National Boards

I passed the NAVLE (The National Board Exam)!!! I just got my scores today! I don't have time to write right now (I am busy on my cardiology rotation) but I will publish an updated blog soon!

4th Year

I am so sorry that I haven't written in such a long time. School has consumed my life! The rest of 3rd year was great. I loved my equine ambulatory rotation and all of my small animal rotations. I had 2 weeks off for "summer vacation" before starting 4th year. I spent one of those weeks camping with a bunch of my classmates up in Big Sur and the other week my parents visited me and we took a roadtrip up the coast to San Francisco.

My first clinical rotation of 4th year was surgery. I loved it! It has been one of my favorite rotations to date. I got to do more spays and neuters then I can count. I even got to do one mass removal and I scrubbed in and assisted with the more complicated procedures such as orthopedic surgeries etc. On my last day I got to spay a cat with a closed pyometra. My second rotation was internal medicine and then I did a 2 week soft tissue surgery externship in NY followed by a week of Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) down in Tennessee. RAVS was an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone in veterinary school or anyone who is a veterinary technician. Basically RAVS is a program that combines community service and veterinary education to bring free veterinary services to underserved rural communities where poverty and geographic isolation make regular veterinary care inaccessible. Here is a link to their website for more info: http://www.ruralareavet.org/

Following RAVS I spent a month at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine for Oncology. It was my other favorite rotation. I was lucky enough to receive The Winston Award (a scholarship that provides money to a 4th year vet student to study cancer), which paid for all of my travel expenses for the rotation. Following Colorado I came back to L.A and had my imaging rotation which I also liked a lot. I am currently taking November "off" from rotations and I have been studying for my National Boards (I'm taking them on December 4th!), State Boards, applying to rotating small animal internships and going on working interviews. Well I have to get back to studying for Boards and writing my letters of intent. I will try to write again soon.

Finals Week

Last Day of Zoo Rotation

Finals begin this Monday and end on Friday. I can't wait until exams are over and I can go home for the holidays!
My past two rotations have been my favorite so far. I spent 2 weeks at the Los Angeles Zoo and then 2 weeks at Antech Diagnostics. Even though the zoo was technically a "hands off" rotation I learned so much. I was able to monitor anesthesia for a variety of animals and was even able to help out with some of the diagnostics. I also got to make a presentation on the anatomy and physiology of air sacs in Orangutans. Unfortunately I am not allowed to go into too much detail about what I did and saw at the zoo or post any of the pictures that I took
I also loved my diagnostic laboratory and pathology rotation at Antech. For the first time in 2 1/2 years I was able to have some lectures instead of only doing problem based learning. I finally feel like I understand clinical and gross pathology. It was like a huge light-bulb came on when the pathologists taught us. I am excited to apply what I've learned when I do my small animal rotations later on this year. During this rotation I also got to do my first small animal necropsy and write up my own necropsy report.
In addition to studying for finals I am also in the middle of planning out and applying for clinics next year. So far I am doing a Cardiology and Internal Medicine rotation at Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston and a Pathology rotation at Antech. My core surgery rotation and my core internal medicine rotations are in the O.C and in L.A. I am applying for an Oncology rotation in Colorado and still haven't decided where I am going to complete both my Emergency and Imaging rotations.
I will write again after exams.

Surgery Rotation- November 2007

Picture: My first spay!
I just finished my 2 week long Shelter Medicine and Surgery Rotation. This rotation was by far the hardest rotation that I will have this year. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays begin at 8am when all of the shelter animals get checked into the hospital. I pick an animal, do a complete physical exam and run bloodwork and any other tests that need to be done. I then analyze the clinical pathology of the bloodwork results and decide if that animal is healthy enough to spay/neuter or if it's not I develop a plan to diagnose and treat the patient. I then either go into surgery or pick another patient and start all over again. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work on cadavers performing more difficult surgeries such as a cranial cruciate ligament surgery, total ear canal ablation surgery, transpalpebral eneucleation etc.I spent my birthday practicing orthopedic surgery (repairing a cranial cruciate ligament, patella luxation, and using a normograde technique to place an intramedullary pin in a tibia).
Most of my patients were too sick to spay/neuter. However, I did get to spay one cat and neuter two kittens. I learned more about internal medicine these past two weeks then I have in the past two years combined.

