MySpace-May 31, 2009-Maybe I Didn't Explain Well Enough

So I think I need to go into a little more detail about the housing arrangements.
We're staying at the Beta Theta Pi house. I've done a little research and its called the 'Castle on the Rock'. Notable members from other chapters include Adam West (Batman), Sam Walton (from Missouri, yes, the Wal-Mart guy) and Jan Chandrasekhar (the Indian guy from Super Troopers).
Its a big ornate house from the outside with lots of ivy growing over it. (Check out a picture in my photo album.) Inside is a big hall with a couple of fire places, a dining room and a several seating areas. Its pretty ornate too. Last night, we lit a fire in the only working fire place. There are several balconies.
Downstairs in the basement is the large kitchen. A dumb waiter goes down to it. I am determined to ride said dumb waiter providing that it works and I won't be trapped between floors. There is a washer and dryer down there too. Off to one side is a bar area. When I found this, I was super excited because this obviously was the guy's secret layer! Then someone else showed me a secret hidden room. It was full of random stuff but it was large and there was a sheet draping one area. We wondered what could be hiding back there. I suggested bodies of the girls that they raped. At that point, we all volunteered feeling like we were in the movie The Skulls or on some Real World type show. Or were in some haunted house thing because the whole place (which is about a 100 years old) has a creepy air about it.
The second floor is full of smaller bedrooms including mine with its private balcony. The third floor has larger bedrooms and I think three have a shared balcony.
Anyway, while the main floor is nice. The upstairs floors definatly didn't get cleaned. They all smell like 100 years worth of guy smell. There was a vomit stain in someones room on the wall and floor. The carpets are stained and worn. There are burned out light bulbs. There has been a flurry of cleaning. I on the other hand have done very little. I vaccumed my room to remove a nacho. I sprayed down the shower walls. The walls are full of holes and probably have about 100 years worth of paint over them.
The bathrooms are lacking and makes us wonder how as many guys that were probably living here got along with them. I think there will be around 15-18 of us living here in the end and we might have some problems. There is a toilet leading to the thrid floor but no shower. There are two or three toilets on the second floor and three showers. There is a two toilets on the first floor. And I think a bathroom with shower in the basement. And everything is gross. But there is hot water.
Last night, as we sat around the fire and talked, we turned the overhead light on it flickered and danced for a long time. We joked about a ghost. Well, according to the website...that might just be true. While we joked that it might be the ghost of one of those girls, it appears to be the ghost of Leo Love. Perhaps he knows we're not frat guys...

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]

MySpace-May 30, 2009-Greetings From NY!

I made it to New York. Its not what I expected it to be...

Anyway, Wednesday, I went to DeSoto to hang out with the folks. I vaccinated Tinkerbelle because our vet can't. She wasn't too bad. I got both vaccines in her and had I attempted to draw blood prior to doing this, probably could have done that too. (Well, I would have gotten some blood anyway.) We had dinner down at Grandma and Grandpa's-KFC-yuck-I had a sandwich.
Thursday I left at the casual time of 8am. Considering that my mom loves to leave before its light, this was very late! It rained essentially all day Thursday making driving slow and difficult. I stopped at a couple of antique stores and picked up some interesting things. I stopped for the night about 30 miles into Ohio and had a great dinner at a Mexican place.
Friday, I hit the road early having some ground to cover. I journeyed across much of Ohio. I found a fantastic gas station. I decided to see Lake Erie because I-90 runs parallel to its banks. (Though you would never know it since much like the Lake of the Ozarks its all trees and then boom! big ass lake.) I got off the interstate to go to a state park with a beach to the lake and had to pull off to the side of the road to check my map. There I was frantically concentrating on my map when there was a sharp rap at my window. A highway patrolman had stopped to make sure everything was okay. He gave me directions and sent me on my way. I nearly cried in telling him that I was looking for directions because he scared me so badly! I made it to the lake and wandered around the beach. There was a noticable lack of shells though plenty of nice smooth rocks. I commented that this beach wasn't the greatest to a local and was propmtly repremanded. On my way out, on the side of the road were some Canada geese eating stuff that geese eat. I stopped to take pictures of a family when one of the adults stepped protectively in front of the babies. I snapped a few shots and then fed them some moldy bread. This caused quite the comotion and all the geese wanted some. Some geese even flew across the road in an effort to get it! Then there were geese on the road as people were trying to drive. I got out of there and moved on to Pennsylvania. Then suddenly I was in New York. New York however likes to play dirty tricks on you by telling you there are things (such as resturants and gas stations and hotels) at the exits but not actually having them right there or telling you what they are, unlike other states that situate such businesses right at the exit. Eventually, I would stop at at few more antique stores-scoring a book from 1912 for my collection! and then find an over priced hotel for the night. I would eat pork chops finally at Perkins and then go to bed.
Saturday, I would leave at the untold hour of 9:30 allowing time for the antique stores to open. I would buy a present for my mom and a medicine cabinet for myself. Eventually, I would eat some McDonald's, wind my way up and down the mountains, cross a covered bridge because I could and then find Ithaca. Finding the frat house was a bit of a challenge. I was the first to arrive and first to select a room. A bright light room overlooking the back yard with a balcony off to the side. Its nice and airy. But the house clearly was not cleaned and smells as if it has been full of college aged men for about a 100 years. Oh wait, it has. And the was no toilet paper. Eventually, I would tour the majority of the place, lay claim to a stoll and others would show up. I think there is a total of five of us now. Canada (Steph) and Georgia (Estelle) and I made a trip to Wal-Mart because they flew in and didn't have cars.
Now to figure out about eating and the awkwardness of meeting more new people. Tomorrow-team building exercises!

