Blood, Sweat, and Tears

This weekend was a toughie for me. I'm already feeling a bit worn out from this block (the late nights and early mornings are really getting to me). This weekend I was on call during the Saturday 8am to 8pm shift. I ended up with two patients one of which went to surgery so I spent 1pm to 10pm at school (sweat). Let's just say there were some miscommunications with my supervisors and I spent most of that night beating myself up over it (tears). The patients are all ok, and my clinicians will get over it I suppose...so all's well that ends well. Darned if that little patient didn't bite me this morning too (blood)! I must have looked pretty tired and frazzled this morning when I trudged into school at 6:45am to check on my patients, because the clinicians told me to take the rest of the day off to rest. One of my patients owners asked when I called, "Do you ever get any time off?" So I took the hint, and rest and recharge is just what I did! We missed church this morning since I didn't get home in time, but I got some laundry done, went grocery shopping, scrapbooked a little, watched television, and then Chase and I went out to Eagle Bluffs.

Eagle Bluffs is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I thank God for letting us find it and enjoy His work there. It hit the spot for the much needed respite from school...Chase even put up with my stopping his birding for posed photos together :) This place puts my heart at ease.

A day in the life of...

Credits are in my sweet shoppe gallery.


I was going to do a week in the life of..but every day looks about like this. Since I don't want to take pictures of all the internal viscera during surgery (which is what makes my days different...the organs operated on) I figured just one day would do the trick. Weekends are patient care but no new patients or surgeries (unless i'm on call). Ugh...I'm on call this upcoming Saturday during the day.

Surgery hasn't been as scary as I thought it would be...*knock on wood*

Happy Anniversary!

Chase and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary tomorrow. 2 years!!! How quickly they flew by! I have to say I love him more than ever. We're still very happy together and we intend to stay happy! We have such wonderful adventures together - from hot air balloons, lost ponies, fields of sunflowers - we really enjoy our time together! We laugh ourselves to tears almost once a week. Anyway...Happy Anniversary to us!


Peace and Love, y'all.

P.s. I'm having an episode of "Sick of school" and...."what the heck do I do after school?!" right now. Eep.

Saturday Adventures

I had most of the day off today -only having to go check on my patient in the morning. So Chase and I set out on an adventure to photograph sunflowers. We had seen a field of them at sunset a couple of weeks ago, but when we arrived in the blazing heat today most of them were past their prime. As soon as we got back to the apartment we both fell asleep for a couple of hours...the heat just takes it out of you! Stay cool out there!



Peace and Love, y'all

Neurology

I've had my first three days of my surgery rotation (starting with neurology). So far it hasn't been as bad as expected. Now don't get me wrong, it is a lot of hard work. I didn't get home from school until 10:30 last night. But so far it has been very interesting. As long as the clinicians keep their attitudes positive and stay in a teaching mood, I think I might enjoy this part of surgery. A lot of the surgeries we do are very successful, and we can take a dog unable to walk and give it the ability to walk. AWESOME!

Recent Events - Trudging Onward

Chase and I helped with a picnic sponsored by Chase's boss this weekend. She put Chase in charge of planning it, so he was very relieved that it was a fun event for all involved. Of course, there was way too much food, but everyone had a blast and, most importantly, Chase's boss was pleased.

Sunday we went to church. The sermon continued to follow the life of Joseph...stuck in a foreign land without a job in economic hard times trying to follow God's will. It was a good sermon and very applicable to our life now. Afterward I met Santana at the mall for pedicures. I chose a vibrant red, and she has the blue with flowers.

I also hit up New York and Company's sale on last season's styles (who cares about keeping up to date anyway!). I bought this shirt and one just like it in brown :) HOoray for new clothes! Now I have to wait for this season's styles to go out so I can stock up on the beautiful pink that just came in.

I finished my Therio rotation today. I didn't leave it with that satisfied feeling that comes from knowing you did your best. What can I say? Having my arm shoved up a cow's rectum up to the shoulder is just not my thing...neither is collecting semen using phantom mares and artificial vaginas, eletroejaculators, or digital manipulation. Nope...not fun at all. I'm glad to be finished with it. You know what my reproductive advice is for dogs and cats? SPAY and NEUTER your pets please! Needless to say, I put forth what effort I could muster despite the unappealing nature of the work to be done. I didn't do so well on the test either. Oh well...pretty sure I passed (or at least I feel that I should pass). Tomorrow I start my surgery rotation, and I'm really nervous about it. It's only for 6 weeks so I just have to jump in and get it done! I feel like it's all down hill from there. After surgery, I'll have community medicine (6 weeks), internal medicine (3 weeks), anesthesia (3 weeks), radiology (3 weeks), ophthalmology (3 weeks), and 3 weeks of a spay-neuter preceptorship. I'll have 9 weeks to do more preceptorships and job hunt!


