This week on Chryso puts her hand in things....

There's a cow!

Yes, I warn you now, there's a picture of me with my hand up a cow's bottom

 

 

...

Well it has been a crazy week, I'm tired already and it's just the first week back from holidays. This is going to be a quick summary of the entire week, since I have a stack of work to do.

 

Monday - Pathology rounds. Every Monday morning we have path rounds where there is an overall theme eg. liver, they get all the museum specimens and display them in the autopsy room, we have to figure out what's wrong with them, why and how etc. Brilliant way to start the week eh? That day was 'reproductive systems', bet you're glad I didn't get any pictures of that :yellowhead:

Monday afternoon, had a radiology prac where we got about twelve different cases, we had to look at radiographs and try to figure out what was going on.

 

Tuesday - Repro 2. This time it was a cow. We had to go per rectum and learn what a normal uterus/ovaries felt like.

It's interesting, my right hand remembers the horse and now my left hand remembers the cow. I shall hereon call them my cow or horse hands...

 

Wednesday - Clinical pathology. That day was all about the liver. Just some case studies, trying to work out the disease by looking at a biochemical analysis of blood and urine.

 

Thursday - Neurological examination. I love neurology a lot. We had learnt in lectures all the different lesions and signs you get from different parts of the nervous system. There are all these tests you do to assess the nervous system, alongside your normal knee-jerk reactions you can do placing or posture tests. We had a lovely labrador who was normal, and a little kelpie pup who we worked out had a cerebellar problem from his high-stepping gait and inability to wheelbarrow. We also had a lot of fun demonstrating nystagmus on a student by spinning her round and round on a chair, then stopping it suddenly. What happens is your eyes keep flicking in the opposite direction (completely uncontrollable), then the flick in the same direction to compensate. It's really cool, you can try it yourself :yellowhead:

 

Friday - In the morning we were on the non-survival surgical rotation again. I was assistant surgeon for a spay. Being assistant surgeon means you help the anaesthetist and do whatever the head surgeon tells you to do. It also means you go get the dog, do a clinical exam and basically wait around until the other two are finished preparing the operating theater. This also means that you spend a heck of a long time alone with this dog. The one that is going to die when you're done.

I... well, let me tell you, it's hard for me to write this. I sat with her and spoke to her, cuddled her endlessly. And, foolish me, I named her.

 

Rest in peace, Firefly, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

The procedure went well, we all learnt a lot. I was bawling when they gave her the injection, and we were all very quiet and reserved for the rest of the day.

I imagine there will be many times in the rest of my life when I feel like that.

 

Friday afternoon was another bovine obstetrics prac. We had the same task of pulling calves out of fake cows, this time trying harder and harder positions.

 

Friday night was the much anticipated annual Vet Ball, the theme was Animalia: A Masquerade Ball. It was a great night to meet and catch up with everyone in the four levels of vet school.

 

A big week and a bigger one to come - this next week is mostly about horses. There is a pathology quiz after that - so I'm studying for it now!

Silly daylight savings, I'm already getting sleepy!

 

Me and the boys with our downer 'cow'

 

I warned you about this one!

 

Vet ball III

 

Was there any doubt about what type of animal I'd be?

Great as usual Chrys! You scrub up quite well now don't you... I mean for the ball not the arm up the cow's bum! :yellowhead: I knew I didn't have to study all those years to be a vet... I could just live my life through your's (Laughing out loud)!!!

:hap: I love the pictures the one with the cow is just my favorite :hap: you do clean up beautifully girl you are gorgeous :hap:!!

great pictures :(Laughing out loud):

I can't believe it's been (more than) a week already.

 

A horsey week it was!

 

-Monday:

Morning- Pathology rounds; foetus and placenta. Same old pathology rounds.

I went and wandered around the hospital/labs looking for people to ask about bird work. I met some of the lovely bird pathologists, who promised to call me if anything interesting came up, particularly in the autopsy room.

 

Arvo- Equine diagnostic techniques. We went around the horse wards looking at each patient - including one that was giving blood, and ten minutes later a sick one getting that blood. We followed the case of a lovely old donkey with a sinus problem. We connected a teaching horse to an electrocardiogram, did the routine listening to heart sounds and lung sounds. We also got to put an endoscope into a horse's oronasal cavity - that was soo awesome, though I was a little scared of holding a $10,000 piece of equipment while sitting precariously in front of a horse and sticking the little tube in its nose!

 

-Tuesday was more bovine reproduction - yet again, hands up cow bums! I'm getting the hang of it.