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]

MySpace-May 23, 2009-Avoiding Responsiblity

As you may know, I'm going to Cornell for the summer. To facilitate this, I am missing two weeks of my surgery rotations (soft tissue surgery) to be made up upon my return (August).
I've been off since Wednesday. I have managed to mostly clean my room. I've spent alot of time asleep on the couch. I got my car fixed. I've watched some movies. (I recommend Changling. It was really good!). Yesterday, we dumped the dogs off at a kennel, relied on Laura to catch Roosevelt the escapee cat and went to Kansas City for a They Might Be Giants Show. We met up with Kyle there and ran into Ian (Rat) and Sara, his wife. It was a good show with the exception of this guy with a ponytail and a Dragon Ball Z silk shirt that stood in front of me and kept invading my bubble. Normally, I have a fairly small bubble and don't particularly mind people near me  but there was something about this guy that just soured me. I wanted to punch him, cut off his pony tail and tell him to get a life. I was really freaking out and it ruined the entire show.
Joe and I spent the night in KC at a Motel Six. We at a midnight dinner at QuikTrip.
We had a good time. I will spend the rest of my time off before I go to NY avoiding responsiblity as much as possible.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]

MySpace-May 17, 2009-Honors Banquet

Last Wednesday was the Honors Banquet. Normally, I wouldn't of participated but since in your third and fourth year there are some food animal awards, I thought it might be possble to get one. So I went.

But first, an email was sent out-all in red. This is a segment that I found particularly interesting...Remember if you have indicated you are coming please do so as the College has to pay for your meal if you were included in the count for the evening.  With the budget issues we are experiencing it will be necessary to send you a bill if you indicated you were attending and then you do not show up. Only certain hardship cases will be excused, inclusive of medical and clinical duties and assignments.
That's right. All in red. And in bold. And they were going to bill you if you didn't show up.So before leaving for the honor's banquet. I stopped by my mailbox and there was a letter in it. The letter said that I had won an award. $2200! That's a lot of money! I was super excited because now I had a reason to go to the Honors Banquet afterall!

I went and dinner sort of sucked. I had two drinks and started looking at the program. There was my award in the back. Behind like 101 other awards, some with multiple recepients. And of course, mine was one of NINE awards that didn't get announced. Seriously.
Then the next morning when I checked my email, there was another one in red with this segment...

If you received a financial based award in your mailbox it is still possible that you will be receiving other awards tonight at the Honors Banquet. If you have indicated you are coming you still need to attend to receive any other awards you may be presented tonight.

Essentially it says that I got an award because I'm poor and I still should go to the honors banquet to possibly get another award. (Which I didn't get.)
It was super frustrating that I finally get an award (fincancially based or not) and didn't get recognized for it. I never win anything.
And I feel bad for all of the food animal guys in the graduating class because a majority of them didn't get any food animal awards. Will I get one next year?
Anyway, I got home and Joe was still asleep. And I attacked him (figuratively) because I wanted him to know how upset I was because of 101 awards only nine didn't get announced and mine happened to be one of them. He was grumpy because he had just woken up and he wasn't listening...so I punched him. Well, then it turned into a big fight as usual. It sucks. We're okay right now but it still needs some work. I blame Dr.Cott.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]

