HOWDY!
Well, it's been 58 days since I arrived home from Okotoks, but it feels like a lot longer. Although it's nice being home, I really do miss everything about being in Alberta. I loved my job, the clinic, the people, the view of the mountains, EVERYTHING. Why then did I come back East, you ask.
#1 My income taxes needed my attention. If I didn't want the government coming after me, then they kind of needed to get done.
#2 My drivers licence expired on my birthday, and with it, my military drivers licence. Because I did not have a permanent, fixed address in Alberta, the government would not issue me a Alberta provincial licence. Therefore when I returned to PEI, that was the first thing that I did.
#3 Learning to drive the new car that I bought was KIND OF important... No, before 58 days ago, I didn't know how to drive a standard, but I do now!! I've taken it on one road trip so far, and will be taking her on a few more in the next few months. You know...ironing out the kinks :)
#4 To study for my national exam. I write it on the 20th of June, and NEED to pass it in order to work in the western provinces. Although I have not been studying for it AS MUCH as I would like, I still have 39 days to crack down and study hard!
#5 And finally, with the cost of living so much greater in Alberta, I wanted to make sure that I was going to put myself in a financially safe position when establishing myself out there. With not owning a couch, or bed, or pots or pans, I would be seeing a lot of money go towards getting myself set up. Money that I don't have. So I've decided to accept my summer contract with the military and bank the money that I will make and put it towards all of the little things I will be needing.
I think that what I appreciate most about being home though, is the ability to just sit on a couch and watch TV. I know that sounds stupid, but when you live in a basement with no windows, for 6 weeks, and the only thing that you have is a single bed, a computer and a radio, it gets pretty depressing! Just to lounge on something soft, and listen to anything other than the radio, really does make the difference.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the beast, the IKEA dog bum, and my bernie brown prints!
-Ashley
Monday, May 12, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Home, home on the rangeeeeee!
So I've made it home! Many many hours later.....
Yesterday was NUTS! Started the day off with doing floats. What was supposed to be 14 ended up only being 7. It still took 4 hours though.
The afternoon was pretty tame. I helpped in Small animal, and did random things around the clinic. That was until 5pm... That's when my supervisor came in and said " Oh ASHLEYYY, guess what we have coming innnn!" The only thing that I have been wishing for every day for the past 6 weeks!! A COLIC SURGERY!!
Well, the horse went on fluids, was given some of the new drug that we had a meeting about, and then he got better, then worse, and then better, and then worse again....so they called in the surgery team, and then they came, and then they left, because yet again, the horse got better. Short of the long, I left and the horse hadn't gone on the table. I called the clinic this afternoon when I got home, and asked if it had gone to surgery, and it hadn't, so that made me feel better! :)
Once I got to the airport, I realized that I had forgotten my Bernie Brown prints at the clinic! I was TRAUMATIZED, and embarrassed at the same time. I say embarrassed because....oh my....because I couldnt hold onto the beer that I was holding....so I had to set down the prints in order to reposition the beer...and I forgot to pick the prints back up and bring them to the truck. So this afternoon I called the clinic to get them brought to the front, because on Monday my wonderful cousin is going to go and pick them up, and bring them to her wonderful husband who is going to pack them and ship them to me!
I thought that I was going to have a problem sleeping on the plane, despite the fact that it was a red-eye, however I was asleep even before the pulled us away from the gates! I woke up, only to realize that we were in the air, and that was a scary feeling. Very " how did I get here" kind of feeling. We flew from Calgary to Toronto on a 767. That was the biggest plane that I have ever been on. 2 window seats, 3 middle seats, followed by 2 more window seats. I always ask for a window seat, but because it was an airmiles flight, I often get stuck looking down at the wing. And where this was a 767...it had a VERY large wing. So even if I wanted to see anything, I couldnt have.
The layover in Toronto wasnt too bad. I kicked my bags under my seat and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Once I was on the jet to Charlottetown I fell asleep again! I didnt have anyone sitting beside me, so I was able to stretch out and sleep a little more comfortably.
When I got home, I immediately went and inspected my truck. She's a beauty! Very dirty on the inside, so I spent close to 2 hours inside cleaning her up. My dad jumped in with me and we drove up and down the street a few times. Only stalled it once, and that's because I didn't have the clutch in nearly as much as it was supposed to be. :)
Mom even had a cake made for me!!! It was very good!! A butter pecan cake minus the pecans!! hahah
Anyway, now I'm going to go to bed. Believe it or not, I'm still tired, so when I wake up tomorrow, maybe I can unpack more than just my PJ's!!
Yesterday was NUTS! Started the day off with doing floats. What was supposed to be 14 ended up only being 7. It still took 4 hours though.
The afternoon was pretty tame. I helpped in Small animal, and did random things around the clinic. That was until 5pm... That's when my supervisor came in and said " Oh ASHLEYYY, guess what we have coming innnn!" The only thing that I have been wishing for every day for the past 6 weeks!! A COLIC SURGERY!!
Well, the horse went on fluids, was given some of the new drug that we had a meeting about, and then he got better, then worse, and then better, and then worse again....so they called in the surgery team, and then they came, and then they left, because yet again, the horse got better. Short of the long, I left and the horse hadn't gone on the table. I called the clinic this afternoon when I got home, and asked if it had gone to surgery, and it hadn't, so that made me feel better! :)
Once I got to the airport, I realized that I had forgotten my Bernie Brown prints at the clinic! I was TRAUMATIZED, and embarrassed at the same time. I say embarrassed because....oh my....because I couldnt hold onto the beer that I was holding....so I had to set down the prints in order to reposition the beer...and I forgot to pick the prints back up and bring them to the truck. So this afternoon I called the clinic to get them brought to the front, because on Monday my wonderful cousin is going to go and pick them up, and bring them to her wonderful husband who is going to pack them and ship them to me!
I thought that I was going to have a problem sleeping on the plane, despite the fact that it was a red-eye, however I was asleep even before the pulled us away from the gates! I woke up, only to realize that we were in the air, and that was a scary feeling. Very " how did I get here" kind of feeling. We flew from Calgary to Toronto on a 767. That was the biggest plane that I have ever been on. 2 window seats, 3 middle seats, followed by 2 more window seats. I always ask for a window seat, but because it was an airmiles flight, I often get stuck looking down at the wing. And where this was a 767...it had a VERY large wing. So even if I wanted to see anything, I couldnt have.
The layover in Toronto wasnt too bad. I kicked my bags under my seat and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Once I was on the jet to Charlottetown I fell asleep again! I didnt have anyone sitting beside me, so I was able to stretch out and sleep a little more comfortably.
When I got home, I immediately went and inspected my truck. She's a beauty! Very dirty on the inside, so I spent close to 2 hours inside cleaning her up. My dad jumped in with me and we drove up and down the street a few times. Only stalled it once, and that's because I didn't have the clutch in nearly as much as it was supposed to be. :)
Mom even had a cake made for me!!! It was very good!! A butter pecan cake minus the pecans!! hahah
Anyway, now I'm going to go to bed. Believe it or not, I'm still tired, so when I wake up tomorrow, maybe I can unpack more than just my PJ's!!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Countdown to the Red eye. T- minus 31 hours!!
Yesterday was my day off!! I did a little bit of packing in the morning, but the rest of the day was spent with my cousin Leanne. She took me to Calgary tower!!! I got a lot of great pictures. ( Ill put them up when I get home and have highspeed and dont have to worry about it taking forever.) We also went to Lammles where I bought a new western chiseled leather with concho cell phone case. I also bought a new shirt. Wrangler shirts were 10$ off :) ( Thats my justification for buying)! haha.
We also went to IKEA. Oh my. You always see those commercials " START THE CAR....START THE CARRRRRR...START THE CAR!!!!" heheheh Well Leanne took me there too. IT's HUGE. GIGANTIC! and it has so many beautiful things! Rooms "set up" to provide you with an idea of how to use a space etc. Well I was going through saying " I want this bedroom with that kitchen and this here bathroom, and I want this living room." hahah IT WAS AWESOME! I bought these 2 little dog bums! You place them on a hook, like you were to hang a picture. It holds things! :) One is pink and the other lime green! Ill take a picture. You cant appreciate them until you see what they look like!
So, tonight my evening consists of packing, doing laundry, packing the laundry, and...then thats it. Tomorrow being my last day, I've been tasked with assisting on FOURTEEN floats!!! HO-LY DYNA. That is pretty much the whole day right there! Should see something interesting, unless its all routine.
This morning was pretty low key. A couple of appointments. At lunch, the entire clinic went down to a chineese food buffet for the small animal tech's going away party. Afterwards, her and I went across to the "boot hill gallery". A beautiful western everything store. The owner, is a fantastic western pencil artist. So I bought 3 of his prints. You can check them out at http://berniebrown.com/web/desktopdefault.aspx
I bought: Achievement day, boys will be boys ( both on the mini reproductions page) and cream of the crop ( farm/ranch prints).
ACTUALLY, just as a point of interest, remember how two weekends ago I went processing cattle? well THAT rancher and Mr Bernie Brown own cattle together, so I was working on some of his cows that day!
After lunch I went on the road with one of the practice owners. We went out to do reproductive work on a bunch of mares at this HUUUGE thoroughbred farm. AND! This farm and Meridian farms are on the same property. Meridian is a standardbred farm owned by two brothers. One brother runs half the show on PEI, while the other brother runs the show out here! Back at christmas when I was on the road with one of the vets from charlottetown, we stopped off at Meridian, and one of the guys there said that if I got a chance while I was out here, to go out and say hello to a guy by the name of Terry. So, that's exactly what I did. Walked into the barn, introduced myself and we chatted for about 15-20 mins before I went back to help with the Thoroughbreds. AMAZING place.
The repro work that was being done on these mares involed ultrasounding their ovaries to detect follicle size. This information helps the farm manager determine when to breed these females.
We also placed two transmitters!! VERY COOL! Its sewn onto the skin adjacent to the mares vulva so that when she starts foaling, the magnet of the transmitter " breaks" and sets off an alarm ( the farm managers phone). So if she were to foal in the middle of the night, he can go out and help her to foal. This farm manager in particular swears by them, and rightfully so if you have as much money put into a horse like some of the ranches down here do.
Anyway, laundry just finished getting washed. Once it's dry, ill get to pack them! In the mean time, I'm going to go and make some dinner.
See you all ( or some of you) on Saturday :)
We also went to IKEA. Oh my. You always see those commercials " START THE CAR....START THE CARRRRRR...START THE CAR!!!!" heheheh Well Leanne took me there too. IT's HUGE. GIGANTIC! and it has so many beautiful things! Rooms "set up" to provide you with an idea of how to use a space etc. Well I was going through saying " I want this bedroom with that kitchen and this here bathroom, and I want this living room." hahah IT WAS AWESOME! I bought these 2 little dog bums! You place them on a hook, like you were to hang a picture. It holds things! :) One is pink and the other lime green! Ill take a picture. You cant appreciate them until you see what they look like!
So, tonight my evening consists of packing, doing laundry, packing the laundry, and...then thats it. Tomorrow being my last day, I've been tasked with assisting on FOURTEEN floats!!! HO-LY DYNA. That is pretty much the whole day right there! Should see something interesting, unless its all routine.
This morning was pretty low key. A couple of appointments. At lunch, the entire clinic went down to a chineese food buffet for the small animal tech's going away party. Afterwards, her and I went across to the "boot hill gallery". A beautiful western everything store. The owner, is a fantastic western pencil artist. So I bought 3 of his prints. You can check them out at http://berniebrown.com/web/desktopdefault.aspx
I bought: Achievement day, boys will be boys ( both on the mini reproductions page) and cream of the crop ( farm/ranch prints).
