Rotations, Bingo and Mr. Squiggles

Im going to put out an advisory that there may be a picture or two in this post of "graphic" content from rotations. I have chosen the most PG photos but just be prepared to scroll past them if you wish.

We kicked off our 6th term adventures with many trips to the local brewery (finally some good beer on the island) as well as bingo night at a restaurant up in Lance Aux Epines. Bri, Celene and I had never been to bingo and we figured we couldnt leave this island without trying it at least once. It was alot of fun and for the majority the prizes are more "gag gifts" than anything. Toilet paper, maxi pads, kid toys etc, but at the end of the big rounds they do tend to give away cash or even livestock! As we got to the end of a bigger round the MC announced the final prize would be 400 EC and a pig! We all freaked out and decided we MUST win this round and the prized Mr. Squiggles as he had been aptly named. Slowly but surely we got down to 3 spots, then 2, then 1, then PANDAMONIUM!! We all screamed and Bri shot out of her chair to go accept the prize....which you have to dance for :)

As for rotations I have gone through Clinical Pathology, Pathology, Small Animal Medicine, Ambulatory and the combined Radiology/Shelter Med course. Thus far ambulatory and shelter medicine have been my favorite rotations. The small animal rotation was shortened due to a tropical storm threat. The university took the necessary precautions to cancel classes and urged everyone to prepare. Fortunately the storm pushed slightly north and we really didnt get much severe weather. However, now the storm has been upgraded to a Hurricane 4/5 and is due to really hit Jamaica hard.

                         Oink oink up close and personal                            Physical exams on baby goats

Pig castrations-- Dont worry it may look brutal but we injected them with antibiotics for any post op infections and gave a local anesthetic to prevent any pain. All in all the whole thing takes only a few minutes and they go back to rooting around in their pens. Production management is a whole different ball game but these producers truly care about their animals. I wasnt expecting too much at a local farm but the pens were extremely clean, protected from the elements and the pigs had minimal health issues.

Rotations are on hold this week, as are classes for our midterms. 4 tests and one practical. Cant wait for it to be over. As always, the procrastinator in me starts to freak out trying to catch up. But the senior in me doesnt care too much :)

                                                 This place does have amazing sunsets

Its the Final Countdown

6th term! How the heck did that happen?! 3 years on this beautiful island is almost over and while everyone knows I cannot wait to get back to the U.S, I will miss this place. But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's lots to share so let me go back to a few months ago...

This was my first time flying back to Grenada with my new best pal Tiger! For anyone who doesn't know, thats the Grenadian Potthound dog I adopted at the end of last term. She was initially brought to SGU by her owner to be a part of the5th term spay and neuter program. Unfortunately they discovered she had TVT (transmissible venereal tumor) a form of cancer that is spread between intact animals and is very common in communities like this. However, it is 100% treatable with chemotherapy! The owners decided that they did not want her back so she ended up being fostered by students until she found a home. Her previous owners didnt feed her well if at all either so she was extremely underweight and had a poor coat. Despite all her ailments she had the happiest spirit and loved everyone she met. Before I knew it she gave me those "I love you adopt me" eyes and I was hooked. I signed the adoption papers and she remained under the schools care until she was cleared of her cancer.

 Before shot, she probably weighed about 15 pounds and had skin/hair coat issue. Her vulva and cervix were also enlarged due to the cancer but I will spare yall that photo. Externally her vulva probably hung down about 3 inches or so....thats not normal by any means

Here is my beautiful girl in many
"after" shots. She has put on plenty of weight and has an amazing think/shiny coat. Love the brindle coloration!












Tiger was a great companion on the plane and pretty much slept the whole time. She only peed in the airport once but I had a potty pad to scoop under her luckily. Getting her through customs was also not as rigorous as I had feared. The Customs agents were unpleasant as usual and stared blankly at me before asking where I got her multiple times. But there is no doubt that this mama is a local dog so they let me go without trying to charge me for her, hooray! 

She plays well with my roommates dog Bennet as well as my friends dog Dodgy. They are quite the little pack and we walk them every day. Plus they get to earn their keep by being our physical exam guinea pigs!!

As far as 6th term goes it entails lecture from 8-1 and then rotations in the afternoon. It's an attempt to get us used to what next year will be like. We rotate each week through various departments such as Clincal Pathology, Pathology, Small Animal Med, Surgery/Anesthesia, Shelter Medicine, Ambulatory (large animal out on local farms), Emergency and Critical Care, and Radiology. It makes for a VERY busy schedule but the rotations are alot of fun and while we may feel like idiots, you do learn a great deal. We also only have midterms and finals this term so you can imagine for a procrastinator like me its a bit unnerving. However, our goal for the term is simply to pass and get back to the U.S. and our clinical schools! Check out my next post for all the photos and descriptions of the rotations I've already had as well as the adventures thus far!                                                                             

Post Midterm Update- Spays, Neuters and Paint Parties

Its time for the post midterm update! The ball has really been rollin' since my last post. Surgeries started and we have now moved into the more complicated spay procedures. We started off with neuters....thats right, we chopped off some doggie huevos. We were put in to groups of 4 and each week you rotate positions through primary surgeon, assistant surgeon, anesthetist and scrub nurse. By far the worst position is anesthetist. Sure as surgeon you have to cut, but anesthetist is responsible for the life of the patient. You're never really alone through any of the procedure, there is always a professor watching and making sure you dont screw up. But in the moment its you and its the dog and you feel as though its all riding on you. Its a great experience though. We finally feel like we are putting to use all that we have learned since starting school....its real life....not just pictures on a screen or words in a book. "BE BOLD SURGEONS" as our first term anatomy professor would say.

