This week has gone by so fast! It's one of those situations were it feels like you've been doing the same thing for a lifetime, yet, just yesterday you were doing something else. It seems like a forever ago that I was studying for my second round of finals of my veterinary school career. In reality, it was only two weeks ago that I was celebrating the end of the semester. I decided to take the first week of the summer to go home and visit with family. I will spend the majority of the next eleven weeks here.
I moved down to Lexington last Sunday afternoon and took the day to get myself settled. Monday morning, I met with the technician manager at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. She took me to get a badge made and gave me a couple official R&R polos. Then, she took me to surgery and left me to observe there for the remainder of the day. I wasn't able to do a whole lot since I was only going to be there for one day. I was able to observe the prepping and recovery of several horses as they went in and out of surgery. That particular day seemed to have a lot of joint reconstructions to me. I watched several arthroscopies and an umbilical hernia repair surgery. That was the cleanest day I have had thus far.
Tuesday, I met Dr. Friend at 6:45 a.m. in a Lowe's parking lot. It seems like a strange setup, but it really makes sense because he lives on the opposite side of Lexington from the clinic and most of the farms he deals with are over that way as well. It just wouldn't make sense for him to have to drive all the way over to this side just to pick me up and drop me off. There has been a veterinary applicant with us this week, Lindsey. I spent most of the day watching what she was doing to help Dr. Friend be as efficient as possible at each appointment. After the first couple, I was helping set up the cart with all the Therio stuff (ultrasound, tote, scrub bucket, and lavage fluids) and holding the tails out of the way. I discovered very quickly that 55 degrees feels much colder on a windy and rainy day. I couldn't stay warm for the life of me. I was thrilled to be learning even the smallest things.
Wednesday, I discovered that Dr. Friend has a very independent intern, Dr. Jordan Kiviniemi-Moore, and a technician, Kim. I traded places with Kim and rode with Jordan. She is very fun to work with. Her farms tend to be a little bit smaller and low-key. I still couldn't stay warm. Our day was very similar to Tuesday. We did a lot of pregnancy checking and cycle monitoring. She allowed me to look through a speculum to see a mare's cervix before she took a sample for culture and cytology. I enjoyed being able to see what she was talking about. By this time I realized that my predecessor had not been joking when she said I would want to bring my own food to avoid starvation. Tuesday, the only non-farm stop we made was at a gas station to fuel up. Wednesday, we stopped at a Starbucks (They were out of the majority of their breakfast sandwiches.) and at R&R to restock the truck and do the billing for the day.
I took Thursday off to do a little adulting. I had arranged to have internet hooked up in the house I'm being housed in with Craig. I also had a few other errands I needed to do. Unfortunately, the internet company canceled on me. It turned out to be a very aggravating day. The bright side was that it was the first sunny and warm day I had seen in Kentucky.
Friday, we all started together at the first farm. Dr. Friend taught me how to properly scrub a ulva for sterile prep. He also instructed me on how to glove up and feel her cervix to do a lavage. After that, I rode with Jordan again. It started out pretty normal with a lot of therio work. Later in the day, we got an emergency call for a down foal. We discovered, after a while that it most likely has a botulism infection. We think we may have been able to get the anti-serum in soon enough to save it.
Today was another busy day with therio checks and other calls. I was able to do IV injections, blood draws, and an IM injection today. I really enjoyed being able to do things while Jordan was making notes or getting ready for the next procedure. The last stop of the day, we inseminated a mare. I hope she takes!
Every day has been an early start and a long haul without much of a break. I love doing it through! Tomorrow will be another early morning, but it's supposed to only be a half day. I'm sure next week will be just as fun as this week. I'm sorry I didn't have any pictures this week. I'll work on that for next week.
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