Time has somehow dwindled down to less than 2 weeks before I head across the pond. I've been able to get so much done this summer that I feel ready to go. One more time to hang out with everyone this Saturday (my LAST Saturday in Canada!!) and then I'll have to start packing.
I haven't been able to update people on my dairy goat farm experience but I'm sure most of you have seen my pictures on facebook. It was an amazing experience and I'm really sad that I was only there for a week. The goats were all very hilarious and the family were really REALLY nice to me. I was able to follow a large animal vet around for an entire day and somehow I got really lucky and was able to experience a very exaggerated typical day. Dr. Jenny Kungl was the vet I followed around, and she is definitely a vet I would trust my animals to. She knows her stuff and is so friendly and outgoing to all of her patients. I was able to watch her perform 2 twisted stomach surgeries, and was even able to stick my hand into the cow!!! I mean, not in the butt section, but through the incision that was made perilumbar on the right hand side. She injected lidocaine into 3 different nerves that branched off from the spinal cord and *shwing!* it was open. When I stuck my hand into the cow's abdomen, I thought that I would have a good idea of where everything was..except everything felt the same!!!!!!! Man, I'm going to fail SO BAD when I start vet school. The 2nd twisted stomach surgery, I felt the omasum and it was rock hard, it should have been like a stress ball, solid but still squishy. I felt like I was touching a basketball (with all of the little grippy things) with a thin slimy membrane over it. This meant that even if we fixed the twisted stomach, the cow would have still had the same eating problems and would have had a painful death (unable to digest). The owner was not too happy (although he was VERY nice to me!) and said, "oh well, that's too bad. I'll just call my friend to come in the morning to shoot her". In my head I made the D: face! I realized just how different the owners/patients are between large animal and small animal situations. Large animal, being mostly cows, horses, pigs, are part of the owner (aka farmer, usually) income and they don't usually see them as anything other than that. Compare that to the small animal, where a tiny little punting dog was adored by her owner, and she would do anything to fix this dog, no matter what the trouble was and no matter how much it cost.
I still haven't decided whether to practice in the large or small animal category yet, but now that my doctor told me I have a mild case of asthma, I might opt not to be too near hay and other dusty allergens too much. Yea, I know what you're thinking, "you have asthma, and you want to be a vet?!". Definitely is a tough choice for me, but I have always liked challenges and this will be the biggest one of all. I know I'm not allergic to dogs or cats (I volunteered in a small animal clinic for an entire year without problems) and it was after working at the goat farm that I started having breathing problems. However, I don't know if it's the hay or the poop or the combination because I've been around horses in Kyle's reserve and I didn't have ANY problems. Oh well, I guess I won't be able to avoid what I'm sensitive to until I finally run into it. I'm currently reading "Tell Me Where It Hurts" by Dr. Nick Trout and it makes me feel a little bit better that even a veterinary surgeon who wrote a book had an allergy to something.
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In other news, I went and bought vaccuum space bags today. Their not the ones we've seen on tv and I don't know if they'll work the same either...oh well, I'm excited to try them out later this week! Wait...is it a bad thing that I'm excited by a vaccuum sucking out all of the air from a bag?! Lol, I need to get out more.
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Went to Kyle's cottage this past weekend and although it was pretty miserable on the Saturday, the Sunday was amazing! We went tubing, went to Killarney to have some famous fish and chips, and got to spend some extra time with the guy I love. I just wished my dad had some more trust in me and wasn't so worried about me driving at night. He was pretty peeved when I saw him back at home. Oh well, there's not much more I can do other than shut up and take it. I know I didn't do anything wrong so there's no point arguing with someone else about it.
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Dragon boat practice this Wednesday! Ahh!! I can't believe I'm going to be able to be on a dragon boat ONE more time before I leave! Good luck to McMaster at the Montreal Regatta! You guys are going to be awesome! :D
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