Dairy Rotation- October 1, 2007

Picture: Sunrise at the Dairy.
I have been on my large animal dairy rotation in Los Banos California for over a week now. I have been waking up at 3am and been getting to the veterinary clinic around 4am every day. I spend most of the morning palpating cows for pregnancy. I spend the early afternoon doing miscellaneous stuff like vaccinating and removing supernumerary teats off of calves. I have been sharing/living in a hotel room with Dainna. Even though the hotel is nice, I have only been able to use the hot tub and gym once because I am so busy with work.
Today I humanely euthanized my first two animals ever. Both were down cows. The first one was in lateral recumbancy and was on its death bed. The second one was really sick but was still sternal and was staring at me as I injected the sodium pentabarbital into its jugular vein. I have restrained countless animals for the veterinarian to humanely euthanize as a veterinary technician, but nothing can really prepare you for the first time that you inject and kill the animal yourself. Both of the cows needed to die, and they passed on in a very calm and humane way. I don't regret euthanizing them but I still can't shake the feeling that I actually killed an animal. I can't imagine how difficult it is going to be when I have to euthanize my first companion animal.

Third Year Presentation- September 19, 2007

This morning I presented my Third Year Seminar. Each third year veterinary student is assigned a day to give a 15 minute oral presentation to the faculty and first and second year students on a topic in veterinary medicine that they thoroughly researched in primary literature. The topic of my presentation was, "The Potential Use of Adipose Derived Stem Cells for the Treatment of Canine Osteoarthritis." I was so nervous for the presentation but as soon as I got on stage I felt confident and I think that the presentation went great! I am so relieved that it's over.

Nebraska Day ???

It feels like I have been here forever! I am sooo looking forward to going home in less then 48 hours! This week we got to work with sheep, I got to bleed them, tip them and do physical exams on them. I also got to necropsy a pig that died from torsion of the root of the mesentary. I can't explain how exhausted I am! We have lecture and labs from 8am-5ish and then we have so much homework and assignments that we have to do at night. Tonight I am working on my Epididymitis power point that I have to present tomorrow.
Last night our professors took us out for pizza in Fairfield. It felt so good to get out of the doorms. Tonight we are on Tornado Watch.

Nebraska Day 8- September 3, 2007

Picture 1: Downtown Oak
Picture 2: Trimming hooves

Today was pretty good despite having to work on Labor Day. We had a lecture this morning and then headed 40 miles to the Oregon Trail in Oak Nebraska (population 60, yup 60 not 600 or 6000). We spent the entire morning weaning and vaccinating angus calves on a farm there. Afterwards we went to "downtown Oak" which consisted of 1 block with a Saloon and Country Store and a tiny park where we ate lunch. Afterwards we toured the Oregon Trail Museum. After the museum we were taken to "The Narrows" which is a really cool spot on the Oregon trail where a bunch of pioneers were killed by Indians. At this spot their is this huge old famous tree- it's apparantly over 125 years old.

Nebraska Day 2- August 28, 2007

Today was a lot of fun! This morning we practiced our cow handling clinical skills by running a bunch of Freemartins (sterile cows) through a shoot. I was able to perform my first rectal palpation on a cow. I got to feel a bunch of organs such as the bladder and the rumen. I also took blood from the tail vein, passed a stomach tube, put on a halter and learned a bunch of knots. This afternoon we had a lecture and then had study time. A big thunderstorm rolled in during the late afternoon, it was so beautiful with all the lightening over the cornfields. During one of the breaks in the storm a bunch of us went outside and played some wall ball.

Nebraska Day 1- August 27, 2007

Last night 20 third year veterinary students arrived at the Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center Nebraska to start our Meat Animal Rotation. Despite being surrounded by nothing but cornfields Nebraska isn't that bad. Today started out with an orientation session followed by a tour of the facilities. My group (Me, Vanessa, Vivian, and Gael) were the first group to be "on call." Right after we got back from the tour we got a call and so headed out to the barns. We examined and took samples from a two and a half year old cow that had calved a few days ago and presented with a pitting edema on her caudal abdomen that has grown larger then what it was yesterday. We ran a urinalysis and a California Mastitis Test which confirmed what we already suspected......mastitis. Afterwards we went to necropsy rounds. I think that I learned more about pathophysiology in the 45 minutes of rounds then I have in the past 2 years of veterinary school. After rounds we made the 20 mile drive to Walmart to pick up food for the next 2 weeks.
The picture is of Me, Vanessa, Gael, and Vivian with our samples that we collected from our patient.

