Summer 2012--St. Francis Veterinary Clinic Visit #11: The Long Goodbye

Alas, Wednesday was my last day of the summer to shadow at St. Francis. I made gluten-free peanut butter cookies for everyone and wrote a thank you note as a way of expressing my gratitude for everything everyone did for me during my third summer at the clinic. Everyone seemed to enjoy the treat, and a couple of people even said that they owed me lunch or a treat for what I had done for them over the past 12 weeks. However, I do not feel that they owe me anything at all. Shadowing is its own reward, as is the experience I gain in veterinary medicine as a result.

Anyway, I definitely got my figurative money's worth on this last day, observing a total of six surgeries in addition to several appointments. To start, I watched a feline neuter with all four paws declawed--NOT GOOD. Second was a canine neuter, very routine and not particularly exciting. Next came a canine dental, one of the shortest I have ever watched. The fourth surgery was another feline neuter with a wound repair thrown in for good measure. That one was cool because I got to write down some things for the vet--namely, where each wound was located and what we did to it (stitched, bandaged, etc). I also got to hold one of the paws for awhile while Dr. K stitched the skin together. We took a lunch break after that fourth surgery before what we thought was the last one, a canine cystotomy. Dr. K was thinking of taking the dog home with her and trying her out because she might want to adopt her. It's been awhile since Dr. K had a dog, and she thinks it's time for a new one. I got to take pictures during the surgery, which involved removing one large (nickle-sized) stone from the bladder. I actually thought it was pretty big, at least one of the biggest that I have seen. But everyone else was really unimpressed. They said that the stone looked much bigger on the radiograph, perhaps because it was almost as big as the bladder itself!

After that surgery, I followed Dr. J to a couple of appointments and made up some puppy packs before I found out that we would have yet another surgery! This one was kind of an emergency because the dog had an oral abscess that had worked its way around the eye and up into the cranial area. It looked really extreme until Dr. K lanced it and was able to draw a lot of the fluid out. The fluid seemed to resemble saliva, so the doctors weren't really sure what happened. After they were done with the dog, I got to sit with her while she woke up and hold a warm compress on the eye to help the abscess drain a bit more.

In addition to my normal surgical activities, like anesthesia monitoring, taking temperatures, helping with intubation and extubation, restraining, and the like, I also got to give a subcutaneous injection to one of the surgery dogs under Dr. K's supervision as well as administer an IV antibiotic just before surgery (through the catheter that one of the techs placed). Later in the day, I got to help give subcutaneous fluids to a febrile cat, while one of the techs held her. I was able to watch Dr. Jill drain a purulent (pus-filled) wound on the cat beforehand, too.

So, all in all, it was a very eventful day. I said goodbye to all of my kitty friends and the humans at the clinic and left feeling like I really made a difference that day. I know I will be back when I come home for Fall Break, but that is a long way away, and many things will happen to me before then. One parting thing that I learned today was that veterinarians worry about job security just as much as anyone else. I was expressing to Dr. J my concern for my father, who is applying for a permanent position at his company. He seems very unsettled, and I really think a full-time, permanent job would be so good for his well-being and general attitude toward life. Anyway, Dr. J said that she wished she lived closer to her place of employment and that she's often thought about seeking a position closer to home. However, she told me her fears that any slow business or troubles in the practice that might arise would probably cause her to be let go first because she would be the newest doctor and thus have the least leverage in the clinic. I think this is a good thing for me to know because a veterinary medicine degree does not mean that I will easily find a job and does not excuse me from the normal functionings of any business, including money matters, interviewing, performance reviews, and the like.

I head back to school on Saturday, and hopefully the internet will be up already. If so, I can get some pictures up and post about my first impressions of the house. From here until early November, I'll mostly be posting about academic things. Hopefully, I'll have some vet-related things to talk about, but we'll see. Senior year, here I come!