Coming down to the wire

I am sitting here counting down the days left of actual time in the classroom and I am in awe of how little time is left.  There are 9 days left of class, and I start my FINAL final exams on April 15.  I am both excited and slightly panicked at how quickly fourth year rotations are coming up, and as each day slides closer I am rapidly realizing that all the work I have put in for the last three years is going to come to a head very soon with my skills and knowledge being put to the test down in clinics.  I know that over my time in the class room I have studied, committed things to memory, and learned so much that will be useful to me in a clinical setting, but naturally I am also wondering just how much information I have managed to retain, and whether or not I will be on track with what I should know.

  

Last week, we had a meeting about what was to be expected out of fourth year, and how we will be graded.  No longer will we take a paper test that directly reflects the hours of lecture notes we poured over the night before.  Instead, we will be evaluated on our clinical skills, the way we interact with the clinicians and our peers and how we approach the cases that we face.  Each rotation has their own set of skills that you are required to complete to a level that both yourself and your supervising veterinarian deem to be at least of entry level veterinary competency.  Some of the task lists are a little daunting, but overall I have found that they at least give me some guidelines.  I think for myself the biggest challenge in fourth year is going to be being brave enough to interact with the clinicians and prove that I do have knowledge and willingness to succeed in this field.  I expect hard, long days with trying cases and I can work with that- but my greatest challenge will be overcoming residing in the comfort of my self inflicted "bubble".  For years now I have been the girl who sits quietly in the back of the classroom, not offering opinions or questions, having minimal interaction with professors.  I am maybe not proud of this fact, and I see it as an area where I should have been working to overcome this- but the comfort of being in my little secluded corner was easy.  Now, I will be entering an area where I am front and center in some cases, and I have to be able to present ideas and thoughts to clinicians.  I know I can interact with clients- I spent much time as a technician doing just that- but for someone who takes awhile to feel comfortable with new people- especially people who are as high up and important as the clinicians- I know this will be one of my greatest challenges.

Things on the rotation front are shaking out pretty well, though I admit to being a bit of a procrastinator.  I ended up dropping a Large Animal Medicine rotation from my schedule- in part because I wanted to fill the time with an external rotation, and in part because I did not want to do that particular rotation.  I know they say it is important to round out your rotations with as much as possible as you never know what you will be doing in the future- however I decided that for me I really wanted to use the time to fill in as many small animal opportunities as possible, given that this is what I want most.  It means I will have to spend some extra time studying large animal things for the NAVLE independently, but ultimately I think I will be happier for having arranged my schedule as I did.  I am currently trying to get an external rotation lined up in Hawaii next April, and barring any conflicts with the school and the clinic on the paperwork front it is looking promising!  I am nervous to be considering taking 3 weeks to travel somewhere where I know no one, and be alone (though many people have offered to come along with me if I do go) but I feel like that would be an excellent chance for a last rotation and to prove that I really can make it in the real world.  

Now that the semester is winding down, I have completed two surgeries with the help of a couple of my classmates- who have been patient and supportive!  I was the first surgeon in my group because I was most nervous for surgery and wanted to get it done with so I could stress a little less.  I ended up doing a complicated spay on a mature dog, which was very challenging but also an excellent learning opportunity in a lot of ways.  I spent the next three nights not sleeping convinced that she would have problems with her surgery site- but she did fine and in the end I was happy.  This last week I had another big dog that I neutered.  I was glad for the neuter because I now have at least done one of each of the basic surgeries a veterinarian performs, and he too was an excellent learning opportunity- but in a different way.  I learned I can stand on my own two feet and make some decisions (with good help from my group members).  I still am nervous during his recovery period, but a little less so than I was with my dog spay.  I have really enjoyed doing this surgery course, even if it has been a lot of work and stressful.  It makes my goals seem that much more obtainable, and tacking onto my previous statements about clinician interaction it has also allowed me to have more close contact with some of the clinicians which has helped decrease some of my worries for next year.  