MySpace-May 3, 2009-Rossies

I've only had scattering experience with the Rossies (kids that went to Ross for vet school and have to finish at an accredited vet school in the US) (Ross is one of the vet schools in the Carribean.)
And they haven't been that bad. It seems that either they really know their stuff or they are complete idiots.
Last block, there were 13 people on the block. Six were from Ross. This allowed them to form their own little clique. In the morning, there were tons of Ross stories. And I guess its okay, after all we all have our inside jokes after four years of being together. And it was super annoying though.
In path, we broke up into two groups and my group only had one person from Ross. She was explaining to us how Ross allowed three classes in a year and the classes were like 150 each and how they only graduated like 50% though. We asked why and she told us all sorts of reasons why Ross was so hard. Its hard to adjust to life on the island and being away from people and stores, the classes are so hard, etc. We all listened respectfully and then one of our professors came in and said essentially, 'well it may not be polite to say, but the people that get into Ross probably didn't get into another school elsewhere and can't handle the stress.'
The next day, this girl left to do something and all of us MU kids were there. We all looked at each other and were like 'I can't believe that he said that! But its true! And I didn't want to say it!' I believe its the belief of many of the people from MU.
Another thing-they give crappy presentations. Really crappy presentations. I worked superhard on my path presentation so that it would be good since one of the pathologists gave me all of the information. One of the Rossies, also got their presentation case from the same pathologist. And copied word for word what they wrote. Seriously, that's not cool.
After I had the first ICU shift and had to round with Dr.Mann, I came back and told everyone that it happens everyother Wednesday. Two weeks later, when one of the Rossies had to round with Dr.Mann, they were shocked. I warned them and then when I reminded them of that, they acted like its my fault.
And they complain about professors that have only lectured once. We've had these professors more than once. We have some right to complain. Not them.

[EDIT-Sorry if this offends anyone out there. I know its not the rule but it really seemed like it at Missouri. 5/31/11]

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]

MySpace-May 3, 2009-Surgery

I was going to write this huge long blog about the pros and cons of pathology, but a week and a half out. I can't remember anything. I do know that those last two days when I thought I was excited about going back for necropsies, I was wrong. The last day though, Dr.Johnson bought us all ice cream.

I'm sad that Bea Arthur is dead. Two of four Golden Girls. Its not completely random, all I've done this afternoon is watch Golden Girls inbetween being asleep on the couch (which has broken). If you want to see an inappropriate picture of one of the living Golden Girls, click here.

Joe and I have been having a very good time lately. I don't know if its because we never see each other or because not smoking is doing well or what. We're getting along great! Its like when we first dated...well, almost like that. I couldn't ask for much more. He brought me flowers the other day.

This is probably the first day that I've actually got to sit down and got to do anything that wasn't being a surgery student or sleeping. Needless to say, surgery is a super busy rotation. I'm on hard tissue/orthopedics and Dr. Jimi Cook is on so its extra busy. And I have to admit that I jumped onto the Dr.Cook bandwagon as much as I hate to admit it. He's really professional and tries to explain and show us students things in the OR. He calls me Dr.Pope. Its nice really. Its nice that he knows my name. Dr. Mann (the soft tissue surgeon) does too and always says hello to me. Anyway, I've had lots of patients. The first day, I saw three cases. And I was on call. (This is the thrid rotation that I have been on call or ICU on the first day. Someone hates me.) And as I sat at school at like 7:30 doing endless paperwork, I got called in for a collie that fell down a cliff. I ended up watching it while the intern tried to convince the people to euthanize the poor dog. (We think it had a broken back.) One of the ICU techs walked past and noticed it didn't look good and wished me luck with that code. And then ten minutes later, it coded. It did the Schiff-Sherrington posture and was gasping. I thought it might just be some of the neurologic signs it was starting to have but then it couldn't breath at all. I yelled and got on the phone with the intern. But the poor dog ended up dying anyway.
I had an old dog that belonged to an old man that didn't want to leave it. Poor Jake ended up not doing all that great probably because he missed his man. Anyway, we had set a discharge day and then someone decided to see what this mass was on his back leg and it was cancer. I think it should be noted that I noted the mass before we took the dog to surgery. So we kept it and cut out the cancer and sent the dog home.
I sent home a young happy golden with an old happy couple that gave me a cinnamon roll. Yesterday, I sent a dog home with a couple that gave me a card containing $50, but I gave the money back. Its not right to take money for something that I have to do as part of my grade anyway.
My patient now is a 100 pound 11 month old Newfie. She's super sweet but super big and super strong.
Last Saturday, I was on call too and was again at school finishing up the tons of paperwork, when someone came and found me to go to surgery. I went to surgery twice that day. Once for a dog with a septic abdomen and one for a hemilaminectomy-a back surgery. Luckily, Friday, the last day I was on call, I left school in a hurry so I wouldn't be called in and was not.
I have to admit that Friday, I cried. Dr.Franklin was laying into me on my blue ICU sheet and I had just had enough. I didn't cry alot-I just got tears in my eyes and my voice got all funny but after I had worked so hard and nothing had been said to me before about my ICU sheets. (That for the record, no one has throughly explained good parameters to put down.) He was super apoligetic about it and hadn't really yelled or anything. It was nice to see that he was sorry.
I like surgery a lot. I always have. But I'm not a huge fan of the hours that I have to put in. I think my days are averaging about twelve hours. Maybe more. I know that there have been days that are 15 or 16 hours.
Surgery is wearing me out but like I said before, I got to lay on the couch today and do a whole lot of nothing. I need to remember to do laundry tonight because for whatever reason, my clothes get really dirty.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]