Eye Appt

It's been a while since I've been to the eye dr and I'm always busy at work/school (never get time off). A few weeks ago I broke my glasses and found a VERY old (opened 6mo ago, purchased 3 yrs ago) pair of contact lenses that I used to tide me over to get the eye appt. There are no Vision Centers in Oklahoma Walmarts (it's illegal for some reason). One day I got off work early, and stopped at an eye office on my way home. I asked how much the appt would be since my finances are extremely tight right now (like qualify for foodstamps if I had time to stand in line for them). They said the eye exam for glasses and contacts would be $130-160ish, so I said ok. When I was done, they said the bill was >$200! plus if the contacts didn't fit right, there would be a $30-50 refitting fee for each visit! I paid the bill and cried all the way home.

To complicate matters, the dr said he wouldn't renew the prescription for the contacts that I'd been wearing for >10 yrs, but gave me a different brand that were >2-3x's in price! I should have been more forceful when I tried to explain that I couldn't afford more expensive contacts and I was happy with the ones I had always worn. (I did tell him that exactly, but he was very dismissive about it and flat said he wouldn't prescribe my Acuvue.)

I've never spent >$100 on an eye exam before, and tried to decide how to handle this, since I can't afford to go back to get the contacts prescription and now can't afford to go anywhere else. I totally understand them being a business and needing to make money, but if they'd given me a more accurate estimate, I would have gone elsewhere and not wasted either of our time.

Well, I decided to go back for the week later contacts recheck, since it was with a different dr. I explained the situation as professionally as I could, and he paused for a moment, then looked at his calendar. Turns out, the dr I'd seen had been up the night before my appointment at the hospital with his father who died. Shocking that he even came into work! Well the other dr fixed my bill and renewed my cheaper contacts prescription. I'm very glad that I didn't overreact.

Passed the BCSE!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I found out that I passed the Basic Clinical Skills Exam (BCSE)! This is the first of about half a dozen exams I must take to get a license and be an official vet.

Mom's Christmas Surprise!

Sean's mother is basically bedridden from a knee surgery that did not go so well. She was quite lonesome at home, and I wanted a new cat, so I ran across a Maltese at the shelter that made me think of her. Well several days later, we went up there and the little dog was adopted (no surprise). Went back a few days later and ran across a red Pekingese than looked like Starbuck, so we hauled his mom up to look at it, and then it turned out to bed adopted (after standing in line waiting for 1hr and a half).

By this time, his mom now really wanted a sweet little dog, and his dad threw in a poodle request, so I started searching craigslist and petfinder. I'm so not a fan of breeders, especially the ones selling little mutt mixes.

We happened across a little 8 year old grey toy poodle at a rescue. He'd been there for ~6 months; no one wanted him because he had a pretty substantial heart murmur. He was pretty adorable, and matched Sean's dad (grey hair, white beard). He's perfect.

Anyway, we ran across Sophie a blonde and white Pekingese (likeness pictured, but Sophie has tragic eyes). She had been turned out by her owners and a neighbor found her. She was skin and bones and due to give birth to a litter of puppies. (The puppies were omg so cute, looked like the ones in the first picture, only smaller!) Turns out their dad was a black Pomeranian. I told the lady that I'd ask my brother his opinion, but if she didn't have a home for it by the time we picked up the Pekingese on Christmas eve, then we'd pick him up too.

Well of course Josh was excited over the fuzzball, and she still had him, so I boxed him up in Bootsey's travel carrier and put him under the tree. My mother shrieked! I can't believe everyone was so good at keeping him a secret! This is Pepe le Pew (formerly known as Smokey). My mother had mentioned being interested to getting a little dog in one of the puppy mill seizes that end up at school.

Blizzard of Ot-Nine

Prior to driving to Sean's family on Christmas eve, storm spanned the country, and it started to snow. And it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. Then we were snowed in, and it kept snowing. Salty was not thrilled. Snow is cold and wet, neither of which she appreciates.

So what do we do? We get in the car and drive around! It didn't take venturing very far to discover to be a snowy mess. There was a wreck on every corner, then more happened right before our eyes. People skidding into one another. It was dangerous. We got back to the house after filling his tank with gas (since my rental car was stuck).

Then what do we do? We walk around the block because we had no food in the house (canned green beans didn't cut it). I nearly froze. I couldn't see anything. Anything!!! I had to hold his hand because the snow blinded me. We went a block and I was lost! Glad he knew where we were. He led me to a very nice Italian place called Toto's, and I had spinach ravioli while he had the lasagna. We watched the Pope do Christmas Mass in Rome.

Here's video of the blizzard, but maybe I should warn you to mute the volume before you hit play. This may not be suitable for all viewers (listeners). Good times, good times. I hate this weather.

Yellow Book Commercial

I was this on tv and thought it was so... fitting for my life! lol

Thanksgiving in the States

It sure is nice to be in the states again. My new housing situation is absolutely wonderful. This year's plan was to study for the Basic Clinic Skills Exam (BCSE) which I take on Dec 8th. Therefore, I am not driving to Texas like I'd hoped. Instead, Sean wanted me to meet his Mema so we headed that way for lunch. She's a very sweet and funny ~80 yr old French lady. I made tarts and she dropped part of one in Pop's (her husband's) lap... then dove down for it under the table. Everyone jumped up to grab her. The setting was quite informal and most ate on the couch, but the food was very very good (she's French!).

