I have been planning to update the blog for many weeks now, but as you know by now I am not the best at keeping up with writing, especially when life is not terribly exciting.
So, where I left off: I was heading into finals which is always a grueling time of year, and trying to decide what to do with my summer. I am happy to report on both fronts I made a plan, and actually stuck to it! Finals were the normal busy, stressful time. I have sat through four full sessions of final exams at vet school and I would be lying if I said it got any easier along the way. This semester it seemed finals took forever- we had barely ended midterms when lab finals began- but this is also why the school year flies by so quickly!
It has been so long now since I wrote the exams, I don't recall many of the individual details. Lab practicals are the most stressful for me, as they involves showing what you can do in front of professors. For as long as I can remember, I have stressed and fumbled my way through exercises where people are standing in front of me awaiting to grade or scrutinize my work. I prepare particularly hard for these scenarios for that reason. My first lab practical was surgical exercises. There were three manned stations and a couple of unmanned stations. I had to show that I could do a circumferential ligature, a hand tie, and begin an intradermal suture pattern. None of these were things I was unprepared for. My hand tie was very nice, though apparently it was left handed, as the person who was teaching it to me was a leftie- and I cannot duplicate it on my right as well! I was very nervous and shaking when I had to do my intradermal pattern- and not for lack of knowing it, more for the intimidation factor. My ligature for the circumferential was fine- however snugging down a knot on the material we were using was not easy and it flustered me a bit when it was slipping. Overall, I finished the practical and all tasks in the allotted time. My second practical was in anesthesiology. Having done much anesthesia as a technician before I came to vet school, I was not as nervous for this practical. That said, I still shook my way through the two manned stations, even though the professors administering were very nice, calm people. The practical for that went very well for me, which gave a nice bonus to my overall grade- as their written lecture exams were notoriously difficult.
All said, my final GPA for the semester was very good- at a level I never thought I would be able to reach considering the way my vet school career started. I spent a lot of time this year refining my study methods, and put in a lot of effort to learning the material. It was helpful that the material was more interesting in a lot of ways then the first year was to me, but it was also beneficial knowing that I was going to be halfway done vet school as soon as I wrote my last exam!
As most people are aware by now, in between finishing midterms and beginning finals, I had to say goodbye to my school year companion and favorite fluffy dog. If you read the previous blog posts you know Cherry was battling a few issues- none of which were uncomplicated or easy to handle- and you know she was facing a tough road with her joint infection. Interestingly, since Cherry had started her new round of meds she had been doing pretty well. I had even increased her exercise some- we began walking the paved path by the beach more frequently. It was on one such walk that Cherry collapsed and could not get back up. Unfortunately, even if I had opted to do a CT scan on her, I knew the prognosis for her was not good. I called Nikki and we decided it was only fair to her, given all her issues, to say our goodbyes. The most fitting thing for Cherry was to bring her home so she could be surrounded by people she loved in a place she knew well, and not a clinic where her only encounters had been with her knee surgeries. I drove her the 12 hours home- stopping once in Maine to sleep briefly beside her in the back of the car. Once we made it home all of us sat outside with her, and hugged her and told her how special a dog she was- and she sat and watched traffic go by- one of her favorite past times. We took her to McDonald's and fed her nuggets and fries, and before she entered her anesthetic phase prior to euthanasia, she sat contentedly licking an Oreo McFlurry- completely ignoring the needle and completely involved in her food. It was peaceful and calm, something I wish for anyone who has to watch their loved pet leave this world. While I may not have been her owner, her time living with me both at our apartment in Colchester with Nikki, and at school this past year, cemented a relationship with her that was important and lasting. Always proving she had something to teach, she showed me that no day is a given and it's important to take the time and smell the roses (or, in her case the beautiful ocean breeze.)
Since school has let out for the summer I have been trying to follow that example. I decided before the school year came to a close that I was going to take the summer off from work. From the time I was 16 years old I have spent my summers working at least full time- the only exception being the summer I took classes. Last summer I worked an ungodly number of hours between a couple of jobs, plus I house sat. Next summer I will be busy on rotations for school and after that for the remainder of my working life I will be busy earning money to pay back all my student loans. Never again will I have the chance to take a summer and do with it what I want to- at least not until I retire. Taking the summer off has allowed me to do some things I did not have the chance to do before now. For one, I have been able to do some surgical learning. While I spent many hours standing in a surgery room monitoring patients, to see if from the perspective of someone who will be performing surgery is totally different. I have a better understanding of suture patterns, wound closures, and what the actual process for doing each procedure is. This will be beneficial to me in the upcoming semesters as we perform surgery! I have done some house sitting this summer, and I have gotten to spend some time with friends, whereas last summer I was always that lame girl who could never go out. I will get to take some time this summer to enjoy the weather- in fact I have mowed the lawn, gotten a tan, taken the dogs for walks and generally enjoyed having a more lax schedule. Unfortunately about 10 days ago I fell and hurt my ankle/foot- however I think I am on the mend- and the dogs hope I am as our walks have been shortened, slower and boring this last week.
Another benefit to taking the summer off has been that I could agree to watch Ryker- a Malinois owned by a classmate of mine- for the summer. Nancy, who owns this beautiful boy, is partaking in a summer of Vets Without Borders in Kenya and as such needed someone to take on her two dogs. Her parents took her Malamute, but I agreed to take on Ryker so he could have some time away from his sister (and more so she could have a break from him!) He is a wonderful dog, and Nancy has put a lot of time and effort into his training. I am hopefully he doesn't regress to far while he is in my care- we do practice his commands I promise... however he also has me wrapped around his little paw at times ;) Ryker and Tizzie have become great friends- they play together, walk together, just generally enjoy being together. Ryker and I have been spending a lot of time walking, hiking, and swimming, as well as playing ball- and when I bring him back to her upon return to the island I will be very sad to see him go! I have missed having a big dog cuddling with me in bed. I may have to steal him from her from time to time to get a fix for the big dog! This school year promises to be very busy for me and as such I don't feel that having a dog will be in the best interest of myself, or the dog- so I will likely be animal free for the year. I am considering a guinea pig, but the trouble will always be travelling between home and Canada, plus finding care for it while I am on rotations in fourth year. So, for now I am going to be facing a quiet cottage this school year.
The remainder of my summer promises to be fun, and I am sure it will go too quickly. I'd like to say I will update again in the near future, but in likelihood it won't be too soon. Summer's are too short and the weather generally too nice to spend a lot of time inside on your computer, and as such I will probably not update until closer to my return to the island. Until then, I hope everyone continues to enjoy their summer!
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