Peace and Love, y'all

The 4th of July

Chase's family came to visit over the holiday weekend. We had a great time just hanging out and checking out the local frozen custard and yogurt shops. I was on call for a lot of the weekend, but managed to only get called in for 2 emergencies :) Hooray! So I was able to cook all the food I had planned on making...spinach and tomato-bacon quiche on biscuit, zucchini bread, rainson bran bread, and oven-baked fried chicken. We visited my favorite Thai food place, and it was ooooh soooo delicious! I wish we lived closer so we could visit more often (and I love cooking for people...). Ruby wishes they would stay all the time...she needs more respect (she got a bath and her anal glands expressed today).


Summer is undeniably here! My flowers are in bloom; my tomato plant is growing well, but has no blooms yet.

To celebrate the 4th Chase and I went over to a friends house for bbq and fireworks. No sooner had I grabbed a sparkler did my phone ring. So I had to go in to help with a sick animal, but I watched the city's fireworks from the vet school parking lot waiting for it to arrive.



My hibiscus is flowering :)

Chase spread some birdseed out in the weed patch behind our apartment (where there were formerly trees before the power company cut them down), and look what grew: big beautiful sunflowers! So if we don't make it to a field of sunflowers this summer - at least I'll have some here to enjoy!


Peace and Love, y'all!

Father's Day

My parents came to visit over the last weekend. We had a lovely visit but I wish they could have stayed longer. I miss my family. Happy Fathers day to all the daddies out there! Thank you Uncle Frank for letting my parents come visit!


I made biscuit quiches (quiche on biscuit dough in a cupcake tin) and roasted potatoes for Saturday morning breakfast. Then we toured all the local flea markets in the area (finding nothing but a cracker tin to purchase). We caught lunch down town, and grilled pork chops at home for dinner. The following morning we went to our favorite Columbia, MO breakfast haunt: Cafe Berlin. It was delicious as usual. Mom and I both ordered the Pancake Burrito, my personal favorite.

Peace and love, y'all



QUICHE on a BISCUIT

Mix together:
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup of milk
salt and pepper
1 cup milk (I used skim)
1 cup of cheese (I used parmesan)
10 oz of frozen spinach (thawed and processed)
2 tsp of flour

Liberally grease a muffin tin. Using a can of uncooked, refrigerated biscuit dough, poke a biscuit into each well and flatten it down. Then fill each cup with the mixture above. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. :) Nom nom nom nom.

Memories of Goodbye

I just finished my 2 week oncology rotation and seeing all the recently diagnosed cancer patients reminded me of my own dear Corky. Corky died of lymphoma in my senior year of high school. He was a good little friend and my loyal defender. The decision to pursue chemotherpy or end of life care is one of the most difficult choices we ever faced. Knowing when to say goodbye was even more difficult.

This picture was taken shortly before he was euthanized. We knew when it was time. He got that look...that far off look I see in some of my patients that are close to passing. But it's always hard - even when you know "it's time." My heart breaks for all my clients going through this now. I want to give them a hug and let them know that someday these painful memories of the end will fade in comparison to memories of all the happy years of wagging tails and puppy kisses.



Peace and love, y'all!

Burgers & bunnies

This is my layout for our "F" restaurant: Five Guys. They had good burgers.

This weekend, I don't have a patient in the hospital so I pretty much get the weekend off :) Hooray. My only responsibility this morning was walking the greyhounds. So I get the two ladies I'm responsible for leashed up and head out on our morning walk. The bunnies were out in full force...Once I reached the halfway mark, one particularly stupid bunny refused to move as the dogs stared, ready to pounce. Before I could tighten the slack in the leash the bunny decided it should indeed hop off - initiating the chase. Of course in proper comic book fashion, I was left hanging on the end of the leash as I belly flopped onto the grass after my shins came to a rapid stop at the 2 foot retaining wall the dogs jumped over. I never let go of the leashes... *Greyhound Fail* I dusted myself off and the 3 of us headed back toward the vet school. About halfway back, I realized my phone was missing...so I grumpily trudged back to the aforementioned retaining wall, retrieved my phone, and then walked the hounds back to their runs. I'm definitely feeling a bit achy after this escapade.


Peace and love, y'all

Cicadas and Radioactive poo

This is a year of the cicada so the trees are just crawling with them! So I whipped out my zoom lens and tried to snap some shots...occasionally pausing to flail and hit at my hair. Speaking of hair...I got a wild hair and had mine cut short again :) I like it short.

