Diary of a Dick Vet

In stark contrast to my undergraduate experience at UC Davis, the program at the Dick Vet runs more akin to my primary school experience: students move through the year in a single class, and if you fail to pass a subject, you are required to repeat the course and effectively join the class below you, until you pass the exam.

Before you are required to ‘repeat the year,’ you are given one more chance in the form of August re-sit exams. Should you fail to pass, you are not allowed to move on in the curriculum and must re-take the exam when it runs again at the end of the next semester, with the next year of students.

So, you can understand why I was quite nervous to learn that I had failed one of my Christmas exams, and would need to re-take it in August. Despite failing my first exam here at the University, that particular course had two exams over the course of the year, and I did well enough on the second exam to receive a passing mark overall, and thus save myself from August testing. This time, though, the re-sit was inevitable, which only added stress to my Spring exams: would I end up having to re-sit two? Surely then I might pass one but not the other, forcing me into a new year and away from my friends!

I very fortunately passed my Spring exam, which just left the one. Now, the majority of the class happened to fail this particular Christmas exam, so I wasn’t in the bottom of the class, just the lower half. Passing the re-sit wasn’t going to be any easier, though. I was very, very nervous, because while the first time I sat the exam, I consoled myself with the information that I could re-sit it should I fail, I didn’t have that little line to reassure me the second time around.

But, I did pass, which means I get to be a 4th year.

I don’t ever want to re-sit again, so hopefully this experience only motivates me to work harder for the next two years! Festival is much less fun when you’re biting your nails as you wait for results, anyway.

I have an ‘assessment’ on food health and safety tomorrow (causing me to skip my knitting group tonight, boo!) I’m not particularly jazzed about the topic, which makes studying even more tedious.

Veterinarians play a crucial role in providing safe animal products for the consumer, acting as an early notification system for disease outbreaks and preventing sick animals from entering the food chain. Farm animal vets frequently work in close association with local health authorities, and slaughterhouses require veterinarians on-site to identify diseased animals and to assess any obvious disruptions in carcass quality. However, within the world of vet school, which is mostly populated by students interested solely in small animal medicine, the role of the vet and public health safety is a terribly unpopular subject. Students who express actual interest in the topic usually meet raised eyebrows from their peers. It’s certainly a very unglamorous department, although obviously vital component of our education. Unfortunately, the great expense of employing veterinarians by health agencies means there is a general movement toward non-vets taking on more and more of the work, possibly to the disadvantage of the animals involved.

I do find food health safety moderately interesting, not at the level of creating ‘control’ strategies for meat processing, but in basic surveillance of emerging disease trends by the compilation of data from a network of veterinarians. Unfortunately, nowadays the majority of food-borne disease agents in meat do not actually cause sickness in the carrier animal, meaning the veterinarian is unable to identify them on the farm. Food inspection and proper processing and storage are the most successful methods of identifying unsafe animal products. Still, veterinarians prevent those diseases that infect animals and humans from crossing the line to the consumer. Safe meat, dairy, and eggs: brought to you in part by veterinarians!

I’ll be glad when I finish my exam tomorrow, because my cat and dog course is nearing a close, and that exam will demand a lot of attention. The assessment tomorrow is worth only a fraction of my overall grade for the class, which runs throughout every year in school except for final year, so there is more wiggle room for a less-than-passing score. Still, I don’t want to plunge my running total in the gutter and not be able to climb out!

The other reason I’ll be glad to finish this exam? Since reading so much about food safety over the past few days, I’ve become more concerned than usual about whether or not my own food is safe! I can’t wait to stop reading about outbreaks from seemingly safe food. It just takes a few bugs in the right environment….

I have an awful habit of picking up hobbies and dropping them. Sometimes I will come back to them again later, reminding myself how much I enjoyed them in the first place, but again they lose favor with me, and I trade those hobbies for something else new and exciting.

Having mastered some very basic crochet since my freshman year at my first University, I thought I might take up knitting. So, with pair of US size 9 aluminum needles and some cheap acrylic yarn, I taught myself to knit over Christmas holiday. Not sure how long it will keep my fancy, but already I prefer it to crochet, and I have a long list of patterns I’m itching to try. I have a few things cast on but not finished, so I’m trying to discipline myself and finish one before starting another - just like I intend to ‘finish’ learning to knit, instead of dropping it for, I don’t know, embroidery. On a related note, I am currently reading 4 books right now!

The internet is an absolutely wealth of information, with so many free patterns and videos showing techniques, that it was quite easy to pick up the basics. I made my first hat and it ended up far to short, but it was just a practice go for my second hat, which went much better:

My 'Hot Head' hat

I have a scarf in the works, but what I’m enjoying the most right now is a pair of wristwarmers I started yesterday. Like the hat above, there is a ‘ribbed’ effect, which is very basic, but what’s keeping them interesting right now is trying to knit it the round. In order to make a tube-like structure without stitching a flat piece together, and thus to avoid a seam, you can knit with double-pointed needles, which is a very fun balancing act between 3-4 shorter needles.

Simple Wristwarmers

There’s something satisfying about juggling those little bamboo sticks, to create something useful and sorta cute. I just hope I can bring myself to make two of them!

