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I managed to survive the test week from hell - 8 tests in seven days. In retrospect I can’t say I survived it particularly well - the 4 hour clinical correlate test for small animal gastroenterology, for example, was a classic exercise in pain. It was so challenging that when the instructor encouraged us to take a bathroom break two hours into the test, almost nobody moved for fear that the few minutes “wasted” to go the bathroom could mean not completing the test on time.

Other than the onerous testing at the end, I thought the semester was rather interesting and relatively stress-free. I spent a lot of time palpating cows and horses, which many non-veterinary people might consider disgusting, but which was actually quite useful and interesting. “Palpating,” in these instances, meant sticking my arm up their rectums and feeling for the reproductive tract in an attempt to find the ovaries and figure out if the cow/horse was pregnant. They say you don’t really get good at this until you do about 1000 cows or horses. Overall, I probably did about 35 cows and 15 horses. So, no, I’m not good at it. We also used ultrasound, via the same route, to “inspect” the reproductive tracts. Unlike the ultrasound images of human babies where you can pretty easily make out the images of little limbs, heads, and bodies, ultrasound images of cow and horse uteruses and ovaries are quite non-descript. It, too, is an acquired art. I guess I will have to keep practicing.

If I could sum up the semester in one word, that word would have to be “reproduction.” No, I didn’t produce any offspring personally. Rather, I was immersed in a seemingly endless run of reproduction classes. There was small animal reproduction, equine reproduction, small ruminant reproduction, and large animal reproduction. That’s a lot of naughty bits to learn about. The highlight had to be the lab in which we collected semen from a stallion. If you’ve never been witness to such a thing, let’s just say it is a highly energized and potentially dangerous affair (pun intended). We also collected semen from a goat, which was a decidedly less dangerous affair, but only less dangerous based on animal size, not animal intent.

The semester started off with a trip to Lexington, Kentucky to learn about opportunities in equine practice, and ended with a trip to Las Vegas in December to attend the American Association of Equine Practitioners conference. I can say without reservation that I prefer Lexington to Las Vegas.

During the semester, we also said goodbye to our long-term foster dog, Morgan, who found a great new home with a little girl that loves the heck out of him. We then fostered Gretal, a slight, young, German Shepherd who found a great new home after only three weeks with us. And currently we have Bernie, a most awesome 1 year old Saint Bernard who we’ve found a great home for in just a matter of a week and a half.

From the very beginning of my vet school career, I’ve talked about the fact that everyone says it goes by extremely quickly. I can certainly add my voice to that chorus. We start back to class next week and as a third year, our spring semester lasts a mere 3 months. Come April 12, we begin our year-long clinical rotations. I’ve come to know the 89 other people in our class pretty well over the course of the past two and a half years, and it’s difficult to fathom that in a mere three months, we’ll all essentially be going our separate ways. As much as I’m looking forward to moving away from lectures and towards actually applying what we’ve been learning, there is a certain sadness that comes with knowing that the camaraderie that we have all shared over the past few years will soon end.  And of course, vet school being vet school, there will be no time to relish these next three months. But I will try - I will certianly try.

As I sit here on a Monday night studying (i.e. cramming) for a small animal infectious diseases test, I am lamenting the fact that I can’t really enjoy the build-up to Christmas. Between now and next Tuesday, a period of a little more than a week, I have eight finals, a quiz, and an assignment to complete. There will be a celebratory eggnog next Tuesday afternoon, for sure. It is during times like these that I issue the warning to all in earshot (or eyeshot, as the case may be) - if I ever serve as your vet, you’d better never, ever, ever, ever complain about vet fees in my presence - or I will double your fee and make you take eight finals in seven days!

First of all, yet another apology for not updating this blog very often. I’m really busy with school, blah, blah, blah…you get the picture. I’ll try to update more often, but no promises.

And yes, vet school is back in full force. I thought the days of solid lectures from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ended with second year, but, sadly, that’s not the case. It seems that my schedule this year is packed even more solid than last year. But part of that is my fault. We had a wider choice of electives this semester, which, being electives, we were of course pefectly free to pass up. But I just couldn’t pass on them. They all either seemed really interesting, or were applicable to my “track” which is “mixed animal” (meaning large (horses, cows, camelids, sheep, goats, etc.) and small (dogs, cats, house pets) animals. And so, while lots of other people didn’t have to come in until 10 a.m. on Monday mornings, for example, I had to be there at 8 to participate in the equine reproductive elective.

Not all classes run a full semester in vet school, so even though we are just over two months into the semester, I have already completed five courses. There is still plenty more to go, of course, but there is a certain satisfaction knowing that you’ve already “knocked off” a few things. The downside is that typically when one course ends, a new one begins.