-Wednesday, an afternoon off! Yay!

 

-Thursday: Equine bandaging techniques. We learnt how to bandage each joint. It was heaps of hands on experience and I'm gaining more confidence around horses.

 

-Friday: Equine farrier techniques. A farrier who does the racehorses (!) came out and showed all these different techniques about horses' feet. Picking them up, cleaning them with all the different tools, taking off shoes, hoof testing, trimming nails. We had pieces from cadavers to practice putting shoes in and taking them out. I got to wear the fancy farrier pants! Once again, an incredible hands on experience we had on the horses this week.

 

-Weekend: I desperately wanted to cram for Monday's pathology test, but had a (fellow vet student's) 21st to go to! The theme was 'back to nature' and I came as a fairy.

 

-Monday: The dread path quiz!! I don't want to think too much about it

 

-Tuesday ie today: I was supposed to have a free afternoon but bummed around at uni. I almost regretted wasting time not studying at home until one of the bird pathologists happened to stumble across me in the halls. I was told I had to go to the autopsy room!

Well, I got there and there was a final year bird prac going on - they were doing autopsies on chickens- Nothing special. I shrugged and went in - and there was a brolga! They actually let me help out on the autopsy. The poor bird had been incredibly sick, and I could describe all the lesions but people would probably get grossed out. Let's just say, it was a mess in there.

Somebody was also autopsying a budgie I just couldn't look. I know I'll have to face it at some point but I got all choked up today.

 

It has been a dark cloud at vet school lately. Students and staff alike are furious and upset about some bad media we got on our Open Day on the weekend. There have been things taken completely out of context, utterly misleading statements and vital information conveniently left out. I've learnt not to trust what I read/see from the media ever again. I've been a little afraid I'd come here to find everyone up in arms about it, so I bring it up now before somebody reads the mass of bias that is out there. If you come across it, please keep an open mind, watch for misleading information, and feel free to ask me about it.

 

Oh, I forgot to tell this story which happened before the holidays. I was wandering down the halls when I saw the red light was on in the autopsy room. Curious, I went up to the airlock and peeked through the window. I thought, what a strange dog? (I couldn't see very much) Then did a double take. Orange, black, what?

It was a tiger cub!

Edited April 15, 200817 yr by Chrysocome

That sounds awesome Chryso!!!

Guess what. I had a path test on Monday too. I don't think any of the stuff regard your uni will reach us.

Sounds like you had a better week this week. Mine has just been full of tests. Cry. parasitology practical test on thursday.

 

 

I love when my equine vet uses the gag you see everything in the mouth

great updates with picture of the equine....I am sure you did excellent on the tests.

very intresting week you have had, thanks for the updates

Thanks for the updates! You are truly living the life that some of us can only dream about! Carry on! :offtopic:

Thanks guys.

 

Sailor, hope all went well for you! Amazingly, I like parasitology. Yes, I'm a freak. I wonder if you would benefit from some of my diagrams from last year... You should totally keep a blog too. Just a short one like mine is. I'd love to hear about how your course differs to mine. The un-fun stuff about my uni was concerning the use of live animals in teaching - particularly the (extremely few) terminal surgeries. I agree the whole thing is incredibly sad, but I don't believe we're evil for doing it - if anything we give a bit of light to a terrible thing. But that's a different issue, and I get really fired up about it, don't want to sully everyone else's day.

 

Last week was... very quiet. I had four afternoons off!

Wednesday - afternoon class was cancelled and still hasn't been rescheduled - I bet they put it at a terrible time when I really need the break.

Thursday - Small animal opthalmology. I loved this lecturer! He presented everything in a logical and thought provoking way, excellent teaching. We learnt all the common eye problems, breed dispositions and eye-related tests.

 

Me looking into greyhounds' eyes with different viewers.

 

To spare the poor pups' eyes we decided to test each other instead.

Schirmer tear test - you stick the little bit of paper between your eyelid and eyeball and wait five minutes - apparently it's really irritating, as it should be - it's supposed to make you cry!

I gotta tell ya - the medicos are missing out! Our companion mammals have a tapetum lucidum in their eye which is what causes their reflective eyes at night. It is absolutely gorgeous - bright green and yellow with edges of pearlescent blue. Gorgeous.

 

Friday- obstetrics in the morning. Taking more calves out of the fake cows

Saturday - me and some friends went to fly the Bellflower.