Right now I'm on my oncology rotation and I love it. I know it really sounds quite depressing dealing with cancer on a daily basis...but only the most dedicated of owners come here and only really awesome animals get chemo and radiation. One funny thing that happened involved one of the dogs recieving a radioactive chemical to help treat his cancer. Well the poor fellow isn't allowed outside for 48 hours while the radioactive thingy decays, so he was put on wood shavings for his visit. On his final day, we had to given him a bath. We were decked out in plastic jump suits, face masks, hair nets, double gloved, and double plastic boots..and wearing a bright yellow apron. The bath went well, but as soon as I set him on the ground...he POOPED. So I had to call the head hauncho to find out how to dispose of the poop. Basically I just put it in a trash bin radioactive material and taped off the area with orange plastic. It was such a funny situation. Luckily nobody got any radiation :)


Today was glorious! I woke up late, trudged over to the oven and threw some cinnamon roles in, walked the dogs while they were cooking, and returned to a nice cup of joe w/ cinnamon rolls to share with my husband. Then I went to a BeautiControl party for fask masks, mini manicure and peticures :) After that I was feeling like shopping - so I headed off ot the mall and got a hair cut and my eyebrows done. HOORAY for being out of the dungeon and HOORAY for free weekends. I only had to go in for 1 hour to walk 3 dogs. So... my smile has returned in full force! Sorry for the whiny posts earlier.


Peace and Love, y'all

Life, Death, and the Veterinarian

Today euthanasia has been heavy on my mind. I've heard people tell me they could never be a veterinarian because they could never euthanize an animal. Euthanasia is tough...and I hold back tears every time, but I truly believe it's the best option in some cases. After all, when you have an animal who is suffering...who won't even get up to eat or drink because of the pain... how can you prolong its suffering especially if you believe its disease process is terminal? It breaks my heart to leave an animal to suffer just for the sake of prolonging its life.


Anyway.... I'll move on to more cheerful Saturday ramblings. It doesn't feel like Saturday. I was at school for most of the morning, did on paper work for a couple of hours while intermittently napping, and now I'm contemplating cleaning my disaster of an apartment. I have to say I'm ready for Wednesday to get here when I start a new block. I haven't cooked a real dinner in weeks and any sense of nutrition has died... Today I ate three donuts...the first because I was hungry, the second because it was different from the first, and the third because I was sad to be stuck at school (and depressed about one of my cases). They were quite tasty :) Then I had a bowl of cereal, two egg rolls, and a bowl of strawberries for my dinner/lunch.

Plans for the week:
-CLEAN the house!!!!
- Study for Surgery exam
-Study for anesthesia exam
-finish loads of paper work regarding my current patients
-Sunday: 8am-8pm work Equine ICU
-Monday: on call
-Tuesday: Work ICU until 12:30am
-Wednesday: 6:00 care for current patients and transfer to new students. 7:30am Orientation of Oncology! NEW BLOCK!!! And the good news is Oncology patients usually go HOME, and so I MIGHT get a weekend off! HOORAY! I <3 sleep.

Kites, corndogs, tornadoes in a veterinary hospital...and hope

Credits are of course in my Sweet Shoppe Gallery.


This has been a rather challenging block for Chase and I. He's working on a paper, and I'm stuck working with ill-fated, 1200lb animals with hard hooves. I love my primary patient (most of the time), but I'm ready to get to a block where I'm working with dogs and cats again. I'm tired of the on-call and late night ICU shifts...colics and broken legs...and the poop. ANYWAY...enough whing... how about something fun!

A friend and I recently went kite flying just for the sheer fun of it. We had a blast and it brought a bit of joy back into my step. Kites will always be a sign of hope for me now. This last Christmas, Chase prayed to see a sign that everything was going to work out alright in the form of a kite. What did we see on the way to the hospital, but a bright red kite caught in a tree! So that's what I think of when I see a kite. On another note, I prayed for corndogs and mac and cheese for lunch at the Zou yesterday (since I was feeling really stressed with the day). Sure enough, we had just that as the daily special. I know those two examples sound perfectly silly, but when specific (albeit silly) prayers are answered so specifically...I can't help but smile and thank God for the many blessings he's poured out on our lives. Even if Chase and I have some struggles coming up in the future (with careers and whatnot), I know God will see us through.


Today was surreal. I performed anesthesia for an elective procedure on horse this morning...went straight into the hall to take shelter immediately after the fellow was recovered and in his stall. The tornado sirens were on full alarm. What happens at a veterinary teaching hospital during a tornado? Well all 100 students + current clients + patients who are able + clinicians pile into the basement level hall and take cover. It was a zoo! There were students with their precious patients in their arms and nervous looking clients everywhere as clicians tried to finish their examinations in the hall! Luckily no tornado touched down in Columbia, and all animals made it safely back to their crates. As soon as that was over, I rushed in to perform anesthesia on an emergency colic. What a day! I just got home to eat two egg rolls, pile my soiled scrubs into the washer, and take a shower! And the whole crazy cycle will start anew tomorrow morning.

