My little goat died today.  He was sick for over a year now and had cheated death a few times this past year.  He was found in the pasture.  I hope he did not suffer and hopefully died in the sunshine today.  I am going to go and get his body tomorrow and do an abbreviated necropsy on Sunday or Monday to take a look at his lungs.  He had been having respiratory problems for over a year and had had almost every antibiotic available.  He was super sweet and I was hoping he would hold on until I could get all of my animals together later this summer.  He just couldn't hold on until then. 

RIP baby.  I'll always remember you and your sweet face....

Well, true to form, I waited a few months before posting again.  Things have been just moving along. I took and passed my national board exam, so that is out of the way.  The barrier now has been finding a job. I just haven't found anything yet that I think is a "fit." I only have about 5 clinical rotations left before I graduate on May 13th. I'm also trying to clean my apartment and start to thin things out prior to any move I may be making.

I have come to the realization that when I finish school my life is really going to change.  While I'll still have a lot to learn, my priorities are probably going to focus around getting back in shape, having a social life again, and buying my first house and property. I'm also getting a little weird about leaving Raleigh, as I have lived here for 10 years, but I guess we all have to move on sometime.  If I want some property and some space for my animals, I'll have to go out into more of a rural area, so I guess I'll have to just try to quell my insecurities.

Nothing much else is new. Just thought I'd check in

Ha, seems like I only post about once a month. Never said I wasn't a lazy-*ss . Well, I'm sitting here, as usual, with crap to do and too lazy to do it. I have to finish cleaning my apartment, which I've been "doing" all week. I do have to get it done today as I'm going to see Riverdance tonight. Been waiting about 5 years to see it, and since I'll probably be moving to a rural area after graduation in May, I figured I'd better see it now. I hope it's worth the $75 I paid to see it.

Anyways....I've managed to study almost no time for my national board exam. I have 10 days left before I take it, so maybe I'll drag my *ss into the library this next week.  I've tried to study this week, but since 3 (YES, 3) of my dogs have had unrelenting diarrhea this week, almost all I've been doing is cleaning carpets.  I do think I've gotten it under control, now, however (crossing fingers). 

Yes, Christmas is coming, and of course, gifts to buy with almost no money. Story of my life for the past seven years I have been in school.  I think my friend and I are going to boycott Christmas next year and start a new tradition going to the Caribbean.  I am also trying to figure out where I want to go for my graduation trip before I start a year with no vacation.  I'm thinking of a cruise, although I'd rather go out West and go on a cattle drive.  I'll save that next year when I'm hopefully slimmer and have had some horseback riding experience. Spending a week in the saddle not having ridden is a guaranteed sore ass. 

Nothing much else going on. I've gotten a handle on an undiagnosed health problem which was making me tired as h*ll on a regular basis. I'm pretty pretty great these days, and hopefully it'll continue to get better.  I've also had a few impromptu job interviews at a job fair and I'm supposed to be going to visit some potential employers in February

I did go to Oregon for my llama/alpaca course. I added some pics from that to my photo album. She the link in the sidebar.  I didn't take as many as some other folks, but I don't like taking my camera to places where there is blood and sh*t!  Anyways, I need to go and clean up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ok, so here I am again, finally posting after several months. I am currently on a 2-week vacation block and need to be studying for my national board exam (December 1st), but I'm sitting here blogging instead. That test cost me $550 to take, so I hope that I am not gonna flunk it, b/c that would seriously chap my ass. Our state exam is in May after graduation, and that is $150. Depending on where I get a job, I may have to take additional state examinations. I'll be sooo glad when I get a job and start making money.

Our state veterinary conference is in two weeks, and I have been feverishly working on my resume. I have to go and get it printed and get some cover letters done. We are having some vets coming down to participate in a job fair during the conference, and I'd really like to get the ball rolling on my job search.  Heck, I'd even like to maybe do some clinic visits and have a job offer by February. That would make the next three months until graduation smooth sailing.  I really do like large animal work, especially the camelids (llamas and alpacas). I'm also a fan of goat and sheep. I just returned from a two-week externship from Oregon where I did a rotation at Oregon State University's Vet school.  It was totally worth the time and money to go. We did sedations, belly taps, catheters, castrations, farm visits, etc.; all of the stuff they don't teach us at my Vet school.  Three of my classmates are from Holland and one of them has a kick-ass photo site where she put a lot of the pics from our trip with the things we did.  If you'd like to see them, this is the site:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotosesther/sets/1079578/

Just to warn you, some of them are of dead animals and some necropsies we did. 

