Spring is here!

Driving home yesterday, I noticed a grand thing: the hills (pastures) were alive with green. Everything was green, and I'm not quite sure where it came from since my drive that morning was through brown bland countryside.

It rained almost all of yesterday, which must have significantly contributed to the greenery. The green pastures was a sight to see though! I liken it to leprechaun green covering the fields, in stark contrast to the sandy brown of the dead grass along the highway. The cattle were very eager to lap up the new growth of grass.

When I reached the house I was eager to determine if my horses' pasture was indeed green as well, which it was, but not to the extent of the pastures I had past. The weather, at a consistent 50F, is much improved from the frigid freezing winter we've had. The snow officially melted this weekend and is gone. It seems as though Spring is here to stay.

Trading Shells

I'm moving, again. My 65 year old roommate is heading to Michigan, so I've decided to move closer to town rather be stranded in the woods. This will be a much better living situation since my new place is only 3 miles from school, as apposed to 30.

The girl I'm moving in with is my age, has 2 or 3 horses plus 2 dogs, and seems pretty down to earth. I'll have the upstairs (and my own bathroom, which is a must) and she has the downstairs. She has a 75 gal fish tank, which means that maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get a African Clawed Frog (like the one I had in my pre-SKB days).

I move at the end of the month and gave my official 30 days notice to my landlord today. Everything works out well because his wife is returning from Iraq in May, and they need their room back anyway. I have to say that I will miss having a spacious bedroom, a 18x12 walk in closet, and a 15x12 bathroom. Ah, 'tis the life of a hermit crab!

Meanwhile, school is going well. I'm on Radiology (X-rays) now, and really actually enjoy it.

DVM How To Guide

I have gotten a lot of questions about the ECFVG process (for foreign veterinary graduates), and am kinda slow to individually respond to emails, so I made this step by step checklist. This is mainly for people who have not taken the PAVE, live in a non-PAVE state (list of PAVE accepted states), or did not pass the PAVE. Hope it helps!

1. Fill out ECFVG paperwork/registration, pay $1000 check or credit card. Also include proof that you graduated from a english speaking highschool or TOFL.

2. Basic Clinical Sciences Exam (BCSE) do that ASAP, $75 money order.

3. Did you take and pass Program for the Assessment of Veterinary Education Equivalence (PAVE)? Well... even if you did, it's too late to register for the April North American Veterinary Licensing Examination(NAVLE) which was due Jan 3rd... cost is $525, plus you have to go thru a state, which means another application. I went thru Colorado because they're cheaper and the application is online ($50), then you need to get your scores transfered to whichever state you want to practice in ($80). (It cost $185 to do all this thru OK, which was more $$.)

4. Request the application for the Clinical Proficency Exam (CPE) ASAP, pay $500 money order. What they don't tell you is that they will take your check, then sit on your application for >1 month! Year wait on sitting for the test, so get your paperwork fast. It is a good idea to send it certified USPS or FedEx/UPS so you have a record of it arriving so it can't mysteroisuly get lost in the mail.

5. Send in completed application for CPE, pay another $500 money order. Hope they don't lose your money order.

6. Pay rest of CPE, $4000 by money order, >60 days prior to your test date. Important! And send it in such a way so you know they got it! That's a lot of money to lose otherwise. And for all you folks asking what's on the test, one: I have no idea, and two: it's against the rules to take and tell. Sorry.

7. Send ECFVG people copy of graduation (via the school), then you're complete!

8. You can take your state licensing exam while still in your clinical year, w/o passing the NAVLE or completing the ECFVG, BUT they won't grant it until you send them proof of the ECFVG/PAVE and graduation!

9. Once you have your state license number, go to your local narcotics board. For Oklahoma, that is the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. We've been told that when it asks for DEA number, answer "pending." Pay ~$420 by credit card.

10. To get your DEA license, which you will need for any controlled substance, fill out the DEA form #224. Pay ~$550 by credit card.

Now to keep your license and keep you out of hot water, you will need to keep track of all controlled substances (drugs), and American Animal Hospital Association sells them for ~$50 to the disorganized. If something ends up missing or stolen, fill out DEA form #106 and keep a copy for at least 2 years. And if you need help, there's always Narcotics Anonymous! :o)

Sick Day #1

Last night I felt really dizzy, then fainted in the bathroom, thus knocking down everything on the wall. Exhaustion perhaps? Been going 7 days a week at school now for a while. Not drinking enough water definitely, combined with throwing up my dinner and cramps, I definitely felt like crapola.

I was bound and determined not to miss a day of school-- especially since I'm on food animal (which I love) and have an in house patient that I must care for. well I couldn't stand up long enough to dress myself, so I decided if that was the case, it would be unlikely I'd be a safe driver (which didn't stop me before when I broke my glasses). I crawled back into bed and call in sick. We get 7 sick days in 1 year.

Around 10am I crawled out of bed to heat the cold bagel I'd been eating since 5am, and ran into my roomie. The perks of living with an older lady is that she has a blood pressure monitor! I took my BP: 105/71, HR: 101. Super, and surely higher than it was in the wee hours of the morning. I took it a little later, and it was 102/66, which really explained the lightheadedness. I decided to implement a salt overload (yum yum chicken and dumplings!!!) and got my BP back up to 117/68 round 6pm.

So my plan it to go to school tomorrow. I have an alpaca that was attacked by a dog over a week ago, and his wounds are quite extensive to say the least. He's anemic and light headed too. Seems that we match. (This picture is not him, he's prettier with more expressive eyes, but looks similar enough.)