Wait, I missed that, can you go over it again?

I think I missed the part when clinics ended. It was so sudden. No one went running down the hallways, no formal announcement was made, no one even tried to burn their coat. It just ended. One second we were on and then we weren't.

My last two weeks on clinics were nothing much to speak of. I was on my pathology rotation and didn't like it very much. Well, I should clarify. I liked the clin path portion in the mornings, but the anatomic path in the afternoons was horrible. I hated cutting up people's pets. Removing limbs, ripping off heads, cutting out eyes. Ugh. It was terrible. I know pathology is important but I personally don't believe in destroying bodies like that. Even though the pathologists try to be respectful I feel that the act of a necropsy is fundamentally disrespectful. We only had one cosmetic necropsy and it was on a Cockatoo. The bird died because it was seizuring every 5 minutes so a cosmetic necropsy wasn't likely to help. Everyone was making fun of the owners and saying how stupid they were and I seemed to be the only one that actually sympathized with them. The bird was 35 and probably had the same owners for its entire life. I can understand why they wouldn't want her head ripped off and the brain taken out. Luckily it only took a small incision on the head to find out what happened. The bird hit its head when it was flailing around and had a pretty large compression fracture in the skull. I did the suturing to sew the bird back up. I made sure she was nice and clean and dry so that the owners would be able to hold him before they buried her. I felt like I did a mitzvah. Like I said though, I know its important, I just hope I never have to do it again.

The worst part was that with the exception of a few cases we never found what killed the animals grossly. The worst was doing the horses and the aborted fetuses. They were so smelly and nasty. I got the fun job of running the gut on a horse and when I went to open the cecum I wasn't thinking and cecum gas burst into my face. It was horrible. Then, when I was doing an aborted foal the resident threw the body into a barrel and blood and guts splashed all over my face. It even hit my glasses, which I thankfully had on because otherwise it would have been my eye. I was none too pleased.

I can't believe clinics is already over. It seems like only a few weeks ago we were starting and had no idea what we were doing. I've since seen our class grow and change. We've all become a bit more confident. Some of us have stepped out of our shells. I've seen several people befriend new people in different groups. There are people who I never talked to before clinics that have now become friends. If I hadn't been forced to work with some people I may have gone 4 years without realizing what an awesome person they are. Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum. I still can't stand Damien and working with him in any way was miserable. And Allie, who will always have more drama than I can stand in her life. Who can forget the off-shore students? Paul came into the school and practically took over. Goodwin was awesome too, everyone is so sad that he's graduating and leaving us. And, of course, Glen who I still hate.

Its been an interesting 8 months. I learned so much about veterinary medicine. I actually feel like if I was put on the spot, I might be able to treat a patient on my own. I also learned a lot about myself. I started off with the mindset that I was going to go into equine medicine. Now I'm a small animal surgery girl. I also learned that I need to lay low to keep out of drama. Having drama in your life is not a good thing. It only leads to annoyance and anger. And no matter how tired I get, I am actually capable of still waking up at 5:30 in the morning to go to work.

Its been a long road with a lot of ups and downs but its over now and we can all relax. Now I can focus on our big class New Year's party. Classes start Jan. 2. Not much time to enjoy being free but I'll take what I can get.