CLASS OF 2014...how ya doing?

[Lupin21]

Both. I can handle the horse ones just fine but old gross crusty cat eyes give me the heebie jeebies every time!

I can see the gross kitty eyes being heebie jeebie worthy. lol

I haven't really dealt with many horse eye exams, but the two I have done the horses took extreme exception to it and withdrew the eye and never stopped jerking their head away. I guess I just don't have "The Touch" with them.

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[Lissarae06]

I can see the gross kitty eyes being heebie jeebie worthy. lol

I haven't really dealt with many horse eye exams, but the two I have done the horses took extreme exception to it and withdrew the eye and never stopped jerking their head away. I guess I just don't have "The Touch" with them.

Drugs are your friend

 

[dyachei]

Drugs are your friend

better living through chemistry

 

[Trilt]

I hate eyeballs.... And I really wish I had sucked it up and taken the rotation. Because I drown in eyeball gunk some days and some of these cases are freaking wierd.

I've had a lot of people suggest ophtho, and goodness knows I'm not super comfortable with eyes yet, although I'm not particularly weirded out by them like some people. I'm know I'm definitely doing dentistry, trying to hash out my top choices for the leftovers... thinking cardio, neuro, ophtho are my tops right now.

 

[cowgirla]

I've had a lot of people suggest ophtho, and goodness knows I'm not super comfortable with eyes yet, although I'm not particularly weirded out by them like some people. I'm know I'm definitely doing dentistry, trying to hash out my top choices for the leftovers... thinking cardio, neuro, ophtho are my tops right now.

I love love love neuro.... but would choose a cardio rotation first just to get more practice listening to hearts and doing work ups (and that way, when your first decompensated CHF cases walks in, you'll be slightly less panicked than I was!). so ophtho > cardio > neuro would be my recommendation

 

[cowgirla]

Drugs are your friend

You are supposed to share the drugs with your patient Lissa and not hog them all!

 

[Minnerbelle]

Find any way possible to get as much hands on dental experience as possible (taking full mouth rads, EXTRACTIONS!), and dermatology as if your life depended on it.

 

[Trilt]

Find any way possible to get as much hands on dental experience as possible (taking full mouth rads, EXTRACTIONS!), and dermatology as if your life depended on it.

Dentistry is 100% happening as one of my first picks (that they work the rest of my schedule around), and we do a bunch of cadaver extractions during it. I've also done some extraction wetlabs at various places so I've at least touched the tools and gotten a couple teeth out already - it kills me that we don't have more dentistry actually in our curriculum, every vet I've talked to emphasizes how ridiculously important it is.

I've gotten mixed reviews on doing the derm rotation! I know it's super important, but I've been told by a couple people that the specialty rotation is so different from day-to-day derm cases that it's not one they'd go for with limited options. Do you disagree?

 

[jmo1012]

Dentistry is 100% happening as one of my first picks (that they work the rest of my schedule around), and we do a bunch of cadaver extractions during it. I've also done some extraction wetlabs at various places so I've at least touched the tools and gotten a couple teeth out already - it kills me that we don't have more dentistry actually in our curriculum, every vet I've talked to emphasizes how ridiculously important it is.

I've gotten mixed reviews on doing the derm rotation! I know it's super important, but I've been told by a couple people that the specialty rotation is so different from day-to-day derm cases that it's not one they'd go for with limited options. Do you disagree?

are you sure about the hands on dentistry stuff? when ever i've seen the students on that rotation, they are observing and not doing much else. perhaps thats just with regards to live patients?

also, do cardio here, its AWESOME.

 

[Trilt]

are you sure about the hands on dentistry stuff? when ever i've seen the students on that rotation, they are observing and not doing much else. perhaps thats just with regards to live patients?

also, do cardio here, its AWESOME.

Yes, it's explicitly stated in the description (and I've talked to grads who've done it and recommended!) Extractions and such are on cadavers, I don't think we get much hands-on with living things since it's usually referral stuff.

I've been getting tons and tons of cardio recommendations, pretty sure that's on the list! The problem is everything ends up on the list haha...

 

[jmo1012]

Yes, it's explicitly stated in the description (and I've talked to grads who've done it and recommended!) Extractions and such are on cadavers, I don't think we get much hands-on with living things since it's usually referral stuff.