Bellflower is a set in north Melbourne based on the tv show Firefly and the movie Serenity. It was built by fans for a fan film. The place is just so incredible. I'm going to be an extra on the show :budgiedance:

Sunday - Flake and I went to the wedding of our friends, who also met on the internet via the same forum :budgiedance:

 

Monday - Morning Pathology rounds was Nervous system. Afternoon was bovine reproduction - we preg tested cows per rectum. I felt a calf! :budgiedance: The demonstrator also did an ultrasound on one of the pregnant cows, it was sooo awesome. There's just something so precious about new life.

 

Tuesday - Thoracic radiology - lots of case studies, we looked at X-rays with different conditions of the thorax.

 

Wednesday (today) - an afternoon off. You'd think I could study, but no. Somehow in the past week, I've been roped into two committees! One is the Small Animal Interest Group, currently in a creative role but in a few months as a board member role... probably treasurer... eep.

The other is the Albeitera commitee, I'm secretary. Albeitera is our yearbook and it takes stacks of work, but I just know it will be awesome!

Some work I've been doing -

Cocktail night ad... get it?

The theme is 'gems of wisdom' and you are required to wear black, silver and emerald.

 

Albeitera ad as a motivational poster

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrys...teraposter1.jpg

 

Vet show box set - Work in progress :budgiedance:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrys...8/dvdmockup.jpg

 

Thought I should also tell everyone that I haven't forgotten about the things I said I'd do - I have an Avian Biology article brewing, I've just been so swamped with uni-sort-of work that it's been pushed to the side. :budgiedance:

So....you are an accomplished ILLUSTRATOR as well as a great writer of stories....I can feel a Book coming on by author CHRYSOCOME

very cool, l like the box set and the cocktail night ad

Wow! looks like you are having a blast!! I really enjoy reading this thread. You are so talented in so many different ways How do you have time to fit it all in

I agree this thread is great... I don't always reply but just enjoy reading it. Looks like your having lots of fun... That tear test sounds painful... between your eyelid and your eyeball??? gross....

Thanks all. It is nice to hear that somebody finds this interesting

Jimmy - apparently not painful but really annoying!

 

A very slow week, not many interesting pracs and quite a few afternoons off, not that I'm complaining!

Continuing from last time...

 

Thursday - uh oh! The Unmentionable Class! okay, so I was wrong, this was the one interesting prac I had in the past two weeks.

How can I put this delicately...

Every vet student knows about The Unmentionable Class, from early days in first year. It is under the topic Canine Reproduction. It involves... er.. collection from a male dog, putting it into the ***** (= female dog) and holding her upside down for five minutes. Before anybody does any of that, we all have to practice the collection bit... using each other's fingers as a certain part of the anatomy.

Oh dear goodness it was embarassing.

And if it all wasn't bizarre enough, one of the lecturers is standing there filming the whole thing!

By utter coincidence, both our cameras died that day so I don't have any pictures.

 

Friday was Anzac day.

 

Monday - Path rounds, topic was respiration. This finished early, thankfully.

Tuesday - Mastitis prac. We learnt all about pathology of the udders. They got in some samples from the abattoir, we practicsed our suture techniques and intra-mammary injections.

Wednesday - AHM1. Business.. finance.. moneys... gah. Boring stuff about gross incomes, equity, capitals... It was a three hour prac in the computer lab using excel to work out how to manage the vet clinic as a business.

Thursday - AHM2 - yet another three hour long tutorial on managing the vet clinic. Zzzz....

That night was Industry Night, where big drug companies advertise their stuff to the vet students by offering us lots of free stuff (most of which was advertising for how amazing their product is, of course). Each company had a raffle (after doing their quiz) and there were stacks of awesome prizes, including ipods, dvd players, wine, textbooks etc. Of course I didn't win anything but a heap of my friends did! Hmph.

Friday - By utter luck my schedule arranged itself so that I got a second long weekend.

 

So... a very boring week.

This week will be a little crazy, as I will be helping with the annual Cocktail night, and all the organisation that entails up to and during the event.

 

Have some arts.

 

Tickets for cocktail night

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrys...t/2008/tix1.jpg

 

My revamped version of the Smallies logo

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrysocome/art/logo.jpg

 

I'm a little fixated on this idea, so you'll have to excuse me

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrys...008/season1.jpg

This is pretty much my close circle of friends, missing a few. You'll probably learn their faces through the pictures I post.

 

Back to studying pathology...

Edited May 4, 200817 yr by Chrysocome

i also never reply to your thread but love reading it and your thread and the jokes that are posted on this forum are the only things my husband reads on this forum.it sound like your week was boring, i would hate to have to learn the business side, pratical stuff looks much more fun.

