The Year of the Ologies

Apparently, the second semester of vet school is when they begin to dump ologies on you.  You know; ologies:

-Path-ology
-Neur-ology
-Physi-ology
-Immun-ology
-And also Nutrition and Anatomy but those sound less impressive without that all important suffix

It's only into the second week of classes so hard to tell yet how the term will shake out.  We've certainly got the full range of teaching styles though.  It runs from old-school (really...with a slide projector that he makes the students at the back of the room operate for him) to high tech with powerpoint shows and remote clickers and receivers to compile the input from the class in realtime.  Our brains are having to span not just volumes but decades of information.

We also have considerably more lab time this semester.  Each week holds two pathology labs, one microscopic and one gross specimens, a long (looooong) neuro lab wherein we poke about in dog brain with our "Canine Atlas of the Brain" which was printed in 1986.  1986 and they made me pay for it.  It is also in black and white because apparently color photography had not yet been introduced in 1986.  I don't know because I wasn't alive.  Moving on.  Also a physiology lab and three days of large animal anatomy lab, although we're not dissecting all of those days.  Our anatomy groups are divided into A and B subunits and on alternating days, except when we're only doing bones, or reviewing for an exam, or working on the bovine cadavers, or the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars, the A group dissects and the B group studies and vice versa.

So, in sum, I think I spend ~15 hours of the week in a lab which is pretty cool because it means I get to do something.  I am not good at learning on my butt.  I get a lot more out of moving around and learning, like when I'm dissecting or when I'm cleaning the house and making Eli follow me around and read bold terms to me.  He gets a headache, but I get a lot more out of it.  The flip side of this coin is that I'm extremely clumsy, and in the anatomy lab alone have a running tally of one broken skeleton pelvis, one previously labelled femur which might not be described as such so much anymore, a small scar from where I walked into Jessica's scalpel blade, and a 4-inch bruise and laceration on my shin where I tried (and failed) to walk through one of the huge steel racks from which our pony cadavers are suspended.  You will understand, then, why my lab partners were so very, very excited when the instructors handed me a 7 inch knife for our dissections.  Yee-HAAA!  So far no casualties but I'll keep you posted.

Signing off for tonight: 8 o' clock class tomorrow morning.

On the Road (Again)

Back in Pullman after a long lovely break, and here in my living room after a long lovely week.  If I may climb onto the metaphorical couch for a second, I'm conflicted.  I wasn't ready to come back to classes and homework and exams but when I got to class Monday morning (on time, in the right place, a minor miracle in and of itself) I felt like I had a purpose again.  I'm here to do something!  I'm a human data sponge!  Woo-hoo!

Indiana is not feeling so fulfilled.  She was irritated on the car ride home and downright petulant when I shoved her into her crate the first morning (would not be an issue if she hadn't started chewing on my walls) but she's starting to get over herself.  It's nice to be allowed on all the furniture again, right?

It was a great time being home, though, and so wonderful to see many friends and family.  Although it was relaxing, there was not a whole lot of downtime!

I:

• got snowshoeing at Hurricane Ridge (is it really snowshoeing if there are only six inches? or is it just strapping goofy contraptions to your feet at that point?), 
• ate my way through Seattle (Kell's, Piroshky, Habesha, I love you) 
• had a great time snooping around at a local barn ostensibly working with Dr. Mary who may or may not have paid me in wine (the way to a grad student's heart, I tell you)
• went to Portland where (hello?!) it snowed four very wet sloggy inches and rendered all the snow-plowless Portlanders totally useless on the road, resulting in,
• driving Eli's standard transmission one-ton pickup beast all the way back home to Poulsbo by myself without mishap, although I did get some patronizing looks from the good ol' boys when I pulled up to the [diesel] pump on the wrong side and was then forced to execute an 83,754 point turn to extricate myself,
• got a trail ride in with Beau, the best Morgan ever, 
• had some wonderful rides with Jaegermeister who not so gently reminded me that I should really work on those core muscles while I'm here at school, 
• had a fabulous Christmas with more eating and lots of kitchen related gifts which made me wonder how I am not 400 pounds already
• went on a 'snowboard' trip only to abandon snowboarding after one (soaking wet, bruised, but definitely enjoyable) day, to return to my much drier skiing roots the next--stick with what you know, people, and
• was totally out-lasted by my parents and their friends on New Year's Eve.  By the way, you know who you are, I am having dreams about those carob chip muffins.  I must know the recipe, please help!

