Summer 2012--Animal Emergency and Referral Center of Minnesota and St. Francis Veterinary Clinic Visit #4: Uff-Dah!

The "Uff-Dah!" in the title is meant to express breathlessness at the title itself as well as at this past week as a whole. Things have gotten pretty hectic with work, shadowing, and filling out the VMCAS. Happily, however, I have made great progress on the VMCAS. I finished filling out my extracurricular activities, my awards and honors, and my veterinary experiences. I have also finished filling out my animal experience for the Illinois Supplemental Application. All that remains is to have my personal statement read by more people so I can make it the best it can be, to write three essays (two for the Iowa Supplemental Application and one for the Illinois Supplemental Application), have my letters of recommendation written, and wait for my GRE report to come in so I can photocopy it and package it with all of the other materials for the Kansas Supplemental Application. Well, I also need to send checks with the supplemental applications and pay online for the VMCAS, Iowa Supplemental Application, Illinois Supplemental Application, and University of Minnesota application processing fee. But that about sums up the work I have left. And it's not even July! All in all, I would say that I am very satisfied with the progress I am making. I did not expect to be this far along so soon. It really does pay to be proactive and on top of things. Future pre-vet students, take note! People do not exaggerate when they say how time-consuming and tedious the whole process is. I'm just praying daily that I do not forget anything. That's what an early deadline goal is for (I'm aiming for late July at best, early August at worst). That will give me some time to send in anything else that I forgot and still make the October 2nd actual deadline. But enough about that. You want to hear about my two shadowing experiences this week.

As far as the Animal Emergency and Referral Center of Minnesota (AERCMN) in Oakdale goes, I cannot give you too much specific information because of client/patient/doctor confidentiality, but I can give you a general overview of how everything went and what I thought of the experience. I was surprised to learn that not everything is hectic all of the time in emergency medicine. There are slow times as well as busy times, just like with any other clinic. Of course, a lot of the cases are much more severe, and probably a higher percentage end badly than in regular medicine. I really admire everyone who can work in this setting. I'm not sure it's for me. But everyone was very pleasant and made me feel welcome and involved despite the fact that I was not allowed to touch any of the animals or assist in any of the procedures. I got to watch two ultrasounds on two different cats, which were really cool. I don't get to see ultrasounds that often at St. Francis. I also learned about a technique for treating hyperthyroidism in cats called I-131. I-131 is a radioactive isotope of the element iodine, and when it is administered to hyperthyroid cats, it kills the tumor cells that are pressing on the thyroid gland and causing the hyperthyroidism. The clinic has a special treatment room for the I-131 cats to stay while they receive their treatment. It's interesting and really cool because the treatment has a cure rate of almost 95%. Hyperthyroidism seems like a very serious condition, so it is neat that such a straightforward treatment exists that is so highly effective. After a cat has been treated with I-131, owners can only play with the cats for thirty-minute periods twice per day for a few days (you know, since the cats are very slightly radioactive). But other than that, the cats don't seem to suffer any ill effects. Way cool. One of the best parts of the day was seeing a fawn come in to the clinic. It had some facial muscle paralysis and was a bit dehydrated, but the whole situation was cool because it was my first clinical experience with wildlife. And it rocked. I learned other cool things like how the heart still puts out electrical impulses that a machine can pick up even after it has stopped beating. Machines will record a false heartbeat even though an animal is not actually still alive. It also seems like emergency vets have a lot more computer time than actual animal handling time. This is somewhat true for regular vets but seems even more true for critical care vets. All in all, it was a wonderful experience that gave me a pretty good idea of what emergency medicine is all about. Even though I will probably not make this field of veterinary medicine my career, I enjoyed having the opportunity to learn about it and to see why it is not really suited to me. I just like seeing vets in many different settings and seeing how they have an impact in many different ways. It is comforting to me to know there are so many dedicated people out there looking out for animal health in critical situations.

Wednesday was back to good old St. Franny for more fun with dogs and cats. I got to watch four surgeries to start off with. The first was a very interesting cystotomy (bladder stone removal). I was responsible for taking pictures for the clinic to put up on its Facebook page. There were some really cool stones in there, so I think I got some good shots. After that was a fairly straightforward feline spay followed by the longest dental of my life. The dog in question was under for more than two hours! It was a very tedious cleaning, especially since 16 of its teeth had to be removed. The last surgery was thankfully quite brief, just a simple feline declaw. I just think it's so slick how easily the claws are removed from the paws, like cutting through butter with a hot knife. I'm sorry if that's a little weird, but that's how I think about it. As usual, I participated quite a bit. Nothing as big as the last couple of weeks, but I was still able to do some anesthesia monitoring, restraint, light cleaning, acting as a gofer, and taking temperatures. Patti had me put together some "kitten packs," folders full of information for new kitten owners. I have done them before, but I never mind doing them because it is a small thing I can do to help the clinic operate as it should and to get the kitten owners the things they need to give their little ones the best care possible. Finally, toward the end of the day, I was put in charge of changing the litter and water for the four kittens up for adoption who are staying at the clinic and of getting them more food for the night. One of the kittens must have been hungry because as soon as I filled the food dish, he/she lunged right for it. I had to fight Tulip, another one of the clinic cats (I'm starting to feel bad for Odie--he used to be the only one), to keep her from getting into the kitten cage and bothering the little cuties. So, I just did my thing on Wednesday. Nothing out of the ordinary. But a good experience nonetheless, especially since it has been so long since I have had to take care of a cat.

Next week I will only be shadowing once, and on Monday instead of on Wednesday. Dr. J has a prior engagement that precludes her working on Wednesday. I have Monday off, so I am going with her that day. It all works out great for me, though, because I will need Wednesday to pack for a wedding in Colorado. I might have to blog about that if things get interesting or I get some good pictures of the beautiful mountains. You know what I sucker I am for natural vistas and things. Until then!