I've been getting tons and tons of cardio recommendations, pretty sure that's on the list! The problem is everything ends up on the list haha...

for QOL, i'd put cardio at the top of that. that was part of what i loved about cardio. i was sufficiently busy, but still maintained reasonable hours and sanity during the rotation! the on call was pretty mild, in patient numbers were decent, and case load was excellent (trust me, those 1st 2 may not seem like the end of the world now, but they can make a HUGE difference!!)

 

[Minnerbelle]

I guess it really depends on the clinicians teaching it in terms of how much you learn, but derm rotation for me was probably the single most helpful rotation in all of clinics. Plus even in a referral situation 90% of the cases that come in are allergy related anyway and that's what you see in practice. As long as the rotation allows you to do derm exams and correlate lesions/histories to likely differentials, actually allows you to do all the ear stains/tape cytologies/scrapes, and lets you read all cytologies and come up with treatment plans, it's hugely helpful. Very few clients ever go to a dermatologist, so you will be stuck with a ton of derm disasters on a daily basis. I would say half of my diagnostic visits in GP are derm related (sometimes even on ER!)

 

[StartingoverVet]

Warms my heart that this thread stays active. Luv ya all...
Keep on keeping on!

 

[GellaBella]

Whoa boy! I had a rough past week.

I'm working as an emergency vet, and I work a "one week on, one week off" schedule. Had a puppy intentionally drowned in the bathtub by a (not so young) child, a 3 day post-exploratory dog go into respiratory arrest, a 2 day post splenectomy dog hemorrhage into her abdomen and die, and another dog with a hemoabdomen die last night. Did CPR on all of them, and just couldn't get them back.

It was so heartbreaking as they were all sweet sweet animals with very attached and loving owners. Worst part was they all looked like they were doing well before they died. It really makes me question whether there is something I'm missing or whether these things were just inevitable events in critically ill patients, but I'm still very upset.

So thankful for a week off after all that.

I absolutely love my job, but it can be so hard sometimes.

 

[cowgirla]

Whoa boy! I had a rough past week.

I'm working as an emergency vet, and I work a "one week on, one week off" schedule. Had a puppy intentionally drowned in the bathtub by a (not so young) child, a 3 day post-exploratory dog go into respiratory arrest, a 2 day post splenectomy dog hemorrhage into her abdomen and die, and another dog with a hemoabdomen die last night. Did CPR on all of them, and just couldn't get them back.

It was so heartbreaking as they were all sweet sweet animals with very attached and loving owners. Worst part was they all looked like they were doing well before they died. It really makes me question whether there is something I'm missing or whether these things were just inevitable events in critically ill patients, but I'm still very upset.

So thankful for a week off after all that.

I absolutely love my job, but it can be so hard sometimes.

I think this falls under the "when it rains, it really real pours and hails and sleets". Cruddy things always seem to happen in groups. wishing you a cluster of good things and easy emergencies ("My puppy vomited a worm on my bed, HELP" type)

 

[NStarz]

I think this falls under the "when it rains, it really real pours and hails and sleets". Cruddy things always seem to happen in groups. wishing you a cluster of good things and easy emergencies ("My puppy vomited a worm on my bed, HELP" type)

OMG--don't even joke about that. I brought my foster kitten (3 weeks old) to the ER at like 10 pm one night because he was pooping roundworms and the intern laughed at us. He's like "this is the first case of emergency worms I've ever seen." I was so grossed out I refused to stimulate him anymore (sorry, sis ) (I have a pretty bad case of worm phobia!!) Although, to be fair, bad parasites in a 3 week old kitten can be emergent

 

[cowgirla]

OMG--don't even joke about that. I brought my foster kitten (3 weeks old) to the ER at like 10 pm one night because he was pooping roundworms and the intern laughed at us. He's like "this is the first case of emergency worms I've ever seen." I was so grossed out I refused to stimulate him anymore (sorry, sis ) (I have a pretty bad case of worm phobia!!) Although, to be fair, bad parasites in a 3 week old kitten can be emergent

haha. It could be emergent. Could. But when I got that phone call at 3am I wanted to cry a little. (we don't see small animal emergencies so all I can say is "refer if you are concerned," over and over again) It was sooo not a real emergency.

