Friday, February 24, 2012

Back for More--Spring Break

I was fortunate enough to be allowed back to the VCA Cedar Animal Hospital for more shadowing with Dr. B. This time around, I was able to watch surgery--the removal of a rectal mass from a young Sheltie. I won't go into many details, only that it was a first for me and interesting because the surgery was basically performed vertically instead of horizontally. I got a glimpse of the many intricacies and challenges that vets face on a daily basis. Not that those were unfamiliar to me, but I welcome any new addition to my ever-growing body of experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I really want to know all of the nitty-gritty details about what daily life as a vet is all about so that I am neither surprised nor disappointed when my own time to shine comes.

The exotic species I saw at the hospital were a ferret and a cockatiel. Well, I didn't technically accompany Dr. B into the exam room with the ferret because I was watching surgery, but I glimpsed the creature through the window of the surgery room. It looked like it was having a seizure, which was very sad to watch because its poor little body was twitching. Dr. B explained that she suspected hypoglycemia/overproduction of insulin, but when she checked the blood sugar level, it was about 60 (I don't really know what that means, but she told me it is just slightly low). Definitely not a level at which seizures generally occur (that would typically be 40 or below). She also suspected kidney problems, so she sent the little guy home with some fluids and told the owners to let her know what happened.

The cockatiel, named Prettiness, was also something of a mystery. She was all fluffed up, which is a bird's way of saying it doesn't feel well. But she was chirping a little bit, which Dr. B said means that she was not in critical condition. She had abnormal stool, so Dr. B said they would keep her overnight in the warm bird room and take blood samples the next day (she wanted to assess just how unwell the bird was because drawing blood could be stressful for a very sick animal).

I also learned of the recent emergence of influenza in dogs. It is something that only started a few years ago in Florida, probably a mutation of swine flu. I think it is interesting how rapidly the science of veterinary medicine is changing. A few years ago, there was no such thing as canine influenza, but it has been steadily making its way north ever since it first appeared. There have been no reported cases in Minnesota yet, but it is only a matter of time. The VCA Cedar Animal Hospital already has vaccines, and they are encouraging their clients to vaccinate their dogs against this ever-looming threat. We have talked so much in school about the mutation of viruses, but I have never really seen it in action. I feel that this was the first time I could really relate something I have learned in school to my future career (I have a feeling that once I get deeper into upper-division biology classes like Anatomy and Comparative Physiology, my shadowing sessions will become even more relevant).

All in all, it was a very profitable and educational day at the clinic. I always welcome the chance to see something out of the ordinary, and there was plenty of that. This coming Wednesday (Leap Day!), I will return to the St. Francis Veterinary Clinic for another day of small-animal shadowing with Dr. J. I hope you all find something unique to do on your extra day of the year. Until Wednesday!

Monday, February 20, 2012

A-OK on Spring Break

Now, I don't  usually post during breaks because I want this to be a school- and pre-vet-centered blog. But what I have to say is definitely school related. As you might be able to tell from the title of this blog post, I got my final grades for Winter Term today. And they were all A's! I cannot believe it! Even Physics, which gave me so much trouble. Even with five weeks of feeling overwhelmed from London. I know God helped me through this one. I could not have done it without Him. I feel so good right now. Oh, and I'm technically a senior because I have accumulated three years' worth of credits (93 so far). I only need 30 more credits to graduate, which puts me in line perfectly for that term off next year. And now I've had four straight all-A terms (Fall Term Organic Chemistry last year was not my best class...). I am very happy because this means that I am capable of doing good work under fatigue, stress, and pressure. I felt so busy this term, but I pulled off the good grades that I was hoping for. I thank you all for believing in me, even when I didn't really believe in myself (still kind of working on that...). I am very excited for Wednesday because I get to shadow Dr. B, the exotic veterinarian, again. She is so great to let me come again!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

"Don't do anything stupid."--Week 10 and Finals Week

Such are the inspirational words of Sarah's grandmother. I have been posting quotations on my white board during these last few weeks to motivate both myself and my roommates as we work hard in our classes. Well, this is about all I could muster this week. I apologize for missing last week's post. I just had too much going on. However, now I am on break and have time to fill you in on the last two weeks.

We finally finished our project in Botany. Here is the poster for you to admire. I already know that I got an A on it, so I am very pleased. The final went well, I think, too, so it seems that a class I was quite worried about at the beginning of the term will turn into another A! Yay! My grade should be helped a little by the four extra credit points that Heather told me our professor is giving us just for attending the Chocolate Festival! If you remember, he saw us when we were there and told us it was nice to see us. Now I'm really glad that I spent the money!
Just so you know, I got a 94 on this project. :)

I presented my dance in Aerobics. I was very nervous during it and was constantly afraid of messing up. However, my instructor gave me an A and said that my dance was fun (she also told me to lighten up; big surprise there!).