Then we rushed home to take our turkey out of the oven, for we had invited my mother, brother, and Susie up for dinner. Sean went all out on the turkey-- absolutely amazing! He stuffed it with celery, pears, mushrooms, and onions, then wrapped the turkey in maple bacon. He had soaked cheesecloth in butter, which he then wrapped the turkey with again. Finally, we put the turkey in an oven bag and baked it. OMG, the juiciest best tasting turkey I've ever had. Hats off to the chef. He'd also made mashed potatoes (from scratch), stuffing, salad, and I made green bean casserole. Mom made broccoli cheese casserole. What a sweet guy for going to so much trouble to make everything perfect for Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for:

• Heat

• Electricity (still quite important)

• Being back in the states

• Water that doesn't make my vomit

• And being happy.

Life as a Hermit Crab

Let me tell you what's been going on here: The place I moved into looked fine (spectacular actually), but lacked regularly running water. I also tried to get internet, but apparently the 5 miles I live away from OSU is so far out in the sticks, I can't get internet (unless I wanted to spend >$100/mo). My fridge didn't work either, never resolved that problem even after I put it on an extension cord.

Remember Labor Day weekend, Mango (my cat) had a sudden unexpected bout of dyspnea (difficulty breathing) and died (euthanized at the clinic). My landlord told me he was going to poison my dogs when they got out one afternoon during a thunderstorm while I was working a shift from 5am to midnight. Mid September, my A/C and heater went out. It's really freaking cold in Oklahoma. Especially at night. I bought space heaters which blew the breaker box. Then the electrical fluctuations blew the larger space heater's coils. Plus, using ~18 light bulbs in 2 months indicate severe electrical issues. I complained numerous times to my landlord but he never fixed the problems.

Then the 1st week of Oct he decided to hand my key out to have whoever go in my apt/house. Super because my laptop and all my Rx drugs could have been stolen. Not to mention there's a rapist living 2 doors down. See Robert Reedy. That was another thing I found out, because the sheriff was knocking on doors! He was unregistered-- 2 convictions of felony rape!

To compound matters, the landlord took the sides off the barn I'm rented so the horses didn't have shelter from the rain (which got quite cold, almost freezing). Large puddles would accumulate so they didn't have a dry place to stand, which is not acceptable for winter.

Then my landlord decided to hand out my key to a guy in the trailer park to enter my dwelling without telling me. I've been spending my nights for the past few weeks basically driving around looking at other places to live, which has been a challenge since I have the 2 dogs and 4 horses! The dogs and I have been living out of my car of sorts. I had no idea that living conditions could actually be worse than they were on St Kitts this time last year when we didn't have electricity for two months. Heat, water, power, shelter, refrigeration for your food are all very important.

So I ran across a place in Agra, OK (30 min away). The wife is deployed Army in Iraq and the husband works out of state. It's a nice house on 53 acres. They have ~30 horses and ~10 dogs. They moved the mother-in-law (wife's mother) into the house to keep it occupied and a guy comes out to feed all the animals. They wanted a responsible person to live with the MIL in case she died randomly (broke hip, heart attack, etc). Rent is $400 for the master suite (huge bedroom, 9x12 bathroom, 9x18 closet), all bills paid (water, gas, trash, electric, internet, cable), free horse board, no pet deposit, and the dogs are allowed in the house.

And since all things too good to be true usually are, here's the hitch: the wife owns and pays for the animals, the husband the house. He wanted to "restructure" his mortgage for a reduced rate, so he stopped paying it and the house is in foreclosure. All animals are fat, he said he could pay the mortgage, and they seem to have enough money.

I was really hesitant moving there with the cost of gas and the 10 mpg Dodge Durango and the fact that we're required to live within 15 minutes of campus, but they seem like very decent people. I spent my 1st night there last night (will be spending nights that i'm on call at a friend's house). It is very nice so far, and I could very easily live there until mid-July when I finish up, but in all likelihood it will be temporary.

At this point, anything is better than the shit hole I was living in. Stillwater so far sux; I estimate that half the people in Oklahoma are looney tunes out of their minds crazy and the other half are bend over backwards super sweet. The school is quite enjoyable most days though. I will take pictures of the new place when I have time and internet.

OU vs Texas Game

Sean replaced our tickets with good ones! We sat at the 45 yard line in Section 25, Row 10?, Seats 1 & 2. Now, see map....
... The game was crazy crazy. Very sloppy football on both sides, but Sean wasn't as disappointed as I expected him to be with the loss.

We took DART Rail, which was a mess. When we tried to get back to the car (parked in Ft. Worth), we realized that it was too packed and headed to mom's for early dinner. Later, we caught the rail to the car and started on our drive, tails tucked back home.

