Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Exams have come and gone and went pretty well. We ventured down to the main university each day to take our exams. We took them in Bute Hall -- an incredible room that almost distracted us from our exams!
Exam room!!!
Lucky for us, these exams only count for 10-15% of our grades. This lets us ease into the UK testing style. One of our exams was cancelled and rescheduled for January. This was because of "Hurricane Bawbag." We experienced 100mph winds that shut down the city -- no trains or busses. Roofs of building were blown off and school busses were blown over.
T-shirts already!!
Last Friday we celebrated the end of classes by going to Lock 27 for a celebratory pint and then to the Walkabout Bar for the Vet School Christmas party. It was a great way to blow off some exam stress. We finally got home at about 3am and I left for the airport at 4am. I had layovers in Amsterdam and Philadelphia and finally made it to Phoenix about 17 hours later. We went straight to a friends birthday party and had a blast.
I spent the past four days at Twin Peaks Veterinary Center and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was so nice to be back in a clinic, especially with people I know. I learned how to extract teeth using an elevator and got to practice scaling and polishing teeth. I also got to scrub in on several surgeries including a spay, and two abdominal exploratories. One of which was a suspected abdominal mass that end up being lymphoma. We ended up euthanising the cat on the table (for the best) but I was able to perform the necropsy and identified enlarged lymph nodes, several intestinal masses at the level of the jejunum, and cystic kidneys. I was then able to practice my simple interrupted sutures to close the abdomen. The second abdominal exploratory involved a dog that had eaten a leash! Three enterotomies (opening of the intestines), a gastronomy (opening up the stomach) and an intussusception (telescoping of the intestines) later, all the foreign bodies were removed.
Enterotomy
Intussusception
I was also able to go into an exam room with the doctor and learn about the diagnostic plans. It was very cool to be introduced as the vet student :)
The semester is quickly winding to a close. Yesterday marked the last full week of classes and now we only have two or three classes next week with exams the following week. In exactly two weeks I will be back in the States. Exams seemed to pop up out of nowhere! However, having all of next week to study will really help. We have been trying to make studying fun and had a blast during our anatomy lab review yesterday making up pneumonic devices and dancing around, I'm pretty sure all the other groups thought we were crazy, but it worked for us.
This past Thursday was Thanksgiving. We still had classes and review sessions, so we are having Thanksgiving today. However, the wonderful ladies in the Ref decorated with American flags and turkeys and we had a wonderful thanksgiving lunch with turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pumpkin pie! Today's Thanksgiving should be awesome. I think approximately 25 people will be coming over to celebrate pot-luck style!!
Last weekend I went to Barcelona, Spain to visit a friend. It was so beautiful and is definitely one of my most favourite cities. We saw La Sagrada Familia, a church that was originally started in the 1800s and has not yet been completed. Designed by Gaudi, the church is full of colour and so intricate. Highly recommended.
One of the stations of the cross on the facade.
Cubo magico - all directions add up to 33
The grey portions have already been completed, while the white still has to be constructed.
Ceiling
We also went and saw El Palau de la Musica Catalan - a concert hall for every type of music you could think of.
The ceiling - beautiful with natural light
The Foyer
Park Guell - also designed by Gaudi - was also amazing.
I loved using my Spanish and was even able to whip out my Portuguese to speak to some Brazilians we met at a club :) In Barcelona, the main language spoken is Catalan - which I don't speak (a mixture of Spanish and French). However, in the city anyone that speaks Catalan also speaks Spanish so we were fine. The title of this post comes from our map from our hostel that had random phrases in Catalan - including Freedom for Lobsters.
This week we learned how to do equine nerve blocks. These are useful in determining the cause of lameness and pinpoint where exactly on the leg the pain is coming from. There are three different ones each done going higher (more proximal) up the leg if the previous block does not solve the lameness. We got to practice this on horse legs (detached from the horse). We also learned how to remove a horseshoe and how to ultrasound the tendons (superficial digital flexor, deep digital flexor, suspensory) on a horse forelimb as well.
We have also had several suturing labs (wet labs) these past couple weeks. I have sutured different wounds on cats and dogs (albeit dead). We also had a pathology wet lab where I got to perform a postmortem on an otter! I determined the cause of death to be severe trauma (likely hit by car or boat) due to macerated liver lobes, haemorrhage on the lungs, diaphragmatic hernia, a fractured left femur and fractured pelvis.