ACTUALLY, just as a point of interest, remember how two weekends ago I went processing cattle? well THAT rancher and Mr Bernie Brown own cattle together, so I was working on some of his cows that day!
After lunch I went on the road with one of the practice owners. We went out to do reproductive work on a bunch of mares at this HUUUGE thoroughbred farm. AND! This farm and Meridian farms are on the same property. Meridian is a standardbred farm owned by two brothers. One brother runs half the show on PEI, while the other brother runs the show out here! Back at christmas when I was on the road with one of the vets from charlottetown, we stopped off at Meridian, and one of the guys there said that if I got a chance while I was out here, to go out and say hello to a guy by the name of Terry. So, that's exactly what I did. Walked into the barn, introduced myself and we chatted for about 15-20 mins before I went back to help with the Thoroughbreds. AMAZING place.
The repro work that was being done on these mares involed ultrasounding their ovaries to detect follicle size. This information helps the farm manager determine when to breed these females.
We also placed two transmitters!! VERY COOL! Its sewn onto the skin adjacent to the mares vulva so that when she starts foaling, the magnet of the transmitter " breaks" and sets off an alarm ( the farm managers phone). So if she were to foal in the middle of the night, he can go out and help her to foal. This farm manager in particular swears by them, and rightfully so if you have as much money put into a horse like some of the ranches down here do.
Anyway, laundry just finished getting washed. Once it's dry, ill get to pack them! In the mean time, I'm going to go and make some dinner.
See you all ( or some of you) on Saturday :)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Done like dinner.
Well, it's official.
This morning I told my supervisor that I'm going to decline the job offer.
I hadn't gotten the official offer in writing thursday or Friday, so that gave me the week and weekend to think about things.
Things that are going through my head include the logistics behind writing my national exam, learning how to drive my car, wanting to attend my graduation etc. These and a few other things were really weighing on my mind, and made me stress. Most of the stress came from the major logistics of getting myself situated here in such a short time.
Like I said to my supervisor, I wasn't expecting an offer, so I made plans this spring and summer, and to just up and expect to relocate without a whole lot of time to do so was hard.
So I decided that I'll come home. Study for my national exam ( which I need to pass in order to work out here, so VERY IMPORTANT), attend the APVC ( a big vet conference in Halifax in April.), glide this spring ( money that I forgot about), fly this summer ( money that I was factoring in ), see keith urban live in concert..., attend my graduation ( Isabelle will be extremely happy...), learn to drive my car ( because I can't), spend easter with my family, go to the 60 sqn ACR ( big parade in which my dad is stepping down and my sister is taking over). During this time, over the summer to be exact, Im going to look at job postings for the locality in Alberta, and plan on returning in September. ( oh yes, and I need to sign income tax papers and tend to my drivers licence, because it's expired...)
Before I was able to actually tell my supervisor that I was declining, she began to tell me about how the partners were okay with me going away for the summer. I was hoping to avoid knowing this and other details because I didnt want to have more stress from rethinking my decision.
So after I told her, she asked if returning to this clinic in september is something that interests me if I were to have a gauranteed job. I said most definately. I love this clinic. I love working on the horses. I love being a tech. But if I am stressing about all of this as much as I am, then maybe that's a sign that I shouldn't be here RIGHT now.
So yes. That's my situation. Took a lot of effort, but what's done is done. No regrets...yet.
This morning I told my supervisor that I'm going to decline the job offer.
I hadn't gotten the official offer in writing thursday or Friday, so that gave me the week and weekend to think about things.
Things that are going through my head include the logistics behind writing my national exam, learning how to drive my car, wanting to attend my graduation etc. These and a few other things were really weighing on my mind, and made me stress. Most of the stress came from the major logistics of getting myself situated here in such a short time.
Like I said to my supervisor, I wasn't expecting an offer, so I made plans this spring and summer, and to just up and expect to relocate without a whole lot of time to do so was hard.
So I decided that I'll come home. Study for my national exam ( which I need to pass in order to work out here, so VERY IMPORTANT), attend the APVC ( a big vet conference in Halifax in April.), glide this spring ( money that I forgot about), fly this summer ( money that I was factoring in ), see keith urban live in concert..., attend my graduation ( Isabelle will be extremely happy...), learn to drive my car ( because I can't), spend easter with my family, go to the 60 sqn ACR ( big parade in which my dad is stepping down and my sister is taking over). During this time, over the summer to be exact, Im going to look at job postings for the locality in Alberta, and plan on returning in September. ( oh yes, and I need to sign income tax papers and tend to my drivers licence, because it's expired...)
Before I was able to actually tell my supervisor that I was declining, she began to tell me about how the partners were okay with me going away for the summer. I was hoping to avoid knowing this and other details because I didnt want to have more stress from rethinking my decision.
So after I told her, she asked if returning to this clinic in september is something that interests me if I were to have a gauranteed job. I said most definately. I love this clinic. I love working on the horses. I love being a tech. But if I am stressing about all of this as much as I am, then maybe that's a sign that I shouldn't be here RIGHT now.
So yes. That's my situation. Took a lot of effort, but what's done is done. No regrets...yet.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
An update is neccessary
Well, I believe I last wrote on Wednesday? So I've got lots to write about. ( And explain why I haven't been writing).
Wednesday I got birthday presents !! From my mom and sister. It was great! I also forgot to mention that the practice manager was having a meeting with the 3 partners the next morning and wanted to be able to understand it and come up with a plan. I was told that I'd likely receive the offer on Thursday or Friday. I didn't get one on either. I did however go to one of the girls house that ngiht for pizza, and spent the night. So I couldnt write.
Thursday was just another day at work. We had a horse come in with Purpura!! So I got to set up the isolation stall for him. After work, I went over to one of the tech's house. Her boyfriend had made a pot roast, WITH LOTS OF GARLIC!!!!! I love garlic.... and we had potatoes and brocolli with cheese!! It was really fantastic! And then we watch TV till close to 11pm before she took me back here. ( Again, I couldnt write.)
Friday, my birthday, was just another day. Busy. Lots of b-day wishes. IN FACT! Thanks to facebook, I got 44 happy birthdays at lunch on friday, 22 after work, and 6 more when I got back from the party. THATS A LOT OF BIRTHDAY WISHES!!
After having gone out after the staff party on Friday night, visiting the porcelain throne, sleeping on the bathroom floor....and dragging myself to bed at 5am...Yesterday was brutal. I had intentions to sleep during my lunch, because I definately wasn't planning on eating anything....but that didn't happen. It was crazy yesterday. CRAZY. Worked all through lunch.
Saturday started off with 2 calls on the road. ( Last week we had a federal vet come in and talk to us about CEM testing), so one of our calls was not the testing, but the cleaning part. CEM testing needs to be done on any mare that comes from the EU. So, .....there we were, cleaning the vulva of this miniature shetland pony that came from holland... too funny.
When we came back to the clinic, the vet tended to a Colic and a severed digital artery....while I got to cold hose our Purpura friend.
The case vet and one of the partners came to check on him while I was there, and you wouldn't believe what they found....He had a LOT of edema. Hard pitting edema too, that you could leave imprints of your fingers in it! So the partner was touching it, and tapping it as if he was playing the bongos or something, and his pectorals and just over his lungs behind his front leg was making this RIDICULOUS SPLASHING NOISE!! Everytime you touched it, you could move the fluid! So they made a few incisions, and because there was so much pressure inside, the fluid just GUSHED out!!! It was a TWO FOOT LONG ABSCESS!!! basically running the length of his scapula! So that fluid....was actually pus!! OMG it smelled SO bad! I wish we had of put a bucket under it to catch the pus because I bet there was...a good 5L of pus in there that came out! hahaha SO COOL! The partner said that in his 35 years of practicing he had NEVER seen an abscess that big!! Anyway, I got to stick a hose in one hole, and let it fill with water until it drained out the other. Pretty neat actually.
After that, we had a few more appointments before the day was actually over. I got invited over to the house of the vet that I was on call with for SUSHI!! It was so good!
Woke up this morning to do treatments on our no longer a purpura case horse, and now am going to go and do a few loads of laundry, study, shower, sleep, and then go and tend to my isolation friend! ( Maybe not all in that order...)
And that has been all that has happened over the past few days. I'll try to keep you all well informed over the next few days, seems as how a lot is likely going to take place ( re: the offer).
Wednesday I got birthday presents !! From my mom and sister. It was great! I also forgot to mention that the practice manager was having a meeting with the 3 partners the next morning and wanted to be able to understand it and come up with a plan. I was told that I'd likely receive the offer on Thursday or Friday. I didn't get one on either. I did however go to one of the girls house that ngiht for pizza, and spent the night. So I couldnt write.
Thursday was just another day at work. We had a horse come in with Purpura!! So I got to set up the isolation stall for him. After work, I went over to one of the tech's house. Her boyfriend had made a pot roast, WITH LOTS OF GARLIC!!!!! I love garlic.... and we had potatoes and brocolli with cheese!! It was really fantastic! And then we watch TV till close to 11pm before she took me back here. ( Again, I couldnt write.)
Friday, my birthday, was just another day. Busy. Lots of b-day wishes. IN FACT! Thanks to facebook, I got 44 happy birthdays at lunch on friday, 22 after work, and 6 more when I got back from the party. THATS A LOT OF BIRTHDAY WISHES!!
After having gone out after the staff party on Friday night, visiting the porcelain throne, sleeping on the bathroom floor....and dragging myself to bed at 5am...Yesterday was brutal. I had intentions to sleep during my lunch, because I definately wasn't planning on eating anything....but that didn't happen. It was crazy yesterday. CRAZY. Worked all through lunch.
Saturday started off with 2 calls on the road. ( Last week we had a federal vet come in and talk to us about CEM testing), so one of our calls was not the testing, but the cleaning part. CEM testing needs to be done on any mare that comes from the EU. So, .....there we were, cleaning the vulva of this miniature shetland pony that came from holland... too funny.
When we came back to the clinic, the vet tended to a Colic and a severed digital artery....while I got to cold hose our Purpura friend.
The case vet and one of the partners came to check on him while I was there, and you wouldn't believe what they found....He had a LOT of edema. Hard pitting edema too, that you could leave imprints of your fingers in it! So the partner was touching it, and tapping it as if he was playing the bongos or something, and his pectorals and just over his lungs behind his front leg was making this RIDICULOUS SPLASHING NOISE!! Everytime you touched it, you could move the fluid! So they made a few incisions, and because there was so much pressure inside, the fluid just GUSHED out!!! It was a TWO FOOT LONG ABSCESS!!! basically running the length of his scapula! So that fluid....was actually pus!! OMG it smelled SO bad! I wish we had of put a bucket under it to catch the pus because I bet there was...a good 5L of pus in there that came out! hahaha SO COOL! The partner said that in his 35 years of practicing he had NEVER seen an abscess that big!! Anyway, I got to stick a hose in one hole, and let it fill with water until it drained out the other. Pretty neat actually.
After that, we had a few more appointments before the day was actually over. I got invited over to the house of the vet that I was on call with for SUSHI!! It was so good!
Woke up this morning to do treatments on our no longer a purpura case horse, and now am going to go and do a few loads of laundry, study, shower, sleep, and then go and tend to my isolation friend! ( Maybe not all in that order...)
And that has been all that has happened over the past few days. I'll try to keep you all well informed over the next few days, seems as how a lot is likely going to take place ( re: the offer).
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Thank You.
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has either sent me a message on facebook, MSN, or on the blog re: my decision making process.
I had a meeting with the practice manager and my supervisor today. They both just wanted me to fill them in or give them more details with respect to this whole Military business. I told them that I didnt want to do anything to jeopardize the job, and that I would only want to do it if it were at all feasible.