Please pray for Chase as he struggles with his pHD.



Peace and love, y'all. Stay safe with the stormy weather!

The Joy of Nature

These pictures are from last weekend. It was a beautiful trip and I'm enjoying revisiting the pictures. Today I'm feeling a bit run down from all the ICU and on call shifts. I'm so dang tired. I feel like this is the first night off I've had in awhile, and I just can't bring myself to study. Hopefully I'll sneak through rounds tomorrow... I'm on call tomorrow...working ICU on Wednesday until 12:30am...and then I'm on call EVERY FREAKING DAY of the weekend...Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Talk about drawing the short straw... Anyway, the moral of the story is...I'm done with this block emotionally.. BLEH. So ready for the next thing.


Anyway, I wish I had more time to enjoy the beautiful spring, but I'll take what I can get! Enjoy these pictures.... peace and love, y'all

Countdown to graduation (or at least I think what time it will be)....11months, 25 days, 16 hours, and 10 minutes.

Sneaky Chase and Katie

These are both for "big sis"

Chase and I went hiking today, and we came upon a curvy stretch of trail that ran through tall grass. So we made our best sneaky faces and took pictures!

I'm currently on the graveyard shift in Equine ICU. Yay for late nights/early mornings......yup...y a y.

A layout!

I made a layout that I'm really fond of! I entered it into a CT contest. Haha, I doubt I'll make it, but winning the 10 gift card (drawn at random) would be AWESOME! If by some miracle I do end up on her CT, the requirement is 1 layout a week. I think I could do that. It might be really difficult during my surgery block...but that's not for weeks. And besides...you have to have a little fun!

This is a picture of all the little ribbons I left for Chase listing 100 reasons why I love him. Some of them are quite silly ^_^ Credits are over at Sweet Shoppe...and DST.

Ugh...too bad I have school tomorrow. I have ICU duty until 12:30 am tomorrow. It's going to be a long night! Next Saturday I have the 8pm to 8am shift...another long night! Yucko...yuck..yuck. I can't wait to get out of school. I'm never working an overnight shift! And I'm never going on call again! Unless...of course...I'm paid very well for it....VERY WELL.


Oh...well time for bed.

Saturday W/ Good Inentions

Today I'm on call. Of course I've got my fingers crossed all horses in our service area stay happy and healthy this weekend. Equine is going much better now. I finally got a patient of my own and I'm much more motivated to learn about equines now. I love working with clients and caring for MY patients, but babysitting someone else's patient is less motivating. My clincian said I was doing really well writing SOAPs. SOAPs are annoying to write, but so important! They are what protects you in the even of a lawsuit, and allows another doctor resume the same quality of care if you get transferred off the case. VERY important.

I'm finally getting around to that deep spring cleaning. Chase vacuumed and dusted while I put away all the miscellaneous out-of-place items that accumulated over the week. I'm still struggling to keep up with housework. Oh well. Yesterday I gave Ruby a bath, and today both dogs got their heartworm preventative. Guilty confession: I think I averaged giving it every other month this last year. BAD vet-to-be! BAD!! What's worse is drug reps provide it for free. No excuses for me! I'll check them for heartworms after graduation. When I do graduate, how crappy would it be if my first heartworm positive patients were my own two lovely dogs! Please be better about giving it to your own dogs! Heartworm disease can be life threatening...and it's very expensive to treat.

So as long as I don't get called in... here are my plans for this weekend!

-Vacuum CHECK
-dust CHECK
-shampoo the carpets and get dog-vomit stains up. - CHECK
-Swaps to make ATCs for: Baliwood Brides and French Maids - 1/2 CHECK
-conquer the guest bedroom (I've just kept the door closed and ignored its existance since I got back from TX) - CHECK
-put away all dishes - CHECK
-cook dinner (hopefully it will turn out better than yesterday's margarita salmon dinner...) -CHECK (frozen pizza was indeed better than the salmon)


I suppose it's time to turn off Extreme Makeover Home Edition and get going! You know...as they are revealing the bedrooms, I can't help but thinking the children will grow out of these heavily themed rooms very quickly. Maybe they should make their rooms a little bit more growable... Children aren't going to want to live in a pirate ship forever. But it's awesome for now ^_^

Peace and love, y'all.

Diversions in the Sunshine

I had such great intentions today for spring cleaning. Indeed I did accomplish some of my to do list: fixing my head light, mailing a letter, planting the flowers... Most of my day was spent with Chase enjoying the spring (spending time with the hubby is more important than cleaning anyway). We went to our favorite birding haunt: Eagle Bluffs. Here are some pictures from our adventure:

This was my favorite photo of the day: a solitary sandpiper we saw as we were driving out of the park.

Everything is starting to turn green.