Anyways, still having a car crisis. I bought a new engine for the car and it has leaked oil twice and been in the shop almost a month now. That was well and good while I was in Oregon  but now that I am back and need a car it sucks. I have spent over $500 on rentals so far. I just want my truck back and I am sure the garage folks want it out of there. Since I have no sugar daddy, I am stuck paying it myself with financial aid money. This totally sucks.  Ok, I need to get off of that subject before I get any madder.

So the state fair is in town. I dragged myself over last night since I'll most likely be moving next spring. I ate popcorn, a fried onion, and a huge cinnamon bun - ugh.  I have lived here in Raleigh now for 10 years almost and I'm not sure how I'll feel about leaving, but I am ready to get out of this apartment situation.  My neighbor is decent enough, I guess, but he has three cars parked out front, works on his son's car in the parking lot, has burned things and poisoned my birds, and plays weird-ass polka-type music early in the morning.  After spending two weeks in a house in Oregon sitting on twelve acres, I am definitely getting an itch to move.  There is one job that is a possibility that is in the mountains of NC. I could get a decent house and 10 acres for a little over $100K. That would be sweet, but I am not sure it'd be the best place for a single female.  There is a town about 20 miles away, though.  One thing I'm not sure of is the racial atmosphere. It is primarily white, which is fine, but I am not sure if they are hard-core types. It is close to where Eric Rudolph was found hiding out.  I have talked to a realtor and some other folks and they love it there, so I guess I'll find out if/when I consider moving there.  I would like somewhere affordable where I can have some land for my cow and goats. 

Well, not much to say. I have another week off, then I pull two weeks' of night emergency duty. I then have another three week vacation, during which I take my boards. After that, I go home for a two-week externship at a nice practice, then I return to school. After that, I have a three week small animal orthopedic rotation and equine medicine. Both of those require about 15-18 hours per day at school. Ugh I dread it.  After that, however, I have four rotations with small ruminants or cattle, including a two week externship during calving season w/ a beef vet. Should be fun.

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Whew, I can't believe I actually have time to sit down and write an entry. I've been pretty much spending time at school doing rotations. So far, it's been radiology, community classroom (spay/neuter at the shelter), anesthesia, necropsy, clinical pathology, vacation, and ophthalmology.  Next week, it's equine surgery. I don't think my dogs will be seeing me any time soon.  I'm finally going home to visit my mom after 4 months tomorrow. I only have time to stay a day, though, because I am on call Monday evening. I also have to study for my national board exam, which is in November. I'll be glad when that is over.

We did a really cool surgery last Friday. We did eye surgery on a 6 ft long green moray eel. He had lipid deposits in his eyes, so he was put under anesthesia so he could have eye surgery.  You pretty much put some powder in the water, he goes to sleep, and then you get him out and put him on a wet sponge.  Then you have a pump and tubes that continually bathe his gills with water containing anesthesia solution and he stays asleep. One time he started to wake up and everyone was moving back. He weighed around 40 lbs and had a very big mouth loaded with teeth.  It's really nice to doing unique things like we get to do.

I added a link to the left to donate to the Humane Society's effort in rescuing animal victims of Katrina. Please donate if you can.  I think they rescued 89 dogs last night as well as some other animals.  They do have one shelter where they're accepting pets, but many are being left behind. Some are being taken to bridges and such, but as busses arrive, the animals are being left behind.  Truly heartwrenching.  Please donate even 10 bucks if you are able.

I'm glad that I don't have to do any more shelter rotations. I pickd up two kittens while i was there. One of them was on the death list the day he arrived b/c he had a leg infection. We ended up amputating his leg, and after two months of antibiotics and possibly losing the other leg to infection, he seems to be perfectly healthy now....knock on wood. If you're looking for a pet, please adopt one from the shelter. 

Well, I gotta get going. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day.