I was told that there is a 3 month probation period for all employees, so that it may work out very well that Ill be trained and probation done come the time that I want to take time off ( 2 1/2 mo) So, I MAY be able to have that March 7th birthday cake AND eat it too!!
Ps. I havent received any birthday presents yet...are they coming by purolator the day OF ??haha
I had a meeting with the practice manager and my supervisor today. They both just wanted me to fill them in or give them more details with respect to this whole Military business. I told them that I didnt want to do anything to jeopardize the job, and that I would only want to do it if it were at all feasible.
I was told that there is a 3 month probation period for all employees, so that it may work out very well that Ill be trained and probation done come the time that I want to take time off ( 2 1/2 mo) So, I MAY be able to have that March 7th birthday cake AND eat it too!!
Ps. I havent received any birthday presents yet...are they coming by purolator the day OF ??haha
Monday, March 3, 2008
wee bit of a pickle...
GUESS WHAT!!!
Today, I, Ashley Gaudet, was offered a job!!!! AND, clinic needs someone immediately, so I can start work right after my OJT!
Yes this is all very exciting, but it involves a great deal planning and the such. I say this because I have my VTNE and my graduation to consider as well as expenses for cars, cell phone, rent, food etc. Also, I'll need to go east to get my jeep.
Now, obviously I don't want to do anything that's going to jeopardize my full time job, however I am fairly confident that I can get aprrox 62 days of work with the military at 126$ a day. That is room and board included, which essentially equates to close to 8000$. By not going to work for the military this summer I will not only miss out on a lot of money, but my graduation also ( should I decide to attend).
As it is right now, I know of 2 places that I can live at ( in order to get out of the basement), and until I am situated here in Alberta. I just don't like the thought of being so dependant on someone. As I said to my dad, I would love nothing more than to have my cake and get to eat it too!
I know it may appear as though I'm being selfish and all I'm thinking about is the money, but seriously, I'm planning on moving all the way across the country with not even a bed or a couch to my name. I need to look at my finances, and try to do what's best for me while also thinking out a plan that is feasible for my employer.
Does that make sense? I know that it's easy to justify it to myself, but to some RGS people, you're thinking "GET AWAY FROM THE GLIDING SCHOOL!" But again, seriously, that's close to 8000$ that I'm going to do minimal effort to make, while also having room and board paid for. That money will help me to get situated here. Like my dad said, "you make lots of money in the west, but you spend a lot too". Rent around here is like 1400$!!!! No joke.
So, that's my situation. I'm not really going to know much more or be able to make any further decisions until I get the official offer in writing. ( Salary also). So until then, comments are allowed until you all start being mean and telling me what I don't want to hear....only kidding, all comments will be taken with a grain of salt. :)
On a more exciting note: I got my marks the other day. Honours!!!! Woo hoo!!! ALSO! Mom spilled the beans and said that there's a birthday card on its way!! woo hoo!! ALSO ALSO, the clinic is having a billiards night with free steak and salad or fries...ON MY BIRTHDAY!! WOO HOO!!!
OKay, I think that's all the woo hoo-ing I can think of. Now it time for cough medicine and bed!! WOO HOO!!!!!
Today, I, Ashley Gaudet, was offered a job!!!! AND, clinic needs someone immediately, so I can start work right after my OJT!
Yes this is all very exciting, but it involves a great deal planning and the such. I say this because I have my VTNE and my graduation to consider as well as expenses for cars, cell phone, rent, food etc. Also, I'll need to go east to get my jeep.
Now, obviously I don't want to do anything that's going to jeopardize my full time job, however I am fairly confident that I can get aprrox 62 days of work with the military at 126$ a day. That is room and board included, which essentially equates to close to 8000$. By not going to work for the military this summer I will not only miss out on a lot of money, but my graduation also ( should I decide to attend).
As it is right now, I know of 2 places that I can live at ( in order to get out of the basement), and until I am situated here in Alberta. I just don't like the thought of being so dependant on someone. As I said to my dad, I would love nothing more than to have my cake and get to eat it too!
I know it may appear as though I'm being selfish and all I'm thinking about is the money, but seriously, I'm planning on moving all the way across the country with not even a bed or a couch to my name. I need to look at my finances, and try to do what's best for me while also thinking out a plan that is feasible for my employer.
Does that make sense? I know that it's easy to justify it to myself, but to some RGS people, you're thinking "GET AWAY FROM THE GLIDING SCHOOL!" But again, seriously, that's close to 8000$ that I'm going to do minimal effort to make, while also having room and board paid for. That money will help me to get situated here. Like my dad said, "you make lots of money in the west, but you spend a lot too". Rent around here is like 1400$!!!! No joke.
So, that's my situation. I'm not really going to know much more or be able to make any further decisions until I get the official offer in writing. ( Salary also). So until then, comments are allowed until you all start being mean and telling me what I don't want to hear....only kidding, all comments will be taken with a grain of salt. :)
On a more exciting note: I got my marks the other day. Honours!!!! Woo hoo!!! ALSO! Mom spilled the beans and said that there's a birthday card on its way!! woo hoo!! ALSO ALSO, the clinic is having a billiards night with free steak and salad or fries...ON MY BIRTHDAY!! WOO HOO!!!
OKay, I think that's all the woo hoo-ing I can think of. Now it time for cough medicine and bed!! WOO HOO!!!!!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The past 4 days....
WELL, I have had a very eventful past 4 days. So eventful, that I haven't been able to add an entry to my blog! Here's what happened:
Thursday night, I was watching a movie, and said to myself, " In 5 mins, ( at 10:30), I'm shutting off my movie and going to bed!"
About 1 minute later, the head tech comes into the clinic, and down to my room to say that there is a dummy foal coming in!! I thought that it would be a couple of hours kind of thing, help the foal and then going back to bed. Little did I know that these kind of situations make for an all night affair! This foal couldnt stand up on its own so we had to milk the mare out and then bottle feed the foal all night long. The vet also called it " dismature", where she was to term, however has pre term characteristics. One thing that was pretty cool, in a not cool at all kind of way, was that this foal had hernias, and its intestines were coming through! Very weird to get to feel! Also, while trying to help the foal stand, we noticed that she was walking on her pasterns. I've only ever seen those kind of things in text books. So also very interesting!
This little foal had spunk too! It clocked me TWICE in the throat when we were trying to help it stand! And when trying to restrain it on the ground, getting kicked (from it flailing) was a little inevitable. So I now have bruises all up my leg.....
Policy at the clinic is that if you work through the night, you get hour for hour off the next day. So at close to 9 am on friday I head off to my room for some well deserved shut eye! I slept all the following day. I only woke up at 3pm to get a glass of water for some tylenol, and then went back to bed. I woke up again around 1 am, only to wonder if it was 1 pm the next day, or if it was in fact 1 am.... When I got that all sorted out, I forced myself to sleep again! Woke up a few more times, but finally dragged myself out of bed at 9 am the following day! So I pretty much had 24 hours of sleep!! That's the most I've ever slept in my entire life I'm sure!
During the night the tech told me that the last time she spent all night in the barn, she woke up the next day feeling as though she just ran a marathon. Her whole body ached. Every muscle. Muscles you didn't even know existed! Well, that is EXACTLY how my body felt on saturday! Kneeling and standing and then kneeling again. Bent over the foal keeping it down, or trying to keep it up. Getting beat up.... It's all very exausting!
On Saturday after I made myself look presentable again, I was about to start my blog entry, when the tech came running in ( to grab her rubber boots) and saw me sitting here at the computer. She said " are you doing anything? do you want to help process cattle? " And, like all of my other responses, I said " HECK YES!"
When we got out there, it was more than just processing cattle! They had a little over 100 head to go through and so we did a cattle drive!!!!!! It was very cool! They had two horses were out chasing down cows, and I was in the truck coaxing with hay. They were separating bulls and calves, from the cows, ivomec-ing, tagging, and BRANDING!!!! All of which I've done before, except the branding. Noone really does that in the East, but out here it's law.
I think apart from the rancher, I was the only one COMFORTABLE around the cows. So I got the job of herding them and getting them through the stocks. HO-LY COW this pen was soupy as Ill get out!!I swear I was up to my calves in manure and mud. And of course the cows would kick at me each time I poked them with the electric cattle prod!! hahah So I was COVERED from seriously, head to toe in...maunre and mud. It was all over my face and through my hair. omg.... OMG....hahah COVERED!
So then, that went from about 1130am to just before dark( 650ish). We drank beer while doing it too. Very funny. At the end of it we were all famished, so the rancher said " lets go to Longview". So in the truck we go, still covered in...manure and mud, up to some cowboy bar in the middle of nowhere that was packed with people, just so that we could eat food....the rancher paid for all 8 of us! By the time I got back to the clinic it was about 10. So a really fun day all in all.
12 hours later....when I decided to pull myself out of bed again, I made my second attempt at producing a blog entry, and thins is how it turned out!! :)
Hope you enjoyed hearing about my past 4 days!
Thursday night, I was watching a movie, and said to myself, " In 5 mins, ( at 10:30), I'm shutting off my movie and going to bed!"
About 1 minute later, the head tech comes into the clinic, and down to my room to say that there is a dummy foal coming in!! I thought that it would be a couple of hours kind of thing, help the foal and then going back to bed. Little did I know that these kind of situations make for an all night affair! This foal couldnt stand up on its own so we had to milk the mare out and then bottle feed the foal all night long. The vet also called it " dismature", where she was to term, however has pre term characteristics. One thing that was pretty cool, in a not cool at all kind of way, was that this foal had hernias, and its intestines were coming through! Very weird to get to feel! Also, while trying to help the foal stand, we noticed that she was walking on her pasterns. I've only ever seen those kind of things in text books. So also very interesting!
This little foal had spunk too! It clocked me TWICE in the throat when we were trying to help it stand! And when trying to restrain it on the ground, getting kicked (from it flailing) was a little inevitable. So I now have bruises all up my leg.....
Policy at the clinic is that if you work through the night, you get hour for hour off the next day. So at close to 9 am on friday I head off to my room for some well deserved shut eye! I slept all the following day. I only woke up at 3pm to get a glass of water for some tylenol, and then went back to bed. I woke up again around 1 am, only to wonder if it was 1 pm the next day, or if it was in fact 1 am.... When I got that all sorted out, I forced myself to sleep again! Woke up a few more times, but finally dragged myself out of bed at 9 am the following day! So I pretty much had 24 hours of sleep!! That's the most I've ever slept in my entire life I'm sure!
During the night the tech told me that the last time she spent all night in the barn, she woke up the next day feeling as though she just ran a marathon. Her whole body ached. Every muscle. Muscles you didn't even know existed! Well, that is EXACTLY how my body felt on saturday! Kneeling and standing and then kneeling again. Bent over the foal keeping it down, or trying to keep it up. Getting beat up.... It's all very exausting!
On Saturday after I made myself look presentable again, I was about to start my blog entry, when the tech came running in ( to grab her rubber boots) and saw me sitting here at the computer. She said " are you doing anything? do you want to help process cattle? " And, like all of my other responses, I said " HECK YES!"
When we got out there, it was more than just processing cattle! They had a little over 100 head to go through and so we did a cattle drive!!!!!! It was very cool! They had two horses were out chasing down cows, and I was in the truck coaxing with hay. They were separating bulls and calves, from the cows, ivomec-ing, tagging, and BRANDING!!!! All of which I've done before, except the branding. Noone really does that in the East, but out here it's law.