I’ve come across a very interesting, but also rather tragic blog about a cat named Chase. When Chase was four weeks old, she was hit by a car and left. Luckily, after a few days, someone found her and brought her to a clinic, and after she was treated for her injuries (including amputation of a back leg) she was rehomed to one of the clinic’s technicians. However, her face later sloughed off due to injuries, resulting in the loss of her nose and the surrounding skin. To be frank, she is a rather horrific sight and I wouldn’t visit the blog if you’re put off by the thought of seeing her badly disfigured face. But if you can manage to bear her injuries, the blog is pretty remarkable. In an internet full of cute kitten pictures and videos, to find a cat that is the very antithesis of ‘adorable,’ and yet is so clearly loved and admired for her survival, is very heartwarming. Even more impressive is the outpouring of support she gets from her readership, including cuddly outfits and toys sent in the mail.

She’s a lucky cat. She’s mostly healthy, except for daily drops to keep her eyes from drying out, and has an owner that recognizes her as a source of inspiration rather than horror.

No Face Chase (again, be careful clicking!)

It’s Thursday night but in my mind, I’m already in Friday afternoon. With the rather seasonal snow all day and my general exhaustion from studying, I can’t seem to make myself study for that last exam tomorrow morning. Instead, the thought of enjoying a beer and sausage at the German Market tomorrow night is disrupting my focus! Can I board the plane home yet?

We’ve had assessments all week. Monday I had to tie a simple suture, which was nearly impossible due to shaking so much, and on Tuesday I had an easy assessment on instrument recognition, such as needle holders and different types of scissors. I’m so glad I took the time to revise with the example instruments they set out! I liked both of these assessments because they’re obviously testing useful skills: I will need to be able to tie a suture, and recognizing instruments will be useful in surgery and for communicating with others during an operation. I helped a vet dress a wound once during an internship and was very, very frustrated when he kept asking for different bandage supplies and I didn’t know what they were!

Yesterday was a ’spot’ exam, where we had to identify and describe different pathological lesions, which didn’t go too poorly, but today I took a big, scary exam. Something like 43% of the class failed the exam last year (normal fail rates for the first time exam for other classes are more like 5-10%) and judging from some of the questions they asked us this morning, that same figure might apply to this year’s class. We’re not stupid and we’re not lazy. Sometimes an exam is just hard! If I have to come back in August to resit I will appreciate the extra time to study, but obviously it’s nicer to enjoy your summer in full!

So, one more exam and I’m done! Plans include going to Glasgow for some Christmas shopping, reading the Sunday paper in bed (I am might be old before my time), and exchanging gifts with friends. And packing! I hope I have space for gifts for my family….

Today was my first day as a 3rd year student*. Unlike last year, as a GEP, when I was chomping at the bit and ready to ace the year (little did I know!) this time around I’m not quite thrilled about starting another schlep of studies. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still excited and honored to be in vet school, but I am all-too-aware of the pain I’m getting myself into: the thousands of pages of reading and notes to sort through, the hours of wringing my hands in frustration, the hundreds of stupid questions I will have, and doubt - O, The Doubt!

However, that’s the wrong attitude to take, as it won’t help me survive the year. I must brush my brain off and remind myself of the good things. There are many. Some of the more simple ones:

1. Name badges! They spelled my name correctly, and I now have a badge insisting that I am an official RDSVS ‘Veterinary Student.’
2. Pathology! Okay, I know that my Path Fridays will end up being lots of work in a relatively short amount of time, but looking at diseased organs is fun.
3. Surgery! I’ve performed a minor surgery before, and I could tell it would have gone much smoother if I was actually trained in surgery techniques. Here’s my chance.
4. The school’s Orchestra is back and we have a little concert scheduled, so that’s a nice extracurricular to appreciate.
5. I’m in my new flat, which is comfy and full of plenty of space to study.
6. No longer having to endure the smell of Summerhall. I mean, it’s a great building, but parts of it…ewww.

Another bonus: being a real, integrated student, and not a member of a bizarre, relatively new and under-developed program. I hope my fellow ex-GEPs won’t need to badger the administration so much, because we won’t be the strange new group of mostly whiny North Americans trying to insist that the prix fixe menu turns into a buffet. Every University has a push-pull system between the Staff and the Students, but there have been 3rd years far longer than there have been GEPs, and I am prayin’ that the machine is pretty well oiled by now.

Tomorrow’s schedule: pathology of nasal cavities and sinuses, intro to surgery techniques, intro to anaesthesia, and 3rd year photographs. We’re done by 3pm, so I can go and officially register, sign over my student loans, print my notes for the next few weeks, and buy a few more school supplies. I love free time.

By the way, to everyone I was lucky enough to visit while I was home for a few weeks, I had a fabulous time back in the States and look forward to seeing everyone again during Christmas break! Although, that also means I will be sitting exams around that time, so I don’t look forward to December too much right now.

* To clarify, vet school in the UK is usually 5 years and is started straight out of high school; however, the ‘GEP’ programme combines the first two years for students with previous undergraduate degrees in the sciences, and then the students join the traditional ‘3rd years.’ So my second year at the University is called 3rd year! Logically!

Today started another round of exams. I’m already terribly bored with studying, and I won’t be done with exams until early June! Dear, dear. I’m slightly more concerned with finding a flat to live in when my lease ends on June 5th, so I’m balancing the flat hunt with flashcards.

What do you think, Mabel?