The rest of the week went by rather quickly. It felt like almost no time had passed until it was already Friday with a weekend of studying ahead of me. However, I did manage to have some fun. Friday afternoon, Heather and I went to the animal shelter. I was so excited to see the FIV cats again after such a long time away from them. But sad day! One of the cats has had a skin condition since early December. I don't know who it is, but I hope he (or she, if it's the lone female named Boger) gets better soon. Obviously, we were not allowed in. However, I met a very nice cat in the regular cat room named Butters. Apparently, he likes to gnaw on hands and paw at the them with his declawed front paws, but he didn't do anything like that to me. I guess I just have the magic touch with animals or something like that. ;) Heather and I also went to meet some of the dogs,who I have been neglecting in favor of the FIV cats for awhile. We were even put in charge of brushing one of the dogs, whose name was Lady. She was a little hairy white dog (maybe a bischon?), so I didn't really find her all that attractive. The very next day, though, I got word from Facebook that she was adopted! It seems that Heather and I did a great job on her hairdo! She must have looked so pretty to the person who adopted her. :) On Friday night, I went to see The Muppets at the Olin auditorium. Augustana puts on free movies each week for students as an alternative to parties. I met up with some friends of mine from way back during freshman year, and I think we all had a great time. My favorite part was the cameo by Jim Parsons (Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory). Sarah and Devon bought the second season of the show for us to watch, and we have already gotten through the first disk. I hope we make it last a long time; otherwise, it will be over too quickly, and I'll be sad.

I'd rather not talk about Saturday. I had so much studying to do, but I feel like I spent half the day doing other things and only halfheartedly studying for my finals. I volunteered for the Kiwanis Pancake Day by cleaning and resetting tables. I was hoping that I would get to make the pancakes with the other Circle K kids, but another group was already doing that, so we got kind of a dirty job. After that, I spent a little time at home before going for a run and studying for a bit. Heather picked me up again at 5 PM so we could go to Cans for Kids. We let another kid do all the work while we studied because he needs it for community service. I spent most of the time talking to Heather and singing along to the music that the kid was playing as he worked, so I didn't really get much done. After that, I went back home for a quick dinner and another study session before accompanying Heather to her job at the Seminary desk from 9 PM to midnight so we could study Botany. I was so tired at that point, and my brain was so study-exhausted, that I had trouble focusing and just wanted to go home and go to bed. However, I still had stuff to do when I got home. Long story short, I stayed up until at least 1 AM both Friday night and Saturday. I tried to keep a better bedtime Sunday night so that I would feel refreshed for my Monday final, and I managed to stick to it.

 On Monday, I finished my Molecular Genetics poster! It looks so good, and I am so proud of it. I presented it to the professor on Wednesday at noon. As you might imagine, I was very nervous for the poster defense. I can't really say why. I guess I was just afraid that I would majorly mess up or something like that. But I was totally wrong! I completely rocked it! My professor kept telling me how well I was doing and saying how glad she was that the first two people to present (I was the second) really knew that they were doing. She praised the hard work  I did on my poster and, best of all, told me that I will most likely get an A in the class. So, now I am done with my Senior Inquiry project and probably received a really good grade on it, too! If you want to see the poster, I can send you the file through e-mail (I didn't get a picture of it, and it would be much easier to look at if you can see the original file).

I took my Physics final on Tuesday night. For the most part, it was a lot more manageable than I thought it was going to be. There was one problem that was quite the doozy, but the rest of the test went fairly well, and I think I may manage to pull off an A- in the class (which is all I really care about). My only consolation is that I'm absolutely killing lab with over 100%. This is strange to me because I usually do really well in the lecture portion of the course and not so hot in lab (as far as chemistry goes, anyway; biology has been fantastic).

The only thing that made Tuesday--Valentine's Day--better was that Sarah's mom sent us all a little bag of chocolate candy. I was very pleased and grateful because all day, I saw kids carrying packages from their parents. You know, since it was Finals Week and everyone needed a little care package. Anyway, I felt a little left out, even though Mom just send me that wonderful package full of quarters, my lost shirt, yogurt pretzels, and onion salt. Well, I didn't have to feel left out because Sarah's mom rocks! This bag will definitely last me a long time (or not...). ;)

So cute!

I left with Dad to go back home right after my poster defense. We had a nice ride back. When I got home, I already had one of my books for next term waiting for me. It was nice because now I don't have to worry about that class, at least. Also waiting for me was a silly turtle lamp from my coworkers at the thrift store. I think they meant it half in earnest and half as a joke because they know I love animals. And on a different note, Dad has been working on the kitchen ceiling, and this is what he produced. Pretty spiffy, if you ask me. We are in the process of redoing the whole kitchen. It's kind of the only part of the house that hasn't been redone since we moved in more than 13 years ago.

I think I'm going to name him Ralph.
Great job, Dad!
 
This morning, I finalized the details of my vet internship for the spring. I will be volunteering at Aledo Veterinary Clinic in Aledo, IL. It is about 45 minutes from Augustana, but Heather is allowing me to borrow her car for the term. I will intern on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The clinic manager, with whom I spoke, told me that I will most likely be doing farm visits with the lone veterinarian at the practice (AKA her husband). He will be the first male vet that I have shadowed, which should be interesting. I am excited to actually go out and see large animal medicine in action. It will be a little dirty with the mud, but I'm really looking forward to it. I badly need the hours, too. I only hope that they like me and allow me to come all term. I have a lot on my shoulders as a representative of Augustana and the pre-veterinary program.