So other than the long days, how does third year compare with the first two years of vet school? First off, it is kind of surreal in that it’s hard to believe that we’ve come so far in only two years. Seeing the freshmen start out and remembering what that was like seems like decades ago. And it’s also interesting to think that in two short years we’ve gone from the wide-eyed, clueless people who walked through the doors to the somewhat sophisticated, seasoned vet school students we all are now. And although it’s true that we still  have a year to go after this, we are pretty much at the top of the heap right now as far as our vet school academic carreer goes. That’s because as fourth years we scatter off into clinical rotations and externships and we won’t really be together as a class anymore. So this is it - the pinnacle of our classroom learning as vets in the making.

Third year classes range from very interesting to run-of-the-mill dull. Last week we had our gastrointestinal surgical labs which involved various GI surgeries on dogs. I love surgery, but I hate anesthesia which, of course, goes hand-in-hand with surgery. I had to patiently plod through two hours of anesthesia before I could get to do a surgery, but I guess I’m finding that the more you do anesthesia, the less nerve-racking it becomes.

I’ve also had plenty of both bovine and equine palpation labs, so my arms have spent considerable time inside of rectums this semester. Of the two I find I’m much more comfortable and capable with horse palpations which is probably fortunate because I’d much rather work with horses than cows.

And just to make sure we keep our eyes on the prize, they made us plan out our entire fourth year by the end of this September. We had to submit all of our rotation and externship requests by that date and once the computer and a few select humans have their way with them, I should know exactly what I’ll be doing and where until May, 2011. Although we have to have our externship dates blocked off, we don’t really need to figure out what and where those externships are going to be - at least for a little while. So far I have two externships definitively set up. I will be spending two weeks at  Rood and Riddle equine hospital in Lexington, Kentucky in October next year. In March of 2011, I’ll be spending two weeks with a vet in Oregon going on farm calls to alpaca and llama farms. That leaves two externships unfilled, but I should know about them soon - if all goes well, of course.

But for now I have to study for an oncology final… sigh.

I thought that having a relatively “easy” summer would mean that I would be updating this blog more frequently. Not so, as it turns out. When the weather is nice, it’s just too hard to sit down in front of a computer and type. But school is fast approaching so I thought I’d better make up for lost time while I had the chance.

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I am officially half way through this journey and thought it might be a good time to reflect on where I’ve been, where I’m going, and what I think it all means.

At this point, it is difficult to separate school from life in general, because school has become my life. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation. While I am certainly currently enjoying the respite from having to study every night and most weekends, I think that vet school, in general, has been very good for me. I have a hard time staying focused on things for any length of time, and vet school does that for me. By the time I graduate, becoming a vet will have been a 7-year commitment to education. I do not feel the time could have been better spent. Sure, I could have been making money rather than going into debt, but in the end  we all know that real accomplishment is not achieved without sacrifice and hard work. And I have certainly had my share of both. (more…)

Year 2 of vet school is just about history. All of our finals are over - the only thing remaining is this week’s “Integrative Medicine” elective where we explore classic oriental medicine therapies like acupuncture and herb therapy and learn to diminish our stress through yoga and QiGong. A rather relaxing end to a rather demanding semester. (more…)

Sophomore surgery lab started out with a bit of a surprise when we discovered that the humane society did not have enough dogs in need of spaying to supply all of the surgery groups. So instead of performing a dog spay, I would be performing a cat spay. I was a bit disappointed at first in that I had done a cat spay a few months before and was looking forward to doing a dog spay. But in the end, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference - same procedure, just with smaller “parts.”

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First things first. The answer to the radiology question in my last post is “A”. Several people got it correct and I am currently negotiating to get them into vet school. I take the radiology final this Tuesday - a three-hour computer-based test that gives you instant feedback when you are done. Please send good karma.

We have about six more weeks left in the semester and, as always, they’ve packed as much fun as possible into that time. In addition to the radiology final, we have a two-part clincal pathology final, with the first part on Monday and the second part on Friday. The next week we are faced with three more tests. The fun never ends! (more…)

Vet school can go up against the best high school or junior high in terms of drama. I’ll make a blatant sexist statement and blame the high drama quotient on the fact that 80 percent of the students are female. Or maybe it’s the fact that most of the students are in their early 20s and don’t have enough life experiences to weed out the real crises from the temporary ones. Whatever the reason, the drama offers a bit of amusement in our otherwise mundane, lecture-filled days. It’s like we have our own reality TV show, only it’s real and not on TV.

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I apologize for not updating my blog in over a month. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it in face of the study burden I was facing over the past month. Two weeks ago turned out to be what I feel was the most intense, stressful week of vet school so far. I managed to survive, but we still don’t have the tests back from that week so I’m not sure how well I survived.

One more test before spring break. I’ll be back then with something a bit more interesting.