Not really sure what an otter was doing in the middle of the road. . .
We have finished up the horse forelimb and are now moving on to the pelvic limb (which I like so much better) and have also started histology. Histology is essentially micro-anatomy where we look at tissues under microscopes.
CBC differentials -- my favourite!
We recently had cat/dog/reptile handling class. I missed hanging out with animals so much! It was great to work with a real dog. I helped demonstrate some basic handling techniques. In the reptile portion we got to hold a bunch of different kinds of snakes and an iguana!
This past week a friend from elementary/middle school came to visit. We had a great time and I was even able to bring her to the Vet School Halloween party at the Walkabout Bar - which was a blast. Vet students truly know how to have a good time. We also went to a pub called Brew Dog which only serves locally made brews. I recommend the Punk IPA (a bit of a fruitier beer) but not the Trashy Blonde (a bit too bitter for my taste). The bar was neat and had a bunch of board games. We played Guess Who and Jenga. We also met some interesting guys from Aberdeen who introduced us to the "awkward snail". Which as the name suggests, is super awkward. But overall a great night.
Brew Dog
I think I am officially assimilating into British culture. I know spell things -re instead or -er or with and 's' instead of a 'z' without even thinking about it! Scary.
Exams are coming fast - 1 more month! I will be states bound in just over 4 weeks :)
But before then, I will be visiting my friend from undergrad in Barcelona, Spain! Can't wait!!!
Not everything we learn in vet school has to directly correlate with veterinary medicine. Some of the information is quite practical and good for day to day life.
1) Before you say yes. . .
We learned how to tell if your engagement ring is real. Apparently diamonds are radiolucent and will not show up on radiographs where as cubic zirconium or crystals can be seen. To do this, simply place your ring on the x-ray table (no hands please!) and look at the image!
This a a cranio-caudal view of the forelimbs of a dog. The red arrows show the metal of a ring, but no diamond is seen here. That means this diamond is real :)
2) Pancakes =/= flapjacks.
While hiking with mountaineering club we ended up on the subject of flapjacks and were quite surprised to learn that flapjacks are like a breakfast bar made with honey. It took about five minutes to explain to the Scottish students that back home if you order a plate of flapjacks you would get a plate of pancakes.
3) How to draw animals in Powerpoint
We learned about two different types of hypothermia commonly seen in lambs after birth. To give us examples of the different posturing and at what time it occurs, Professor Fishwick posted a slide of stick drawing showing sheep at different temperature for excessive heat loss and starvation.
Note the r.i.p.
I have been trying my hand at this and drew a pig in Word:
I know; no posts in over two weeks! Bad vet student. But honestly, things were kind of crazy last week. So I'll try to summarise everything thats been going on recently. This will be just a 'wee' bit out of order :)
Classes have been going pretty well so, keeping up with everything, just trying to memorise the anatomy of the forelimb. We have to know all the muscles and their origins and insertions and the functions that they have (i.e. abduction, adduction, flexion, extension). I know where they all are and the bones of the forelimb, I just have to finish memorising exactly where on each bone they insert and the innervations of each one.
On Wednesday I learned how to suture! I learned three different types; the simple interrupted, the simple continuous and the cruciate. I volunteered to learn before the rest of the class and will help teach these patterns in two weeks. This means lots of practice at home to become proficient and make sure that holding my instruments correctly becomes second nature. I have my own suture material and needles at home along with a fake plastic stomach to practice on.
Simple interrupted (surgeons knot):
Simple continuous:
Cruciate:
Weird sticky stomach:
Note my awesome suturing skills...
Yesterday in class our neurophysiology professor was talking about how muscles work and their components: myosin and actin filaments and how they fit together in thin and thick filaments. To give us a better picture, he used bottle brushes (what we use back home to clean beakers) and "flump". Flump is a marshmallow candy on a stick. When he said flump, all the American students looked at each other wondering what the heck he was talking about. But flump looks like this:
We all decided that it sounded like a candy that would be served on the trolley on the Hogwarts Express (which they definitely had snack trolley on my trip to Edinburgh!) I mean, come on, Flump? Harry Potter, anyone?
