be home, despite the circumstances. I met up with my dad while I was there -- first time in about 10 years! I also met up with one of my cousins and her husband, from my dad's side of the family that I hadn't seen since I was probably 3 or 4.

The best part about SA

Can't forget the vanilla slice!

My Nana and I, years ago when she visited us in the US

Aussie pride

Baby photos at Nana's

After returning to the States, I drove up to Conyers for 2 weeks with Piper to show the horses and that was a lot of fun! The showgrounds out there are just gorgeous. We rode in the big grass field on the days we weren't showing and even found some trails that I rode Nick on by the field. More people came from my barn than last year, which is always fun. I had a good degree of success! Won a couple classes and even got champion in some divisions on Nick. We took off to Stone Mountain for a touristy day while we were in Georgia and wow, was that an experience. Hiking that mountain was much, much harder than I expected but the view was great from the top. Later in the week, I was lucky enough to have my amazing boyfriend come and hang out!

Winning the level 2s

Never far away from my sidekick!

Birthday present to myself

Trails!

Nap time

Up we go!

Beautiful

It was so steep, there were handrails so you didn't just fall backwards

At the top with my mum

Almost to the top with Georgie

My favourite visitor

Pushing Piper in the little pond/river we found

The pond/river

Someone slept the whole 8 hours home

Just prior to going to Conyers, we took the boys to GOHJA, a local show, to make sure we could still do our thing! Wally did his first ever over fences division at a horse show and was great! He was very excited and tried to buck me off after each jump, but he jumped everything and (mostly) got his leads!
The day after I got back from Conyers, I started my externship at AVS! AVS is a specialty hospital in my area, with tons of surgeons, internists, neurologists, and even an oncologist and acupuncturist. I had the most amazing time there and learned so, so much. I saw a lot of things that I was incredibly lucky to see like a mandibular condylectomy, nasal planectomy, bunches of TPLOs and TTAs and MPLs, back surgeries, nasal biopsies, snake bites, hepatocutaneous syndrome, PLE, lots of cardio cases, tons of kinds of cancers... it was such a good experience and I like to think I'm that much better for it. I'm really hoping I'm better prepared for neuro now, after seeing it in a clinical setting.

Amidst all of this, I was also working at Banfield over the summer. I managed to get a raise (yay!) and was so excited to see I could still draw blood, place catheters, place an ET tube, amidst other technical skills. The bad thing about the first two years of vet school is that you don't get a lot of chances to practice those skills and I think it's so easy to lose them without the practice and you can't gain them back unless you practice. I also ended up doing physical exams on rescue dogs outside, which was a great opportunity to get my hands on as much as possible and see as much as I could.
At the end of summer, I took the boys to Venice for the Fox Lea Farm show and had so much fun! It was hot, but it was great. Nick and I won a decent amount of money, Bruno was pretty good, and Wally got a great ribbon in the flat (4th out of 17, not bad for a baby!) and the judge came by and complimented us later. It was a nice way to finish up riding for the summer.

I'm thinking he won't have issues with scopiness

Nick and I after winning the 3'3" classic 

I took Taylor to Universal as well, since he'd never been to the Harry Potter section of the park. It was nice to take a day for just us and do something we don't usually do. I definitely feel lucky with the amount of time we got to spend together this summer, and I can't wait until he comes and visits next week!

Mean muggin'

The DEM National Convention was this summer too and while I wasn't able to attend, I was still able to see some family! It was nice to finally put faces to names. Hopefully, if somewhere in California hosts in next year, I won't be working and will actually be able to go!

My beautiful Royal family 

I ended up moving into my new apartment at the end of July and man was that an ordeal. I booked movers to come and move my stuff at 9 AM... At 10 AM, the guy that owns the company called me and said their truck broke down so he was sending different guys that would be there at 11. Okay, that's fine. Still doable. A little after 11, I called him back. No answer. Okay, called the office and got a girl that said she'd call him and find out. At 11:45, I called the company I'd hired the moving company from and they said that the boss of this company had been unable to actually find anyone to send to me which was really frustrating to hear considering he'd told me he was already in the process of sending people. They ended up calling a different company for me, who was absolutely amazing and a pleasure to work with and I finally had movers around 1:30-2 PM and was done moving around 4:30.
I love love love my apartment, although, as I keep telling people, anything is better than the house I was living in. No more people messing with my laundry, my dishes, kicking my dog, fighting about turning AC on... it's amazing. It's a brand new building, so it's had its problems but I've been pretty lucky. I had a small ant problem that was fixed within a day. My shower knob was installed incorrectly, so the water only got lukewarm but that was fixed yesterday. My room is a handicapped room, so I don't have cabinets under the bathroom sink but I just bought my own set and stuck them in there. It's a 30 second walk to class, and parking and utilities are all accounted for. I'm in love. The one thing that really sucks is all the stuff that mysteriously went missing while I was gone all summer. Some of it is negligible: a couple forks, a pasta scooper thing, apple/potato peeler. Some of it is not so forgivable: my favourite pair of Sperry's and 3 of my favourite anatomy textbooks. My dad generously offered to replace the textbooks, which is great, but not the point at all. I'm so disappointed that that stuff would just disappear... especially when my room was the only one in the house without a lock.
That being said, it's great to be back in California. I turned 21 last week and a bunch of went to dinner a couple nights ago and Steph and Jacquie ended up paying for my meal which was really sweet. It was great to see everyone again and I'm excited to get back in the swing of things, but I'm really going to miss everyone at home.

The cake from my 21st at home!

Taylor and I cleaning off cupcake after my 21st at Kobe's

Belated 21st at Yardhouse with everyone!