Community Service

You probably know that I like being a veterinarian. You probably also know that I like to talk.
This makes for a poor combination when I am behind on appointments because I start talking. Somehow I figure since someone had to wait, everyone had to wait and they wait because I want to make sure everyone feels like they had their fair share of my time. The techs don't appreciate it when it makes them leave at 7:30 instead of 7...when they got off.
The two above things do provide a good combination of me liking to talk about being a veterinarian.
In addition, I like to teach. I like to teach clients about their animal's disease, about allergies, about pain management, etc. I like to type up handouts. I like to draw diagrams.
I also like kids.
So when you combine liking to talk, liking being a vet, liking to teach and liking kids...you're the one that gives clinic tours to boy scout groups.
Last year, I gave two tours to two different boy scout groups. One group was super excited-both kids and adults. The second group was not; the adults didn't tell me of their time constraints (baseball practice) beforehand and also seemed really creeped out about the various things we had as displays. Oh, and the adults were all men!

This year, I gave a private tour to a 5th grader that had written us a letter for her school project. She was amazing. Super smart and asked great questions. She had her mom take some really crazy pictures-us in our white coats, us looking scholarly looking at a book, us in lead aprons, us high-fiving while wearing lead gloves...It was pretty awesome. We had a good time.

My original group of boy scout wanted to come back which meant that I needed to come up with new things. I decided instead of just touring the clinic and talking about various things, we would focus on parasites and organs. I had some pig organs from some dead piglets. We had a 'pin the organs on the puppy' game, I printed radiographs and we identified the organs after going over radiographs and we discussed what organs did.
Then for the parasites! I had printed off a couple dozen copies of parasite eggs, cut them out, laminated them and cut them out again. Then I mixed them into chocolate pudding. The goal was for the boy scouts to dig them out of the pudding to replicate our looking under the microscope at a fecal sample. They had a blast and I was really glad that I made them all put on scrub tops!
And randomly, Kinder, the grumpy old man of clinic cats, decided that he wanted to be involved. He was petted and I hoisted him up on the table for a check.

So the next day, I had a talk to give to a girl guard group at the Salvation Army. I was sort of excited because these were 5th through 8th graders as apposed to the 2nd and 3rd graders that make up the Boy Scout group. Then I was less excited because I had some very specific things that I needed to cover. I started out making a presentation, then decided that it was too advanced and then went back to wanting to use it. Then ended up not using it.
I arrived a little late for my presentation due to some problems with parking...as there wasn't any. When I went in, I was in the chapel and unfortunately, I didn't get any time to set up. I wanted my presentation to be thoughtful as well as enjoyable. And maybe it was enjoyable for the girls but it wasn't really for me. These girls were insane. For as well behaved and intelligent as my Boy Scouts were, these girls weren't. I was actually, no joke, asked if I thought that Justin Bieber was rabid. I also was ask/told multiple things about various family pets. It was not exactly how I had it planned. Sadly, there was one girl that I really thought was enjoying herself and wanted to learn but was distracted by the pajama clad girl with the KoolAid mustache dancing in front of her.

While I still love the idea of talking and teaching kids about veterinary medicine, I might need to screen my groups a little more carefully.  

Weekend on Call

Well, its been cold and snowy here. That's no big surprise. I live in Northwest Pennsylvania and its February 5th. We moved Hattie the Fattie Cattie inside early in January for half a week because it was negative temps overnight. She seemed to enjoy it but we moved her back outside when it warmed up. The next time that it got that cold, she came inside and after a few days we FIV tested her and she joined the household. When it warmed back up this past weekend, I said that she should go back outside to which Joe (who had originally adopted Hattie when she was outside and is responsible for her name-though not the fattie cattie part, that's all me) protested and she became our FOURTH housecat. Though she may go out in the spring. As part of this, because I'm awful at it, Joe also took over the litterpan duty! Double score-another nice cat and not having to do litter pans!

Last week, DE was out of town and I was on call over the weekend. Friday, it was decided as large animal calls kept coming in that I should just stay on large animal all day. I started with an emergency way over in Ohio regarding a pig that was seizing. It was dead when I got there as sort of expected. Then I went and saw two sick cows, then to the office to eat. Then I saw a sick horse, vaccinated four horses and then saw a sick cow. The final cow was one of the meanest one that I have encountered in a long time. She kicked and kicked at me a I tried to cut her twisted stomach. I have a nasty bruise on my thigh. Luckily, I was able to come home and take a warm shower after my long day without much interruption.
Saturday morning was busy as usual but not excessively so. We were done by noon and I ran out to check on a horse belonging to a tech. The horse decided to lay down uphill and being rather old, couldn't get himself up. When I got there though, he was up and none the worse for wear. I stopped at the gas station then back the clinic for a HBC. He wasn't too bad but needed some stiches. I was going to come back when I had a tech to do this and that way I could make sure that he didn't seem less stable. I sat on the couch for less than an hour before going out on a calving. It was probably one of the messiest calvings every. Joe came with me since this was one of my favorite clients! Then after a much needed shower, we were back to the office for a dog that was acutely blind and then a dog in DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). I told the DKA dog that we either needed to euthanize or refer to Pittsburgh for more care than I could provide. Sunday morning, I euthanized the dog. It was sad but for the better. Then Saturday night, we finally saw a dog with fluid in her chest and abdomen. She was sweet and though she has a poor prognosis, I am optimistic for her. Her attitude is just too good to give up on!
Sunday, was my DKA dog, a dog that ate rat poison and a cat that was attacked by a dog. Not a bad weekend.
Monday, before even going into the clinic, I went out and castrated three bull calves and vaccinated a small group. It went amazingly well! I don't often get to do this work but I love it. Then I headed back into the office but on my way, I got a call about a sick horse. This horse is well known to us as a thin elderly man. He was very unsteady on his feet with a high heartrate. I wasn't sure what was going on but ultimately decided that it was likely severe colic. He responded well to banamine (a pain med) and I got him standing comfortably. I rectaled him and unfortunately felt that what I was feeling was not normal. I explained to the clients my concerns and that he was in no way a candidate for surgical correction. Because he responded so well to pain meds alone, I felt it was worth giving him warm water and oil. I left some sedative if he returned to how he was before. Sadly, that night he continued to get worse and CB went out. She euthanized him. It was sad but he was a painful boy.

I have a bowling party planned for my birthday on Friday. Its pretty exciting though I don't think that there is going to be very many people coming. :(