Update

Sorry that I have not updated the website in so long. Third year is a lot more time consuming then the first two years of school. I have been jotting down some notes from each rotation that I was on but never had the opportunity to post them, so I am going to upload them all right now.

Pictures from this Summer!

Whitewater rafting in NY

Trapeze lessons in the Bahamas

Year 3 of Veterinary School

Hi everyone, sorry that I have not updated my blog in such a long time! I don't even know where to begin. The last block of PBL was the hardest for me because it focused a lot on equine medicine but I managed to get through it fine. With the realization of having only a few more weeks of problem based learning left before starting rotations I really buckled down with studying and practicing all of the clinical skills that I learned in the first two years of veterinary school. At the beginning of May the second year students were required to take the PAVE exam. The PAVE exam is the board exam that all veterinarians that graduated from veterinary schools outside of the United States have to take in order to practice in the country. The second year students were required to take the exam to measure what we have learned so far.
I spent the summer preparing for my third year seminar, studying for national boards, planning out my fourth year clinical rotations and going to a lot of weddings. The summer went by way too quick and now I am already back at school. Last week I had a one credit Practice Management course. The course went over how to write a resume, cover letter, CV, letter of intent and how to negotiate a contract. Overall it taught us how to make the transition from student to employed veterinarian. Tomorrow morning at 9 am I start my third year clinical rotations! I am doing a two week USDA rotation on campus followed by a two week large animal rotation in Nebraska. Following Nebraska I am back on campus for another two weeks for Public Health and then I go up to Los Banos California for my other large animal rotation. While I am so excited to finally be out of the classroom and on rotations, I am also scared because I don't know what to expect! Wish me luck! I will write again soon, I promise.

Last Block of PBL!

The picture is from the Bull Riding Activity from SAVMA Symposium. (From Left to Right: Bree, Me, Marlene and Alex).


I survived another round of exams! I can't believe that this is my last block of Problem Based Learning and that I will be out on rotations in 7 weeks. The first 2 years of veterinary flew by! It is only the second week of the block and I can't stress enough how much harder it is compared with the last year and a half of school. Instead on having only 1 case per week, we have already done 3 cases in 2 weeks. On top of the extra case we have taken an ethical exam along with a critical thinking test and spent an entire day at the California Regional Educational Symposium. Next week I have a clinical competancy oral exam, to make sure that my communication skills are strong enough for rotations. I also have a clinical competancy exam on performing a physical exam on large animals later in the block. In addition to all of this, I am also taking a bunch of weekend and evening wet labs such as Dental Techniques and Emergency Techniques to help me prepare for rotations.
While I am very stressed with the amount of work that I have, I am also extremely excited to be getting out of the classroom and working in real practices. In the next week or so, I will be choosing my rotation order for my third year of veterinary school. Yesterday I had my very last rotation at Hills Wellness Center (only 1st and 2nd years rotate through this site). It feels like just yesterday was my first rotation there.
For Spring Break I went to the Student American Veterinary Medical Association Symposium (SAVMA) in North Carolina. Each year the SAVMA symposium is held at a different veterinary school and allows students from all different schools to get together to compete in academics and sports. Their are also tons of lectures given by some of the top veterinarians in the country. This year I got to meet Dr. Ettinger, who wrote THE BOOK on Small Animal Internal Medicine. He gave a really inspiring lecture on what to do when we graduate vet school, in terms of internships, externships and residencies.
Well I have to get back to learning about all of the disorders of the equine tarsus, I will write again when I get a free second.

Midterm Week

Today was Day 2 of Midterms. This afternoon I had my MDC exam which includes, Anatomy, Radiology, Pathology, Parasitology, and Histology. The exam was just as hard as I expected it to be. I have 3 days left of exams and then I am on Spring Break! The picture above is of me and my classmates at the Trap, Neuter and Release Clinic that we volunteered at last weekend in San Pedro. A total of 71 feral cats were spayed/neutered.