I took my contacts out and gave him directions back to I-35, then blinked for anbout an hour... When I awoke, I asked how far we'd gotten, ie if we were past the Red River yet because he drives so fast. He then reads the next sign "Now entering Waco, Austin x# of miles!?!" Poor guy, I didn't think I'd would have to tell him to go north on I-35!

We turned around and headed north. I also took over driving. We made it back to Norman at about 1am. Very exhausted.

Sunday, we went to the U2 concert, which was awesome. We arrived just as the Black Eyed Peas were finishing up with their "It's Going to be a Good Night" song.

Despite OU's loss, I think Sean had a good birthday weekend.

Kinkajou

Here we go again, the weird things that people own. We got another blood sample of an animal we didn't recognize and [I've] had to look up. Looked like dog blood, and we ran it thru the analyzer as such, lol. (The analyzer has setting for cat, dog, horse, camelid, cow, sheep/goat, and people, but no Kinkajou or Coatamundi setting, go figure.) We've had a Turkey Vulture and a Bearded Dragon (lizard), but we recognize enough to know what to expect from those (and they are in the book). I think Kinkajous and Coatamundi fall in the really exotic critter category.

Taxomony:
Kindgom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammilia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Procyonidae (Raccoon Family)
Genus: Potos
Species: P.flavus
Subspecies: P. flavus flavus, chapadensis, chiriquensis, megalotus, meridensis, modestus, nocturnus

Genetic studies have shown that the kinkajous were an early offshoot of the ancestral procyonid line and are not closely related to any of the other extant procyonids. Their closest relatives are coatimundis.

Common Names: Kinkajou, Honey Bear, Micoleón, Lion Monkey, Night Walker

Range: Central and South America.

Habitat: Rainforest.

Description: Bodies are covered by an outer coat of golden woolly fur with a soft gray undercoat. Legs are short with bare palms and sharp claws. Head is round with small ears, and a short muzzle that contains sharp teeth. They have a 5 inch long extrudable tongue (12.7cm), which is used in reaching nectar and honey. Scent glands are near the mouth, on the throat, and on the belly, but they lack of anal scent glands. Tail is prehensile.

Length: 16-22 inches (42-57cm) body + 15-22 inches (40-56cm) tail

Weight: 4-7 lbs.

Diet: Omnivore (ripe fruit (90%), figs, flowers, insects, ants, eggs).

Behaviour: Nocturnal. Typically forage alone, but occasionally forage in small groups, and sometimes associate with coatimundis. They sleep in family units and groom one another. “Kinkajous are sometimes kept as pets. They are playful, generally quiet and docile, and have no noticeable odor. However, they can occasionally be aggressive. Kinkajous dislike being awake during the day, and dislike noise and sudden movements. An agitated kinkajou may emit a scream and attack, usually clawing its victim and sometimes biting deeply.” (Wikipedia) According to ABC News Paris Hilton was bitten by her pet Kinkajou.

Breeding/Mating: Non-seasonal, year-round. Males have an enlarged bone that protrudes at the inside of his wrist, which he rubs the females sides with during mating. This bone is usually bare skinned in the male, but fur covered in the female.

Gestation: 112 to 118 days

Young: 1-2 cubs produced per litter

Lifespan: 23-41 years

Predators: Fox, Tayra (Tolomucos), Margay, Jaguar, Ocelot, Jaguarundi, People (for fur and meat).

References:
Honolulu Zoo: http://www.honoluluzoo.org/kinkajou.htm
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkajou

Coatimundi

The rotation I'm currently on right now is Clinical Pathology (ie looking at blood smears and tissue samples). Someone submitted some Coatimundi (which they spelled Cotomundai) blood for us to examine. It's blood looks very similar to that of a dog, which is quite interesting. Since not one of the 5 veterinarian in the room even had the slightest clue as to what this animal looked like, I was volunteered to give a 2 minute summary of the animal for this morning. Here goes...

Taxomony:
Kindgom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammilia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Procynidae (Raccoon Family)
Genus: Nasua
Species: N. narica & N. nasua

Common Names: White-nosed Coati (N. narica), Brown-nosed Coati (N. nasua), Pizote, Antoon, Tejón, Quash, Small Mexican Badger.

Range: Southwestern USA to South America.

Habitat: Wooded areas of the Americas from altitudes up to 3,500 metres (11,000 ft).

Description: Bodies can be dark brown, reddish, or yellow. Masked eyes with gray muzzles, chins, and throats. Snout is long and shovel-shaped extending beyond lower jaw. Mouth contains crushing molars and large canine teeth. The tail has six or seven light bands, and is not prehensile.

Length: 2 feet + 24" tail

Weight: 9 lbs. (range <25lbs)>

Behaviour: Diurnal. Females and sexually immature males form ground foraging in family groups of 5-12, but can be as large as 30. Adult males are solitary. Young cubs are left with a pair of babysitters, similar to meerkats.

*Easily domesticated.

Breeding/Mating: Non-seasonal

Gestation: 77 days

Young: 3-5 cubs produced per litter

Lifespan: 7 years

Predators: boas, raptors, hunting cats, and tayras (tolomucos).