 

[NStarz]

haha. It could be emergent. Could. But when I got that phone call at 3am I wanted to cry a little. (we don't see small animal emergencies so all I can say is "refer if you are concerned," over and over again) It was sooo not a real emergency.

3 am? That's a little extreme. Sorry for the suckiness. Glad you could pawn it off, though!

 

[Lissarae06]

I had a guy call me at 2am one night (I wasn't supposed to be on call but the receptionist screwed up) and argued with me because he thought his dog had cyanide poisoning from eating a couple pears (oh the joys of Dr. Google). I said the dog probably had parvo. He then called my boss and told him that his nurse didn't know what she was talking about. Dog tested positive for parvo the next morning.

 

[dyachei]

I had a guy call me at 2am one night (I wasn't supposed to be on call but the receptionist screwed up) and argued with me because he thought his dog had cyanide poisoning from eating a couple pears (oh the joys of Dr. Google). I said the dog probably had parvo. He then called my boss and told him that his nurse didn't know what she was talking about. Dog tested positive for parvo the next morning.

Oh, people. They always surprise me. But usually not in a positive manner.

I have a client right now with a cat with really bad allergies (typically gets depo injections every couple of months) and is declawed. They assured me she was an indoor cat. They came running in because her leg was broken the other day. The owner had run over her leg in the driveway. We talked extensively that day (as I tried to set the tibia, which was dangling at 90 degrees) about keeping her indoors. She ended up pursuing orthopedic surgery and came in to follow up with me and wanted to know if she could let the cat outdoors.

 

[cowgirla]

Oh, people. They always surprise me. But usually not in a positive manner.

I have a client right now with a cat with really bad allergies (typically gets depo injections every couple of months) and is declawed. They assured me she was an indoor cat. They came running in because her leg was broken the other day. The owner had run over her leg in the driveway. We talked extensively that day (as I tried to set the tibia, which was dangling at 90 degrees) about keeping her indoors. She ended up pursuing orthopedic surgery and came in to follow up with me and wanted to know if she could let the cat outdoors.

saw a cat yesterday that was FELV AND FIV positive, diagnosed over a year ago. So I'm talking and talking, blah blah blah, eating/drinking/litter box habits normal. Offer the purevax instead of the imrab rabies, talk about why.... And then hear "well she spends 90% of her time outside, so let's go for the three year."
My soul died a little as I tried not to cringe. That turned into a veryyyy long appt and I'm pretty sure I got nowhere.

 

[GellaBella]

Speaking of non-emergencies. My favorite call from a frantic client:

Owner wanted to bring her puppy in ASAP...ok ma'am, what's going on with your pup?,..."he has an erection!"..."that's not abnormal"...."but he was neutered a few months ago!!!"

Woman thought something had gone wrong in the neuter/it hadn't been done correctly. I assured her that dogs still have a penis after they've been neutered and they can still get erections and she does not need to come in for me to see it

 

[Minnerbelle]

I was speaking with a vet student in a clinical setting (dunno what yr but not a first year. I hope not a 4th yr) and she told me a dog was azotemic. I asked what the USG was, and she answered "roughly one." Oh how far we've all come...

Had the ****tiest of all days yesterday. I euthanize so many animals everyday that most of the time I feel like, "here, have some pink juice. *shrug* sorry for your loss" (comes with the territory on ER), but yesterday had two back to back that were emotionally draining they literally hurt. And there were 2 ATE cats this week, and I cannot help but bawl my eyes out when I have an ATE patient because I can't distance myself from it due to my cat's HCM. It takes me a few days to recover after seeing an ATE.

And I effed up big time with a patient yesterday. And after all of that, needed to be up all night with really craptastic cases. Really hated my life last night. All the techs and I just felt like we were doing a horrible job when a big part of it is that we are way overworked.

 

[NStarz]

I was speaking with a vet student in a clinical setting (dunno what yr but not a first year. I hope not a 4th yr) and she told me a dog was azotemic. I asked what the USG was, and she answered "roughly one." Oh how far we've all come...
.

Technically correct, though this comes to mind.

Sorry you're having a bad week, Minner. <3

 

[shortnsweet]

Is anyone else going through the match again? I think i'm getting ulcers just thinking about it.

