Hello Kitty!

I just thought about it, and Halloween is just around the corner! I love designing and sewing my costumes and going to the one and only Parade down in the Village. I hope my friends in NYC still go! Before we moved up here, we went to the parade with Stephen and Erwin and had a great time. Marcus was incredibly popular as Crusty the Clown (I'm talking dozens of people wanting photos with Krusty on the street, and shout outs to Krusty) and I was a french maid, which seemed to go perfectly well with the shady Krusty. I will likely not be able to participate in the Halloween festivities this year, but hopefully I can we when move back. I know a few of us wanted our own float for the parade....that would be hysterical! Well, anyway, it's Friday night. I am happy about that. Today my surgery patient was a very sweet Thoroughbred horse. His name is "Northern Desert" and he's very laid back. Then I had to treat the Salmonella alpacas in isolation and that's never fun. First, who wants to work with anyone who has Salmonella (that I can get from them!)??? And suiting up in the Tyvek outfit is annoying. Anyway, I'm almost done with the large animal hospital for now...but I will miss Brutus the Brown Swiss bull and Northern Desert the sweet horse.

Almost Friday...And It Can't be Soon Enough

I CANNOT wait until tomorrow's over. Then I'll just have to come in once on the weekend, once Monday morning, then no more large animal soft tissue surgery. Not that it's been all bad, because I've gotten to do some stuff in surgery and become a wee bit more "comfortable" with horses, plus most of the people in the large animal clinic are so nice and friendly, plus my rotation mates are pretty laid back...but I just need it to end. Won't get into it now, but let's just say that someone almost made me snap today. But onto more pleasant topics...Marcus finally returned last night from Canada. It's great to have him back home (even though he's leaving again tomorrow...But a man's gotta make a living, so I understand!). We watched "Dirty Filthy Love", a made for TV Brit-flick about a man living with obsessive compulsive disorder and Tourette's syndrome. I thought it was really interesting, with a great portrayal of a man becoming more aware of his condition. I'd recommend watching it. I'll get back to my regular blogging schedule, just need to shake this week off first...

Welcome Back to the Tropics, Apartment 7

WOOOO!!! I came home today and it was hot...like at my parents' house (and they keep ambient temps in the mid 70s at times)! The heat is definitely working now. Life is good again. And I had a great day at school! Still at the large animal hospital...augh, but I got to do part of a surgery...yeay!, and I LOVE surgery. It was a foal with an umbilical hernia, so we went in there, sliced it out and sewed it back up..well, it was a little more complex than that. The cool thing is that I got to do some of the slicing and suturing. And apparently my technique was pretty good. I am really interested in small animal surgery, and have been for a while, so who knows. The photo above is from my junior surgery last year. I'm still a student, so it's hard to tell what I'll end up doing, but I really do love cutting, suturing, using the surgical instruments, visualizing and manipulating the anatomy... it's all so cool! Well, it's also a ridiculously competitive specialty, to the point where some people don't get residencies. Another potential is anatomic pathology, again, probably because I like cutting (when you do necropsies), seeing the anatomy and seeing the disease, versus just talking about it. But again, I digress...I need to pass boards and graduate first, right? My sisters informed me that they've got new clients, a business down in Wall Street, which is exciting for their newly formed interior design firm. They just started up and they're trying to build clientele, so spread the word. They're on the move. On a random note, have you ever heard of time strips? GREAT idea if you're like me and are obsessed with expiration dates on food! Did you know that most foodborne illnesses in the U.S. are due to viruses? Hey, as a future veterinarian (and technically a guardian of the country's food supply...bet you didn't realize that about vets!), I have to know these things.