I think apart from the rancher, I was the only one COMFORTABLE around the cows. So I got the job of herding them and getting them through the stocks. HO-LY COW this pen was soupy as Ill get out!!I swear I was up to my calves in manure and mud. And of course the cows would kick at me each time I poked them with the electric cattle prod!! hahah So I was COVERED from seriously, head to toe in...maunre and mud. It was all over my face and through my hair. omg.... OMG....hahah COVERED!
So then, that went from about 1130am to just before dark( 650ish). We drank beer while doing it too. Very funny. At the end of it we were all famished, so the rancher said " lets go to Longview". So in the truck we go, still covered in...manure and mud, up to some cowboy bar in the middle of nowhere that was packed with people, just so that we could eat food....the rancher paid for all 8 of us! By the time I got back to the clinic it was about 10. So a really fun day all in all.
12 hours later....when I decided to pull myself out of bed again, I made my second attempt at producing a blog entry, and thins is how it turned out!! :)
Hope you enjoyed hearing about my past 4 days!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A day in the mountains!
Well, this morning my cousin and I set out on our adventures to the mountains! WOW was it Beautiful. I took so many pictures that my batteries died! We started off by taking the scenic route out past Spruce Meadows!! then we went to Canmore, Banff, some surrounding mountains, to Lake louise, and then on our way back, stopped at the Olympic park!
During the entire time in the mountains, our goal was to see some Elk and big horn sheep. It wasnt until we had driven past banff on our way back to okotoks that I saw a HUGE herd of Elk on the side of the road. I'm talking like, 100 elk! I swear! So we pulled over and I got a picture of them.
Lake Louise was also VERY beautiful! Only thing we hadnt really thoguht about was the fact that the lak was frozen over :( so we werent able to the emerald colored water.
While in Banff we made it up to the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. This hotel is AMAZING. Built some time in the late 1800's I do believe. They even had an outdoor pool, AND people were stupid enough to be out swimming in it! Yeah, I suppose it was probably warm...however it was pretty chilly up there! The winds were really strong, and as we were leaving to head up to Lake Louise, it began to snow a little!
We also drove past the vermillion lakes just below Sulfer mountain, and man oh man did one of them ever stink of rotten eggs! This is the view I got from Sulfer mountain.
All in all it was a pretty amazing way to spend a day off! Now, it's time for bed, because in the morning I'm placing another 5 inch catheter...WITH sutures this time! And then coming to small animal land to set up surgery for 2 dog spays. ( All of which I'm getting to set up for on my own!)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
A crazy day!!
OK, well, I'm unsure really where to begin!
The morning started off with 2 cat neuters and a cat spay. Nothing too exciting, until over lunch, when one of the Vets asked if I wanted to help with a post mortem!! I said yes, OF COURSE!
It ended up that there were two of them! One, came in after a drastic one week weight loss. The vet palpated him and did an ultrasound, only to discover that there was what seemed to be a huge mass on his right kidney. The vet on this case sent out for numerous tests, (all of which I drew blood for). They had also been getting me to give him morning and afternoon treatments, however the vet suspected that it was a tumor.
Anyways...this morning the small animal tech is braiding a tail ( something we do for the clients when their horse die), so I say " whose tail is that", and when she told me my heart sank!
For insurance reasons we got to do a post mortem on him.
Although there was no tumor on the right kidney, it was HUGE. MASSIVE in fact. We also took out the left kidney to compare, and although that one was larger than normal also, the right one by far over shadowed it! We also looked at the lungs, and HO- LY. There was a tumorus like object on the lungs that is for sure. This thing was the size of a baseball. When I cut it out of the lungs, I had a hard time getting my hand to go all around it! While pulling out the small and large intestine, we also noticed a part of the small intestine that was VERY thick!
We then moved onto the next horse. One of the other vets put her down because when he rectaled her and did an ultrasound he found there to be little noddules all over her spleen.
While doing the post mortem, the spleen was in fact covered with these noddules, but, when I cut into the diaphragm and stuck my arm in, there was blood everywhere! I told the vet, but she didnt think much of it. That's when I pulled out this huge blood clot. It was GI-Normous! That's when she stuck her arm in and agreed that there was a good amount of blood!
While trying to find another clot, she ran her hand against the ribs where there was a very bumpy like surface...VERY WEIRD! She then went looking for the heart to see if she could find another clot, and she did in fact find one...with melanomas and fat all throughout it. (This was a grey mare, so melanomas are quite common). So this confirmed what the vet had suspected.
After all of this excitement, I STANK of death. Well...more so the gases of the intestines than death...but still...I stank! My rectal sleeve that I was wearing even got a tear in it and filled with blood, so no I smell AND my hand is stained redish. It's gross. But that's what a washer is for! ( not my hand...clearly!, but all of my smelly clothes!)
Nothing else happened that is worth writing about except.......
Tonight, as I started my blog, and before the head tech left for the night, she asked me, she said "After your Ojt how much more do you have?" and I said that after this I'm done like dinner! So she said " Do you want to work with Cows? or horses? or small animals?", and before I could answer she said " Well what I mean is, if you were to be offered a job, what would you want to work on", and so I said horses. Then she said " so you want to stay out here? " and I said " MOST DEFINATELY" :) So, although this might not mean ANYTHING, it also may mean SOMETHING!!!!!!
And that's pretty much all that I've got for tonight! Oh yes, I'm going to Banff tomorrow :) I'm very excited about this. Also, Kate told me that I am going to be placing a catheter on Thursday, and that's when I told her that I was up until 11pm the other night practicing my sutures. Yes, keaner, and yes, tired, but at least I can suture now :)
Okay! To bed I go. Have to be well rested for the big trip to the mountains tomorrow!!
The morning started off with 2 cat neuters and a cat spay. Nothing too exciting, until over lunch, when one of the Vets asked if I wanted to help with a post mortem!! I said yes, OF COURSE!
It ended up that there were two of them! One, came in after a drastic one week weight loss. The vet palpated him and did an ultrasound, only to discover that there was what seemed to be a huge mass on his right kidney. The vet on this case sent out for numerous tests, (all of which I drew blood for). They had also been getting me to give him morning and afternoon treatments, however the vet suspected that it was a tumor.
Anyways...this morning the small animal tech is braiding a tail ( something we do for the clients when their horse die), so I say " whose tail is that", and when she told me my heart sank!
For insurance reasons we got to do a post mortem on him.
Although there was no tumor on the right kidney, it was HUGE. MASSIVE in fact. We also took out the left kidney to compare, and although that one was larger than normal also, the right one by far over shadowed it! We also looked at the lungs, and HO- LY. There was a tumorus like object on the lungs that is for sure. This thing was the size of a baseball. When I cut it out of the lungs, I had a hard time getting my hand to go all around it! While pulling out the small and large intestine, we also noticed a part of the small intestine that was VERY thick!
We then moved onto the next horse. One of the other vets put her down because when he rectaled her and did an ultrasound he found there to be little noddules all over her spleen.
While doing the post mortem, the spleen was in fact covered with these noddules, but, when I cut into the diaphragm and stuck my arm in, there was blood everywhere! I told the vet, but she didnt think much of it. That's when I pulled out this huge blood clot. It was GI-Normous! That's when she stuck her arm in and agreed that there was a good amount of blood!
While trying to find another clot, she ran her hand against the ribs where there was a very bumpy like surface...VERY WEIRD! She then went looking for the heart to see if she could find another clot, and she did in fact find one...with melanomas and fat all throughout it. (This was a grey mare, so melanomas are quite common). So this confirmed what the vet had suspected.
After all of this excitement, I STANK of death. Well...more so the gases of the intestines than death...but still...I stank! My rectal sleeve that I was wearing even got a tear in it and filled with blood, so no I smell AND my hand is stained redish. It's gross. But that's what a washer is for! ( not my hand...clearly!, but all of my smelly clothes!)
Nothing else happened that is worth writing about except.......
Tonight, as I started my blog, and before the head tech left for the night, she asked me, she said "After your Ojt how much more do you have?" and I said that after this I'm done like dinner! So she said " Do you want to work with Cows? or horses? or small animals?", and before I could answer she said " Well what I mean is, if you were to be offered a job, what would you want to work on", and so I said horses. Then she said " so you want to stay out here? " and I said " MOST DEFINATELY" :) So, although this might not mean ANYTHING, it also may mean SOMETHING!!!!!!
And that's pretty much all that I've got for tonight! Oh yes, I'm going to Banff tomorrow :) I'm very excited about this. Also, Kate told me that I am going to be placing a catheter on Thursday, and that's when I told her that I was up until 11pm the other night practicing my sutures. Yes, keaner, and yes, tired, but at least I can suture now :)
Okay! To bed I go. Have to be well rested for the big trip to the mountains tomorrow!!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
A night on the town
Well last night was Ranchman's night!! It was a lot of fun. This place was HUGE, the biggest bar that I've ever been to. ( All except Moncton's The O2/Manhattan/Paramount, because that was an old movie theatre turned 3 bars in one. ) I was a little surprised, because I expected more cowboys and less....wannabe's, if you know what I mean....
They had a live band, and the bar is actually a restaurant also, so you could order food all night long! When the band took a break, they played a combination of dance and country music, which also sort of surprised me, but I suppose they have to try and cator to the wannabes?
When we got there, there was a huge line up! But Lynn's boyfriend does rodeo, so he had a rodeo card which could get 3 in. As a matter of fact, he just happened to have 2 of them! so 3 went in with him and *thankfully* the bouncer allowed the remaining 4 in on the other card! The rodeo card also got you free cover for the card holder and one other, so where I went in with Lynn and Cody, I ended up paying cover. It was 8$
The vet that I was on call with me was there too, so it ended up that we were 9 all together. We didn't stay until closing though, only 1 am. So I was in bed by 1:30 and up at 815 this morning to do TPR's and treatments on 2 horses in the barn.
After that was all said and done, I went to bed for 4 hours and then helpped the on call vet with afternoon treatments before her and I went for supper and to the grocery store.
Now I'm headin 'er down to the basement for some studying...
Oh yes, and although it snowed here all day, the forcast for Banff day is supposed to be +9 and sunny!!! :) so the crossing of my fingers and toes has paid off so far! Theyre all a little crampped, but it'll be well worth it come Wednesday!!
They had a live band, and the bar is actually a restaurant also, so you could order food all night long! When the band took a break, they played a combination of dance and country music, which also sort of surprised me, but I suppose they have to try and cator to the wannabes?
When we got there, there was a huge line up! But Lynn's boyfriend does rodeo, so he had a rodeo card which could get 3 in. As a matter of fact, he just happened to have 2 of them! so 3 went in with him and *thankfully* the bouncer allowed the remaining 4 in on the other card! The rodeo card also got you free cover for the card holder and one other, so where I went in with Lynn and Cody, I ended up paying cover. It was 8$
The vet that I was on call with me was there too, so it ended up that we were 9 all together. We didn't stay until closing though, only 1 am. So I was in bed by 1:30 and up at 815 this morning to do TPR's and treatments on 2 horses in the barn.
After that was all said and done, I went to bed for 4 hours and then helpped the on call vet with afternoon treatments before her and I went for supper and to the grocery store.
Now I'm headin 'er down to the basement for some studying...
Oh yes, and although it snowed here all day, the forcast for Banff day is supposed to be +9 and sunny!!! :) so the crossing of my fingers and toes has paid off so far! Theyre all a little crampped, but it'll be well worth it come Wednesday!!
Friday, February 22, 2008
TGIF#3!
Wow, where has the time gone? It doesnt seem like I've been here that long, but already I'm writing about a TGIF #3!
