Adjusting

Well, it's the weekend! I survived my first week of vet school. I think they're kinda easing us into things, so it wasn't too overwhelming so far. Most of the courses are pretty much review right now. I'm really enjoying the review in anatomy. My group's dog is a really great specimen - a pit bull who we have dubbed "Meat." He's got very little fat, huge muscles, and short hair which all make for a great dissection. The only drawback is some rather tough fascia, but a sharp scalpel takes care of that. Our anatomy instructors (Drs and TAs) are also great. Unlike Dr. Simon, there are several of them who actually go around in the lab and help you out and explain things and don't talk down to you. I'm also very pleased with my lab group (even though one girl mispronounces things all the time, which is a pet peeve of mine) - we work well together and learn things without rushing. We have a few neat courses that are new stuff for me that I'm really excited about. One is a case study course, where we go through the steps of finding a diagnosis and proposing treatment for actual cases (old ones) or some likely case scenarios. That looks like a neat way to stretch my limited knowledge in a way that I can instantly benefit from. We also have a course that gives us actual clinical experience doing basic evaluations and procedures on dogs. We'll get to restrain, palpate, draw blood, muzzle, etc. The only bummer is that the dogs are destined for junior surgery, so we can't get attached. I really enjoy my medical terminology (Words for Nerds) course so far. The instructor is very amusing and effective. Biochem is boring so far, although the instructor really tries to be funny (he's a HUGE muscle cell nerd, but he looks like an old stereotypical CS or Engineering nerd). For instance, he told us if we ever draw a blank on his exam to write that the muscle cell is the most beautiful and wonderful cell of them all. Histology is a bit laborious, because most of it is major review right now, but there are sparse details that are new so I have to try to concentrate, and the instructor has a thick Czech accent. (There are lots of accents in IA State's CVM staff, but I kinda like accents, so that's fine with me if I can still understand.) I ran for SCAVMA Curriculum Committee rep for my class, but I didn't get enough votes. (I know I got at least two, though, and I didn't vote for myself so that's cool with me.) Soon our many clubs will start having meetings, and there will be lots of free lunches and dinners, so that will be nice. I am enjoying cooking for myself, it's just a bit time consuming. Well, my eyes are tired so I think I'll stop there. Feel free to ask me about stuff if you're curious!

Let the Fun Begin

Okay, so I need to get back to my mounds of reading, but I wanted to give you all a quick update. Classes started today and they are going well so far. As promised, however, I am already loaded with studies. In short, don't expect updates on here unless it's the weekend... (Not that most of you guys comment on here anyway, so I don't know if you are even reading it regularly...) Okay, deep breath... And on to more Histology!

I'm in Iowa!

Greetings from Ames! I've been here since about 10:15am on Saturday, and I'm liking it so far. First of all, my parents aren't here!! WHEEEEEEE! Evidence for why I'm so excited: my parents don't communicate well. All along, we'd been planning to go to Iowa early Saturday morning (I'm thinking around 8am). Then, Thursday night, Dad says something about leaving Friday by 6pm. This was the first I'd heard of it!! Mom didn't think that had been decided on, although she did know of it as an option, unlike me. Neither of them thought to discuss it with me, because, HONESTLY it's only my trip to my apartment for my vet school with all my stuff! Yeesh. But Dad had made up his mind, so we were leaving by 6pm and driving part of the way that night. The logic in this plan was that it allowed more time to find me a mattress up in Ames. So yeah, I had to pack a bit faster and cancel some plans with Amanda. That was a bummer, but it worked okay otherwise. Got a nice mattress and everything. Even got a cell phone! (I won't have it on much - it's mainly for calling long-distance, but ask me if you want the number.) It took a couple days, but I'm mostly unpacked. I'm still waiting for my desk and dresser and a few other things. My parents are bringing those Friday when they're here for my White Coat Ceremony. (Dad got anxious and started loading the van before those things were in it, and they should have gone in first...) Other than that, I'm starting to settle in nicely. I did my first grocery shopping and cooked my first dinner here today, and it all went well. My roomie is nice and quiet, as well as her dog, Morgan. My rabbit seems to like it here, and so far Morgan has been "only" immensely fascinated by her. Gwennie doesn't seem to care that a dog stared at her for over an hour tonight. Most amusing. Well, I'm trying to keep a decent sleep schedule that will prepare me for class, so I should get going. Take care!

