Semester 5, Week 5--Doing Medical Stuff!

While this semester isn't initially very busy when you get the first schedule (which showed we were generally out of classes at noon), your personal schedule is quite different.  You get smaller group labs scattered throughout practically the ENTIRE semester.  To this point, I've had:  suturing labs (3 different ones, practicing different patterns and ties), phlebotomy, catheter placement, dog physical examination, sheep physical examination, radiographic positioning, anesthesia case studies, and ultrasound.  I'm sure I forgot something somewhere too!  I do like the hands-on aspect of this semester for the most part... even if my fingers swell from holding the surgical tools for hours on end... and I can't hit model veins very well at all... and even if the sheep are royal jerks.

On that note, I don't like sheep.  At all.  During the lab, we had to practice restraining the sheep on its butt ("rumping," I think it's called).  There are two ways you can do this.  Stand on the sheep's side and reach under its belly/neck and grab the legs closest to you and then swing the sheep onto its butt... or you can turn its head so it's looking behind it, and pull down on the flank as you spin to get it to sit.  Well, my sheep decided he wanted to buck while I was doing this, so I stumbled backwards as the sheep walked backwards on its hind legs in the same direction. If I didn't hit the fence, I would've been on my butt on the ground with a sheep on top of me.  Mister 495 also had horns... and when he decided he didn't want to go back into the pen, he headbutted my knee.  Jerk.

Classes are rather dry, but our instructors really try their best to keep us interested.  It's not the material that's boring, either... it's all clinically relevant.  It's just hard to stay interested sometimes.  :(  On that note, we're starting to see a shift within the class now--the ones that could cram and study book work very well are having a harder time with examinations... and those of us that struggled because we're hands-on or experiential learners are doing much better.  Any guess as to which category I fall into?  :P

Starting the clinical nutrition elective this week as well with Dr. Hammond.  All clinical cases so far.  Loving it... it's a great review of what we did in the first semester.

Next week is my group's canine anesthesia laboratory.  I miss those days at the clinic!  We have to turn in our drug protocol to the pharmacy this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Stewart's facebook wall.  Yes, that's her  IN the cloud of sand...

Leatherback season is REALLY slow this year.  I've only seen 6 turtles... 4 of them were all on one night last semester.  Seems we may wrap up in early July--which will give me weekends back again.

I think that's about it for the time being.  Gotta give my wrist a break, too... all this writing/typing has been hell for it lately.

Until next time!