On Tuesday, we went to the farm to learn how to restrain cattle and different rope knots used to restrain them. We also learned how to make harnesses for them. It was quite fun and a lovely day. Which I hear will be a rarity here. Many Scottish people said they had a warmer spring and colder summer this year which means winter will be here earlier (some are even predicting snow before Halloween!). I am surprisingly used to the cold weather already. It has been in the 50's during the day and 40's at night and most of the time I wear short sleeves and my North Face waterproof shell. I really don't miss the 100 degree weather from home. But cold weather also means winter food! I have been cooking a lot this week and really venturing out of my culinary comfort zone. I made homemade butternut squash soup and stew this week. I also roasted a pumpkin and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin seeds. They turned out pretty damn awesome, if I do say so myself. We had some people over tonight and made chicken tacos and guacamole. We have had such a hard time finding good peppers here. My friend's husband is hispanic and is quite disappointed in the selection. I mean, if I can eat a jalapeño here, then it is not hot at all. They are pretty lacking in their Latin food here (although curry spices seem to be all the rage). I also tried Toffee Apple Cider today (brothers brand) and recommend it to everyone.
You know you want one. . .
Last Tuesday, my roommates and I went downtown to go see the band Cage the Elephant in concert. It took place in the Garage, a smaller venue that had a lot of character. You would probably know this band best from the song: Ain't no rest for the wicked. It was a great concert and we had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went out to Driftwood, a pub/bar that had 90p vodka mixers (very cheap for here in Glasgow). It ended up being quiz night, which means that groups of people do trivia quizzes to win money. But of course, being Glasgow, it wouldn't be fun without inappropriate games Like "assume that sexual position". I think you all can see where that was headed. . . We walked in late, but had a great time people watching.
Yes, that is a truck coming out of the wall above the doors.
Last Thursday the vet school had a ceilidh. A ceilidh is a traditional Scottish get together. Basically, a Scottish band plays traditional songs that dances that go along with them, usually in pairs or groups of eight. Pretty much all of us Americans had no idea what we were doing, but we had a great time jumping around. The general idea involves swinging your partner around and then jumping around in a circle. It was a blast! Crazy Scottish dancing with some Tenents beer? Awesome party. The last dance involved dancing down a line of people with your partner so that you danced with everyone at the party. Here is a video of a ceilidh (not ours) just so you can see what it is all about and why you MUST attend one :)
We actually learned this particular dance:
I forgot to mention, my roommates and I have joined the mountaineering club! Last weekend we went on a trip to the Lake District in England and went hiking up Helvellyn, one of the tallest mountains in the UK. Here they call it walking, but don't let that fool you. They mean extremely steep hiking and "scrambling" using your hands to climb boulders for about five hours in rain and fog before you even reach the peak. But we had a blast and then walked down the other side of the mountain to a small town and had tea.
A view from maybe 1/3 the way up.
Yeah, we climbed that!
Sheep!
Note the fog: You couldn't see very far ahead near the peak.
Waterfall near the bottom on the back side of the mountain.
Later that evening we went to a little pub to have dinner. I must say, the English are not quite as friendly as the Scottish. There my roommate and I decided to be adventurous and order the steak and kidney pie. And yes, it does indeed have kidney in it, and I actually ate it (though probably not again). It tasted fine, but the kidney has a texture that reminds me of mushrooms. Kinda weird. Being nerdy vet students, we identified the renal cortex and the medulla.
Kidney anatomy - in case you were curious.
The next day, we took a three hour walk to the next town by walking over a mountain and through a forest. The forest was soooo steep on the descent that we just ended up sliding down the mountain through the mud as if we were surfing. Thank goodness for waterproof clothes and shoes! We met two other vet students in upper years through the club as well as many other international students. We hiked with two from Poland, one from Spain and two from Norway and had a great time.
Day 2: hiking through the woods. It was so dense, we had to use flashlights. Hard to believe that this was at around noon.
The town of Keswell, we stopped and had some tea :) How very Scottish of us
I definitely have to say, that having been here for almost 8 weeks (yikes, when did that happen?) Glasgow is starting to feel like home. While little things throw me off (they don't have canned pumpkin or applesauce??), I don't really feel like I'm living thousands of mile from home. Sometimes, I don't even feel like I'm living in another country. The locals here are so nice and everything is so convenient from the train to the busses to the walking distances. It only takes about 5 minutes to walk to the grocery store and the nearest pub is only two minutes away (not that I measured, or anything. . .). I am truly grateful for Skype though, it has definitely made the transition a lot easier. Being able to see people back home is very nice. So if you all reading this have Skype; please feel free to contact me!