My neuter patient (face covered for confidentiality), what a champ

I was the first up to be surgeon for the spays and I have to say they kind of just threw us in the deep end and said start swimmin'. We had videos to watch and we could ask our professors questions but nothing really prepares you for the way things look in real life. Lucky for me my spay patient "had the biggest uterus" they've ever seen in the Jr Surgery Lab......that was fun. She was also in heat so the tissues of the reproductive tract were very fragile. I had to double ligate most of the structures because of it. The surgery took hours and by the end I never wanted to do another spay again, but my professor said "if you can spay her, you can spay anyone" so that was a small consolation. We have 3 more spay procedures to go before we are done for the term.

Other than surgery we have had our hands up more cow butts, learned a little bit about dentals, and now have a guest lecturer who graduated vet school in 1959.....He is a wealth of knowledge and has had alot of cool jobs, but some of what he says is a little outdated. For example, you can use snake venom to help treat certain limb diseases in a horse....I don't think thats the first line anymore. Outside of the classroom there have been alot of fundraising events and post midterm celebrations. Some friends put together a powderpuff flag football team, but there was nothing powderpuff about it. I walked away with ripped shorts, more cuts than I could count and the desire to never play that tournament again :). It was fun for awhile but when people started tackling, complaining, and being rude I was over it. BUUUUUUTTTTT WE WON!! It was a dogfight but our team was really athletic so what we lost in football skills we gained back in fitness.

"Team Untouchables"

I also went to Splash Jouvert, a party on the beach where they throw paint powder in the air and you walk out looking like a bag of skittles. I lasted about 3 hours before calling it quits and heading home, quite the impressive feat for me.

Now there is just about a month and a half left this term before heading back home for the summer. Everyone is counting down the days. Until then its a few more tests, surgery and finals. My family is also coming to visit which will be a much needed dose of home. Cant wait!!! Ill be sure to add photos post visit. Well thats about all the procrastinating I can do, time to get back to studying. Hope everyone had a happy Easter weekend

5th Term Begins...Surgery, Cow Butts and Horse Uteri

5th term. The start of our final year on the island. The term we start surgery, care for our own patients, and choose which clinical school we will be attending. That's not terrifying at all! 4th term ended with a fabulous visit from 3 of my best friends from home/college. The first night they were here I took them to the local bar/club called Bananas for a real Grenada night out. Now those of you who know me well know I am not a party person. None the less we went out, had some drinks, enjoyed the night and came home and immediately went to bed. Got my Bananas fix for the next year. That weekend we went on an amazing catamaran trip with Carib Catz. We sailed up the west coast of the island to Flamingo bay where we spent about an hour snorkeling above the reef. Our next stop was the worlds first and largest underwater sculpture garden. It was very exciting to see the new additions to the sculpture park and even more fun to see everyone bobbing around. The crew was great and made sure our cups were never empty and the music was always bumpin. Fantastic day

Other than the boat trip our only other big excursion was a guided tour led by one of my friends up to 7 sisters waterfall. Its deep within the Grand Etang Rainforest but the hike is moderate and the water at the falls is cold and refreshing. Not to mention you can jump off of them, which we all did reluctantly.

Birthday dinner at Dodgy Dock restaurant. Yes my friends did get the steel drum band to play happy birthday and sing to me in front of everyone. Embarrassing but I love them for it. The trip wasn't long enough, as anyone on vacation laments but it was a great experience of this beautiful island.











 Term 5 as I mentioned earlier is crazy busy and somewhat nerve-wracking because we actually start having a "case load" in the form of our surgery patients. We are split into groups and have to rotate between the positions of surgeon, assistant surgeon, anesthetist and scrub nurse. We are the ones doing everything from pre op to surgery to post op. Its scary but also very exciting. My group has dubbed themselves "50 Shades of Spay". Everyone takes the chance to make fun of local pop culture and mix it with spay or neuter terms. Other classes this term include Small animal med, large animal surgery, small animal surgery, theriogenology, diagnostic imaging, intro to clinical practice, and junior surgery. Sounds exciting right? Well just this morning I had a lab on bovine pregnancy detection and palpation. How might you detect pregnancy in a cow??? Well you have the glorious job of sticking your hand in the cows rectum and palpating various reproductive structures. Just what you want to do at 8:30 AM on a Friday. Its great fun actually. The cows here are very domesticated and while they probably hate being guinea pigs, they tolerate our learning very well.

Its going to be a fun but exhausting term. More pictures and funny stories to come I'm sure. Sending warmth and sunshine back home to everyone still buried under snow. Until next time.