Good News

The pathology report came back and their is no evidence of malignancy! That's great news. The pathologist believes that the growth consists of proliferative lymphocytes due to a spider bite, panniculitis or other form of immune stimulation.

Study Break

I thought that I would give everyone a quick update before getting back to studying Toxicology. The picture above is of me auscultating an Alpacas heart from my Alpaca clinical skills lab last Friday.
This Sunday I am volunteering at a free spay and neuter clinic. If you live in the southern California area and are interested in spaying or neutering your dog or a FERAL cat, check out the link for more information: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/pet/282249698.html

On my rotation yesterday I palpated a small mass on the throat of my patient. At first I felt proud of myself for finding something so small that even my colleague and professor didn't notice it. However, I quickly felt the reality of the situation. This was the first time as a veterinary student that I had to deal with the reality of becoming a doctor. While I do get to help save animals lives, I also have to deal with the reality of sickness and death. My professor aspirated the growth (stuck a small needle in it to suck out cells) and looked at it on a slide. The sample turned out to be cellular so we sent it to a pathologist for further tests. I am hoping that it is benign.

Quick Update

Hi everyone. As usual school has been taking up all of my time. This block I have been learning a lot about metabolic disorders along with continuing with Neurology, Virology, Oncology, and Orthopedics. In addition I have had my first Lizard and Llama case which means that I've had to learn the anatomy and phsiology of both of those species. The picture above is of the Clinical Skills Lab where I learned to place hard casts on Lizards. As you can see my classmates and I practiced applying the casts on each other as well.
This weeks problem based learning case is a neurological Llama. The major differentials of the case include: Polioencephalomalacia, Rabies, Lead (or other heavy metal) toxicity, Vitamin A deficiency, Ethylene Glycol toxicity, Salt toxicity and an infection with a Meningeal Worm. So needless to say I am busy learning about all of these differentials along with studying the normal anatomy and physiology of Llamas. Neurology is one of my least favorite things to study, not because it isn't interesting but becauseI am having a hard time learning how to localize the lesion. If anyone has any tips please let me know! On Friday I will be doing my very first physical exam on a Llama, I can't wait.
I can't believe that I will be out on 3rd year rotations in 10 weeks! I only have 10 more problem based learning cases, 3 Banfield Rotations, 2 Hills Wellness Rotations and 1 VACS rotation to go! The 2nd year rotations that I just mentioned are getting a lot harder in order to prepare us for our 3rd year rotations in hospitals scattered throughout California. For example, one of my classmates was able to close up one of the surgery patients at our rotation the other day. As far as I know, most other veterinary schools don't have students do that until the 3rd or 4th year.
Well I have to get back to writing my Learning Issue on the Pathophysiology of Tremors. I will try to write again soon.

Bunny Bunch

This afternoon I had my Veterinary Ambulatory Community Service (VACS) rotation. On today's rotation we spayed and neutered animals brought in by Bunny Bunch which is a no-kill, non-profit rabbit rescue. I was able to scrub in to surgery and assist with an open castration of a Guinea Pig! Not only was this my first guinea pig neuter but it was also my first open castration on any small animal! I also monitored anesthesia for several bunnies and a chinchilla surgery. The rotation made me realize how different all of the different species of animals that I will be treating as a doctor are. If you live in the Southern California area and are interested in adopting a rabbit, please visit the Bunny Bunch website for information: http://www.bunnybunch.org/about2.html
The picture above is of Wynken, one of the rabbits that I monitored anesthesia for. Both Wynken and her sister Blynken are in need of a home!