 

[DVMDream]

Is anyone else going through the match again? I think i'm getting ulcers just thinking about it.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[cowgirla]

Lost my first in house patient today. I hope it's a long long long time before I have to make that kind of phone call again. necropsy showed there was really nothing else I could have done but still feels crap. on to the second bottle of wine. So glad I have a long weekend coming up

 

[that redhead]

Is anyone else going through the match again? I think i'm getting ulcers just thinking about it.

This will be my first and hopefully last time. I'm at peace right now, but I expect to start geeking out around submission time when my letter writers will almost certainly be procrastinating and then again around interview time.

 

[variegata]

Is anyone else going through the match again? I think i'm getting ulcers just thinking about it.

I waffled ALL YEAR LONG and just when I had all but decided I wasn't applying to anything this year, I made the mistake of looking at programs. I thiiink I'm applying to one place. And I hate the though of the whole process.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Lost my first in house patient today. I hope it's a long long long time before I have to make that kind of phone call again. necropsy showed there was really nothing else I could have done but still feels crap. on to the second bottle of wine. So glad I have a long weekend coming up

Sorry that really sucks

 

[shortnsweet]

I waffled ALL YEAR LONG and just when I had all but decided I wasn't applying to anything this year, I made the mistake of looking at programs. I thiiink I'm applying to one place. And I hate the though of the whole process.

Yeah...I feel like I JUST did all this.

 

[Lissarae06]

Days like yesterday make me question my career choice. We did a dental on an older cat and I noted an oral mass. I called the owner to recommend removing it and sending it for histopath. She accused me of nickel and diming her. I finally convinced her to at least let me remove it. Removed the mass and rest of dental proceeded as normal. As we took her off anesthesia she crashed. I had a staff member call the owners while I pushed drugs and started CPR. I have seen a patient act similarly while on preceptor who ended up having a tracheal perforation so I took a thoracic rad. She had what looked like mets in her lungs. Like really bad. I got her back three times but when she started to crash again the owners decided to let her go. That final time I got her heart going again she actually started breathing on her own and I felt like we had her back. By the end of it I was exhausted and just felt like crap. The owners thank goodness were very understanding and thanked us for doing everything we could. I reviewed everything with my boss and he said I did everything I could have but I still feel like crap about it. This one hit me a lot harder than any of the euthanasias I have done so far.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Days like yesterday make me question my career choice. We did a dental on an older cat and I noted an oral mass. I called the owner to recommend removing it and sending it for histopath. She accused me of nickel and diming her. I finally convinced her to at least let me remove it. Removed the mass and rest of dental proceeded as normal. As we took her off anesthesia she crashed. I had a staff member call the owners while I pushed drugs and started CPR. I have seen a patient act similarly while on preceptor who ended up having a tracheal perforation so I took a thoracic rad. She had what looked like mets in her lungs. Like really bad. I got her back three times but when she started to crash again the owners decided to let her go. That final time I got her heart going again she actually started breathing on her own and I felt like we had her back. By the end of it I was exhausted and just felt like crap. The owners thank goodness were very understanding and thanked us for doing everything we could. I reviewed everything with my boss and he said I did everything I could have but I still feel like crap about it. This one hit me a lot harder than any of the euthanasias I have done so far.

FWIW, sounds to me like you are doing amazing. I would gladly have you as my vet. Sucks to have days like that. Hang in there.

 

[that redhead]

Ugh Lissa, that's rough. I agree with your boss and SOV though, it sounds like you did all that you could have

 

[Lissarae06]

FWIW, sounds to me like you are doing amazing. I would gladly have you as my vet. Sucks to have days like that. Hang in there.

Ugh Lissa, that's rough. I agree with your boss and SOV though, it sounds like you did all that you could have

Thanks guys. I'm kind of dreading going back to work Monday but I think getting through some surgeries will help.

 

[dyachei]

Thanks guys. I'm kind of dreading going back to work Monday but I think getting through some surgeries will help.

