What's been going on...

I have not been updating as much as my mum was visiting and also I went for an "away" rotation and that kept me busy..

Well - I have had shelter rotation. I really enjoyed that as it was a lot of polishing up the skills that I had - physical exams on puppies, kittens, animals who were given up and so it was fun. It was so enjoyable that I seriously contemplated being a shelter veterinarian. The only thing that's stopping me is that I am not sure if I will be bored with being a shelter veterinarian after 6 months of doing the same stuff - physical exams, spays and neuters and the possible amputation. The pay's also a factor because shelter veterinarians in some places don't get paid as much. The frightful thing that happened during this rotation was that my ovarian pedicle during spaying never seemed tied off tight enough and so it kept slipping off and causing a blood bath. The first time it happened, I had blood all over, in my shoes, clothes, mask, face and even on my glasses. It was awful.. and directly after that I had to a spay in which I kept thinking that something was going to bleed out. I felt really like retching when I went home. It was a sick sick feeling and very scary. And it happened a second time so that really sucked. I got better after that though.

Then, I had an off campus rotation in North Carolina State. I did neurology there because the U of I isn't able to afford a neurologist yet (for that matter, I don't think they ever will be able to afford one). It was quite stressful learning a new system in 2 weeks and everything they did was different, from ICU flowsheets to orders to the computer system. Coupled with the fact that my neurology before going to the rotation was zilch, it was quite a shaky start. I think I met my objective in going there in that I am now able to confidently do a proper neuro exam. I think North Carolina is a nice place though, nice weather and definitely more affluent than the U of I. They have so much fancier machines that are actually used and in frequent use.

And now.. onwards to boards. I have it exactly in 2 weeks. Please say a prayer for me.. Learning about cows, horses, pigs, geckos, chickens, birds all in 2 weeks is what i need to do.