Fun @ the zoo!

We got to go to the zoo yesterday for one of our field trips. We got there around 9:30am. At around 10am, Jenny, one of the zoo vet techs did a presentation with a lot of cool pictures for about an hour then we got to go tour the zoo hospital. We took a break for lunch.
After lunch we went to the Cheetah Run show. It wasn't officially open for the year yet, but they did an informal show for our class. After that we got to go to the elephant house & take a behind the scenes tour. Got to pet one of the female elephants...really cool!! Got to see the male elephant also.
Then we headed over to where the have the bird show & they talked to us about the birds & we got a behind the scenes tour of all the birds they use in the show. It was really cool!!!
We finished all of that stuff around 3:30pm then hung out at the zoo till around 5:30pm. It was a lot of fun, but I was really exhausted!!! Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Busy, busy, busy!!!

LOL! Wow! I hadn't realized my last post was over a month ago! Talk about keeping busy...well, I'm going into my final full week of school for this quarter. I have 2 tests & one lab practical this week. Then next week on 3/16 & 3/17 I have my four final exams. Needless to say I am pretty much keeping my head buried in the books.
Let's see...some new and exciting things...I've been volunteering with one of my fellow students at a spay/neuter clinic to get some hands-on experience. They are pretty busy so we are fortunate enough to be able to do a lot of things. Also, I've finally made arrangements for my summer preceptorships. Yay! We are supposed to have all the paperwork turned in by April 1st. My first 3 week session is going to take place at a referral/emergency clinic. The first week there I will spend in emergency from 5pm-1am....the second week will be surgery 9-5pm...and the third week I will get to work with the specialists and internal medicine 9-5pm. For my second session preceptorship I'm going to go to the UC Genome Research Institute. I am hoping to learn a lot of neat things from both sessions.
Tim is doing great! He is sooo happy! He got to finally see Arnold Schwarzenegger in person at the Arnold Fitness Expo up in Columbus. (Tim went last year but didn't get to see Arnold up close.)

Well, I better get back to studying. :)



Gov. Schwarzenegger

Snow squall!!

Here are some pictures from two days ago. The white out happened right around rush hour. It took Tim 4 hours to get home from work. (I71 was a parking lot) Some areas got around 10 inches while others only got 1.5 inches. We got around 5-6 inches.

Okay, my camera must have been crooked...because my window is not...LOL! ...and by the way there is a street in front of our house...


...more snow!!

...More snow & ice pictures!

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!

Christmas around the corner...

Done with finals!!!

For everyone who has been wondering...

Whew! I'm finally done with finals! Yipee!! I had my A&P and Animal Husbandry finals on Monday and then Hematology & Medical Techniques finals on Tuesday. Wow!! And the results are......

I PASSED ALL FOUR CLASSES! YAY!!! :oD I made an "A" in A&P and Hematology & "B's" in the other two classes. Phew!

Next quarter starts on 1/5/09 so I can sit back & relax for awhile...not really. LOL!!! I am taking advantage of my spare time and working extra hours.

Well, I have to get ready for work now. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to the good food. We are going to go to Tim's grandparents. It will be nice to see everyone.
Well, today I have a test in Animal Husbandry & then we are off until next Monday. Even though I have to work the day after Thanksgiving it will be nice to have off Thursday & Saturday. Yay!!!
Final exams are in less than two weeks. Gulp!! It's hard to believe this quarter is almost over. We have learned so much this fall. We have done so many things...techniques that I assumed we wouldn't do until next quarter or even spring quarter. We've already learned how to put in IV catheters & to intubate a dog (while monitoring the dog under anesthesia). On Monday we get to put in a urinary catheter!!! Yesterday we had our breeds talks. Everyone had to pick a dog or cat breed at the beginning of the quarter. Then we had to write a paper on that particular breed about all the common health problems seen in that breed. Then yesterday we did a Power Point presentation on it. It was my first ever Power Point presentation. Needless to say I actually like it because everyone is looking at the big screen instead of me. LOL!! I picked the Italian Greyhound (since Greyhound was already picked). Anyways...I better stop writing & get back to studying & getting ready...I have to take my test in an hour!!!

2 new additions to our home.

Here they are...the rodents finally made it home!! They arrived yesterday & Sassy is captivated with them. I'm still trying to figure out what to name them. They are housed in a 10 gallon for now until I get a permanent cage for them. At least the 10 gal is bigger then what they were housed in at school.

