Week Two in Somerset

After jumping head first into a busy week when I first arrived, my second week was more manageable. I was surprised how quickly I settled in to the routine and how well I am fitting in here. It is all thanks to the people I work with; they made me feel right at home. This week, we said goodbye to Dr. Jason Dickey as he has completed his internship year and has accepted a position in Ohio. Dr. Keith Brown also turned 40 this week, so we had two things to celebrate. On Wednesday, we took the afternoon off and threw a party at the clinic for them. It was nice to relax with good food and good company.

Since Dr. Dickey left, I have taken over most of his responsibilities. I start of in the morning by performing short physical exams on all of the in-patient horses and helping the technicians administer morning medications. Most medications are antibiotics or pain meds given orally or intravenously through a catheter. The rest of my day is spent assisting the veterinarians during appointments and surgeries. Assisting can mean anything from restraining, sedating, and drawing blood to shooting radiographs and scanning the plates. I still need a lot of practice shooting radiographs (it took me seven tries to get an acceptable navicular skyline), but everyone assures me that I am getting better.  I am also getting really good at pulling blood and giving IV sedation. At this rate, I will be a pro by the end of the summer!

Probably the most exciting aspect of this week was that I got to scrub in on another surgery. This week, it was a bilateral palmar digital neurectomy. Neurectomies are fairly common surgeries as a last resort for horses with hoof pain that does not respond to special shoeing or joint injections. During the surgery, I accidentally contaminated myself (major whoops), but Latasha the technician on anesthesia came to my rescue with a new set of sterile gloves.  Besides that, the hardest part for me was identifying each instrument Dr. Brown needed and quickly giving it to him (apparently my hand-off needs a lot of work.) I hope I get a lot more opportunities to improve.
Here is a mini virtual tour for those interested in what Brown Equine Hospital looks like:

Work-up area, Stocks, and Lower Barn for the critical patients

Preparation Room and Recovery Stall of the surgery suite

             

Surgery Table and Room

Upper Barns- outside and in