*Now, eventhough various internet sites said this was a reasonably easily domesticated/tamed animal, as someone said "If 5 veterinarians have to look it up because they don't know what it even looks like [on google because it's not in our text books either], then people probably shouldn't have it."

Cotton Bowl Tickets

Sean recieved our Cotton Bowl tickets for the OU vs Texas game. Our seats: Section 15, Row 11, Seats 7 & 8. Now, see map....
... really sweet tickets if you're a Texas fan. He's in the process of trying to switch them for anything that's not on the Texas side.

No More Mango

Mango died this evening of dyspnea and severe pulmonary edema. Not quite sure what the primary cause was yet (L-CHF? HCM? toxin?), but I did send him to necropsy. He appeared BAR Friday morning and evening, but about an hour after I came home, I noticed him panting so I rushed him to school. He was on O2 for over an hour and became progressively worse despite Lasix (furosemide). It was very sad, especially since he had adjusted so well. His 3rd birthday would have been September 19th.

L-CHF: Left sided Congestive Heart Failure
HCM: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
BAR: Bright, Alert, and Responsive

Update: No toxins were found in his system (but that's not unusual). He did not have HCM or CHF. The pathologist suspected a severe infectious vasculitis, possibly Chaggas.

Thank You Aunt Shane & Uncle Mike!

Dear Aunt Shane & Uncle Mike,

Thank you for sponsoring my ECFVG registration!

Your Niece, Karla

My Rotation Schedule

Dates Rotation
8/31-9/20 Field Services
9/21-10/11 Small Animal Internal Medicine
10/12-11/1 Clin Path
11/2-11/22 Community Practice
11/23-12/13 Vacation (to study for the BCSE)
*12/1-12/8* *ECFVG-BCSE*
12/14-12/20 Anesthesiology
12/21-12/27 off (maybe)
12/28-1/3 on
1/4-1/10 Anesthesiolog
1/11-1/31 Food Animal Medicine
2/1-2/21 Animal Shelter
2/22-3/14 Radiology
3/15-4/4 ICU? (I'd like to change this so I can study)
*4/12-4/24* *NAVLE*
4/5-5/3 Zoological Medicine
5/3-5/23 Equine Medicine
5/24-6/13 Diagnostics
6/14-7/5 Small Animal Medicine
*6/25 *Grand Rounds Presentation*
7/6-7/25 Equine Surgery
7/26-8/15 Preceptor (Externship)
8/16-9/6 Preceptor (Externship)

Start of OSU

Here starts life at Oklahoma State University's Veterinary Program. Everything here is orange. (Cringe!) Rotations start on Monday, with Field Sevices, and go until mid July when I got out on externships. Nice to know that Norman is only an hour away and that Dallas is only a little bit further. They have 2 Walmarts here! That is very exciting. I haven't eaten at McDonald's yet, but wow, the spicy chicken sandwich I had at Wendy's was really good. It's nice to be back in the states.

From Highland Park to a Trailer Park

Rudder, Salty, Mango, and I have all been reuninted in the Americas! What a heroining flight! TSA is absolutely miserable and I have no desire to ever fly again.

After much to prepare and pack in College Station, I finally moved in to my place in Stillwater. It's pretty and everything seems nice. The horses seem to like it. It's really close to school and I'm ready to get started!

After Ana, Before Bill

Ana has come and gone. No damage that I could tell, and none reported thus far. We still have electricity. The cat was out last night, and seems as orange as ever this morning. Storm seemed just that, a storm. I slept thru it. (Pictured above is Hurricane Bill as of this morning.)

Bill, however, has strengthened into a hurricane. According to NOAA, the predicted path for Hurricane Bill should be northeast of us. Miami is north of us. My only goal is to get to Miami before Bill does, and from there, DFW... with the animals, of course.

That's about all for now. Heading to the airport to fight the crowds.

Race Against Time

In the midst of packing, I recieve a frantic call from a friend who is desperate to escape the rock. She had checked her email and found that campus notified us (finally) about the inpending hurricane. That one, Ana, was no big deal. I'd watched it form during finals and I'd predicted it would hit some time when I was scheduled to leave.

Turns out, a second storm, Bill, has decided to grace us with it's presnce. That I wasn't aware of, and it's MUCH bigger than Ana. Super.

According to the satalite imagery on NOAA, both storms are headed for a direct Caribbean hit! Specifically, St Kitts (where mom and I are) and St Croix (where dad is). Oh fun again. I called my brother yesterday to remind him to watch the weather incase, ya know, it hit us before we got on our AA flight back to the mainland, stranding us here without electricity and forcing us to live in a mud hut underground. Hey- at this point, anything could happen and nothing would surprise me.

Fortunately, the sattelite of Ana seems much less dramatic than it was yesterday. It had a very clear eye, which is no longer obvious. Below are the storm updates that I recieved this morning (both were huricanes yesterday).