Today was busy. The small animal vet that was on today was in Las Vegas all this week at the Western Veterinary conferences. He only got back this morning, and so there were no small animal appointments until 11 am. This meant that I got to sleep in :) When I came upstairs at 1030, the small animal tech asked me to do a bunch of lab work. Before I could even get that done, Kate came in and asked me to set up the surgery. One of the vets got a call last night and had to go out and look at a horse that had a septic hock, like the other 2 we've already put on the table. So I got to set up the surgery and then Kate told me that it was going to be MY surgery,
so I was looking after EVERYTHING and she was going to just sit back and watch. She also asked me if I'd feel comfortable placing a catheter in this horse! So my answer was " Umm YES OF COURSE!"
So I got to shave it, and prep it and place the HUGE catheter! it's like 5 inches long! So that was pretty cool! The catheters however are sutured in on large animals and where we didnt really do any stitching at school... I didnt know how to do that, so Kate did it.
After the mare was all ready to go, I got to go into the induction/recovery room with the vet. That was pretty exciting because the mare dropped really quick! As I explained to my mom, we bring the horse in , and stand her a couple of feet away from the wall so that with a little bit of a helping hand, we can and push her towards the wall and she falls down. Well this mare went from standing, and looking a LITTLE wobbly, to all of a sudden collapsing. She didnt even try to take a couple of steps to pick herself up, just dropped! Once she was down, we hooked the hoist up to her and brought her into surgery.
After surgery I went back into the recovery room with the vet, where we kneeled on her head and neck to keep her from getting up too soon, and beating herself up. Well, that didnt go very according to plan because she magically decided to wake up with a vengance, and we had to jump out of the way and out of the room in a hurry... very intense! haha
By the time all of this excitement ended, it was 430! So after cleanup it was basically time to close up shop for the night.
So now! plans for the weekend include: working all day tomorrow, (while also being on call all weekend), then to Ranchmans, THE COWBOY BAR!! in Calgary tomorrow night with a bunch of the crew from the clinic. On Sunday, I'll be studying. Studying?! ...yes....Studying...I finished season 3 of Grey's anatomy last night, so now I actually have to do work :( hahah I totally could have dragged the seasons out until my OJT is done, but that's what I get for watching 4-5 episodes a night....hahah
Oh my..... ok well, I've got a hugggge text book here on the desk, a towel tucked tight under my legs, some 70 cm suture material and a pair of needle drivers. Better be productive and teach myself how to suture..... because Kate said to be prepared to place another catheter tomorrow. :) I think I've got the simple interupted, simple continous and cruciate down pat...now I just have to work on the GD mattress patterns.
Later gators!
Today was busy. The small animal vet that was on today was in Las Vegas all this week at the Western Veterinary conferences. He only got back this morning, and so there were no small animal appointments until 11 am. This meant that I got to sleep in :) When I came upstairs at 1030, the small animal tech asked me to do a bunch of lab work. Before I could even get that done, Kate came in and asked me to set up the surgery. One of the vets got a call last night and had to go out and look at a horse that had a septic hock, like the other 2 we've already put on the table. So I got to set up the surgery and then Kate told me that it was going to be MY surgery,
so I was looking after EVERYTHING and she was going to just sit back and watch. She also asked me if I'd feel comfortable placing a catheter in this horse! So my answer was " Umm YES OF COURSE!"
So I got to shave it, and prep it and place the HUGE catheter! it's like 5 inches long! So that was pretty cool! The catheters however are sutured in on large animals and where we didnt really do any stitching at school... I didnt know how to do that, so Kate did it.
After the mare was all ready to go, I got to go into the induction/recovery room with the vet. That was pretty exciting because the mare dropped really quick! As I explained to my mom, we bring the horse in , and stand her a couple of feet away from the wall so that with a little bit of a helping hand, we can and push her towards the wall and she falls down. Well this mare went from standing, and looking a LITTLE wobbly, to all of a sudden collapsing. She didnt even try to take a couple of steps to pick herself up, just dropped! Once she was down, we hooked the hoist up to her and brought her into surgery.
After surgery I went back into the recovery room with the vet, where we kneeled on her head and neck to keep her from getting up too soon, and beating herself up. Well, that didnt go very according to plan because she magically decided to wake up with a vengance, and we had to jump out of the way and out of the room in a hurry... very intense! haha
By the time all of this excitement ended, it was 430! So after cleanup it was basically time to close up shop for the night.
So now! plans for the weekend include: working all day tomorrow, (while also being on call all weekend), then to Ranchmans, THE COWBOY BAR!! in Calgary tomorrow night with a bunch of the crew from the clinic. On Sunday, I'll be studying. Studying?! ...yes....Studying...I finished season 3 of Grey's anatomy last night, so now I actually have to do work :( hahah I totally could have dragged the seasons out until my OJT is done, but that's what I get for watching 4-5 episodes a night....hahah
Oh my..... ok well, I've got a hugggge text book here on the desk, a towel tucked tight under my legs, some 70 cm suture material and a pair of needle drivers. Better be productive and teach myself how to suture..... because Kate said to be prepared to place another catheter tomorrow. :) I think I've got the simple interupted, simple continous and cruciate down pat...now I just have to work on the GD mattress patterns.
Later gators!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Medicine Hat pictures.
God love cousins and their picture taking abilities!
Here are a couple of pictures Natasha took for me on the way to Taber ( land of the corn)...
The windmills!
Irrigation system. (one of THOUSANDS!)
BIG straw bales! ( Not very many people around home have the ability to kick out these big bales, but out here, theyre EVERYWHERE!)
Me, loading the 308 while Jason watches....close by :P
At the police station, sporting the Police vest :)
Here are a couple of pictures Natasha took for me on the way to Taber ( land of the corn)...
The windmills!
Taber cornstalk and I
Irrigation system. (one of THOUSANDS!)
BIG straw bales! ( Not very many people around home have the ability to kick out these big bales, but out here, theyre EVERYWHERE!)
Me, loading the 308 while Jason watches....close by :P
At the police station, sporting the Police vest :)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
In small animal land
So, just to update on the Medicine Hat adventures. Although I managed to escape having my picture taken beside the teepee, I was forced to have my picture taken beside a huge cornstalk in Taber. Taber is to corn like PEI is to potatoes.... I've been told that I should be thankful for the corn because it could have been worse...I couldn have been forced to have my picture taken beside Pinto Pete....the HUGE (dressed like a mexican) bean that resides in Bow Island. (Bow Island is to Beans like PEI is to.....well you get the point....)
Also, remember how I was all excited for the drive back to Okotoks? Well, yes, it was AMAZING. So beautiful, so flat, so many grain towers, and trains, and HUGE straw bales, and coulees and Oh so many irrigation systems! AND! Windmills! Gosh there were so many windmills! However guess whose camera battery died before even leaving Medicine Hat.......enough said.
Also, remember how I was all excited for the drive back to Okotoks? Well, yes, it was AMAZING. So beautiful, so flat, so many grain towers, and trains, and HUGE straw bales, and coulees and Oh so many irrigation systems! AND! Windmills! Gosh there were so many windmills! However guess whose camera battery died before even leaving Medicine Hat.......enough said.
Today the small animal tech and I discussed my dislike for cats :) Having never grown up with cats, I am not comfortable with being all "coochy- coo" and would like nothing better to burrito them in a towel. So, today when we had a fracious cat, I was told that it was okay, and that I didnt need to scruff the cat. What happened? Well, I didnt get scratched, but she sure did. Pretty deep too. It bled a lot, and if she was in pain, she hid it well. However she said that it was okay, that it comes with the job!....I personally dont like that out-look because safety should be anyones first concern, and that is why I don't like or trust cats :)
At lunch we had a guest speaker come from Boehringer ( a pharmaceutical company) come and talk to us about a new drug in Canada used to treat colics! He brought pizza with him! And it is worth 1 hour of Continuing education points!
Before I forget, I got a call from Dr. H today!! I was so excited when I heard them call his name over the intercom. I told him to check out the blog... so, in the event that he does check it out.....
HI DR H!! :)
Oh yes! and today I was told to come into the barn to see a UNICORN!! hahah it was funny. But in a non-funny, funny kind of way. He got kicked in the head ( so they believe) and as a result, cracked his skull, and his eye became all swollen. The vets decided to stick a probe up the crack, right into the sinus and took a few xrays. It was during this time that I came through with my camera and got a picture of this unicorn!! Quite the sight!!
In fact, here is a shot of the unicorn in the stocks and of his radiograph!
I also spoke with my cousin Leanne last night and we've made plans to go to the mountains next wednesday!!! She said we'll go to Banff! I'm REALLY excited for this.
Oh, and today was another BEAUTIFUL day! PLUS 10!!! I was going to take that opportuntiy to go for a run however my wonderful father called me 40 mins before I expected him to, and during this time it got dark and cold, so I opted for making a blog entry instead!
Now I think I'll watch a couple of episodes of Grey's anatomy, and call it a night early and maybe try to think happy thoughts which include my wonderful father giving me back my money, and horses. Lots and lots of horses...no cats allowed.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Adventures of the Hat!
Well, in a few minutes I'll be leaving Medicine Hat to head back to Okotoks. The weekend has gone by really fast. It was nice getting away from the clinic for a few days and actually seeing the light of day!
Natasha took me to Lammles the other day, where I bought a new pair of Wrangler jeans!! Very nice jeans :)
Yesterday on our way to Jason's brothers house, we stopped off at the local police station where I was given the big tour!!
Jason's brother house is AMAZING! Very WESTERN interior! I loved it! Then Jason, his brother and I went outside to shoot :) haha Jason is a sniper on the police force, so I got to shoot his .308 sniper rifle! VERY COOL! And powerful! and such a light trigger the first shot caught me by surprise,. But Jason said I had a good shot. ( Like I had any doubt!)
So far I've managed to avoid getting my picture taken beside the big teepee. I've seen it from a distance however!
Oh yes and my wonderful cousin, bought me a birthday cake, so the other night after dinner, we celebrated my 22nd birthday 3 weeks in advance ! Very good cake! I was told to pick one out, but it didn't really matter to me so I let Ethan pick it out for me, and of course, he picked out the cake that best expressed a 5 year old. hahah.
Anyway, I must go and grab my things and make sure I didn't forget anything. I think I'm going to the movies with one of the vets and one of the techs tonight. And where we're leaving at 3, I should be able to see the country side a lot better than the other night. Maybe I'll even get in some good pictures!!
Friday, February 15, 2008
TGIF #2!!
Ok so today was pretty cool.
I got to watch a freeze branding take place. This was the first time that Ive ever seen it happen, so it was a pretty neat experience.
I even took a video of it!! Nothing too exciting about the video, but cool none the less.
Check it out!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWi9PHz027w
The sarcoma mare, well, she stank. MAN did that ever STINK! Got a bunch of pictures, but a little too graphic for the net :) Unfortunately I missed the epidural because I was in the other room with the freeze brand.
A colic came in too! They did a belly tap on her, and her fluid was red. This is pretty abnormal because it should look like apple juice color. She was regurgitating like CRAZY. Horses can't vomit, so they passed a tube into her esophagus, and basically as soon as it entered the contents came flowing out. The owners decided to put her down, and so the vet, before the big truck came to take her body away, wanted to try and get in a mini post mortem. When he opened her up he found ~4 feet of dead small intestine!! No wonder she was colicing!
Anyway, I'm all packed up and ready to go, just waiting for the other tech to be ready and we'll be on our way to Medicine Hat! ( Im beginnning to think there is something fishy about this place because every time I mention it to someone they say " Why on earth are you going to Medicine Hat??????".... I'm sure Ill be alright....hopefully the worst case scenario is that I need to get my picture taken beside the worlds largest Teepee ( if thats how its spelt). And if THATs the only thing I need to be worried about then I think I'm in good shape!
