Surgery (This time not on me!)

Surgery Rotation: check!

Well, I did it. I survived the dreaded surgery rotation! And guess what? It wasn't that bad! I only cried once, and I got 8 hours of sleep most nights. Sure, I was working 12-14 hour days plus weekends, but I actually kind of enjoyed the rotation for the most part. I learned a ton, and I actually got to treat animals (a novel idea for vet school, right?). I'm sure there's some classmates out there that would want to strangle me for saying that because their surgery rotation was hell, but I got pretty lucky. We had a fairly heavy caseload, but it was manageable, and we had 6 students on as opposed to some rotations that only have 4, which helped a lot. Anyways, I'll get to the interesting stuff.

My favorite soft tissue surgery patient was a puggle named Huggles -- adorable, I know. Usually I wouldn't be allowed to tell you their names for confidentiality reasons, but this guy was from the Oregon Humane Society, so they're a little more lax on privacy. (Just a side note regarding confidentiality for your edification: vet med does not have HIPPA or any equivalent, but most hospitals/clinics have their own privacy policies anyways.) Huggles was this adorable little squishy-faced thing, and even though he was a puppy, he looked like a grumpy old man. I actually called him Grampa most of the time. He had an issue with his liver called a portosystemic shunt, where blood from his digestive system (that contains all the toxins from digestion) bypassed his liver (where the toxins should have been filtered out) and went straight into his system circulation. This caused a buildup of ammonia and other bad stuff in his blood, making him pretty sick. Fortunately he wasn't at this point yet, but if enough ammonia builds up, it starts affecting their brain, and they can have seizures and other neurologic problems. So, we took him to surgery, put this cool thing called an Ameroid Constrictor around the shunting blood vessel, and hoped for the best. Since he was a puppy and a shelter dog, I got to neuter him while we were in surgery! I know neutering isn't that exciting to most vets/vet students, but it's only the second one I've done, and it was a lot less scary than the first one I did in junior surgery lab 2 years ago. Now I want to neuter everything! Anyways, Huggles recovered just fine, and we sent him back to OHS a few days later despite my numerous attempts to get him adopted. I'm not usually a fan of brachycephalic (squishy-faced) or little dogs, but this guy broke my rule; he was a special pup. Here's some pictures to prove his cuteness:

Huggles doing his funny belly stretching pose

Helping me with my paperwork

Sometimes he would only quit whining if I held him like a baby

Recovering from surgery like a champ!

Snuggles from Huggles the puggle!

One of my orthopedic patients, a 4-year-old Lab that I'll call Luna because I can't tell you her real name, had a fairly interesting case too. She had a torn cranial cruciate ligament (equivalent of a torn ACL in people), so we were taking her in to do a procedure called a TPLO. When she was anesthetized and being prepped for surgery, we noticed a polyp sticking out of her butt. We assumed it was benign, but we biopsied it anyways. Her TPLO surgery went fine, and she went home the next day, but a few days later the results of her biopsy came back and showed that the polyp was malignant. Sad news. So, Luna came back in to see soft tissue surgery this time, and they removed part of her rectum to try to get the cancer out. They thought they got it all, but again, lab results came back and showed that the cancer was invasive, and they didn't get clean margins (meaning there was still some left in there). This poor thing is only 4, has a bum knee, horrible allergies, and now butt cancer. I'm not sure what they'll do with her next... since I'm off surgery now I won't be following her case, but I'm guessing they'll have to go back in for yet another surgery and try to remove more of the cancer. Poor thing.

I don't want to end on a sad note, so I'll tell you about one more of my patients. This girl's name is Sadee, and she's another Lab. She wasn't my case from the beginning, but she was transferred to me, and it turns out she's Brandon's co-worker's dog! Small world considering Brandon only has about 5 co-workers. Well Sadee was a hot mess to put it nicely. She had basically one functioning leg, the other 3 all had issues. To sum up her surgeries briefly, she had a TPLO, complete fusion of her wrist, and giant bone fragments removed out of her elbow. To add to her issues, she was also quite obese. She was in the hospital with us for a week, and she was one of my favorite patients to work with because she was such a sweet girl, and she was just one of those dogs that you could tell had so much fight in her, and I knew she would push through and get better. She filled my day with hope and positivity, and she made me feel like I was actually making a difference. When we sent her home, I felt like a proud mom. She was using all her legs so well, she was almost able to get up on her own, and she lost about 9 pounds! It was really amazing to see her progression, and I'm glad Brandon works with her dad so I can continue to get updates about her.

