Don't wake me up until spring!

Well the weatherman finally got it right this time. Tuesday we got around 4-5 inches of snow. We didn't have to go into school since our classes were cancelled. Tim's work put him up in a hotel so that it would guarantee that there would be someone at work the following day. Which is a good thing because we got ice & then more snow on top of that. So on Wed. there weren't any classes yet again. Which means that today I will be taking total of 2 tests & one lab practical. I started shoveling our driveway around 3:30pm yesterday so that Tim wouldn't get stuck whenever he came home. I also decided to clean my car off. I didn't get finished until 6pm!!! The neighbor lady helped me with the bottom part of the drive. It's not that we have a huge drive, but there was so much ice underneath the snow. Needless to say I'm very sore today. Well, here are a few pictures of the dog in the snow. He loves to eat the chunks of ice. :o)

Brrr...its' cold!!

Okay, while I'm typing this my hands are freezing...so pardon any mistakes. Today we don't have any classes, but I will be going in to work this afternoon. It is nice to have a day off from classes so that I can get some things done. (i.e. studying for my tomorrow's test..)
Let's back up to last Tuesday since I said that I would write all about the emergency clinic visit from 6pm-9pm with my Technical Practicum partner, Tammy...There was so much to see and do there! I definitely would recommend any vet tech student to go to an emergency clinic to gain some experience whether you are just observing or volunteering. In three hours I saw & did so many new things. They even said it was one of their slow nights (of course!!!) LOL...I don't know what I would have done if it would have been a busy night...anyways...we got to see a doctor perform an ultrasound on a patient who had hematuria (blood in the urine). The patient, a dog, ended up having a tumor in it's bladder. :( There were several patients there that had OD'd on Ibuprofen. There was a Yorkie dog who had pancreatitis. They were giving it an IV of fresh frozen plasma. We helped check it's vitals every 10 minutes. There was a cat who had pleural effusion (fluid in it's chest). It had difficulty breathing so they had it in an O2 chamber. We got to help withdraw the fluid when the ER vet did a thoracentesis (sp?). We ended up withdrawing around 250ml of rust colored fluid!! No wonder the poor cat couldn't breathe. About 1/2 way into our visit we heard the people up front on the inter comm requesting assistance up front...I knew what that probably meant...sure enough a HBC (hit by car) patient was brought in. It was a black lab with multiple areas of scrapes & an area of actual skin was removed from a section on the top part of its front left leg. Its right front leg was broken in the wrist area. It's shoulder & elbow had various skin removal/abrasions. I was amazed at how calm the dog was though...shock maybe? They had to lift it off the gurney to weigh it & it didn't even whimper. (sniff sniff) The first thing the techs did was insert an IV catheter in its back leg vein (saphenous vein)...because the front leg cephalic veins (preferred veins to catheterize) couldn't be used. (this was a good lesson on why you should know how to catheterize any vein if others aren't available). They gave pain meds & started fluids...we had to leave @ 9pm so we didn't get to find out a verdict on the patient until the next day as one of our fellow students is an assistant there...she said that fortunately the owners had plenty of money. ;o) The dog ended up having the right front paw amputated because all the wrist bones were crushed...other then getting a bunch of stitches & having road burn on the groin area the dog was doing good. Yay!! That's is what we like to hear. :o) I want to see if I can go back to either observe or volunteer there as there are plenty of new things to learn there.
Well, I better stop writing & get back to studying.

Another New Year...

Happy New Year! I'm a bit late on wishing everyone a Happy New Year...lol! We had a wonderful Christmas. It was nice to spend time with all of our family & friends. Tim didn't have to work as much overtime this year end since he moved to a different department at work. I especially enjoyed my Christmas break. It was nice to feel rested once classes started back on on January 5th.
It is taking awhile for me to get used to my new schedule...but I think this week is going a lot better. I actually remember what classes I have today. LOL!!
There are a lot of neat classes this quarter...Radiology, Technical Practicum, Parasitology, Surgical Principles I, Animal Husbandry & Diseases II, and Anesthesia...for a total of 17 hours! In Radiology this week we got to take VD abdomen x-rays & lateral thorax x-rays. I got to go pick out the dog for our lab so of course I picked out Trixie. :o)
I really enjoy Technical Practicum! Basically each week, on Tuesdays, we go (in groups of two) to a different facility & work alongside the facilities technicians. My group (Tammy & I) went to a wonderful facility last Tuesday. Everyone was very helpful & patient. I definately would love to work in a clinic that had that kind of atmosphere. They didn't make us feel dumb if we didn't know something. :oP We were able to do draw blood & Tammy got to help take x-rays. (The cat that needed x-rays ended having a dislocated hip & a broken pelvis.) Tonight we are scheduled to go to an Emergency clinic from 6pm - 9pm. We had to schedule the Emergency clinic on our own time since they usually aren't open in the a.m. Hopefully we will get to see some interesting things & be able to help out.
I am also trying to up my work hours...so far I'm trying to average a little over 30 hours a week...20 hours just wasn't cutting it financially...So we will see how this works out. :o)
Well, I better get off here. Hopefully I will have time to post an update on tonight's emergency clinic visit.

Here's a picture of the cat's Christmas present.

I had to move it to the sunroom since there wasn't any room for it in the house. LOL!

...especially since I got the rats a new bigger & better home!! One of my fellow students (thank you Laura!!!) found two used ferret cages really cheap. She only need one for her rats & asked if I need the other. The rats really like their new home!