Happy New Year

Sorry that I have not written in so long but the last two months of veterinary school have been very difficult. In the weeks leading up to finals we had a dermatology, oncology, neurology, opthalmology and other sensory system cases. Having only one week to spend on each subject and the fact that they aren't very intertwined made school a bit more stressful. The final exams were the hardest exams that I have taken so far. I had thought that I did really badly however, I did as well as I usually do.
So what else have I been up to? I have been fostering a cat that I named Las Vegas (see picure above) since October. He had followed me home one day and has not left since then. After months of searching I have finally found him the perfect home. One of the DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) students named Chris at Western University adopted him! It really is the perfect home.
After finals I flew home to NY for 2 weeks. I did nothing but relax. It felt so good to go to the movies, read a non-veterinary related book and wake up late. The one thing that most people don't understand about veterinary school is that we do not have any days off. While I might not have classes on Saturday and Sunday I am still at school or studying at home.
I am flying back to California tonight and then classes start at 8am tomorrow morning. I am really excited for my last semester of Problem Based Learning. I have a great group and have been assigned one of the larger classrooms which is a huge difference from being in the smallest room last semester. My facilitator this block is Dr. Voith. She is well recognized as one of the founders of, and foremost contributors in, the field of clinical companion animal behavior. I usually only get to work with her during my two behavior rotations each block so I am looking foward to learning more about behavior this semester being in a PBL room with her three times a week. I am also excited because I will have my first lizzard case next week. Well I have to get to the airport, I will try to write again soon!

Good Luck Class of 2007!

Starting next week, the Charter Class at Western University College of Veterinary Medicine will be sitting for the National Boards. I wish them all the best of luck!

Softball

Last night the 2009 Veterinary Softball Team played the 2010 Veterinary Team. My class (2009) won! The game was a lot of fun. A lot of the veterinary students along with the faculty came to cheer on both teams.

Surgery

Yesterday I scrubbed into surgery for the very first time! It was so much fun. The only way that I can describe it, is like finally taking the training wheels off of a bike and riding on your own for the first time. I went to my VACS rotation expecting to perform the usual duties of physical exams, inducing and monitoring anesthesia and recovering animals along with watching and being quizzed about the procedure. However, our professor felt confident enough in all of our abilities to scrub in and assist. I was the first of my group members to scrub in. I had a little bit of trouble with the closed gloving but did it properly. The procedure that I assisted with was an ovariohisterectomy (aka Spay) on a dog. I positioned the instruments in the appropriate places and with the help of my professor used the blade to remove the tissues.
It made me realize just how much I love veterinary medicine!

Yosemite

I spent last weekend camping in Yosemite National Park. Despite it being very cold at night, I had such a great time! We spent all day Saturday hiking to the top of Vernal Falls. The view from the top was well worth the hike. I can't wait to go back again!

Veterinary Issues

. I just recieved my first veterinary issues reflection back (I got and A :-) ) and I thought that some people might be interested in learning about some of the topics that we discuss in class, so I am posting a copy of my paper:

Today Elisabeth Sliva, Assistant District Attorney and Jackie Cruz, Deputy Sheriff, San Diego County shared their experience of the avian quarantine due to an outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and how it led to the Woodchipping Chickens Case. As preparation to their presentation I read several articles about the END outbreak and the woodchipping incident.
The two major questions that arose to me after during class were:
1. Is the current method of slaughter of poultry for consumption humane?
2. What is going to be done differently the next time a disease that has the potential to affect meat for consumption such as the Avian Flu comes to California?