Well, due to the fact that I am still up at 11:30 pm, and that I haven't posted since April, I thought I'd go ahead and make an entry.  I've destressed since exams were over and had a week or so off before my first clinical rotation. I just finished two weeks of radiology. It was pretty decent, too. I was able to solidify some things I learned in class, learned how to position animals for various shots, and learned a heck of a lot from the radiology residents on how to interpret radiographs .  On the down side, I saw a lot of poor animals that had cancer that were being treated, and a few horses w/ major fractures that had to be euthanized

I have a community classroom block next, which consists of going to the shelter for two weeks and spaying and neutering adoptable pets.  It's usually pretty fun, but I'm afraid I may come back with another kitten, which I do not need, as I have 4 already.

Nothing much happening in the personal life, except that I had my appendix removed on Friday the 13th. I woke up w/ some pretty bad pain, so I decided to go to the hospital. I went to the VA since I can go there for free. Well, I told them that I thought I had acute appendicitis. I sat there for over 4 1/2 hours until I was seen. I had not eaten since the night before, so I was starving! So after they see me, they thought I had appendicitis (yes, I had told them this almost 5 hours ago at this point  - good thing it didn't rupture). So....I couldn't eat anything or even drink water b/c I would have to go to surgery. That is...after my CT to diagnose it for sure. So I'm allergic to shellfish and so they assume you are allergic to iodine. This is what is used for contrast in the CT, so I had to take major steroids and IV benadryl before I drank the contrast and then got some IV during the scan. I'm telling YOU, that Benadryl is some shit! My BP went down and my heart rate dropped to 42. I was trying to talk and slurring my words all around. It was all I could do to not pass out. It causes your vessels to dilate, so less blood was getting to my brain - hence the slurred speech and light-headedness.

Well, I get wheeled to the CT. The guy tells me that since I've had allergic reactions to food before, and since I'm allergic to shellfish that I could very well die when he gives me the contrast, even if I have had the steroids. Then, he shoves the consent form at me and asks me to sign it. I told him I wanted to confer w/ the MD again. So he says they can't diagnose w/out it, so I go ahead and sign it. I'm lying there thinking I could be dead w/in a few seconds, so I start reciting the alphabet - how stupid - but by the time I'm starting to get hot (a side effect), and I'm down to W, I figure I'm golden

I get back to the ER and they confirm I have appendicitis. My appendix should be as big as the two end pinky finger joints and it's 6 inches long. I get my induction meds at midnight. So it was 15 hours after I showed up at the ER, and 21 hours since I had gotten the first pains. I finally get into my room after recovery and those people would NOT leave me alone. How does anyone get rest in the hospital? I finally told them on day #2 that I was getting out of there. I had headaches the next two days and I felt like crap, but at least I could sleep w/out interruption. I went back to school on Tuesday and walked a lot, so the CO2 they pumped me up with finally dissipated.  I never really had any pain from the surgery itself.

On a positive note, I've also lost 17 pounds since school has been out. I'm really trying to eat a lot more healthy since I'm not under so much pressure. The pets are pretty healthy as of late, which is great. I also bought 3 more new goats, which I am boarding. What a sucker!

Anyways, hope this has been a decent update. Thanks to anyone who has read this far!

Ciao!

As of April 23rd, 2005, I officially took my last exam of Vet School. No more classroom time, no more studying for exams, etc.!!! I am totally psyched. I have a week off, and then I start clinical rotations on May 9th. These are two-week stints at school and some externships away from school, spanning a whole year until graduation in May 2006!

I'm taking radiology, community classroom(spay/neuter at our county shelter), anesthesia, theriogenology (reproduction), necropsy, clinical pathology, dermatology, equine surgery, neurology, small animal emergency, small animal surgery, equine medicine, large animal community classroom (riding w/ a vet), bovine health , small ruminant topics, and small animal medicine. I'll get 4 vacation blocks and am doing externships in Missouri (beef cattle) , Oregon (llamas) , and West Virginia (mixed practice). I'm hoping it's going to be fun and that I'll learn a lot.

Well, I'm adding some more animals to the mix. I'm buying a Boer goat doe that the school was going to send to the sale. She is getting a mastectomy this week because she has an udder infection. I'm also going to be buying two new very cute Boer goat babies, also. They'll all live w/ a friend of mine until I graduate. The cow   is still doing fine, but he still wishes he had a cow friend.

I do have to take the national board exam in November, which costs $550! I can't afford to not pass it -  literally! The state board is exam is after graduation, and it is $150. Can't get away from having to pay money! I'm hoping I'm going to have a job lined up after I graduate. I may also apply for an internship, depending on what is available.  Heck, I'm not sure what I want to do anymore. I do know this - I'm taking a vacation before any job or internship. I want to have at least 45 days to move, take a trip, or something fun. I think I deserve it!