Surgery and Such

Okay, so the surgery on Saturday deserves some blogging. It was an exploratory surgery on a cat named Malcolm. This cat had appeared perfectly healthy in June at his yearly exam. About a month later, he suddenly wasn't eating much and was listless, so the owner assumed he just had a transient bug and would get over it. (We probably would have assumed this as well, so they did the right thing.) This month, he was worse so they brought him in. Dr. Lutz found a big lump in his abdomen. We were hoping for a spleen tumor, or something simple to remove like that. Well, we got in there on Saturday and it was a huge (nearly tennis ball size) tumor that had grown to surround a section of the intestine from a formerly tiny intestinal lymph node. A smaller secondary tumor and the starts of a third were also visible in nearby lymph nodes. Cancer. Lymphosarcoma, to be exact. Even if we'd removed the tumors, which would have been a very tricky surgery, the prognosis was poor. Maybe another 7-9 months without chemo, (which is cost-prohibitive in most cases) and only a few of those would be of any quality. Total bummer. Dr. Lutz called the owner, who elected for euthanasia. The poor lady was sobbing the whole conversation, and asked that someone pet Malcolm for her when he was put to sleep. (I did that.) We made sure to tell her she'd done all she could, but I'm sure it was little consolation. An 8-year old cat almost never gets cancer like this, let alone one so aggressive that it produced a big tumor in just a couple months. The bloodwork on this cat looked perfectly fine, too - no indications of the trouble he had going on. Dr. Lutz says this is all indicative of exposure to one of the more major feline viruses when Malcolm was a kitten. So yeah, a very sad story, but stuff I need to experience as a future vet.

After that, we dealt with a very nasty-tempered cat with a urinary tract infection (sedation is your friend). Prior to all this we wrestled an 80-pound chocolate lab who is deathly afraid of having her nails done. My arm is still sore from that one. It was quite an eventful day.

Well, I'm off to order some glasses (I wasn't going to get them, but Mom insists), so I should get going.

Exciting!

Yesterday they finally called and said my headboard is coming is!! About time, as I ordered it like a month ago. I was beginning to think I would have to cancel the order. It's arriving just 2 days before I go to Iowa.

So I come home from work today to find a message on the machine from Dr. Lutz. She wants me to stay after work and help her with a surgery tomorrow!! I'm super-excited! I wonder what kind of surgery it will be... She didn't say on the message. Oh well, any surgery will be neat, I'm sure. I'm going to be sure I bring a lunch with me though, so I can eat before the surgery starts. (For those of you who don't know, Beth+empty stomach+messy medical procedures = Beth gets kinda woosie.) Well, just thought I'd share that.

Bunn Memories Part Two

Okay, here's another installment. This may be the last, unless I come up with some more before my last day (the 10th).