Oh yeah!! ONE LAST THING! I GOT A SUNBURN today! hahah We had this Chinook come in and it was +15 all day, and with the exception of when it started and ended and the winds were ridiculously strong, it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
Ok, NOW I'm done!
I got to watch a freeze branding take place. This was the first time that Ive ever seen it happen, so it was a pretty neat experience.
I even took a video of it!! Nothing too exciting about the video, but cool none the less.
Check it out!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWi9PHz027w
The sarcoma mare, well, she stank. MAN did that ever STINK! Got a bunch of pictures, but a little too graphic for the net :) Unfortunately I missed the epidural because I was in the other room with the freeze brand.
A colic came in too! They did a belly tap on her, and her fluid was red. This is pretty abnormal because it should look like apple juice color. She was regurgitating like CRAZY. Horses can't vomit, so they passed a tube into her esophagus, and basically as soon as it entered the contents came flowing out. The owners decided to put her down, and so the vet, before the big truck came to take her body away, wanted to try and get in a mini post mortem. When he opened her up he found ~4 feet of dead small intestine!! No wonder she was colicing!
Anyway, I'm all packed up and ready to go, just waiting for the other tech to be ready and we'll be on our way to Medicine Hat! ( Im beginnning to think there is something fishy about this place because every time I mention it to someone they say " Why on earth are you going to Medicine Hat??????".... I'm sure Ill be alright....hopefully the worst case scenario is that I need to get my picture taken beside the worlds largest Teepee ( if thats how its spelt). And if THATs the only thing I need to be worried about then I think I'm in good shape!
Oh yeah!! ONE LAST THING! I GOT A SUNBURN today! hahah We had this Chinook come in and it was +15 all day, and with the exception of when it started and ended and the winds were ridiculously strong, it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
Ok, NOW I'm done!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentines day!!!
Well, the pot luck today went well. There was so much food and I think I maybe made myself sick because I tried to be polite and have some of everybodies food...hahahah that sounds so corny! It all just smelled and looked so good so I had a little bit of everything. That's what youre supposed to do at pot lucks after all :) 
Today was an awesome not busy at all day. Or so it started off...The morning began with me developing a few xrays before going out on the road with 2 vets to treat a mare that had foundered. When we came back, I got to take a bunch of staples out of a dogs leg.
After lunch, I set up for 4 floats. They were supposed to be routine. SUPPOSE is the key word in all of this. Of the four, 2 of the horses were 30 years old. These 2 provided interesting mouths! Among the routine floats, both ended up having gaps between some of their teeth, called diastemas. To prevent food from getting trapped in a narrow gap, the teeth on either side are burred away. While the vet was doing this, ( on both horses) she discovered that one of the adjacent tooths was excessively loose, so came the extraction! Very cool to watch! Those took from about 130 until 5 pm...
The rest of the evening has gone about like any other night. Emails, facebook, MSN, grey's anatomy, and my blog !
The only known plan for tomorrow is the removal of a sarcoma on the vulva of a mare. It's a standing procedure, so they're only going to be doing an epidural! This is something that I need to read up on before going to bed.
Tomorrow afternoon.....it's off to Medicine Hat I go!!!!!!!!!!
Today was an awesome not busy at all day. Or so it started off...The morning began with me developing a few xrays before going out on the road with 2 vets to treat a mare that had foundered. When we came back, I got to take a bunch of staples out of a dogs leg.
After lunch, I set up for 4 floats. They were supposed to be routine. SUPPOSE is the key word in all of this. Of the four, 2 of the horses were 30 years old. These 2 provided interesting mouths! Among the routine floats, both ended up having gaps between some of their teeth, called diastemas. To prevent food from getting trapped in a narrow gap, the teeth on either side are burred away. While the vet was doing this, ( on both horses) she discovered that one of the adjacent tooths was excessively loose, so came the extraction! Very cool to watch! Those took from about 130 until 5 pm...
The rest of the evening has gone about like any other night. Emails, facebook, MSN, grey's anatomy, and my blog !
The only known plan for tomorrow is the removal of a sarcoma on the vulva of a mare. It's a standing procedure, so they're only going to be doing an epidural! This is something that I need to read up on before going to bed.
Tomorrow afternoon.....it's off to Medicine Hat I go!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
My day off!
Well, I'd just like to start off by saying HAHAHA Sucks to be in the Maritimes right now! I hear you guys are getting hit pretty good right now, with schools being cancelled, and lots of snow and now freezing rain. Meanwhile, here in Okotoks, it's zero degrees and ridiculously sunny.
Tonight Im going to Calgary while my friend Matt. He used to be my neighbour back on PEI. We were in cadets together, and then he went to school in BC, and then University in Ottawa, and is now going to law school here in Calgary. So he's coming down to pick me up and get me out of the clinic! I'm very appreciative!
Tomorrow is our "pot luck". Although Ive had a few good suggestions on what to make, I think I may just go to the grocery store and pick up somethign already made. This is only because Im working on minimal supplies and I cant go and buy 5 different things in order to make one appetizer.
I finished the 2nd Season of Greys Anatomy last night and am now onto the 3rd. Thats pretty much what Ive spent all day doing. ( I did however get dressed and made myself chicken noodle soup for lunch).
Anyway, now that Im all caught up on the days activities, I'm going ot go back to watching more Grey's until Matt shows up :)
-A
Tonight Im going to Calgary while my friend Matt. He used to be my neighbour back on PEI. We were in cadets together, and then he went to school in BC, and then University in Ottawa, and is now going to law school here in Calgary. So he's coming down to pick me up and get me out of the clinic! I'm very appreciative!
Tomorrow is our "pot luck". Although Ive had a few good suggestions on what to make, I think I may just go to the grocery store and pick up somethign already made. This is only because Im working on minimal supplies and I cant go and buy 5 different things in order to make one appetizer.
I finished the 2nd Season of Greys Anatomy last night and am now onto the 3rd. Thats pretty much what Ive spent all day doing. ( I did however get dressed and made myself chicken noodle soup for lunch).
Anyway, now that Im all caught up on the days activities, I'm going ot go back to watching more Grey's until Matt shows up :)
-A
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
long time no....blog?...
well, it took a few days for there to be anything good to talk about, but heres what i got!
Sunday was fairly low key,
I went for breakfast with one of the techs, after which we went to the local Walmart :) I was pretty tired because i had stayed up until 1 am watching episodes of greys anatomy....so she dropped me back off at the clinic and i slept for a bit before i woke up to watch some more greys anatomy...... i know i know...BUT ITS ADDICTIVE!
The head tech/ my supervisor came around 545 to pick me up. I was invited to her place for dinner. It was SUPER delicious! Potatoes, yorkshire puddings and ALBERTA roast beef!
Monday was also very low key at the clinic. The owners of a big grey mare came to take her home, leaving TP ( too perfect) [one of our vets horses] by himself. so it made for quick TPRs and and only one pile of manure to pick up as opposed to 10! Made my day!
Last night I went to my cousin Leannes for dinner! ALSO VERY GOOD! We had a warm front come in making it a whopping +2' C yesterday!! So Leannes husband Shane pulled out the BBQ and did up some ALBERTA steaks! YUMMM We also had some potatoes, sweet potatoes and veggies!
This morning, a foal came in to have a pin taken out of its leg, and then I went on the road with Gord, and we went to this big Thoroughbred farm and flushed a mare. The rest of the afternoon was VERY dry. Nothing at all going on. Of course that is until 5:37....when a guy called to say that his horse was colicing really bad and is now on his way, from whereever he is to bring his horse here....and of course, wouldnt you know that Im on call....
I THINK I may have already mentioned this, but Alberta has this thing called "family day"....so I get next monday off :) So Im making arrangements to go south to medicine hat to visit my cousin for a few days. Hopefully everything will work out, because Id really like to get to see her!!
ok , well , better go and throw a pair of overalls on...the guy should be here soon.
OH YEAH, I dont think i mentioned this before, but you know GEORGE CANYON...like, THE George Canyon, well I guess he lives out here now and wouldnt you know that he's one of our clients!!! :) And I guess there are a lot of Standardbred guys out here from PEI, so all the vets are going to make sure that I go on a call with them if they have to go to any of the farms!! :)
okay...NOW Im done... :)
Sunday was fairly low key,
I went for breakfast with one of the techs, after which we went to the local Walmart :) I was pretty tired because i had stayed up until 1 am watching episodes of greys anatomy....so she dropped me back off at the clinic and i slept for a bit before i woke up to watch some more greys anatomy...... i know i know...BUT ITS ADDICTIVE!
The head tech/ my supervisor came around 545 to pick me up. I was invited to her place for dinner. It was SUPER delicious! Potatoes, yorkshire puddings and ALBERTA roast beef!
Monday was also very low key at the clinic. The owners of a big grey mare came to take her home, leaving TP ( too perfect) [one of our vets horses] by himself. so it made for quick TPRs and and only one pile of manure to pick up as opposed to 10! Made my day!
Last night I went to my cousin Leannes for dinner! ALSO VERY GOOD! We had a warm front come in making it a whopping +2' C yesterday!! So Leannes husband Shane pulled out the BBQ and did up some ALBERTA steaks! YUMMM We also had some potatoes, sweet potatoes and veggies!
This morning, a foal came in to have a pin taken out of its leg, and then I went on the road with Gord, and we went to this big Thoroughbred farm and flushed a mare. The rest of the afternoon was VERY dry. Nothing at all going on. Of course that is until 5:37....when a guy called to say that his horse was colicing really bad and is now on his way, from whereever he is to bring his horse here....and of course, wouldnt you know that Im on call....
I THINK I may have already mentioned this, but Alberta has this thing called "family day"....so I get next monday off :) So Im making arrangements to go south to medicine hat to visit my cousin for a few days. Hopefully everything will work out, because Id really like to get to see her!!
ok , well , better go and throw a pair of overalls on...the guy should be here soon.
OH YEAH, I dont think i mentioned this before, but you know GEORGE CANYON...like, THE George Canyon, well I guess he lives out here now and wouldnt you know that he's one of our clients!!! :) And I guess there are a lot of Standardbred guys out here from PEI, so all the vets are going to make sure that I go on a call with them if they have to go to any of the farms!! :)
okay...NOW Im done... :)
Saturday, February 9, 2008
3 Euthanasias in 3 days....
Well, although we didnt get any more after hour calls last night, we did lose our puncture wound guy...
I went into the barn this morning to do my chores and TPRs only to not immediately see "Gasten". Once I got up to his stall I found him laying up against the door. He was breathing really hard, and as soon as he saw me, he tried to get up, but was so far gone that with every attempt that he made, he would smash his head into the stall door, and with his front legs flailing, he was hitting them against the wall of his stall.
I immediately ran to call the vet, who got there within 5 mins. By a collective effort we mannaged to get him to his feet. I pulled some blood on him and took it to the lab. His blood was almost black! Remember how I said that a PCV of 60= death? well....this morning his PCV was 68...and his TP was 4.7 :( ( Both worse than last night) The vets decision to want to euthanize him was confirmed with those results, and so, she called the owners and a few minutes later, we took him out back ans stopped his pain.
Rough way to start off the day eh? And just as a point of interest, that makes 3 euthanasias in 3 days.
I went into the barn this morning to do my chores and TPRs only to not immediately see "Gasten". Once I got up to his stall I found him laying up against the door. He was breathing really hard, and as soon as he saw me, he tried to get up, but was so far gone that with every attempt that he made, he would smash his head into the stall door, and with his front legs flailing, he was hitting them against the wall of his stall.