Saturday night at the Igloo

Brrr...the heat still doesn't work. Me and Twinkie are cold. Today I was once again at the hospital dealing with the horses, cows, and alpacas. I came home and started to watch "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer", but I just couldn't bear to finish it. It's set in the 1700's and the story's about a boy with an incredible sense and appreciation of smell. He ends up killing a woman and tries to capture her scent in a perfume. I read the book, which was so-so. While I'm on the subject, Fresh has some really great fragrances! I LOVE their Sugar Lemon, and their Pear Cassis. But I just went to their website and it seems as though they don't carry my Pear Cassis anymore?!? I hope that's not true...because I'm on my last bottle. They also make this warm milk and honey scent called "Mukki", and although I wouldn't want to smell of that, I love the smell of warm milk and honey (and I like drinking it)...it's so comforting! But my personal favorite is Theirry Mugler's Angel...it's strong, sickeningly sweet, and over the course of wearing it, the different layers are "revealed". But you either love it or hate it! Back to movies, I also watched "Hostel" the other night...I was really hoping to get freaked out because Marcus is out of town (I love getting scared watching movies by myself), but it was gory more than anything. I am craving chocolate big time, but there's none in our apartment...and we're 15 minutes from the closest grocery store...so I guess I'll have to survive....

The Emasculator!

Friday night. Today was a long day! Taking care of my patients both medically and farm-ly...like giving Brutus the bull his flake of hay and heifer feed mixed with beet pulp...I helped to castrate a horse and that was fun! We use a tool called the Emasculator...no joke...it's the tool in the photo and that's its real name! It has a cutting and crushing surface so you can cut off the testicles, and crush blood vessels to decrease bleeding. And when you crank down on it to cut, you hear it crunchin' and cuttin'! I was thinking about it and I feel as though my blogs this week have been a little gory, and potentially a little much for some. I was about to include a photo of a castration, but I decided not to! This weekend I have to be at the hospital doing treatments all day and Marcus is still gone fishin'. It's gotten cold and we've been having problems with the heat, so me and Twinkie have been sleeping in the bed together trying to conserve body heat. More later from Farmer Michelle!

Pigs and an Interview

Today I saw a Vietnamese pot bellied pig who walks on a leash and apparently sleeps in the house. That was interesting. Then I had an interview with a big veterinary corporation regarding internships for next year. I hope it went well. Honestly, I had the dates wrong and I didn't realize until the night before that I had the interview! Plus I had to run from the equine and farm animal hospital to change, look presentable, and collect myself for the interview. I wish I could read the interviewers' minds! But at the least, it was practice for more interviews in the near future. It's getting cold and we don't have our heat...better call the landlords! I'm going to bed soon. I just watched most of Ingmar Bergman's "Virgin Spring". So far, I really like it; it's set in Old World Sweden and is about a young virgin who gets raped. I don't have too much experience with Bergman's films, so I'm trying to get a better handle on it. I think I've only seen a handful of his stuff. But I'm tired, so I'm saving the rest for sometime this weekend. This week Marcus is up in Canada doing some fishing with a college buddy of his. I'm glad he's having some fun, but since he's in the wilderness, he has no phone reception, and it's a bummer not being able to say hello to him.

My Life as a Large Animal Vet...wacka wacka!

I'm on my new rotation: large animal (horses, cows and assorted farm animals) soft tissue surgery. Although it's laid back, I really don't feel comfortable working with horses, nor am I familiar with "horsey" terms, how to deal with horses, or anything. We all are required to learn about them in class, but for those of us who haven't dealt much with them outside the classroom, it can really suck! Well, my current patients are a Brown Swiss bull named Brutus, and a 950 lb. pig named Finn. Both are super sweet and super cute, so I'm glad to have them. The week is dragging on, though! Last night we got home to find out that our cat Twinkie (in the photo, the handsome redhead on the right with our late, great Peter) apparently has tapeworms...NOT COOL. We ended up getting him de-worming medications. What disturbs me the most, more than seeing wriggling little white worms in his feces, is how he got them. Cats can get these nasties from mouse hunting, ingesting a flea that happens to harbor tapeworms, or from meat that has tapeworm eggs in them. Well, Twinkie doesn't have access to the outdoors nor do we have any evidence of having mice...which leaves the option of the fleas. He's never had fleas, doesn't seem itchy, and doesn't have flea dirt on his fur. So sadly, maybe I had brought some from the hospital...or maybe he got a few when I brought him to the hospital for the day! Or maybe some of our meat at home had some eggs and sometimes we give him tiny pieces...AUGH GROSS. If you want to learn a little more about tapeworms and humans, click here. Sorry for those of you I've completely freaked out!