...ANA RACING WESTWARD...
8:00 AM AST Sun Aug 16
Location: 14.6°N 54.7°W
Max sustained: 40 mph
Moving: W at 20 mph
Min pressure: 1005 mb


...BILL STRENGTHENS A LITTLE...
5:00 AM AST Sun Aug 16
Location: 11.4°N 37.2°W
Max sustained: 45 mph
Moving: W at 13 mph
Min pressure: 1002 mb


If anyone needs help finding where I am, St Croix is the speck southwest next to Puerto Rico, and I'm the next speck west of that about 3 milimeters away. It coorelates to 100 miles from Puerto Rico to St Croix, with St Kitts being an addioional 150 miles. That's a big 3 milimeters. Neither of these storms compares to Hurricane Dean from 2007, so I suspect they will blow over.

Ana is supposed to hit at 8am Monday August 17 (tomorrow) before Rudder and Mango's flight, while Bill is scheduled to hit at 8am Thursday, August 20 after my, mom's, and Salty's flight.

PS: I have 5 posts that I haven't had time to polish and publish. Stay tuned for more interesting stories!

Ambulatory

Here is a pict from last Thursday (June 18, 2009). I was injecting lidocaine into a baby pig's testicles (which was all the anesthesia he got for his castration).

The day was so much fun! We tackled cattle, wresseled a boar, played with puppies, collected ticks. One client even had bunnies! (Although they were for food. Sad.) It was a very interesting time traveling around the island searching for places and animals, getting lost. Much better than being trapped in the clinic!

Mid Semester Break 7

It's my last Mid Semester Break. Usually I'm off trekking up a volcano or lounging on the beach. This time I'll be stuck in the library cramming for the Large Animal Surgery midterm. I've been too busy to study since we've gotten our sheep, donkey, and rotations.

My sheep and donkey are wonderful though. I'm going to try to get pictures of them. I would have gotten them already but we're not allowed to take pictures on campus (on threat of dismissal).

Sheep #50 "Coconut" is a standard Barbados Black Belly ram with a tan body and black legs. He has a splash of white on either side of his body. His favorite past times are eating sheep pellets, eating sugar cane grass, and eating more sheep pellets. He is full of snuggles and love. He knows all of us-- our group consists of two 6th semester students (Shannon and Jean) and two 7th semester students (Vanessa and I). He weighs about 62 lbs in the mornings and is under 1 year of age. He knows his name and comes running when he hears it. I got him a very pretty new blue collar. We're all so attached to him it's so pathetic. He is a fast learner and very good sheep.

Donkey #60 "Jake" is a sweetheart of a Mini? Island Donkey. He always has a good attitude, except when we're about to jab him in the neck with needles for blood. His feet were terrible, so when he was under general anesthesia, Vanessa and I trimmed them. His hooves now look spectacular! He no longer kicks, although he did bite the cr*p out of Vanessa's left shoulder Tuesday. I was able to easily get a catheter in his jugular vein. The fly mask I got him is too small for his big ol' head. He's about 5 years old, has a chocolate fuzzy body with a white nose. He most enjoys eating carrots, eating rice crispies, and eating green grass while being groomed. He has a dark green halter. He's the best donkey in the pasture, and we love him and his long hee-haw ears.

Okay, since I'm obviously not studying right now, I'd better stop writing and force myself to learn.

Stillwater Update

First of all, Happy Father's Day to my DAD! (I already spoke to him earlier.)

My mother decided to go look at the Starr Valley Ranch place today. She was not thrilled that I would be living in a trailer. It's a 2 bedroom 1 bath, with nice snap down wood floors.

She was actually pretty set against it until she went to look at another mobile home... which was apparently a disaster.

I was able to convince her to go back and look at the 1st trailer again and to have her ask if I could only lease it thru December 31st since she was so displeased with it's appearance.

My mother haggled the rent down from $450 to $425 per month for the trailer! My rent here is $550 or $575? So I'm pretty content with my new home! Knock on wood that it works out.

Starr Valley Ranch

I've finally found a place to live in Stillwater!!! I am SO excited! I'll be living in a 2 bed 1 bath mobile home... or was it 3 bed 2 bath? I can't remember, but that's not important anyway! (Google Earth is so awesome!)

What IS important is that it allows dogs! I've found tons of places (well, not quite tons) that would let me keep horses, but when I'm ready to sign they tell me no dogs! I can't exactly get rid of Salty and Rudder (nor would I for a place to live). Anyway, it's been absurd.

I sent Sean up to look at places last weekend. Most were rented by the time he got up there, but there was this one little mobile home (ugly on the outside, fabulous on the inside) on 10 acres about 12 miles from campus. When he was uploading the picts to me of the place, a girl came by (with three horses) and gave the guy a deposit on the place! I was so upset, but things happen for a reason and it wasn't perfect. That place was too secluded and would have made me a little nervous at night.

Well, with the ER week, I had lost valuable time in finding a place. I spent hours calling people this week and finding out that nothing was available. Panic started to set in! I regrouped and called the various barns in town that I'd previously called. One guy called me back and I'd reminded him we'd discussed me wanting to rent a horse pasture since it was looking like I was going to be in an awful little apartment. He asked if I was looking for a place for me or my horses, and I said well, both. Then he told me he had a nice little trailer that just became available!!!