My time at home should be pretty low key. I am going to try to work a little bit (it's pretty slow right now, but it seems like they need me on weekends) and shadow when I'm not working. I also want some down time so I can catch my breath and recover from a pretty difficult term. It was intense coming back from London and then having to start school so suddenly. Not only that, but I wasn't exactly taking blow-off classes. I did feel a lot better after Christmas break, but I won't lie and say that these last five weeks have been a cake walk. One exciting thing that I will be doing over break is taking a free GRE practice test. The GRE is a very widely accepted standardized test at a variety of graduate schools (even those that have nothing to do with science). It is a prerequisite for getting into veterinary school, but it will also help me if I do not get in to veterinary school and apply at a graduate school in some field of animal science (I'm thinking behavior or nutrition) or genetics (since I had so much experience with it this term). I also need to do some mundane things like see the dentist and eye doctor and get a haircut. But all in good time. Right now, I'm just soaking in my first day of break with no work. I did have a fairly productive morning, but now I am just relaxing.

I still haven't found my camera cord, so I took all of these pictures with my cell phone. They aren't the best quality, but they are definitely better than nothing.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

All That Jazz--Week 9

Well, it's getting down to the clutch. My senior project is due in about a week or so. At about the same time, I will be taking my finals for Botany and Physics. I can't believe how quickly this term has gone. What a whirlwind school year this has been so far.

We had nominations for Circle K executive board positions on Tuesday. I was not nominated for Service Chair like I thought I was because someone else e-mailed Heather asking to be nominated. In addition, about four other people nominated themselves for the position. It's okay, though, because Heather nominated me for Social Chair, a position I would be sharing with another girl. She is going to Ireland Spring Term, and I am probably going to be gone Winter Term, so it works out well. Social Chair is in charge of setting up a fun activity for everyone in Circle K to get together to do. I have some great ideas! One would be a trip to the Davenport farmers' market or a maybe a game night where everyone could bring a board game that we could play in groups. Elections are Week 1 of Spring Term, so I have a little while to prepare my nomination speech.

Hannah came to visit us on Tuesday, as well! It was so great to see her again. I can't wait until she is back on campus again so we can hang out like we used to. She even brought me a scarf and a bead ring from Ecuador! I feel bad because I didn't really get her anything from London...

After a rather hard day at school on Thursday, it was great to go out to dinner at Panera Bread with Sarah and Devon. I had, of course, the wonderful Vermont cheddar mac'n'cheese along with a small Caesar salad and a side of their delicious bread. Well worth the eight dollars.

I took my third Physics exam on Friday. I think it went okay (at least better than last time). I also received a package from Mom containing not only the black long-sleeved cardigan that I left at home but also some quarters (I need them for laundry this week!), yogurt pretzels, and onion salt (which is strangely difficult to find in the grocery store). Friday night was so much fun because I went with Sarah and Devon to the Augustana Jazz Ensemble concert. Wow. I forgot how much I love jazz! They did a fantastic job. I knew a few of the guys from my classes and from work, so that was fun. We also looked at some of the art in the museum (located in the basement of Centennial Hall, where the concert was held). Afterwards, we watched the Disney movie The Princess in the Frog. It is so cute! If you haven't seen it, I highly, highly recommend it. I can't believe I hadn't seen it until Friday night!

Yesterday, I made some great progress on my poster for Molecular Genetics (the Results section is basically done except for a couple things I haven't done in lab yet) and finished my homework by 5 PM so that I could volunteer for Cans for Kids. I think I told you about it before: we sort bottles and cans into bags to pay for the occupational therapy of autistic children. We can only take the five-cent refund bottles and cans; the rest goes into the regular recycling. It's a little dirty but totally worthwhile and fulfilling. Devon went home yesterday morning, so it's just been me and Sarah for the rest of the weekend. Last night, we watched most of My Fair Lady and then played the Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit game. Sarah won, of course, because she's a dork like that (not that I'm any better...).

Now, Sarah and I are just watching the Superbowl (for the commercials, of course!) and eating supreme pizza and tater tots (with salad for me because I love my veggies).

This week looks pretty intense. Tomorrow I am presenting my one-minute aerobics routine, taking a lab quiz in Botany, and presenting the results of our fast plant experiment with the rest of my group. I will be glad when tomorrow is done because the rest of the week will be a little less stressful (if only slightly). Tuesday I am helping to run the fundraiser for BBB. We are selling flowers (it is Valentine's Day soon, after all). The rest of  the week will mainly be spent finishing my senior project, which I hope to share with you soon. Saturday is Kiwanis Pancake Day, so I will be making pancakes for people along with Heather and Stephanie (another co-president of Circle K) and maybe a couple of others, too. Well, I hope that you are all enjoying your Sunday Fundays, as I know I am. Have a great week, and I'll be back to tell you all about my week before you know it. Ciao!