Hanging with Sadee while I iced her knee. Such a trooper.

Now that my rotation is over, I still don't think I want to be a surgeon ever, but I got a glimpse of how rewarding (and frustrating) this line of work can be. One of the best feelings in the world is sending a patient home after surgery, seeing how happy their owners are to have them back, and knowing that you fixed them and improved their quality of life. That basically wraps up everything I wanted to say about surgery... a lot more happened during those 4 weeks, but I just wanted to give you some highlights. And here's a few more fun pictures just because I like pictures:

It's funny how dramatic little puppies are sometimes. This guy was such a ham.

This guy has on a different hat every time he comes to see us.

Intervertebral disk we removed from a dog's neck.

Sporting the goggles (or doggles if you prefer) for his laser treatment.

This is a Lagotto Romagnolo. Don't worry, I didn't know that was a real breed either.

Fluffy Lagotto again.

One of our long-term patients that we loved. His dad sent us this pic.

I lied... there's one more thing I wanted to say about my surgery rotation, and the picture of the German shepherd above reminded me. This poor dog got hit by a car, had a horribly fractured leg that was repaired with an ex-fix (a big metal device outside the leg that screws into the bones to hold them in place), and then ended up with a terrible infection in his leg. To help his leg heal, we used a wound vac on it, which is something we haven't done much of in our school. If you've been following my story, you'll remember that I had a wound vac on my abdomen for months, and it was quite an unpleasant experience. What the wound vac does is apply negative pressure to a wound to help pull the edges together and also to suck out any debris, fluid, or "gunk" that's preventing the wound from healing. It's pretty amazing actually; it speeds up healing a lot. So we were putting the vac on this dog's leg, and it was a learning experience for all the doctors there. It was kind of cool for me because I knew all about the vac, and I was able to give a little advice here and there (whether they wanted it or not). For instance, when they turned the vac on, the dog starting whining, and I told them that it can be pretty painful initially because it's pulling on raw skin. I also told them that the "continuous" setting was less painful than the "intermittent" setting, and the most important part was that the bandage changes HURT! I used to have to get a shot of morphine a few minutes before my bandage changes because it was so incredibly painful to have all that tape and sticky stuff ripped off of an open wound when your skin is already sensitized to pain from being cut open. I don't know if the doctors cared about my input or even needed it, but it made me feel like I could empathize with my patient, and I could truly understand what that dog was going through. I finally had hope that all the medical bullshit I've gone through would make me a better person and a better veterinarian. Well, the wound vac did its job, and the dog did great. I'd call it a success story all the way around. Just to gross you guys out, here's a picture of my incision during one of my wound vac changes after I left the hospital. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

Wound vac change at mom's house, sometime around Dec. 2013

Alaska, the last frontier

Yep, that's right, we're going to Alaska! Ahh! I'm so excited I don't even know where to start with this. One of my best friends, Jessica, moved up to Alaska a few months ago, and we're lucky enough to have the chance to go visit her next week! I've always wanted to go there, and now I finally have an excuse. Is it the most financially responsible thing to do right now? Not a chance. But this is the last vacation I'll have in a long time, so I'm taking advantage of it. Brandon and I are flying into Anchorage on Saturday, and we're going to meet Jessica and her boy, Jesse, in Girdwood, where we'll camp for the night and do some hiking. One of the hikes has a hand tram over a river, which I'll get to cross off my bucket list! I'll save most of the details of our trip for my next post after we get back, but a few things we tentatively have planned are dog sled rides, hiking trips, visiting Denali, breweries in Anchorage, and maybe some fishing. Unfortunately Jessica has to work all week, so we'll be keeping ourselves busy most of the time, but I'm just glad we get to see her. Jess, I miss you!!! Ok, I'm getting too excited, better move on...