In other news, I have lined an apartment up with one of my friends for the year next year, beginning on May 1.  We initially went and looked at a house- which was decent sized but not quite what we were looking for and the rent was a little higher than we wanted to be paying.  The perk was that the house was furnished so we wouldn't have been paying to do that as we both are leaving furnished cottages.  However, we found an apartment that is walking distance to school, on the top floor and at a good rent price so we took that.  I am looking forward to being able to walk every day to school, and will likely not bother to purchase a parking permit this year.  It will be very convenient when I am on call and have to be at school rather quickly.  We will need to furnish it- but I think we can piece together enough things to make it a functional living space without too many extra costs.  

Lastly- and maybe the most important- Burger Love has returned to the island!  This year brings 60 burgers but I am most looking forward to trying the ice cream burger again.  Last year the deep fried ice cream rolled in cinnamon that was on top of the burger was the craziest but most delicious thing I have tried.  This year their burger concoction is a burger, bacon and maple syrup sandwiched between two ice cream sandwiches and topped with a marshmellow and cherry.  Sounds strange and yet I cannot wait to try it!  Also this year my mom will be making her trip up and she will be here in time to try out a burger before it comes to a close at the end of the month.  This promotion is a great idea for both the beef producers here on the island and the restaurants, as the popularity of these concoctions has grown from year to year now, and it is also a great way to get out and celebrate winter coming to an end (well, sort of... we still have a lot of snow on the ground.)

The burger love burger I can't wait for... YUMMMM!  To see more check out www.peiburgerlove.ca

  

The future

I am sitting in my cottage, watching some light flurries fall and quite blissfully enjoying the beginning of my winter vacation.  This is the first time since I have been up here at school that I have not ventured home during the winter break- and while I had ample opportunity to do so, I decided to hold off this time given that my finances will be better spent trying to furnish a new apartment in the not so distant future.  Instead, I took advantage of the beautiful sun yesterday for a walk, and I read more than half of a book for fun.  Today I will be picking up my favorite furry dog to spend some time with him for the night.  I do have an exam coming up next week, but for now I can ignore that.  

 

It seems the majority of my vet school career so far has fallen into a pattern of studying for exams, taking a few weeks off, and then studying for finals.  This semester has been no different- we are now 6 weeks (!!) in, and I have written 3 final exams and a midterm.  The way this semester is set up, with three 5 week modules of classes, I will essentially be writing at least one exam every week from here on out until about the last week in March, just in time to study for final exams!  The bright side to this of course is that we are staring down the barrel at the end of our classroom learning (as I am sure I have mentioned before.)  I always enjoy learning, but I admit that sitting in a classroom is getting old.  I have now spent a significant portion of my life tethered to a desk cramming information into my brain, and I find I am getting restless of doing so.  I just keep telling myself as I sit down to study for yet another exam that it is one less exam left to go- in fact, as a tally I currently have 16 exams left to write, plus the biggest exam of my academic career next December! 

This semester has proven to be my busiest yet, as I surmised it might.  I expected that surgery would keep me busy and it has- we have reading assignments, quizzes, and we also have patients to care for.  So far, thanks to a snowstorm, our first surgery was postponed until next week.  After that, we have another lab that is not a true surgery, and then we begin 6 weeks of live patient surgeries.  It's still looming ahead of me, daunting, but I am also excited to start doing surgery as it makes my career seem that much more like a reality.  On top of surgery, we have assignments for other classes, exams to study for, and occasional group work to do as well.  Overall, my last few weekends have been spent doing school work, and even my evenings after school is spent with my nose in a book or doing something school related.  Prior to this semester, trying to get myself to focus and study during the week was a challenge.  I often did not study during my evenings in the middle of the week unless I had an exam to prep for.  Now, I have been studying almost continuously.   For that reason, I have been anticipating this break more than many other breaks as a chance to take a breather from the books.