After reading the many one sided media stories regarding the woodchipping of chickens prior to attending the presentation in class I totally understand the publics outrage that the AVMA would stand beside Dr. Cutler’s opinion that woodchipping chickens was an effective method to dispose of a large number of chickens quickly. One of my classmates posed the question, “what would have happened to all of the woodchipped chickens if they had gone to slaughter if their was no quarantine in place?” I was shocked at the presenters reply. The method of slaughter that they described taking place at the slaughtering house seemed less humane to me then the woodchipper, however, I had to research for myself to see if what they reported to us was true. I was appalled at how uneducated I am about how beef and chickens are slaughtered in the U.S. The Woodchipping of Chickens Case made me realize that I have fallen for the food companies marketing campaign to make the chicken nugget look less like chicken. My question is, how can I, as a future veterinarian and an animal lover both play a role in making the slaughtering of food animals more humane and educate the public about the current methods of slaughtering chickens?
While I feel that educating school children at a young age about the importance of respecting animals and how the chicken goes from the farm to the dinner plate I feel like it will still be no match for the billions of dollars that food companies spend each year on marketing their food. Also how would I even begin to determine a more humane way to slaughter animals? This topic really overwhelms me like I’m sure it overwhelms many other veterinarians. Therefore I feel that the veterinarians of the AVMA should unite to brainstorm to start finding solutions to these and many other questions before another animal welfare case comes along in the media. I think that it would be especially beneficial if both veterinarians in the food animal industry and veterinarians in the animal welfare or rights sector can join together to find the most humane method of slaughter while also keeping the farmers in mind.
The second major topic that I focused on in the woodchipping of chickens case is what is going to be done differently the next time a disease enters the country and threatens the food animal business? I was very disappointed at the presenter’s lack of answers to this question. It seemed to me that many birds were killed out of fear of Exotic Newcastle Disease unnecessarily. Why are their not committees being formed to organize how a quarantine would be implemented, how to go about testing the animals, responding to the media and slaughtering those animals that need to be disposed of? I also did not fully understand the role of cockfighting in the Exotic Newcastle Disease Outbreak. If cockfighting was the source and can also be a future source of introduction of disease into the U.S, and the presenters claimed that many of these cockfighting rings are also a source of drug smuggling, why then is their not a task force being developed comprising of both veterinarians (possibly a special branch created in the AVMA), the police narcotics unit and other appropriate officials to decrease both the risk of introduction of disease and drugs into this country? It made me realize the need for many more veterinarians working in politics and in government agencies. Overall this topic made me see how in the present state of the country, with the constant threat of terrorism and with nutrition being at its poorest, the job of the veterinarian is shifting from an animal clinician to a more political, educational and human health role. I think that the AVMA really needs to address the changing profession and needs to unite and become more media savvy so that the next time an event occurs that questions the AVMA, the organization can use the media attention to educate society on the reason behind its position.

The Perks of being a Vet Student

Today I went to a Novartis sponsored lunch talk. The talk was on Novartis' product Deramaxx which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to help comfort osteoarthritic dogs. I won the raffle at the end of the presentation and will be recieving a gift card to the bookstore.
After lunch the first Iams pet food shipment of the school year came in. Iams allows veterinary students to take an online quiz about pet nutrition every month and then lets us select free food from the company. So I got a gift certificate and free pet food in the same day:-)

Block 6

After having 2 whole days to catch up on sleep and cleaning I started my 6th Block at Western U. The first day went well. It started at 8am today with a Clinical Skills Presentation on "Dealing With the Elephant in the Room" ie. how talk to clients about their pets veterinary bill. We watched a few videos and critiqued both the veterinarians and the clients body language and attitude about discussing the cost of service.
Next, I had my first Problem Based Learning (PBL) session with my new group. Even though my group is stuck in the smallest PBL classroom in the building (its known as "the closet") I think that we will do fine together. Everyone is really nice and considerate of each other. Our first case of the block is an 11 year old, spayed, female, indoor, domestic long haired cat with a history of seizures and currently has severely elevated liver enzymes, cholesterol, T. bilirubin etc. indicating liver disease AND also has a non-regenerative anemia. So basically I am going to be studying all things LIVER this week.
Tomorrow I have my first Banfield Rotation of the block. To prepare for my rotation tomorrow I had to get a 90% or higher on two online Dentistry quizzes.
I also have to write a two page veterinary issues paper that is due this Friday.
Well I have to get back to studying all things LIVER. I will post another update soon!
Oh and I almost forgot, I recieved my first set of midterm grades and I PASSED :-)

Midterms

Exam week is over! I have two days to relax before getting back to studying. All of the tests were really challenging but I think that I did ok. I couldn't have studied any harder then I did. I really liked my Clinical Skills exam. Their were 15 stations and we had 2 minutes at each station. Some of the skills tested were the Ford Interlocking, Simple Continuous, Simple Interrupted and the Utrecht suture patterns, placing a catheter, venipuncture, interrpreting ECGs, gloving for surgery etc...

Herd Health Rotation

Herd Health Examination

I had a herd health rotation today at Cal-Poly. I got to do a lot of fun stuff such as physical exams on pigs and palpating umbilical hernias. One of the hernias was large enough for me to stick three fingers into the abdominal cavity, therefore making it a repairable hernia. I posted some pictures of me and my classmates on our rotation above.