Week 6--
Sunday was Father's Day! I was lucky enough to be able to make a quick trip home to surprise my boyfriend. His dachshund got into something and was covered in hives by noon, so I had to help communicate with a good friend who happens to be a small animal vet to get the pup started on some steroids. I headed back much later than I had originally planned, but overall a good visit.
Monday, I was basically dead on my feet. I got to do a couple injections and uterine lavages. We did a placenta exam. I love those. Pretty typical day.
Tuesday, we did a lot of repro work, as usual. We did several lavages and ultrasounds. We treated a uterine yeast infection and scanned some coughing foals. While doing a basic exam so a client could increase his insurance on a horse, we found a second degree AV block. It was interesting to find and hear Jordan explain it to the client to help him realize it wasn't a big deal.
Wednesday morning went by very quickly with a bunch of repro work with Jordan. We met up with Dr. Friend to tag team a bunch of floats at a big barn. I left with Friend to go see some lamenesses. The first turned out to be bilateral forelimb lameness most likely from new shoes. (After doing a couple blocks.) The second was a chronically lame Saddlebred. It was not the first time this horse had been seen and was once again recommended to have the hoof manipulated to help a club foot mechanical lameness. The client opted not to inject the joints so she could show the next day. We finished the day out at Friend's farm. He let me palpate my first mare! It was a great experience, but I was definitely using the ultrasound to find things instead of my hand. It all felt like squishy stuff. I was able to find the body of the uterus, but that was about it. After a bit, I found the 14 day pregnancy.
Thursday was another typical repro day. We had a bit of complication trying to collect a young stallion who had gotten a taste of live cover. He was not pleased with the artificial any more. Later, we met up with Friend to do some more floats.On the way to our last farm of the day, a tornado warning came across the radio. The poor English extern was beside herself. It didn't get too bad where we were. We ended up doing the last palpation in the old tobacco barn with the warning still out. Jordan and I rather enjoyed the end of the day because we both enjoy storms.
Friday was another heavy repro day. We did a lot of uterine lavages. We got to do 2 new foal and placenta exams. We did a couple yearling radiographs. We stopped by the Horse Park so Jordan could be filled in on what exactly she was supposed to do over the weekend. I finished my day with some food with the externs. The ones I have driven were so thankful that I has swung through to pick them up.
Saturday was an interesting day with Dr. Friend. Our first stop had a ton of lavages. He had Jordan meet us there to make it go a little more quickly. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off trying to help them both at the same time. They both did radiographs on a foal while I put away all the repro equipment. Next, we stopped at his house. I have now met most of the family. I have yet to meet the youngest of his children. We took 2 of the children to transport some horses. Then, we went to see a new foal. Thankfully, the mare had finally passed her placenta so we didn't have to deal with that. One of the clients held a cookout for a group of the vets. I was honored with an invitation. The food and discussion we wonderful!
Week 7--
Sunday was my day off to get some of my own things done.
Monday was an early start with Dr. Friend. The emergencies he went to over the weekend took a hit on the supplies. We were running really low on a lot of things.Thankfully, we didn't have very many lavages because we ran out of fluids within the first hour or two. Dr. Friend guided me in my first hock injection on one of his horses. I am so thankful to be able to have these experiences. At his farm, we looked at a lame horse who turned out to have an abscess. We got it drained and packed.
Tuesday, we had a full truck. We saw lots of repro in the morning and more dentals around noon. Our final stop ended up being more than planned. The popped splint bone turned out to be a boney bump on the front of the cannon bone that we injected just the same. Another horse was re-evaluated after healing a splint. The third was a mare who was acting studly. On palpation and ultrasound, Dr. Friend found a softball size granulosa cell tumor. Then he went back to the clinic for a partner meeting and the help went to his farm. We repacked the hoof we drained yesterday.
Wednesday, I was back with Jordan and an extern. We did a bunch of repro- bred a few mares and lavaged a few. We did several vaccines and one dental.
Thursday was relatively unexciting. We did mostly repro work- scans and lavages. The day ended with a euthanasia recommendation for a horse Jordan had been seeing since Sunday for diarrhea. They had called her out as an emergency saying the horse had already been having diarrhea for 8 days. They didn't have the money to send him to the clinic. We left hoping the guy was able to give the horse a quick and painless end.
Friday was a short day with Dr. Friend. He was trying to have a 4 day weekend for the holiday. We only had 2 stops for some routine repro work. He went home to get the family ready to go to Virginia for a vaulting competition. I took the labs and lavage tubes back to the clinic. The other help went to change the foot pack again. It was strange to get home so early. I had plenty of time to cuddle with the pup and take a nap before anyone got back from work.
Week 8-- I felt a little bit like a slacker this week.
Tuesday was a very early start coming back from the holiday. It was a very typical repro day. We did a lot of scans and several lavages. Our last stop of the day was to look at a foal with a busted eye lid. Jordan placed a couple of sutures to make him look pretty and off we went. No severe damage. One of the country roads we take had been lined with little flags in celebration of the 4th. It was really cool to see them all. The picture isn't the best representation, but there was a flag on both sides of the road every 10 feet or so for a 5 mile stretch of the road. So cool to see something so patriotic!
Wednesday was another standard repro day. We went to see a horse that had been coughing a little bit every couple of days. Jordan started him on some steroids to get any inflammation in his airway down. It seemed to be an allergy case. Toward the end of the day, we saw an eye injury that appears to be a rupture of the eye. Jordan suggested that they see Rood and Riddle's ophthalmologist, but they didn't have that much money to spend. The next best suggestion was to remove the eye in the field as a teaching procedure. They are discussing and deciding what to do next.
Thursday, my family came into town on their way home from Gatlinburg. I took the day off to spend some time with them.
Friday started out like any other day with a lot of repro. We did several scans and lavages. We re-scanned a few foals that had been on antibiotics for pneumonias. We looked at a horse with cellulitis and gave an anti-inflammatory blast. One of the last things for the day was doing the enucleation!
Here is a before picture of the eye... She was definitely in rough shape. During the surgery, we were able to confirm that she had a laceration causing her eye to partially rupture. The owners believe she cut herself on a nail after a fence board had been pulled off.
This is an after picture of the bandage. I got the privilege of drawing on the good luck eye. I will try to get a good picture after the incision has healed up. We finished the day looking at another eye that seems to have been bumped on something. We didn't see any damage, just swelling of the eyelids.
Saturday, I rode with Dr. Friend. We only had a few routine repro stops and a couple mares to breed. It was a rather short vet day. After running some errands, I got home and took a much longer nap than intended. I woke up long enough to eat some dinner before going to bed for the night.
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