The most exciting development is the arrival of my rotation schedule.  It's a pretty safe bet that most people (myself included) have a little rearranging to do with their rotations.  I am actually pretty happy with the way my schedule shook out, however I did not end up getting a rotation in dermatology, neurology, or ophthalmology, all of which I feel will be beneficial down the road for me.  I am going to have 3 weeks worth of time with which to do external rotations, and my current hope is to fill one week with some surgical work (spays and neuters), and take the other two weeks and try to work in at least one of those specialities I mentioned above.  It is very exciting to have my schedule handed in front of me.  There is one rotation I am perhaps most nervous about and didn't necessarily want, but I do think it will be good preparation for the NAVLE and I do think I will be able to learn and become more confident with my skill set so I plan to keep it.  I do have a lot of on-call rotations scheduled- in fact there are a couple of months where my back to back rotations are all on call- so it is quite likely I will be difficult to reach during those times.  However, I am excited about it and ready to take on the challenge of fourth year.  I am nervous as well, because I don't know exactly what to expect heading in to the clinic work, and worried that my skills will be lacking or insufficient, or my knowledge base won't be enough to be competent at this level- but I also am sure that I am not alone in feeling these things, and that the majority of people do just fine in their fourth year.  

This weekend on Sunday we are looking at yet another winter storm.  Winter was very quiet to start- as it was in most places in the East, with very little to no snow on the ground at Christmas.  However, it more than made up for it here.  Since Jan 27th, we have seen over 6 feet of snow fall.  We have about 3-4 feet on the ground right now-  the drifting makes it difficult to tell exactly how much.  We escaped a winter storm here today, however so far it does not look like we will be lucky on Sunday.  The forecast is calling for another foot and a half of snow!  I am not sure where we will put it all if we do get that much.  Many of the streets in the downtown area are severely narrowed, parking lots have lost many spaces to the mounds of snow that have nowhere else to go.  The sidewalks are mostly clear but the snow banks on either side are towering.  So, another foot of snow will make clearing quite difficult.  This also does not account for the fact that it will be a blizzard with strong winds.  I am quite fortunate that the last two big storms we had, each with strong winds, did not knock out my power for more than a minute, so hopefully the same holds for Sunday's storm.  All that said I still love winter, I still get excited when I see a big snowfall predicted and I still go outside and play (though sometimes my playing in the snow is me shoveling). 

 

I will update the blog again soon, perhaps once I do my first surgery here- or when I have my rotations scheduled for good.  In the meantime, Happy Friday the 13!    

The last semester of classroom work!

As of this Monday, I officially began the last semester of my classroom work!  Thinking back to the beginning of my second semester of first year, I was fairly certain that fourth year was this mythical thing that was looming ahead of me but I might never actually reach.  Third year was something I knew very little about, other than at the end we were done being stuck in seats learning from lectures.  Today, I have successfully completed half of my third year, and I am actively beginning to organize my fourth year of school!  As exciting as this all is, I have also spent my first week back (and a fair chunk of my whole school year so far) terrified for what is ahead of me.  Maybe terrified is too strong a word, but I am very nervous about this semester and next year and so far we have been hit with a lot of information and to-do lists to complete in the not too distant future.  Tomorrow we rank our preferences for the rotations that we will take in the fourth year and it's looming over my head as if I don't quite believe we have reached this point yet.  There are many things I am interested in taking, some things I am trying to avoid taking, and some other things that are outside my comfort zone but will be worthwhile pursuing to round out my knowledge base and skill set.  I am going to try and post more on my rotation information in another post once we get things organized as this is really just the tip of the iceberg.  Once we have ranked our preferences for rotations the computer system will randomly generate a schedule for us and we will then be able to add and drop rotations, and rearrange our schedules a bit in order to fill in some external rotations if we want to.  Our class will be the first one at the school using this new system to organize our schedules so no one is entirely sure how well it will work out, but I am guessing that things will work out fine in the end.