Nothing much new to report. I'm no longer friends w/ Ramona , which sorta sucks, because good friends are hard to come by. We got into a tiff and haven't talked since. Maybe in the future we'll reconnect, but who knows. We've both had major stress in our lives and things may not be salvageable. I wish her luck in finding what she seeks, though.

Off to bed - I have feral cats to neuter tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hi all!

I've finally sat myself down to do an entry. Well, I have approximately 1.5 weeks before school starts again. These past 4.5 weeks have flown by and I'm starting to get depressed. We're actually planning our blocks for clinical rotations now, which we start in May. It's really weird to plan out things we're going to be doing in a year and a half down the road. I can't believe I'm really this close to finishing and graduating.

I picked up a journal I wrote in back in 91-94 when I was in the military and I had written entries about how I wanted to go to vet school. I think it's pretty remarkable that I am actually doing it. I remember getting out in 94 and having all of those science classes in front of me. I actually started my second undergraduate degree in 1998, working full time through to graduation in 2001. It was pretty weird going back to school at 32 with all of those 18-21 year olds. It's sorta like that in vet school, also, as there are only a few of us older students. I feel very secure and don't stress out easily, though, being older.

One of my links to the left is "people bitching about horses." This is an anonymous message board where people typically rip people apart, specifically, people on other message boards. One of the posters on the other board is an autistic girl, about 25 years old. She recently euthanized her 30-year old horse. Someone on the "bitchy" board broached the idea about donating to her towards her new horse someone had helped her get. She and her family still owed the barn where she boarded $450 in vet bills and boarding. We never thought we'd have too much left over, but last week, she was mailed a new leather bridle with a name plate and a check for $1775! It's really amazing that a bunch of foks who don't even know her or each other came together for the Christmas season and did this for this special young lady. If you'd like to see pictures of her and her new horse check out http://www.hoof.com.

I've also been applying for funding for my club's travel to Oregon in March to the International Camelid conference. I also planning to go to Oregon for a llama block in October 2005. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I do feral cat work. I am in the process of applying for a grant to find out vets', animal controls', and folks' opinions on feral cat issues. I'm hoping to maybe help different areas of interested vets start feral cat Trap/Neuter/Release programs to deal with feral cat issues. If you'd like to know more, check out http://www.alleycat.org.

Well, I'd better get going. My dog is whining to get out. Tomorrow, my friend is coming over and we are going to clean out closets. Woo hoo!

My prayers go out to the people in Southeast Asia who have suffered in the tsunami.

Ciao for now!

Just hopping on to see what is crackin' out there! Yesterday, I dragged my lazy bum out of bed and went to work for a few hours. That is two days in a row, and after not working for a few months, it was very hard to do! After that, I jumped in the Rodeo and went and met one of my professors at a goat farm where we ultrasounded some dairy goats to see how far along they were. It was pretty interesting. This lady also had 3 little pot-bellied pig babies and they were very cute.

Got all of my grades, and looks like I'm moving right along. It's been nice to be away from school, however. I've been around the same 75 people daily for 2.5 years now. Can get tedious. Also remember we have estrogen from 64 women in full throttle all the time!

Not much else going on. I'm running home for the holidays the end of the week. I would go longer, but have no one to feed my cats while I'm gone, so can only stay gone a short time. I actually think I may go and get on the elliptical trainer a few times this week. I think my body will revolt, though.

Later taters!

Hi all,

I haven't finished them yet, but I have added some pics. You can click on the link to the left, since I'm obviously too stupid to know how to copy/paste code into my journal

I've gotten all of my grades but one, and I've passed everything, so I can relax a little bit   Next semester is ruminant medicine, swine/poultry, surgery, and a few others I can't think of. This is my last semester of classwork before a year of clinical rotations. It's a little scary, but it'll be great to have new experiences every two weeks and to get some hands-on experiences, also.

I'm planning on going to Oregon in Marcch for a conference and there again for two weeks for a llama medicine and surgery course. I think that is all the traveling I can afford to do this next year.

Well, I have to get going and get some stuff done that I have been putting off. I am working tomorrow and Saturday a few hours, although I think I'm allergic to work now!

Ciao for now!