I hope it goes better tomorrow. We all have crappy days but we also all get days where a lot goes right. Just remember that

 

[cowgirla]

I wish owners would call sooner. it's really hard to fix DOA patients :-(

 

[Minnerbelle]

Almost every other night for the past I don't even know how many months, I've had a recurring nightmare. There is one patient sitting in a cage, or in a room with the owner, or at home that I've neglected. Scenario 1 (most common): I admitted the patient and put her in a cage with nothing but the estimate printed and tacked onto the patient's file but did not round any doctors on the case, put together a treatment sheet, or anything... and the patient's in ISO or back dog room that none of our really sick patients are so doesn't get checked. Scenario 2: I left and there is still a patient/owner is still in the room waiting for me to finish the case. Scenario 3: I sent the patient home on an outpatient basis but I was supposed to run in house bloodwork and call them and didn't.

I usually wake up in a cold sweat and even reach for my phone so that I can call the overnight doctor and have them follow up or something because the dream is so realistic... but then have to tell myself that such thing probably didn't happen (or did it?) and do some convincing to make myself leave it alone and go back to bed. Just so that I'm less likely to have these dreams, I end up staying very late tying all loose ends everyday, even for things that don't necessarily need to be done. I really need a shrink or something... oh wait, I don't have time to see one. ugh

 

[cowgirla]

Almost every other night for the past I don't even know how many months, I've had a recurring nightmare. There is one patient sitting in a cage, or in a room with the owner, or at home that I've neglected. Scenario 1 (most common): I admitted the patient and put her in a cage with nothing but the estimate printed and tacked onto the patient's file but did not round any doctors on the case, put together a treatment sheet, or anything... and the patient's in ISO or back dog room that none of our really sick patients are so doesn't get checked. Scenario 2: I left and there is still a patient/owner is still in the room waiting for me to finish the case. Scenario 3: I sent the patient home on an outpatient basis but I was supposed to run in house bloodwork and call them and didn't.

I usually wake up in a cold sweat and even reach for my phone so that I can call the overnight doctor and have them follow up or something because the dream is so realistic... but then have to tell myself that such thing probably didn't happen (or did it?) and do some convincing to make myself leave it alone and go back to bed. Just so that I'm less likely to have these dreams, I end up staying very late tying all loose ends everyday, even for things that don't necessarily need to be done. I really need a shrink or something... oh wait, I don't have time to see one. ugh

1) let be know if you ever want to chat/ vent by PM
2) remember YOU are important. Take care of yourself

 

[cowgirla]

Every colic I have treated so far, I have warned the owners about nose bleeds.

Of course the one time I don't go through my spiel I (and the owner) end up splattered.

Also, I really hate getting 7:30 phone calls when I am off call at 8. Couldn't they wait a little bit longer?!

 

[cowgirla]

After a crappy few weeks of things dying or going AMA, i had some awesome client interactions today.

Old, recently adopted dog that needs surgery- "You guys are great but I know you arent here overnight. Is it okay if we take him to the specialty clinic so he can stay overnight and be monitored?" Um, abso-freaking-lutely you can go see the board certified surgeon, dont let me stop you!

Diagnosed a super sweet cat with a femoral neck fracture. Before I even finished pointing out the fracture on the rads, the owner asked how quickly we could do surgery to fix it, and what we needed for pain management until then. And owners child was totally awesome, asked excellent questions, asked to see the rads and observe any treatment we needed to do, and is taking full responsibility for her cat's care at home.

Love it.

 

[nyanko]

I've been up for the last 3 hours because I woke up after only 4 hours of sleep WIDE AWAKE remembering that I may have forgotten to write NPO on a patient's treatment sheet (that isn't even my patient technically, we're surgerizing it today but it's staying with internal medicine) even though I rounded every doctor and tech that the cat was to be NPO at midnight. I called the hospital and had them make sure it was NPO (it was already of course). Then I couldn't go back to sleep. I am going to have a very, very long day today, especially considering that I'm freshly coming off of overnights (last shift Saturday night) so my circadian rhythm is AFU.

 

[that redhead]

I've been up for the last 3 hours because I woke up after only 4 hours of sleep WIDE AWAKE remembering that I may have forgotten to write NPO on a patient's treatment sheet (that isn't even my patient technically, we're surgerizing it today but it's staying with internal medicine) even though I rounded every doctor and tech that the cat was to be NPO at midnight. I called the hospital and had them make sure it was NPO (it was already of course). Then I couldn't go back to sleep. I am going to have a very, very long day today, especially considering that I'm freshly coming off of overnights (last shift Saturday night) so my circadian rhythm is AFU.