He said it had all appliances, was on a black top road (ie not dirt like the other ones), and had enough room in the yard for the dogs! Then I asked the dreaded question which so many people had said no to, if I could bring them inside? He said sure you can, the back door opens up right out into the yard, so as long as you put up a pen, the dogs can go in and out! Yippee!!! (My goal is to let the dogs stay outside during the day and inside at night.)

Then he told me that he no longer had the 2 acre pasture, but instead he had a 5-6 acre pasture with a barn! (I was nearly jumping up and down at this point!!!) He then added that I would be able to use the arena and round pen too! How perfect! Not that I'll ever have time to ride or anything, but I'm so excited!

Knowing what I know now about finding the perfect place in Stillwater, I told him I'd take it! I'm sending either Sean, a classmate already in Stillwater, or my mother to go look at it today and then have a check in the mail to him on Monday. It's 5 miles from campus and very close to fast food!

More Fun in the ER

It was always MY shift! I'm done with ER finally now. I can't believe I lived on so little sleep. So much for studying for my Large Animal Medicine exam this morning. I was in the ER all weekend (in addition to every night this week) and was only able to study for literally 2 hours before the exam started. Grades already posted though, I did good enough to be content with my grade.

The major excitement was Saturday night. A campus worker found his dog next to a dead sheep. He and his two student friends brought the dog in. I was there, supposed to be alone, but wasn't only because a student spay dog was bleeding half to death.

Okay, let me back up... this was at no fault to the student surgeons, as far as I know, but that dog was my drama the night before when I checked on her (30 min intervals) and found her cage filled with bight red blood (at 5am). So we (the two student surgeons I made haul themselves up to campus at 5:15am) dealt with that dog all day. Turns out routine spays are really dangerous and stressful surgeries! (Was like a repeat of last semester when our partner's dog would not clot due to low platelets.) At 11am, I was released to go home and sleep because I had to be back at 8pm for my next overnight shift.

Anyway, the dog by sheep arrived at 8:30pm (making it a very long day for all involved). He was foaming at the mouth (which would have been consistent with Rabies if we'd been in the states) and having seizures. His temperature was 108F!!! (Not compatible with life.) His heart sounded exactly like we learned about in Small Animal medicine: little kid playing on the drums. It was amazing, horribly irregular, tachycardia, and like nothing I'd ever hear before! To complicate matters, the dog stopped breathing, which is also not compatible with life.

So what does one do in this situation? Yeah I donno either. The vet was 20 minutes away and had alerted me before the dog arrived. So by this time the clients are shrieking at me, so I had to do something. We got ice packs for them to put around the dog, turned on the oxygen tank, and set up an IV fluid line. I'm not the person you'd want to have place a catheter without out pressure, now bring the pressure to it's max, and I'm really not who you'd want to place it. It was a blind stick too since the vein was almost collapsed. I took a deep breath and got it on the first try! I have NO idea how. Tomorrow I'm placing a jugular catheter in our little donkey, so I sure hope my skills don't leave me.

We bollused a shock dose of fluids into this dog, who was still seizing, then readjusted the ice packs. His body temperature was starting to come down, but his tongue was still indigo blue. All the meds were locked up (with good reason), so all we could do was wait. By the time the on-call vet arrived, the dog had a fever, but had stopped seizing, was pink rather than blue, and aware of his surroundings. Then I stepped back so they could give him activated charcoal to absorb whatever the toxin was.

Two hours after the dog arrived, he looked completely normal and was ready to fetch. The vet told the owner that in all his years, he had only ever seen one other animal with that high of a temperature survive. At that temperature, the proteins in the blood become solid (just like when you cook a steak). That night seven other dogs in the owner's neighborhood died. We think that the dogs had been let wander by their owners and they got a taste for sheep. The owner of the sheep got made and salted the carcase with a poison, most likely a Carbamate.

My last case was a dog bite wound on Sunday night. (Remember, my exam was Monday at 7am.) A 2nd semester student came in crying as the on-call vet and I were updating the ER club about the cases. I slipped out to see what she needed. Apparently a clinic dog (now an anatomy dog) attacked her. She had at least 8 bite wounds up and down her arms. There were another 6 or 7 on her legs, and she is a girl of my stature! Then she lifted up her pants and there was a gaping hole and the outline of all the dog's teeth on her left butt cheek! Poor girl. I don't have much sympathy for the dog just because it was such an obvious and repeated attack.

And that was my exciting weekend. I definitely learned more in that week than in a semester of classes, speaking of, have a long week of school ahead...

Items Lost & Found

To say I had a very busy week is an understatement. I've been in the ER all week and will continue to be here thru Sunday evening. SIX dogs were in with Paraquat poisoning in one day, in addition to the normal hospital case load! One was euthanized yesterday and another is getting worse. Slow suffocation is not a good way to go. Very sad.

We had anesthesia duty for donkey surgery, which by chance, was relatively successful. The other days of the week were filled, with what, I can't remember, but I've been at school >18hrs/day for a while now. No biggie, it's still not as difficult as grad school.