I immediately ran to call the vet, who got there within 5 mins. By a collective effort we mannaged to get him to his feet. I pulled some blood on him and took it to the lab. His blood was almost black! Remember how I said that a PCV of 60= death? well....this morning his PCV was 68...and his TP was 4.7 :( ( Both worse than last night) The vets decision to want to euthanize him was confirmed with those results, and so, she called the owners and a few minutes later, we took him out back ans stopped his pain.
Rough way to start off the day eh? And just as a point of interest, that makes 3 euthanasias in 3 days.
Here is a picture of his wound, and of the stick.
So the Saturday set up is kind of weird. One receptionist, one Small animal vet until noon, and one Equine vet, but only for Treatments and emergencies. And one tech, ( plus me). So it was a very low key kind of day. After the euthanization, the rest of my day was spent cleaning the barn to pass time. Oh yeah! And the receptionist, she brought us in CINNAMON BUNS!!! SOOO good!
The clinic does this thing they call Holiday surgery potlucks. So every holiday, they do a pot luck and set everything up on the surgery table in the equine surgery room!! Theyre having one on valentines day. This sort of puts me in a pickle. What is a student, who lives in the basement of the clinic and rarely see's the light of day bring to a potluck?! ....the only thing that has immediately come to mind has been peanut butter sandwiches, but I have a feeling that it wont go over well.... any ideas? :)
Okay, its time for some more Grey's anatomy!!
The clinic does this thing they call Holiday surgery potlucks. So every holiday, they do a pot luck and set everything up on the surgery table in the equine surgery room!! Theyre having one on valentines day. This sort of puts me in a pickle. What is a student, who lives in the basement of the clinic and rarely see's the light of day bring to a potluck?! ....the only thing that has immediately come to mind has been peanut butter sandwiches, but I have a feeling that it wont go over well.... any ideas? :)
Okay, its time for some more Grey's anatomy!!
Friday, February 8, 2008
TGIF!!
So I would just like to start by saying that my hands are bleeding because they are so dry :( That may be the only thing I dislike about Alberta.
Secondly, today was interesting....
Question : When and where is a colic BOUND to happen?...
Answer: In the middle of a WIDE OPEN field while there is a blizzard happening and it's minus 35...THATS WHERE.... ( long story short...the poor horse got euthanized :( he was so far gone by the time we got there, his temperature was below the scale on the Hg thermometer, every breath he took was laboured, and just shaking from head to toe.)
After lunch I set up the surgery room for impending colics...(This weekend we are having a cold snap, and apparently it's good to be prepared for these things)
Although I have been on call for a few nights now since Ive been here, there hasnt been anything happening...UNTIL TODAY!
BEFORE closing, we got 2 calls saying that theyd be arriving after hours. The first one arrived around 545, nothing too exciting about that case. the other however... that was DEFINATELY exciting!
This gelding comes in with a "puncture wound". Blood frozen and clotting down the length of his right hind leg, his sheath swollen and a lot of ventral edema! Guess what I found when I was cleaning up the wound??... YELLOW OOZE!! ( VT girls know what Im talking about... )
So we took some blood, and I went to do his PCV, which was 55 ( 60 = death) and his TP was 5.5( low). His temperature was also very low, and his heart beating irratically. I went and grabbed some LR fluids to heat up. Thats when the vet came in and grabbed a probe. Would you believe that the puncture was ~30 cm long?!? CRAZY! I left the room for a minute to go and spin down some blood and when I came back from doing that....I walked into the treatment room to see the vets HAND in the WOUND. That's right...HAND IN THE WOUND. And you wouldnt believe what she found in there..... no word of a lie, I kid you not! A ~ 4-5 inch long BRANCH! Naturally....I had to take a picture of it :) I didn't put it on my computer yet, so when I do, you'll be the first to see it!!! Needless to say hes staying the night.
Tomorrow is a short day, with just a few treatments planned, but as Im sure you can imagine from the business of the past 5 days, ANYTHING could happen tommorow and I wouldnt be surprised in the least!
Secondly, today was interesting....
Question : When and where is a colic BOUND to happen?...
Answer: In the middle of a WIDE OPEN field while there is a blizzard happening and it's minus 35...THATS WHERE.... ( long story short...the poor horse got euthanized :( he was so far gone by the time we got there, his temperature was below the scale on the Hg thermometer, every breath he took was laboured, and just shaking from head to toe.)
After lunch I set up the surgery room for impending colics...(This weekend we are having a cold snap, and apparently it's good to be prepared for these things)
Although I have been on call for a few nights now since Ive been here, there hasnt been anything happening...UNTIL TODAY!
BEFORE closing, we got 2 calls saying that theyd be arriving after hours. The first one arrived around 545, nothing too exciting about that case. the other however... that was DEFINATELY exciting!
This gelding comes in with a "puncture wound". Blood frozen and clotting down the length of his right hind leg, his sheath swollen and a lot of ventral edema! Guess what I found when I was cleaning up the wound??... YELLOW OOZE!! ( VT girls know what Im talking about... )
So we took some blood, and I went to do his PCV, which was 55 ( 60 = death) and his TP was 5.5( low). His temperature was also very low, and his heart beating irratically. I went and grabbed some LR fluids to heat up. Thats when the vet came in and grabbed a probe. Would you believe that the puncture was ~30 cm long?!? CRAZY! I left the room for a minute to go and spin down some blood and when I came back from doing that....I walked into the treatment room to see the vets HAND in the WOUND. That's right...HAND IN THE WOUND. And you wouldnt believe what she found in there..... no word of a lie, I kid you not! A ~ 4-5 inch long BRANCH! Naturally....I had to take a picture of it :) I didn't put it on my computer yet, so when I do, you'll be the first to see it!!! Needless to say hes staying the night.
Tomorrow is a short day, with just a few treatments planned, but as Im sure you can imagine from the business of the past 5 days, ANYTHING could happen tommorow and I wouldnt be surprised in the least!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
PS. random info
so I forgot to mention that I am the proud new owner of a 2002 GMC TRACKER!!!! wooo hooo!! It all sort of happened very quickly. I found it on the auto trader website, and sent the link to my dad. He never responded, so on friday when him and my mom came over to see me off, I mentioned it to him. APPARENTLY...he couldnt open the link, so he had no clue what i was talking about. My uncles response was "6995$? must be a piece of shit" (not a direct quote...but SOMETHING like that...) So, I went and opened up the link on my computer for them and showed it to them both. My uncles opinion changed very quickly about my find. So my dad called up the dealer, asked if it was still on the lot, and asked if he could stop by and take a look. After they left me at the airport they went to shediac to see it, took it for a drive, my automobile inclined uncle approved my find also, so they put in an offer. My parents took my money from my trust fund, and are looking after getting the insurance for it. So it will be sitting in PEI waiting for me...until sometime when I decide to go home and get it. :) Theres only one...tiny....little, only minor, problem............it's a standard...... :( and I can only half-ass drive a standard....hahaha should be a good show. Stay off the roads when I'm home folks!
Also, didn't I go and get sick on the friday that I left. And I'm still sick now :( that's what reminded to write this little PS. message.
ALSO, not sure if this is as a result of the cold, but Saturday morning, I woke up and had a shower. When I got out of the shower, I cleaned out my ears, like I always do, however this time, when I put the Q-tip in my ear it plugged up my ear. So I took another one to try and dislodge it...only making it worse. Well...wouldn't you know but that after 6 days my ear is still plugged.... this probably isnt a good thing is it? It's not hurting me in any way, but for the fact that I can't hear out of my right ear. Anyone have any suggestions? ( That don't involve going to see a doctor?)
ALSO, not sure if this is as a result of the cold, but Saturday morning, I woke up and had a shower. When I got out of the shower, I cleaned out my ears, like I always do, however this time, when I put the Q-tip in my ear it plugged up my ear. So I took another one to try and dislodge it...only making it worse. Well...wouldn't you know but that after 6 days my ear is still plugged.... this probably isnt a good thing is it? It's not hurting me in any way, but for the fact that I can't hear out of my right ear. Anyone have any suggestions? ( That don't involve going to see a doctor?)
a bloody day!
Today, Thursday, I spent on the road with one of the Vets. We drove, and drove and drove, and, by the way, Alberta is BEAUTIFUL!!! Today was the first day that its been clear enough to see the mountains PERFECTLY. I wish I had of brought my camera!
So yes, we drove towards the mountains, to go to this ranch, in order to float teeth. ( Dentistry for horses. ) This guy had 6 for us to do, so one after another we went through the paces of doing thier teeth. Because most of them were fairly young, she took the caps off of their teeth, so basically, the baby tooth was sitting there and the permanent tooth was coming in behind it and she ripped the baby tooth off. Well....can you say BLOOOODY?! and when she went to work on the bottom teeth, I had to pull the horses tongue out of the way. So not only was she covered in blood, but I too was now covered in blood...
By the time we got the 6 of them done, it was after lunch time, so she took me to lunch! That's two days in a row!! (Ive decided I like going on the road with the vets! hahah)
Before leaving the restaurant, we got a call from the clinic asking us to stop at a farm outside of millarville. This guy had a 25 year old mule that hadn't been eating since Saturday, and he just recently noticed him trying to eat snow and drink water, but unsuccessfully, ie. acting as though he could not swallow and simply drool it all out... :( When we got there he was quite the sight. Very very dehydrated, his heart was beating irratically, and was beating extremely fast. So she got the guy to walk him and as he did, he could not even support the weight of his own body and was wobbling around the place. The vet said that it was likely a tumor, and although he could be treated symptomatically at the cost of 2500-3000, with it likely not even doing that much becuase he was so far gone, the owner decided to have him put down. This was the first time that I have seen a "large animal" put down. Lots more drugs required than that of a cat or dog, and no method of "restraint" apart from a halter and lead. He went fast though, and it was obvious that the owners dog knew what was going on. Initially he barked, but then as the mule dropped, the dog became silent and just sat there, and finally when he had passed, the dog began barking again. Very intense.
When we got back to the clinic, I had TPRs to do and a few chores, otherwise that was it! A nice change compared to yesterday! haha
Until next time!
-A
So yes, we drove towards the mountains, to go to this ranch, in order to float teeth. ( Dentistry for horses. ) This guy had 6 for us to do, so one after another we went through the paces of doing thier teeth. Because most of them were fairly young, she took the caps off of their teeth, so basically, the baby tooth was sitting there and the permanent tooth was coming in behind it and she ripped the baby tooth off. Well....can you say BLOOOODY?! and when she went to work on the bottom teeth, I had to pull the horses tongue out of the way. So not only was she covered in blood, but I too was now covered in blood...
By the time we got the 6 of them done, it was after lunch time, so she took me to lunch! That's two days in a row!! (Ive decided I like going on the road with the vets! hahah)
Before leaving the restaurant, we got a call from the clinic asking us to stop at a farm outside of millarville. This guy had a 25 year old mule that hadn't been eating since Saturday, and he just recently noticed him trying to eat snow and drink water, but unsuccessfully, ie. acting as though he could not swallow and simply drool it all out... :( When we got there he was quite the sight. Very very dehydrated, his heart was beating irratically, and was beating extremely fast. So she got the guy to walk him and as he did, he could not even support the weight of his own body and was wobbling around the place. The vet said that it was likely a tumor, and although he could be treated symptomatically at the cost of 2500-3000, with it likely not even doing that much becuase he was so far gone, the owner decided to have him put down. This was the first time that I have seen a "large animal" put down. Lots more drugs required than that of a cat or dog, and no method of "restraint" apart from a halter and lead. He went fast though, and it was obvious that the owners dog knew what was going on. Initially he barked, but then as the mule dropped, the dog became silent and just sat there, and finally when he had passed, the dog began barking again. Very intense.