It has been awhile since I posted last, and of course we had our finals and winter break.  Final exams last semester were busy but I also felt very pleased with how they went.  By the last exam, which was the third in as many days, I was more than ready to head for home.  I had told my parents and my friends that I would be travelling the 12 hour journey home on Saturday as the last final was Friday and I wanted time to pack and organize.  In actuality I surprised them by returning home Friday instead, and I rolled into my mom's house just before midnight.  I would have been home even sooner had I not stopped at a friends on the way home to have dinner and catch up with her, but it was worth it as I don't see her very often at all.  My mother and Tizzie were both surprised to see me and I was so excited to be home and see them too.  Saturday I went and surprised my father and so began the break.  Three weeks of being on break is not enough really to see all the people who I wish I could, nor spend sufficient time with all of them.  I am always sorry if I don't get a chance to catch up with people, but I promise if I missed out on seeing you this break I will make it up to you when I return home next.  Part of the reason this break was so packed with travel and visiting of friends and family is that I will not be returning home now for the next eight months.  I organized my rotations so that I could have three weeks off in August for some weddings and birthdays, but otherwise until that point I will be here on island doing my rotations which begin in first week in May.  

Upon arriving back home I was greeted to a beautiful scene with tons of snow that was clinging fiercely to trees, wires and essentially everything in sight.  I am not sure I have seen such a picturesque scene in the winter before and been quite as in awe as I was.  Sadly, around Christmas the weather changed to rain and we lost all of the snow that was on the ground.  I don't think Tizzie was sad to see the snow go, or have the warmer temperatures but it made Christmas feel less Christmas like to me.  We were spending the holidays with my sister and brother out where they live and we ended up having a great couple of days out there with them.  For most of the rest of my stay at home the weather was cold but still no snow.  The day I was supposed to leave to drive back to here is the same day an icy system traveled the same route I was supposed to, and unfortunately delayed my return trip so I ended up missing the first day of classes.  Unlike in undergrad, usually our lectures start right in with material- and while I don't always gain a lot by being in lecture I still find them worthwhile to attend, so missing wasn't ideal.  Thankfully I had no labs scheduled and Monday's are my short days anyways.  I made an attempt to leave the house Monday about 5 AM only to have to turn around and go home to wait for salt to hit the roadways. I finally left my house about 7:30 AM and despite having poor road conditions for the first couple of hours of my trip most of the travel was excellent.  Unfortunately the weather hindered my plans to meet up with another one of my friends for lunch so I was bummed by that.  I eventually landed back to my little cottage late Monday night after the cold and windy trip, and unpacked all of my things before retiring to bed.  

Since Tuesday I have been going to class, and while I haven't had them all yet I can say that it is going to be a busy semester.  This semester is organized into three, five week modules where electives are offered for only five weeks at a time.  There are some core courses which are yearlong as well, but the combination of shorter courses and regular length courses means that I have a LOT of exams coming down the pipe and at times my exam schedule will be absolutely miserable.  However, I just keep reminding myself that fifteen weeks goes quickly, and before long we will be into rotations.  This semester I have many different classes but the most daunting and nerve-wracking course is my junior surgery class in which we actually get to perform surgery!  Not only is doing the surgery scary, but other components such as anesthesia and monitoring are making me worried as well (which is somewhat silly since I spent a good chunk of time monitoring anesthesia while working as a technician.)  Today was our orientation lab where we got our lab groups, took a tour of the rooms we were going to be using and needing and learned about how the labs would be working.  While they kept telling us not to be scared I found it very hard not to be anxious.  The labs have tons of components, some assignments, quizzes and of course the patient care.  I am hoping that once we get going I will feel less stressed and more in control and calm about doing things in general as this course is fundamental for my later career.  

Overall, I am trying to get back into the swing of things this week, and by next week I hope to feel like I never stopped going from last semester.  If I can manage to keep up with my school work I will post soon about what my rotation selections were, and what the process has been like- but I know once the semester gets into full swing I won't have the luxury of time to post as much.  If you pester me for slacking on writing posts then I likely will take a breather and write one!  In the meantime,  I am just going to try and stay warm on this bitterly cold place- and hope for some snow!