I'm absolutely in love with my sheep. He's #50, but I call him Coconut. It was love at first sight. All the sheepies love me (grain bucket). It surprises me that some of my classmates still haven't figured this out. Oh well, my little Coconut baby come running when he hears me, and that's all that counts.

In my uber busy schedule, I haven'y had time to check my email. Here's a sample of what I recieved today:

Lost cell phone: "I lost my cell phone somewhere today. :( If anyone sees a cell phone lying around....in the grass somewhere or sitting on a pile of donkey poo....it is probably mine."

Missing cat: "None of us have seen her for the past week (which is unusual for her) until a few days ago when she ran off. She looked very sick. We set up a trap to catch her with no luck..."

Lost watch: "I forgot to grab my watch after I took it off to scrub in on Tue's epididectomy. If anyone picked it up please let me know."

Lost and found hoof pick: "Once again I think something has fallen out of my pocket. Hoof pick, red handle, tape on it that says "KN". I also FOUND a red hoof pick in the sheep barn. Let me know if it's yours."

Lost grocery sack: "I lost a white plastic groecery sack with a pair of scrubs, a lab coat, and a pair of pink and white Nike sneakers in it. If anybody has seen it please let me know."

Lost mind: "Lost my mind when I decided to go to vet school 2.5 years ago anyone sees it let me know."

The reply: "I saw it yesterday in the gutter."

I am not alone.

AVMA "Accreditation statuses reviewed by Council on Education"

Source: AVMA June 1, 2009

"Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine has been moved from limited to full accreditation until 2013. The decision, made by the AVMA Council on Education March 2-4 at AVMA headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill., was based on a focused site visit in December 2008.

According to an April 9 Tuskegee press release, the school was commended for its efforts in increasing the small animal and equine caseloads, implementing year-round clinical rotations, achieving higher pass rate scores for the national licensing examination, and committing to a diverse student body.

Five other U.S. schools were granted seven years of full accreditation after comprehensive site visit evaluations in fall 2008 and spring 2009. Twenty-two schools or colleges of veterinary medicine received continued accreditation status on the basis of their 2008 interim reports. Among them were 13 from the United States, two from Canada, two from Australia, and one each from Ireland, Scotland, England, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

In addition, the COE agreed to a request from the University of Queensland School of Veterinary Science in Brisbane, Australia, to begin the accreditation process. Staff will contact the school to request potential dates for a consultative site visit in 2010.

The council denied requests from the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, St. Kitts, West Indies, and St. George's University School of Veterinary Medicine, Grenada, West Indies, to conduct comprehensive site visits. Consultative site visits were conducted at the schools in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Foreign colleges are granted comprehensive site visits when deficiencies noted during the consultative site visit have been fully addressed."

Sheep and Donkey

We got our sheep and donkey assignments today. I think my days of enjoying the island are officially over. We have to write a report 2x's a day, on top of the 10-12 hours we're in class.

How it makes sense to have 3 hours of class per day in some semesters, and more than 12 hours in this semester is beyond me. My postings might get more and more sparse as the semester drags on.

The Gate to Hell

I keep getting more and more optimistic as the days drag on. My life is way too exciting and my time is too limited to share as I had in the past but here goes...

Friday morning at 2:45 AM, the dogs were going nuts. I would not have woken up without them. I got up and heard knocking and whispers, so I tiptoed to the kitchen.

I saw the burglar trying to get thru my bars and already had pried my door open! He was NOT scared of the dogs, as most locals are. (Foolish, because my dogs, without a doubt, would bite an intruder.) No doubt he intended to club the dogs to death if he'd gotten inside.

I was inches from him, but he did not see me. He gave up on my gate, and walked back to his buddy's van. I'm really glad I have burglar bars and a padlock on my door!

The van was a cream or white newish taxi type, and I could hear them talking. They sat there discussing the neighborhood and how long they thought it would take for someone to wake up. Then they saw my shadow in the window and said "There's a fellow, let's go, let's go." They drove away slowly.

When I started hearing the noises, I started calling Campus Security. I called and called and called, panicked that I couldn't get them to pick up. To make sure it wasn't my phone, I started calling the girls that live up and down my street, thus waking them up.

I called security for 30 minutes and could NOT get them to answer. The ONLY reason they came is because Mel made them. The burglars had gotten her window open about 15 minutes before I noticed that they'd come to my house.

Security would not check on anything. They actually stood there, next to the Ross vehicle, with their arms crossed staring at their feet. WTF!?!?! Then they called their security supervisor and handed me the phone. I told him I'd been trying to call for 30 minutes, he replied "That's not true." Like hell it's not.

The police came, and took a statement. Neither the police nor Campus Security would walk around the house to check on the property and other tenants, despite Mel and my pleading.

These two burglars were just testing to see how long it would take to alert me. They will be back.

My landlady has asked a really buff police friend of hers to stay with us because she's scared too. He's armed and a very good guy. Even Salty likes him! (And he loves her cuz she's mean.)