I'm only liking this because I was wondering how you were doing the other day. Hope you get some better sleep soon :/

 

[katryn]

First day back from maternity leave was awesome. Feels so good to be back!

 

[cowgirla]

This has been the cruddiest of all cruddy weeks. multiple "little" things have been happening all week that made it cruddy. To top it all off, I lost a young patient under anesthesia for an elective procedure. I keep going over everything in my head, triple checking all my dosages, and I still can't figure out what I would have done differently (other than not do surgery.) to make it even worse, the patient rocked through the majority of the procedure. Turned off ISO, deflated the cuff and BOOM, arrested less than a minute later.

And of course I'm working this weekend so I don't even get a break.

 

[dyachei]

This has been the cruddiest of all cruddy weeks. multiple "little" things have been happening all week that made it cruddy. To top it all off, I lost a young patient under anesthesia for an elective procedure. I keep going over everything in my head, triple checking all my dosages, and I still can't figure out what I would have done differently (other than not do surgery.) to make it even worse, the patient rocked through the majority of the procedure. Turned off ISO, deflated the cuff and BOOM, arrested less than a minute later.

And of course I'm working this weekend so I don't even get a break.

Unfortunately, sometimes these things happen. And while it sucks, it doesn't make you any less of a vet. You've done what you can. I'm so sorry

 

[cowgirla]

Unfortunately, sometimes these things happen. And while it sucks, it doesn't make you any less of a vet. You've done what you can. I'm so sorry

yeah. I get that crap happens. and while this patient was young, my preop exam findings were concerning enough that I offered referral or postponing- owner declined. sure wish i had insisted instead of discussing and making recommendations, so it wasnt entirely an anomaly. I had finally started to relax after finishing up the surgery, and then all hell broke loose right as i was finishing the stupid bandage.

 

[Armymutt25A]

Yes, it's explicitly stated in the description (and I've talked to grads who've done it and recommended!) Extractions and such are on cadavers, I don't think we get much hands-on with living things since it's usually referral stuff.

I've been getting tons and tons of cardio recommendations, pretty sure that's on the list! The problem is everything ends up on the list haha...

Dentistry was fun this year, but the slots are few. We started out just watching. By the end of week one, we were doing the cleanings. Rads are pretty much the tech's domain. Jeanie is very helpful, but she sometimes comes across as unfriendly. She's just very focused. Friday is cadaver day, unless Eroshin has to go someplace. We only had one day with the cadavers - did blocks in the morning and maxillary extraction in the afternoon. The second week, students did all cleanings and a couple of blocks. I'm doing a second block in April, currently solo, so hopefully I'll get into a few more difficult procedures. The Army doesn't have dentists yet, so the GPs do everything from root canals to extractions.

 

[Trilt]

Dentistry was fun this year, but the slots are few. We started out just watching. By the end of week one, we were doing the cleanings. Rads are pretty much the tech's domain. Jeanie is very helpful, but she sometimes comes across as unfriendly. She's just very focused. Friday is cadaver day, unless Eroshin has to go someplace. We only had one day with the cadavers - did blocks in the morning and maxillary extraction in the afternoon. The second week, students did all cleanings and a couple of blocks. I'm doing a second block in April, currently solo, so hopefully I'll get into a few more difficult procedures. The Army doesn't have dentists yet, so the GPs do everything from root canals to extractions.

Hey I definitely know you... I ended up getting dentistry in the three week block between turkey day and christmas, looking forward to it!

 

[Lissarae06]

I don't understand why people think they are entitled to make payments at vet offices. A woman is posting all over Facebook how none of the vets in the area will treat her dog without a payment up front. She has no money and no established vet but she expects everyone to let her make payments on what will most likely be a very expensive vet bill. She called my clinic this morning and described what was going on with her dog. I gave her a very rough estimate of $800-$1000 and told her that without seeing the dog it is impossible to know what he would actually need/how much it would cost. She couldn't even pay for an exam today which is less than $50. And she has everyone on Facebook talking about how vets are only about the money and don't care about the animals. It is just frustrating. Ok rant over