I find this thread even more fansinating now , I love reading your experiences , keep it coming, plus I do learn!

Oh my, what a crazy bunch of weeks, with even worse to come.

I am utterly swamped and it will pile on even more in the coming weeks.

I'll have to split this up to catch up, and as exams approach I'll get more time between cramming to update.

Ah, my cortisol levels are through the roof, just thinking about exams, and my heart rate is pumping right now just writing the word!

 

Week 11

 

Monday: Path rounds with respiratory system as the theme. The dolphin larynx was neat.

Afternoon: Bovine feet examination. Two hours of the lecturer talking about cow feet, followed by an amazing feat of teamwork to pick up a cow hoof - it's not as easy as a horse! To start with we had to set up a system with nothing but ropes and the cattle crush, and then sheer muscle to lift the cow up. It was not easy! I wish I had a photo but didn't have it that day. Later, we worked with a specially designed pulley that took the effort of one arm to lift the cow's leg - easy but just as the lecturer was telling us about the dangers, the demonstration cow went 'Jersey' on us, deciding it wanted to lie down in the crush with the pulley on, and the result was that it flipped, tangled itself and then was hanging by a single leg tied to the rope. After we let her down, she decided that lying sideways in the crush was not fun but couldn't figure out how to get up - 500kg of thrashing angry cow = not fun. She was fine though, and we proceeded with the other teaching cows. We used hoof picks and cutters, and practiced our conformation diagnoses. The demonstrator had some cow legs from the abbatoir and we got to use the angle grinder - I kid you not, they really do use these - I was not expecting the kickback from one of the higher power grinders, and nearly let go of the damn thing.

There is little wonder now that they put our vet schools nextdoor to hospitals!

 

Tuesday: An afternoon off.

Wednesday: Examination of cardiovascular system of small animals: I really loved this prac. I like CVS in general. The lecturer taught in a logical manner that made you think, and was very interactive. So even though there were no live animals to play with, I enjoyed it. We listened to lots of different heart sounds including a holosystolic murmur - termed a 'machinery' murmur, and it really does sound like a washing machine. We also looked at electrocardiograms and echocardiograms (ultrasound). Then we worked through clinical cases - our one was extremely extensive but it made so much sense to me that it renewed my love for solving puzzles, seeing that beautiful clear line when you have an answer.

 

Thursday: Equine surgical anatomy of the head and neck. This was work on carcases, we learnt how to drill into the maxillary sinus, inject into several areas for nerve blocks, insert catheters, etc. I performed an eye ablation... but won't gross you out with details....

After that grossness, it was Smallies Cocktail Night, which I had to help run. The theme was black, silver and emerald, "gems of wisdom". We had five guest speakers. It was crazy running around decorating the dining hall, we had helium balloons, candles, sequins, glitter, green glass 'gems' decorating the tables, plus long black material hanging from the rafters. and green table cloths It all looked so gorgeous, the place was transformed. I was very pleased and impressed by it. Everyone showed up in their finery and it was just so beautiful. The drinks were just delicious. Unfortunately I didn't see much of the actual speeches - I was too busy running around (in my heels!) organising food. We third years had to cook the hot food, and then we decorated the desert plates. So while I saw the first talk from our Dean about the Nome sled dog races, I didn't get to see much else, but fellow admin members visited us in the kitchen with the drinks.

I'd also just bought a brand new dress that day from the op shop - gorgeous green with silver lace and it fit me perfectly - but no one took a single picture of me, because I was just a blur moving between kitchens and dining hall.

Despite not getting to see the speeches, I really enjoyed the night and from feedback so did everyone else! A job well done from everyone on the Smallies team.

 

Friday: I was pretty much dead from the late cocktail night, racing around helping things run smoothly and then packing up. The prac was bovine obstetrics. Our last session with the surrogate cows and pulling (dead) calves out of them. This may gross some people out - we praticsed our foetotomies. Unfortunately there will be times when a calf is already dead in the uterus/birth canal, but the mother is unable to expel the body. To save her a vet may choose to cut up the calf inside and pull it out in bits. To do this they use a very sharp metal rope inside a tube, or a concealed knife.

It's really gruesome but at the same time, comparable to what we do to cows before they end up on our plates.

An alternative is to perform a Caesarian, but it depends on the situation (presentation of the calf, how far along it is, how sick the mother looks, what the farmer wants etc).

 

That's it for Week 11.

Apologies for a distinct lack of visual material. I'd really like to talk about Week 12 - (annual Fish Week) - but it's late, and I have a very long rant about it, so I'll leave it for another day.