- The ladies up at the switchboard chit-chat all day, but have a lot of trouble finishing conversations. Invariably, one or more of them gets a call and has to stop talking/listening to say "Thank you for calling Bunn-O-Matic. How may I direct your call?" about every 45 seconds.
- Bunn employees, especially the guys, like to give people nicknames. I've been called "Kiddo" and "Short-timer" as well as "Little Girl." I've heard others calling each other "Maw" and "Paw." One guy named Mark was called "Re-Mark-able." There are a lot of people referred to as "Buddy" by Commercial Orders guys, as well as "Dude." One pair calls each other "Boyfriend" and "Girlfriend" (and they are neither young nor African American, so it just sounds really out of place).
- There are monthly free ice cream days (Schwann's novelties!!) and weekly free popcorn days.
- We get loads of junk mail (industry-related magazines, etc), which is a pain to sort through and deliver, especially when most people don't even read it. Some people in Engineering, however, do read it. And then they put someone else's name on it with articles marked "FYI" and have me re-deliver it somewhere else. It's just wierd.
- I have become a slushie addict. I literally have to force myself to wait til lunch time to start guzzling the stuff and cut myself off after a few refills.
- The office "soundtrack" is provided by Muzak. For those of you who don't know, Muzak is really wierd - it has a super-random mix of music, from pop to Yanni to bluegrass to oldies to wierd elevator-like electronic music... The scariest part is that it's loudest in the bathrooms.
- The Great Mail/Trash Bin War. Ask me about this one if you really want to know - it's kinda complicated.
- Offices are like small town schools: you tell one person something and it circulates like wildfire. Luckily for me, my "story" that goes around is about how impressive it is that I'm going to be going to vet school. (As Mary described it, they sound like proud parents bragging about me.)
- One goofy co-worker pointed out to me that some faucet caps he was mailing out can be suction-cupped to his forehead. He also said you could use them to give yourself hickeys.
- I really enjoy watching computer monitors as I wander about the departments at work. They often have funny scrolling marquee screen savers that say amusing things like "I don't limit my madness to March," "Simmah down now!!," "Where are my parts?!," "Life is full of contradictions. (No it isn't!)," and "Git 'er done!!" Other times, I see people playing various games to pass the time (Solitaire, Yahoo! Games, etc.)
- As someone who is in every department at least twice a day, I always know who brought in the good food to share each day. I've lost all shyness when it comes to mooching, as most of them offer it to me anyway. I even find myself thinking "Hmm... I'll have to save some mail to deliver to that department later so I can get me some of that yummy [food item]..."

Well, I will miss the food and the funny stuff (and the paycheck), but all-in-all I'm ready to leave Bunn. Iowa State, here I come!!

It's My Berfday!

I'm now officially 22. One of my co-workers (Barb) guessed that I was like 19 or 20 today. That's funny. When I was like 14, people thought I was 18, but now that I'm older, people think I'm still a teenager. Oh well, they say looking young comes in handy later on.

This weekend was lots of fun. Ryan came down Friday after work and we hung around the house mostly. Saturday we went to Knight's Action Park (the local water park) and had a lot of fun. The weather was warm but not sweltering and the water was pleasantly cold after you got used to it. They have a wave pool, a lazy river, and two main body slides in addition to some other less wet attractions. Their new thing this summer is the Devil Ray. It kinda looks like a short, 3-story half-pipe. You go down it in double tubes facing each other so that one person is backwards and you slide back and forth up the sides a few times. It's quite a rush! According to the sign, you get 0 to 3 G's. Ryan and I did it twice so we could each experience both forwards and backwards. It actually made me scream at first, which almost no roller-coasters do, but I laughed the rest of the time like usual. After the water park we came home and got ready for my party. It was great! I got to see people I haven't seen since graduation, and even some (Rachel) that I hadn't really seen in over a year. We had tons of laughs playing Apples to Apples. Chris won with some of the strangest cards. He's glad my friends have randomly wierd taste, I bet! We had lots of yummy Daddy Hawker's pizza and cake and dirt cake, etc. Sunday I made breakfast for those who stayed over (well, I guess my parents ended up doing most of it - they're nice like that) and then we went to church. After a quick lunch, people headed home. Ryan and I got to take Ruthi home, so it was cool to get to see her place and meet her pets. After that, we went back to Springfield and picked up one of my presents - a nice lamp for my apartment. :-D I'm spoiled!

Today was super-busy at work. Probably the most mail I've sorted all summer, as well as statements going out. Mary got me a yummy cookie from Panera for my birthday. Tonight, Mom and I are dragging Dad to see "A Cinderella Story," so that should be fun. Well, thanks to all who have helped make this such a great birthday!! I'm so glad you're my friends!