When we got back to the clinic, I had TPRs to do and a few chores, otherwise that was it! A nice change compared to yesterday! haha
Until next time!
-A
holy CRAZINESS!!!!
Well, today was by far the busiest of all 3 days. I didn’t even get my TPR’s done when the head tech asked me to suit up for a set of xrays.
The arthostomy patient, yeah well, he decided to show up last night at closing, so we did xrays on his hock, and after that was done with, I had to develop the shots. As a result of the xrays, the horse went into surgery. (this all happened in a matter of 20 mins).
The arthostomy patient, yeah well, he decided to show up last night at closing, so we did xrays on his hock, and after that was done with, I had to develop the shots. As a result of the xrays, the horse went into surgery. (this all happened in a matter of 20 mins).
Here's one of many pictures that I took in surgery. Dr. Dan, our surgeon is doing the arthroscopy on the horse. He ( the horse) is upside down on the surgery table. Anesthetic equipment is behind me and to my right and the arthroscopy equipment and the TV screen is behind me and to my left.
After the surgery, came lunch time. I ended my lunch short because I hadn’t started my lunchtime TPR’s, feedings, and stall cleaning, that’s when one of the vets came in and asked me to brush the arthrostomy guy because his owners were coming to get him. At the same time, the head tech came in and told me that when I was done of that, to finish cleaning surgery and clean all of the instruments from surgery. Before I could get to that, the owners of the arthrostomy guy came. While I was helping the vet with him, he started GUSHING blood, so I had to run and get one of the senior vets.
Once that was looked after, I got to the instruments, but while doing those, I was asked to walk the peritonitis mare. After I was done walking her, I started washing away the mass amounts of blood that now lay on the barn floor from the arthrostomy guy. While doing THAT, I was asked to go on the road with one of the vets that was going to drill a hole into the sinus of a mare. So, I stopped what I was doing to go on the road. It doesn’t stop there!
When we got there, the mare looked really good...... So we decided against drilling into her sinus, and flushed it instead…BUT! While doing that, what happens, but the mare begins colic-ing! RIGHT THERE, in front of me! So the vet and I were at this barn for almost 2 hours…. When we finally left, the vet asked if I was hungry, which of course I was, it was now 730 and I hadn’t eaten since lunch time. So we went to Boston Pizza, and she bought me dinner :)
This was a nice end to the day….UNTIL! While writing this wonderfully long entry, the breaker in my room BLOWS! “MY GOD!”, I think to myself….I cant sleep without a source of heat! Im going to FREEZE TO DEATH! (It was either this option or take my blankets up to the surgery room and set up camp on the surgery table…….) Naturally I didn’t want to see either option happen, so I went in search of the breaker box. 20 mins later! I now have light, heat AND my computer running again! :) Now it’s time for bed, because with my luck, Ill have an even CRAZIER day tomorrow.
Ciao!
my first night! and day 2!!
So my first night in the room wasn’t too bad. Everyone was scared that I was going to freeze to death, when in fact it was so hot in there with the space heaters on, I had to shut one off, and ended up kicking off all the blankets during the night!! I guess it's a good thing then that my mother and aunt magically took out the blanket from my bag that I had intended to take....
Today was a little bit busier than yesterday. The barn was full with horses, so that made for a lengthy period of time spent doing T,P,R,MM,CRT, DP and GI on 7 horses, plus feed, water and pick out their stalls. The day started off with the digital xrays. That was a pretty cool thing to get to do. I then helped one of the Techs prepare and set up for the lavage. That whole process took the better part of the day. It started with an ultrasound which took forever because the mare’s organs were a little…out of place… maybe the foal inside her had something to do with it?) and then a belly tap to remove fluid. After the tap, came the lavage. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see that because after the tap, I went to the lab to get the Total protein of the fluid and got to see how the unopet works and then counted those cells. Earlier in the day, I got to take blood from the same mare. Now THAT was cool. She is a standardbred mare whose left jugular vein was not accessible, and because we had used her right jug earlier, I got to take blood from the facial crest! I was very nervous, because I had no clue what I was doing! Haha I had never seen it before, and had never been taught anything about it, but with a little coaching got 2 tubes full of blood!! The day finished up with bandaging the hock of a gelding, and giving him an IM injection. The arthrostomy patient by the way, never showed up :(
Today was a little bit busier than yesterday. The barn was full with horses, so that made for a lengthy period of time spent doing T,P,R,MM,CRT, DP and GI on 7 horses, plus feed, water and pick out their stalls. The day started off with the digital xrays. That was a pretty cool thing to get to do. I then helped one of the Techs prepare and set up for the lavage. That whole process took the better part of the day. It started with an ultrasound which took forever because the mare’s organs were a little…out of place… maybe the foal inside her had something to do with it?) and then a belly tap to remove fluid. After the tap, came the lavage. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see that because after the tap, I went to the lab to get the Total protein of the fluid and got to see how the unopet works and then counted those cells. Earlier in the day, I got to take blood from the same mare. Now THAT was cool. She is a standardbred mare whose left jugular vein was not accessible, and because we had used her right jug earlier, I got to take blood from the facial crest! I was very nervous, because I had no clue what I was doing! Haha I had never seen it before, and had never been taught anything about it, but with a little coaching got 2 tubes full of blood!! The day finished up with bandaging the hock of a gelding, and giving him an IM injection. The arthrostomy patient by the way, never showed up :(
my first day :)
My first day was pretty low key; watching, restraining, and getting shown where everything is.
Their pharmacy is HUGE. HUGE. The whole place is huge for that matter. The barn has 7 stalls; 5 regular, 1 mare and foal, and one isolation that can only be accessed from the outside. Everything equine is absolutely gi-normous. Surgery= huge, Tx room= huge, radiology= huge.
It’s crazy!
Tomorrow we are going to get to do digital x rays on a horse with quitters, do a Bronchoalveolar lavage, cast removal, do SOMETHING to a stud with a locked patella, an arthrostomy on some little girls dream horse and possibly an abdominal surgery for peritonitis on a pregnant mare.
...exciting!
Their pharmacy is HUGE. HUGE. The whole place is huge for that matter. The barn has 7 stalls; 5 regular, 1 mare and foal, and one isolation that can only be accessed from the outside. Everything equine is absolutely gi-normous. Surgery= huge, Tx room= huge, radiology= huge.
It’s crazy!
Tomorrow we are going to get to do digital x rays on a horse with quitters, do a Bronchoalveolar lavage, cast removal, do SOMETHING to a stud with a locked patella, an arthrostomy on some little girls dream horse and possibly an abdominal surgery for peritonitis on a pregnant mare.
...exciting!
Let the adventures begin!!
first off, I'd just like to say that I just got the internet today, but have been recording my adventures daily, so what you are about to read would be day 1 of my adventures! -Enjoy! Well, 125$ and 3 suitcases later, I was able to get both warmth and books packed. That might be the only good thing about the trip though….The flight out of Moncton was delayed by 30 mins, once in Montreal, it took an hour to de-ice, and THEN, once we landed in Calgary, they couldn’t get the bridge to come across to the plane to let us off. So, we spent an hour inside the plane, just sitting there until finally they deiced to move the plane to a different gate. Thankfully my friend Brent waited the hour for me and took me to McDonalds before we headed south to Calgary.
I spent Saturday night and Sunday at Kate (my supervisor’s) house. She took me for a tour of the clinic on Sunday, and then to the grocery stores to pick up some food :) Kate and her boyfriend mike are huge NFL fans, so we spent almost 8 hours watching the pregame super bowl show, the super bowl and then the post game show. VERY intense! Haha
Here's a picture from Kate's place that looks out to the city! BEAUTIFUL!
Until tomorrow!
-A
Friday, February 1, 2008
less then 24 hrs to go!
So my day has pretty much consisted of packing, packing and more packing.
Right now, my HUUUUUUUGE duffle bag is absolutely 100% positvely FULL. Like, TO THE MAX. This causes a wee bit of a problem for me. Why you might ask? Well...
GOOD NEWS: My parents are bringing a suitcase with them.
BAD NEWS: It already is 1/4 full.
BAD NEWS: I still have a wack of stuff left to pack.
BAD NEWS: Although it may all fit in the suitcase, I'm going with a worst case scenario kind of event which mean me having to remove clothes from the duffle bag... :( I guess I'll have to get used to wearing minimal clothes in -35'C temperatures....
ALSO BAD NEWS: If my space is being occupied with warmth...then that leaves limited to no room for books to study for my national exam....so which do I want? WARMTH??? or EVENING LITERATURE...haha....I know that to some of you this is a no brainer, but I can't work in Alberta ( or Saskatchewan or Manitoba) unless I am a REGISTERED Vet Tech. ( which means passing the national exam.) ....
Stay tuned to find out if I have the skillz that it takes to travel to Alberta with warmth AND books!
Right now, my HUUUUUUUGE duffle bag is absolutely 100% positvely FULL. Like, TO THE MAX. This causes a wee bit of a problem for me. Why you might ask? Well...
GOOD NEWS: My parents are bringing a suitcase with them.
BAD NEWS: It already is 1/4 full.
BAD NEWS: I still have a wack of stuff left to pack.
BAD NEWS: Although it may all fit in the suitcase, I'm going with a worst case scenario kind of event which mean me having to remove clothes from the duffle bag... :( I guess I'll have to get used to wearing minimal clothes in -35'C temperatures....
ALSO BAD NEWS: If my space is being occupied with warmth...then that leaves limited to no room for books to study for my national exam....so which do I want? WARMTH??? or EVENING LITERATURE...haha....I know that to some of you this is a no brainer, but I can't work in Alberta ( or Saskatchewan or Manitoba) unless I am a REGISTERED Vet Tech. ( which means passing the national exam.) ....
Stay tuned to find out if I have the skillz that it takes to travel to Alberta with warmth AND books!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Alberta Bound!!
So I thought that I would give this a try and see if I can't create an accurate account of my daily activities during my adventures West.
Just to recap, here is my situation:
On Saturday, the 2nd of February, I will be going to Okotoks, Alberta for 6 weeks to do a practicum for school.
Should I be offered a job... I will stay out West, (obviously...) and write my national exam there.
Should I not be offered a job, I will be working on a ranch in the Calgary area until May, before returning East to work for the Military until September. This would mean writing my national exam here in the Maritimes, and...likely attending graduation, because I know how much everyone wants me to attend...haha
If, the military says they dont want or need me until July, then I can do the same job in Gimli, Manitoba that I'd be doing back East. In which case I will continue working on a ranch until June some time, come home to get my things, likely write my exam in the maritimes, work for the Military until September and then place resumes. If this is the situation I find myself in, then I won't be at graduation in August.
Lots of different options eh? Hopefully I'll know more, or have more of an idea about what I'll be doing come the end of February...so stay tuned!
Just to recap, here is my situation:
On Saturday, the 2nd of February, I will be going to Okotoks, Alberta for 6 weeks to do a practicum for school.
Should I be offered a job... I will stay out West, (obviously...) and write my national exam there.
Should I not be offered a job, I will be working on a ranch in the Calgary area until May, before returning East to work for the Military until September. This would mean writing my national exam here in the Maritimes, and...likely attending graduation, because I know how much everyone wants me to attend...haha
If, the military says they dont want or need me until July, then I can do the same job in Gimli, Manitoba that I'd be doing back East. In which case I will continue working on a ranch until June some time, come home to get my things, likely write my exam in the maritimes, work for the Military until September and then place resumes. If this is the situation I find myself in, then I won't be at graduation in August.
Lots of different options eh? Hopefully I'll know more, or have more of an idea about what I'll be doing come the end of February...so stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