I've taken more security precautions, in addition to all the things I'd done before. I have a small pick axe that I now keep next to me, rather than in the kitchen, as I sleep. My mace is on my bedroom door rather than on my cable tv box. I put an additional window alarm (VERY loud) on my front door. It shrieks if the door is opened more than 1 inch. I made a sign for my door (pictured above) reminding potential burglars, in this overly religious society, that stealing is wrong. Someone suggested I get post an "Evil Eye" on my door to curse those that entered, so I did that. (I feel totally pathetic resorting to voodoo though!) I'll be picking up an air horn plus a round Master Lock (that can't be cut with bolt cutters) on Monday. And I made a snare on my burglar bars to catch the thief so I can hack him to bits with my pick axe.

75 days of school and 81 days left on island...

FOR SALE: 1994 Maroon Mitsubishi Sedan

Welcome to all who are unfamiliar with my blog!

I'm in 7th, so my car will be available at the end of the semester. It's been the absolute BEST car! Never left me stranded, which is SO amazing for a Ross-mobile. If I could put it in my suitcase and take it back to the states, I would.

When I got it, I knew that it had major problems (timing belt was about to go, no power steering, busted CV joint, etc), so the first thing I did was drive to the mechanic and get everything fixed! I'm a bit OCD and my dad is a mechanic himself, so I'm very "in-tune" to proper car care. The following are my expenses in US$ (with receipts):

Purchased 149,965 miles (Sept 2007) $1000 (hey, at least I'm honest)
Car Insurance (Sept 2007) $120
Timing belt, drive belts, engine mounts, tensoner, rack and pinion, air and oil filters (Sept 2007) $620
Recheck for Valve Seals (Oct 2007) $75
Inspection (Jan 2008) $10
Wheel Tax (Jan 2008) $120
Title Change (Jan 2008) $25
2 NEW Tires (May 2008) $160
Car Insurance (Sept 2008) $120
Oil Change (Dec 2008) $65
Tail Light Set (Jan 2009) $112
Inspection (Jan 2009) $10
Wheel Tax (Jan 2009) $120
NEW Battery (March 2009) $118
Brake Fluid (May 2009) $5
2 NEW Tires (May 2009) $110
Oil Change (July 2009) $65
Interior Detailing (July 2009) $15
Total Expenses ~153,600 miles $3075

With gas, I fill up 1x/mo, which gets me 175 miles for $20-50/fill-up (depending on gas prices). The tank can hold ~7gal of gas.

The best things about the car are that it starts reliably, the radiator doesn't leak, it doesn't burn oil, has 4 NEW tires, has a NEW battery, has 4 doors with working crank windows and 3 of the 4 doors lock, the lights work, comes with all sorts or car stuff (2 jacks, gas can, fluids, spare tire, etc) it runs very very well, and can make it over a mountain! I need to have the oil changed soon.

Problems: no A/C, no radio, left front door's handle is "tricky," you can't park on a hill, stalls out when you parallel park (but you just have to turn it back on so it's no biggie), and it's just not a "looker" (but you should not be superficial with a reliable running engine). I'll show you all its quirks.

Anyway, I'm not letting it go until the semester ends in AUGUST because I enjoy having a car (and will have to be on campus at all hours of day and night on a moment's notice). The reason I'm asking $2000 is because it is in excellent working condition, which is not how I purchased it. (He wanted $1500 for it, but it didn't even have power steering then, so I decided that I couldn't do that with the repairs I knew it would need.) If you do decide to buy it, then I'll take ½ of the purchase price as a non-refundable deposit until I hand it over. Thanks for looking!

Officially Coming Home!!!

My flight is booked! I have a timeline!

I return on Wednesday, August 19th:
Flight 2280 SKB (2:50 PM) to MIA (5:55 PM)
Flight 972 MIA (8:40 PM) to DFW (10:40 PM)

Now all I have to do if figure out how to get both dogs back. I'm having the same problem with Rudder as I did before he got here: his weight. He weighs 85 lbs now, without his crate, which weighs an additional 25 lbs. I'd rather if I didn't have to starve my poor dog for the flight. I investigated AmeriJet, but found out that their 'direct flight' actually overnights in San Juan and dogs have been lost for over 27 hours. Worse is that they've left dogs on the tarmac for over two hours while loading the plane. With the heat here at any time of the year, that is absolutely unacceptable for mid-day flight that costs ~$600US/dog. Delta accepts dogs up to 150lbs, but charges $300US, which isn't a bad option. Unfortunately their flights out of St Kitts are difficult to book because they require phone calls, making it very difficult to compare flight date, times, and prices. I'm going to try AA Cargo, and if that fails, then Rudder and Salty will be my checked luggage.

Mango, on the other hand, can ride in the plane. He's set with his little mesh carry-on. The girl that's moving into my apt said that she's interested in keeping him though. Another girl, who I gave some plants to, said she'd love to have him. She'll pick him up on Mid-Semester Break to try him out, and if they get along, I suppose she can have him. It would be safer than having him eaten by a coyote in Oklahoma when he demands to go exploring. Of course, if he is miserable with her, he will be coming to the states with me. Leaving Mango on the island means that never again will I step on a dead mouse on my doorstep in the morning or find a lizard on my soap in the shower. He's such a good orange cat.