Free Store Food Bank

On Sunday afternoon some of us students volunteered at the Free Store Food Bank on Liberty Street downtown Cincinnati. Some of the area veterinarians were giving free physical exams & vaccinations, etc to the pets of low income families. I was at a table with one of our professors, Dr. Goecke. It was a wonderful learning experience. The last person to show up at our table was actually someone I know, Jerusha & some of her family members. It was great to see her since it had been quite some time... :o) They brought in a couple of calico kittens. Here are a few pictures. :o)

Wanted: Loving Homes

Well it's almost time for our rats, mice & bunnies to find new homes. They will be ready to go the first week of November. Please let me know if you want to adopt one or two or five! LOL! Rats actually make great pets...I don't know about the mice. The one stipulation is that they are all adopted as pets & not as feeders for snakes or whatever. Tim is actually letting me adopt a couple of rats. :oD

Some exciting news...we got our dogs in this past week!! YAY! We were finally able to see them on Thursday after a 48 hour quarantine. They are all sooooo cute. I was assigned a female (i'm still working on coming up with a name for her). She can't be anymore than 30 lbs & is a blond color. Which makes me bring up the whole adoption thing again...its not to early to be thinking about adopting one of our class dogs. They will be available by the end of May this coming year. Please, please let me know if you are interested. We need to find homes for all 22 dogs. They are all mutts, which in my opinion, is the best kind of dog. If you are interested I can give you some specific descriptions.

This afternoon I will be volunteering at the Free Store Food Bank downtown Cincy on Liberty St. Local vets will be giving free physicals & vaccinations for pets of low income families. I will be sure to post all about it later today. (if I'm not studying)

Well, I gotta go get ready for church.

Another field trip.

This past week has been the busiest week so far this school year. We had 3 tests, one each in Medical Techniques, Animal Husbandry & Hematology, 1 Hematology Lab Practical, and 2 A&P quizzes. Two of my tests I didn't do so well (Husbandry & Med Techniques), but I will make sure to revamped my study habits for those classes. We have to have a C average in each class. Anything under a C and we have to take that class over!!
We went on another field trip on Friday. This time we got to work with goats, sheep, horses, mules & cows. It was a really neat experience. My group mainly worked on goats & sheep. We dewormed them, gave rabies vaccines & trimmed hooves. Trimming hooves can be quite difficult...especially when the blades are dull. :o) Getting the sheep to sit on its butt was quite an experience. LOL!!!
The goats were great! Our goat was very patient with us. (most of the time)

...& more field trip pictures.

Here are a couple more pictures from last weeks field trip.


Dr. Wells demonstrating restraint techniques.

Field Trip

Friday our class went on a field trip to vaccinate some horses at two different stables! Yay! It was a lot of fun! I gave one horse an IM injection in the butt. First, I cleaned the area with some alcohol, then I removed the needle from the syringe & stuck it in the butt muscle (talk about a horse jumping out of it's skin!)...then while the horse was kicking I had to attach the syringe, aspirate then inject. My heart was pounding furiously!! I've been around horses plenty enough, but this was a new experience. :o)
We were all doing this in groups of about 4 or 5 people. I got to teach the other ladies in my group how to halter a horse & to pick out the hooves. It was fun! It made me feel good to show them & watch their faces light up. We all got to do different things (injections in the butt, neck, nose, listen to gut sounds & heart). I also got to give in IN. Of course the horse didn't like the long plastic flexible straw-like needle going up it's nose. (I wouldn't like it either) Two of the ladies in my group got to draw blood. They were so happy to be able to do that. (as you can see Tammy in the picture below with her syringe of horse blood) :P
I think by the end we were all excited for our next field trip this coming Friday. There will be goats & other farm animals besides horses at the next field trip.
Here are two pictures that I took...Laura & Tammy also took some pictures (with me actually in the picture)...so hopefully I will get them this week & will post them.
Well, it's back to studying for two tests tomorrow & one on Wed.


Laura, Katie, Christy & Tammy


Tammy with her "souvenir"

School

Well, I can't believe the 3rd week of school is almost over with. I am taking 4 classes for a total of 16 hours. Animal Husbandry & Disease, A&P, Hematology & Medical Techniques. Medical Techniques is basically what it says...we are learning how to perform medical techniques on live animals. (i.e. SQs, IMs, IPs & bio feed needles so far) Yay!! So far we have been working with mice & rats. Next week we get to work on bunnies. (our dogs are coming in sometime towards the end of the month.) :o) The two labs this week have been a little nerve racking because all the teachers come around & one will grade each of us on a certain technique for that particular lab. (we were graded in restraining a mouse & then a rat during an IP injection.)
A&P probably has the most homework out of all the classes. We have a quiz every lab in A&P. It makes it nice though to have a quiz that often. It really helps me to stay disciplined & study. One of our teachers has us look up a drug for every lecture packet she hands out. I actually like it because it is helping me to become familiar with different drugs.
I'm also Secretary of our SCNAVTA organization. It is our Student Chapter of National Association of Vet Techs in America. We are going to do fundraisers to go towards an animal charity.
It's really keeping me busy with everything combined with working. I'm in school Mon through Friday & work Mon, Wed. Fri. & Sat. & anything extra I can get in. It's going to be tight financially, but it will be worth it.
Tomorrow morning we go on a field trip to a couple of horse farms to vaccinate, etc... I'm excited. I will try to remember to take my camera to get some pictures. :D

Well, gotta go stick my head in some books. :o)

Cat in the bag.

While I was doing homework the other day, Sassy decided to crawl in my bookbag...