Summer 2012--St. Francis Vet Clinic Visit #1: Blast from the Past

Yesterday (Wednesday) was my first shadowing day of the summer, and I am very fortunate to be back where it all began: the lovely St. Francis Vet Clinic. The vet that I shadow also lives in St. Anthony, so she drives me with her to work on Wednesdays. It's a wonderful arrangement, and I really like Wednesdays because she works 8-6, which gives me ample time to see both surgeries and appointments. It makes for a more varied and, therefore, more interesting day for me.

I started off yesterday with a tumor removal surgery. Then, I watched Dr. K cauterize a dog's nose and put in staples, which she said she had never done before. I am constantly amazed at all of the new things that I encounter in veterinary medicine and at how resourceful the veterinarians I know are. I consider myself pretty resourceful in my own right, so I'm looking forward to the day when I get to exercise this skill for myself. After the nasal cautery, I watched two dentals (one for a dog and one for a cat). I helped a lot with surgery yesterday, including filling out the anesthesia sheet for all four surgeries, restraining a couple of the animals for catheterization, and carrying a couple of the patients back into the kennel room after surgery. I also helped take pre-operative and post-operative temperatures on the patients. One of the vet technicians even let me administer a pre-operative antibiotic through the catheter. Very cool. On the whole, I felt very involved and like I was actually assisting the clinic instead of standing around or getting in people's way.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but the clinic is run exclusively by women. All four doctors are women, the support staff is all women, and all of the vet techs are women. There used to be a male doctor there, but he left about a year ago to join his wife's practice. Since then, it's been all girl power all the way! I think that this is pretty cool because it is not often that you see an all-women business or establishment anywhere. The US is still a fairly patriarchal society, so I am encouraged by these situations of women's leadership. It inspires me as a young woman.

After lunch, I went with Dr. J to see a few appointments. One of the vet techs also had me unpack a box of supplies and divide the contents according to what each person at the clinic ordered (as specified on the order sheet that came with the box). It was a simple job, but everyone else seemed busy, and I really didn't mind doing it. I carefully checked the sheet, bound the items together with a rubber band, and attached a Post-It note to each bundle indicating what supplies belonged to which staff member or doctor. The running joke at the clinic is that I'm free slave labor, which is actually pretty funny to me. I don't mind the title because I just really enjoy the atmosphere and being back at the clinic with which I am most familiar.

I was pleased to make the acquaintance of some new members of the clinic yesterday, as well. These four-legged residents are looking for a home, but unfortunately, I cannot give them one. I said hello to my favorite clinic cat, Odie, who is something of a special-needs child. I think I have talked about him before: he belongs to one of the doctors (Dr. T, if I'm thinking correctly), he has no teeth and no claws, and he has some chronic respiratory problems. But he is such a sweetheart! The clinic has other feline friends for Odie to play with, but they don't like him very much. One is a cream-colored cat with blue eyes and tan patches on his paws and tan stripes on his tail. His name is Amos, a name I really like for a cat. If it weren't for his slim physique and those tan parts, he would remind me very strongly of Thomas. Another is Cheeks, a black cat with a shock of soft fur. He's bald near his ears, making him look kind of freakish. A third is a lovely cat named Bailey. Bailey has brown fur with caramel flecks in it. She is so incredibly sweet. She'd be perfect if she were nicer to Odie. She kept rubbing her head on my arm and under my chin. She even rolled over so I could scratch her belly--most cats don't seem to like it too much. Anyway, I had fun being introduced to these kitties, and I'm excited to see them again next week.

Next week will also be awesome because Dr. N has three ultrasounds planned: one for a dog with urinary problems, one for a dog with general abdominal problems, and one for Bailey, who they suspect has a hernia (they think some of her intestines got jammed up in the pericardial sac near her lungs and heart). Dr. J told me that they will need an extra pair of hands to help restrain the animals during the procedure, so I will be very useful to the clinic. It should be a good time.

I was hoping to get to shadow at another clinic this week, too, but plans kind of fell through. The clinic never e-mailed me back, and my other options have all given me times in June and July when they are available. Since it's still May, I feel bad about pressuring them for shadowing opportunities. No matter. It is not a huge deal if I only shadow once per week for the first couple weeks. I'll just have to step up my game during the remainder of the summer. I am, however, looking into going to work one day with Uncle Steve, one of my dad's brothers, who tends to turkeys on a turkey farm here. I am really interested to see what turkey husbandry is all about. Even though it wouldn't count toward shadowing hours, it would count toward animal experience hours, which the vet school admissions committees do take into account (not as much as clinical experience, but animal experience hours do count for something). Even more basic than that though is the fact that I just really have a deep concern for and interest in animals, and I just think his job is kind of cool. So, we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and I hope you tune in next week for my second summer post.