Edited May 24, 200816 yr by Chrysocome

wow, what an interesting week you have had.

wow you have had a busy week,the dead calf thing sounds gross but I can see that it would be easier than a caesar.

What a crazy week

I did work experience with a vet for a bit when i was a kid and I had to assist with pulling a dead calf out of a cow. It was hard work, but thankfully it didn't lead to cutting the calf - i wouldn't have the stomach for it.

 

I hope all goes well with you exams.

 

Thanks for sharing. I love reading all the exciting activities you have been doing

Edited May 25, 200816 yr by **Liv**

hey, i like reading your topic as i think i might want to be a vet, but i was wondering what subjects you studied in years 10, 11 and 12 to get into your course in uni?

thanks

Totally forgot that people here would have no idea how the week system at my uni works! This week is week 14 so I am well and truly behind in updating this thing. The weeks following that one I just posted get even more hectic!

 

Liv, that is interesting. I find bovine obstetrics fascinating. It's like a three-dimensional geometric puzzle where you have to figure out why the calf isn't coming out and then fix it. You can't use your eyes so you have to use your arms and fingers to guide you, and then use chains, ropes, angles, tension and force to solve it.

 

Andrew, I'm not sure how much I can help you as I don't know how the high school/uni transition works in WA (if that is where you are studying). In Victoria each course at each university has a certain year 12 score and year 12 subjects to get in, and it's in their course guide. So I recommend that you start looking at university courses as you approach year 10 and 11, to find out what they recommend/require and exactly the routes of entry. Go to open days if you can, and find out information on courses (should be online at their sites). So you can then figure out what subjects to pick to keep your options open for all the things you might want to do, just in case you can't get into the one you want the most.

As far as I know, there are 7 vet schools in Australia. But that isn't the only way in. For example, at Melbourne uni they used to take students from university Science, so you could keep trying to get into vet while you did that course - this meant that even if you couldn't get into vet each year, you could still keep going in science and end up with a degree.

The vet faculity at Melbourne Uni is interested in high scores and the science subjects. They want chemistry, math methods (Maths B ), and one of physics/biology (I did both). These subjects give you high scores and also direct you to science courses in general. But it's always good to keep your options open, so you may have to do a little digging to find out how to fit all the things you want into high school.

Please note this is what I know from Victoria, I don't know how it works elsewhere! I hope this has helped you. Feel free to ask me more.

I was going to post the subjects I did from year 10 to first year science, but I'm afraid it might put you off - I was (am?) a workaholic and I picked all the hardest subjects!

Edited May 25, 200816 yr by Chrysocome

Thanks Chryso. All my tests went very well and I got some good marks (although everyone else did too, so that isn't as special) I have another path test tonight and am currently relaxing on the forum before I return to studying the urinary tract. I suppose I should start a blog. But I am notoriously bad at forgetting my camera and then updating it.

We've had some awesome pracs in the last few weeks. This involved me anaesthetising and intubating a dog, which I thought was really scary at first but wasn't actually that bad. I was mainly scared at the fact that we were using Thiopentone and what if I missed the vein!!!! (Thiopentone causes necrosis and sloughing if injected perivascularly (outside the vein)) I didn't get to induce the dog though, someone else got there before me. hmph. However I did intubate it and that was fun.

The next week we got to play with horsies and give them clinical exams. Then we moved on over to the cows to practice pregnancy diagnosis (rectal examination)! That was actually very fun and interesting and I am amazed at how much you can actually feel in there. I was proud, I found my first ovary! lol. The next week was the week I was looking forward to for ages. First we had to watch a video about bandaging. That was okay, but the next half was awesome. We all went down to the local park where there are these huge aviaries and each of us were made to catch and examine some Java sparrows and Zebra finches and then catch, examine and crop feed budgies. They ran out of budgies when it came to my turn so I got to crop feed a lovebird instead. We were medicating them in that crop feed as well, so it was very useful. There was also a lovely cockatoo that joined our prac on the shoulder of the aviary manager. He was very lovely and adored his scratches. Then after the handling, we got to look around all of the aviaries.

Anyway better get back to studying.

 

Ps. I don't mind parasitology either, as some people have noticed from my posts in the "EWWWW Worms" topic. lol

 

Regarding the use of live animals for teaching. Unfortunately it is neccessary evil. If it isn't done then noone learns from it and noone learns how to save and benefit other animals in the future. The animals are always looked after. Our uni uses animals that are going to be put down anyway, as they are sick or ill thrifty etc.

Edited May 26, 200816 yr by Sailorwolf