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.
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!
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.
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 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!
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!
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.
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