Now it's Friday, and I'm getting back into the swing of things.  Actually, it's better than that: I've done my dishes every day I've been home and there is nothing on my floor that is not supposed to be there.  Oh, no, I'm becoming a grown-up!  Send sugary treats and insolent slovenly attitude at once!  To add to the nauseating responsibility around here, I must go take my dog for a walk before I head out for the night: free bowling thanks to GPSA--I hate bowling but love my friends, for whom I will even brave used shoes.

Stay tuned this weekend, at which time since my house is clean (that sound you heard was my mom swooning) I might give you a tour.  And also recap my first week as a second semester veterinary student (spoiler: involves guts).

TTFN,

Kate

1/8th of the Way There!

All right, everyone!  I am finished with finals and home for break and starting to recover from the raping and pillaging of my brain that occurred last week.  I know veterinary school is supposed to be harder than undergraduate, but Ye Gods, that was unpleasant.  Okay, though I didn't study as much as I should have, I console myself with the knowledge that even had I studied enough, THAT WAS NOT WHAT I WOULD HAVE STUDIED!  It's fine, I am pretty sure I passed, so I get to go back for the next semester.  Phew!  One down!
Now going to bed.

Too Much Information

To add to my list of Things I Have Now Experienced That I Never Really Wanted To: that lovely sensation of disturbing your frozen nose hairs every time you breathe while walking your dog.  With your fleece gaiter pulled up over your face.

It's rather chilly here (for December, as my supervisor pointed out; it's like this all the time in January and February), with the mercury at -3 when I woke up this morning.  I stubbornly waited until it got to zero before venturing out.  A girl's got to have limits.  Indiana doesn't understand this concept at all.  Apparently a natural fur coat really is the best thing in the world, because we just got back from our long walk and she was happily lying in the frost with her stick-cicle when I decided I was approaching frostbite threshold.  Wussy humans.

We've now entered "dead" week, AKA the Week Before Finals, and as of yesterday night I had turned in my final paper for a class, so that's my first official vet school course out of the way!  I was pretty excited.  Next week will be a doozy but I'm doing fine in all my classes so far and if I can just keep it up everything should be all right.  We're already ordering books and signed up for next semester's classes, so the juggernaut is on autopilot now.  I'm excited/terrified about it.

This past weekend was a kick, just the right thing before finals hit.  Friday night was our Game Night for my friend's birthday, and we had such a blast that nobody left until two in the morning when Eli had to practically drag my sleepy butt to the car.  I had forgotten how much fun board games are!  So I bought Mexican Train (technically dominos; close enough) and you better believe that anyone visiting here from now on will be playing that ad nauseum.  We also stopped by the WSU Ski Swap (in the same manner that a cocaine addict might be able to 'stop by' a crack house), and I got a pair of goggles to keep me from squinting so much or getting any insane sunburns on our Mt. Baker trip.  It was very, very difficult not to reallocate my student loans into a ski and snowboard fund but somehow I refrained (Eli: "I have more important things to spend my money on before it goes into skis."  It's no fun to shop with a kill-joy, sir).  Saturday morning I went in to school for a lab on neurological examinations and procedures, and got to try high and low spinal taps and nerve blocks on cadavers (I so greatly appreciate the cadavers--let anyone who's been thinking of donating their animals to science when they pass that they are invaluable to us and get a second life as the best possible teachers!).  Sunday we went to the Nutcracker on campus as performed by the Eugene, OR ballet company.  It was lovely, and they were very creative with their sets, costumes and the rather limited space.  We're so spoiled in Seattle to have the live orchestra there, and nothing makes up for that, but it was great and now it really feels like Christmas.  Or almost...four more finals to go!

Ta for now from the Palouse.

Business as Usual

So remember all those resolutions down there?