Necropsy

Before we go to Alaska, I have to finish up my necropsy rotation (equivalent to autopsy, but on animals), which I'm more than halfway done with already. It's a pretty easy rotation; I go in from 1-5pm most days, cut open some dead things, then go home and bang out a quick report. It's not the most interesting rotation, but it's easy, and I'll never complain about working half days. So far the most interesting things I've seen have been a goat with intestinal worms (they were still alive, squiggling around on my gloves), a raccoon suspected of having rabies (it didn't), and a horse with about 25 liters of fluid in its abdomen. Today was actually pretty busy. We had 3 horses and 2 rabbits, and by the time I left there, I was sufficiently damp. That's the best word to describe it. I'm not sure how much was sweat, blood, water, or Roccal, but I was damp. Plus I've been riding my bike to school, so I got even sweatier on my way home. It was nice to get out of those clothes, that's for sure. Now I'm just hoping tomorrow isn't quite as sloppy. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share with you from this rotation because, for one, I didn't take any, and second, it's pretty gory, and I think sharing photos would be frowned upon.

NAVLE

Today I got an email telling me that it's time to schedule an appointment to take the NAVLE. In order to be a licensed veterinarian, you need 3 things: a diploma from an accredited veterinary school, a state license, and a passing grade on the NAVLE. The NAVLE -- North American Veterinary Licensing Exam -- is the national board exam that all vet students must take (and pass) to become a veterinarian. It's the big one. It's like the culmination of all my years of schooling comes down to this 7.5 hour exam. As I was scheduling my appointment, I was literally getting so nervous that I felt like my stomach was in my throat. Just thinking about it gives me anxiety. My test is scheduled for November 19th at 8:30am in Eugene. That gives me 2 months to study, which may seem like a long time, but I know it's going to fly by. I think I'm going to get a hotel room in Eugene the night before so I don't have to drive the morning of the test, and then I can have a quiet place to study the night before without distractions. Holy cow. I can't believe how fast time is going. Things are starting to get so real. I've been a student my whole life, so it's hard to believe that in 9 short months (if all goes well), I'll be done forever, and I'll be free to start my career. Yikes. Well, I guess I better get to studying!

Healthy? Me? Maybe...

There's one last thing I wanted to talk about before I finish up, and that's my overall health. Since most people started reading this blog to follow my recovery progress, I thought I'd give a little update on how I've been doing medically. I'm happy to report that I have no major news to tell you. Besides having horrible stomach aches when I cheat and eat gluten (How can you say no to Olive Garden breadsticks?!?), I've been feeling pretty stable. I still have issues with overall function of my legs and random aches and pains here and there, but I think it'll all continue to get better with time. The one thing that has been disappointing me though is the fact that I just can't run anymore. I've been trying every once in a while, but my legs just don't work. It's not the same feeling as being out of shape... believe me, I've been out of shape a few times in my life. It honestly feels like my legs are just missing a certain function. I know my nerves took a pretty hard hit, and there's probably some function I'll never get back, but there's nothing more frustrating than wanting your body to do something and it just can't. I ran a half marathon 2 years ago, and now I can't even run half a minute. I'm trying really hard not to beat myself up over it, but it's just disappointing. Most people probably won't understand this, but I love running, and I really miss it. I'm glad I've been able to start hiking more lately, but running has been really important to me for a lot of years, and now my body just won't let me do it. I keep reminding myself that I was in a wheelchair earlier this year, and there's a chance my nerves will continue to regenerate for a while, but I'm impatient, and I want to be fixed now. Anyways, other than that, I've been feeling really good. I feel like my life is mostly back to normal (or as normal as it ever was), and I have NO doctor appointments in the immediate future. Yay! Now my biggest challenge is to figure out how to stop gaining weight when I can't really work out much...

Lastly, there's a few people I wanted to congratulate:
-Brittney and Donald - happy 1 year anniversary!
-Katie and Mario- happy 1 year anniversary as well!
-Cat and Josh- congrats on your new home!
-Carly- congrats on your new job!

And as always, I'll leave you with a few fun pictures, just because. Happy September,everyone. :)

Some fawns we saw while garage saling last weekend

Chinese Lantern plant that showed up in our garden

Chocolate truffle shaped like a dog - Market of Choice has the best desserts!

Goose hogging the beanbag we bought for Zeke