Yeah.  Whatever.

Help

Dear Vet School,

Stop the carousel please, I'd like to get off.

Respectfully,

Kate

And that is why you haven't heard from me in a while.  I deluded myself into thinking that I would get my life in order and all up to speed over Christmas break, but instead I fell back into my old college traditions and got sick.  Which couldn't have happened at a better time, really, because I didn't have to be in class and I had Eli around to sit on the couch and watch movies with me.  Also he is so tall that he was able to put up half our Christmas lights (slight exaggeration) without a ladder, which precluded my dad and I from throwing our annual Coarse Vernacular Festival.  It went quickly, but to be honest, we felt a little cheated.  (I mean, thank you, Eli, your spending vacation time decorating our house is very much appreciated.)
Now final exams are less than two weeks away and sweet mother of pearl, I am not ready.  In fact, I am paralyzed with fear and have no idea even where to start.  Confucius has some answer about thousand mile journeys and steps but that is way too logical.  Dithering is my specialty, and why waste talent?  Between now and then, there's a holiday cocktail party on Friday for the Graduate and Professional Student Association (I really like to say that because it makes me feel important) which I may go to if I can be bothered to dress up for it, and the Ski Swap (yay!) on Friday and Saturday, and then the Nutcracker on Sunday!  So clearly, studying is out for the weekend.  Perhaps I ought to get down to it.

Adios for now.

Edited: Christmas break, by which I meant Thanksgiving.  My brain is in la-la land.

Winter!

Yesterday and this morning were Indiana's first experiences with snow, and MAN OH MAN BOY OH BOY HOLY COW was she excited about it.  On the deck it was merely a curiosity:

However, when we got to the park and there was a FIELD! and a TENNIS BALL! and that SNOW! her excitement level went from 'Huh.' to registering on the Richter Scale.

It's hard to beat a Labradoodle puppy for sheer joie de vivre.  She makes everything a lot more fun.

Except when she is bombing down steep icy sidewalks with you slaloming on the other end of the leash.  Then it might qualify as more harrowing.

Today I'm going to a friend's house for a Suture Party.  We have our suturing lab exam next week, and it should not surprise anyone who has ever seen me try to play video games (or seen any of my rare crafty work) that hand-eye coordination is not my very strongest suit.  So this is how we cram for stitches: we sit around and watch the VIDEOS that they gave us from which to LEARN OUR SUTURE PATTERNS and which HAVE NO SOUND!!! and then we all try to follow along and tell each other what we are doing horribly wrong (for example: "Kate, when you throw knots they must appear flat and square, not like a manifestation of the Flying Spaghetti Monster").

There are approximately 374, 695 different suture patterns and we are supposed to know all of them.  This would not really be so bad except that there are 1, 2, 5 (3 sir!)--but really, 6 different surgeons who have been in our lab teaching us these patterns.  And all of them do things differently.  So, if Dr. 1 is examining you, remember not to tunnel your closing knot for the intradermal stitch because that makes Dr. 1 crazy.  Dr. 2 never mentioned deep and superficial strands and the necessity of knotting with both deep strands, while Drs. 1 and 3-6 find this to be the most crucial part of the stitch.  If taught by Dr. 3, you use two hands for most of your one hand tie.  If taught by Dr. 1, you use mostly just one.  Dr. 5 claims that you should always begin a pattern with an even number of throws on your knot, and end with an odd number.  Dr. 4 claims this is ludicrous and that continuous patterns must always begin and end with exactly 6 throws.  All of these surgeons are very talented, helpful, personable and for the most part patient teachers but my God, the conflicting information!  It is like our brains are a nexus of matter and anti-matter voiding each other out and leaving us (or me at least) with nothing to go on.  Anyway.  Hopefully my peers are in a different boat and can correct me this afternoon.

To end this rambling post (which bears, in its uneven and wandering structure, a striking similarity to my Ford Interlocking Stitch), I will leave you with one last heart warming image of a Labradoodle in the snow.

Post-Script: A Cautionary Tale Entitled "How Not to Drive Up or Down an Icy Hill" or "Why I Will Not Be Taking South Street Downtown Today"