It's November!

Study Buddy

It’s November!  What does that mean? Only 9 exams and 3 papers stand between me and Christmas Vacation!  More importantly, only 2 exams stand between me and Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving will be interesting this year - I will be writing my 3 papers, preparing for finals, AND going wedding dress shopping :)  So this will be a nice week to catch up on both school and wedding planning and I can’t wait!

Oh were you studying?

In school, things have been a little crazy over the past 2 weeks.  And by a little - I mean I turned into a zombie and have since been resuscitated into a human-being again.  I had 4 exams within 8 days of each other, finishing last week with a 3-hour written exam in Pathology on Monday and Wednesday with a Parasitology exam.  All four seemed to go really well, but we’ll have to wait a while to find out!

Halloween Mug from Cole!

Pathology is still my favorite class.  We have since moved topics from Hemostasis to Inflammation and now Developmental and Metabolic Diseases.  

Parasitology is still not even close to my favorite class.  We are currently looking at ruminant (cow, sheep, & goat) parasites.

In Pharmacology we have been looking at cardiac and respiratory drugs and have had some guest lecturers.  It’s been pretty enjoyable - especially because what we’re learning seems very applicable to a clinical setting.

Sunrise over Manhattan!

Bacteriology is the test of this week - including the bacteria: Bordetella bronchiseptica, some forms of Clostridium, Pasteurella, Campylobacter, and more.  Trust me - nothing exciting.

Western KS Sunset

There has not been much time for “outside of school” activities since my last post, but this past weekend I was able to make up for that.  Friday, I headed back home to celebrate my grandpa's 98th birthday!  I also was able to see my best friend, Summer and stop by Hays Vet - and through that I now have a place to live and work this summer!  Yep, that's right - I will be spending my last official summer "vacation" working at my favorite vet clinic and living with one of my favorite people!  I also had enough time for Cole and I to take our engagement pictures this past Saturday.  We love our photographer (www.melissaandbeth.com) and had such a wonderful afternoon, but won’t have our pictures back for a few more weeks.  We can’t wait!  We finished out the weekend with church and lunch with both sets of our parents before we had to get back to reality.  It was a weekend for the books :)

That’s all for now - Happy Monday and Happy Veterans Day!

School

Today’s post is dedicated to what this blog is supposed to be about - school.  Here is an update on what has been happening in the veterinary school world:

Pathology: My favorite class!  We have learned about tissue injury, tissue necrosis (death), neoplasms (which are basically tumors), and now we are learning about hemostasis and inflammation and just starting the topic of healing.  Hemostasis is essentially the process of clotting blood when there is injury to the blood vessel.  It’s a balance between having enough clotting to stop the blood, but not too much clotting to cause a problem.  My favorite thing we’ve learned about in Pathology so far is the process of what causes neoplasms (tumors).  We’ve learned the differences between sarcomas and carcinomas, what makes tumors malignant versus benign, which ones are most dangerous, how to identify them by looking at their cells in the microscope, and more.  It’s all been so interesting!  However, the 3 hour test we had (which was pretty much all essay questions) was not so fun - Luckily it turned out better than expected :)

Fecal Snap Test - Parasitology Lab

Ctenocephalides felis - Your everyday flea!

Parasitology: Not my favorite class!  Bugs just aren’t my thing.  We’ve learned about intestinal parasites of cats and dogs such as hookworms, roundworms, tapeworms; blood parasites of cats and dogs - most importantly heartworms - and ticks, fleas, and mites.  We just have started parasites of ruminants.  For once I feel semi-ahead in a class and am thankful for the experiences I had this summer working with ticks because it’s giving me a head start on all of this material.  I’ve also learned that there are parasites everywhere and that I shouldn’t eat anything or ever touch dirt, because I will get a parasite, it will migrate to my brain, and I will die.  (Not really, but that’s sure how it feels!)

Pharmacology:  Hard to tell what has been going on in this class - it’s all been a blur.  We’ve been talking about how the autonomic nervous system plays a part in pharmacology.  The autonomic nervous system is comprised of the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest & digest) systems.  We’ve been learning how to block receptors to affect the animal.  Last week, we started talking about pain, pain receptors and how we can reduce and/or block pain.  We are just now beginning to learn about cardiac drugs.

Bacteriology:  In BacT we’ve covered all sorts of bacteria - where they are found, how they develop, what diseases they can cause, etc. - including E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, and more.  We’ve covered at least 35 different bacteria so far!  Yuck.

Study Buddy

One of the major differences between 1st year and 2nd year - is that we have our tests more in "clumps" than every Friday.  Last year, I really enjoyed having a normal schedule - study Sunday-Thursday and have a test every Friday.  "Normal" is no longer a concept that exists in my world.  I have 4 tests between this Wednesday and next Wednesday.  I'm not quite sure who decides that this a good testing schedule for 2nd years.  I think they are training us to be stressed so we'll handle animal emergencies better... or at least that's what I'm telling myself to make it better :)

Happy Monday!

Happy October!

Is it really already half-way through October?  Life in the past month has gotten even crazier - not only due to the ridiculous amount of school work I've had, but now I've got a wedding to plan!  That's right - Cole and I are engaged!  And a month after the fact, I finally have a little time to write about it:

Cole and I were celebrating my 23rd  birthday a week late because of his work.  I had told him I really wanted to drive to Topeka to get Red Lobster for my birthday (I love seafood) - which gave him the perfect opportunity to plan to propose to me at our favorite spot, the Old Stone Church in Maple Hill.

Cole didn't like the idea of our "engagement dinner" being at Red Lobster, but he knows that when I get set on a restaurant there is no changing my mind without a fight...  So he went with it :)

He recently moved into a new apartment and there has been much discussion over what should go on the wall behind the couch.  After I suggested a canvas picture of Little Bear (my cat) which got shot down immediately, we finally agreed on a canvas picture of Kansas Landscape.  So after dinner, we were going to go to our favorite spot, the Old Stone Church, to take some pretty sunset pictures to get printed on canvas for behind the couch, as part of my birthday present.

Cole and I had talked about getting married for a while at this point, but he told me it wouldn't be for a while.  So while I was secretly thinking this would be the perfect place to get proposed to, I trusted him when he said it wouldn't be for a while, and was doing my best to enjoy his thoughtfulness on my birthday.
 
After we got parked out at the church Cole gave me the camera and the tripod to work on setting up while he went to grab some stuff from the car.  When he came back over he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I just looked at him and said, "Is this real life?!" - he had to ask me a second time before I could process what was happening enough to say yes!  

We enjoyed the "post-engagement bliss" time out at the church and watched the sunset for a while before heading back home to share the excitement with my parents.  We had to make a pit-stop by Cole's apartment to grab his keys which he had "locked in his apartment" earlier that day.  When we went inside both my parents and his parents were there to celebrate with us!  I had no idea there could be any more surprises, but it was wonderful having the people we love most there to be excited with us!

Fun Facts: Cole proposed on Friday the 13th, in the graveyard surrounding the church, and on our drive back to the interstate a black cat ran across our road.  I found out later that Friday the 13th was always a lucky day for my Grandpa, so I guess I'm carrying on the Addison tradition :)

Now after all that - I guess I'm supposed to still be concentrating on school.  It's going well - pretty overwhelming right now.  A few weeks ago I had 3 tests within 7 days - talk about being brain dead after that.  About to get hit with another 6 weeks of frequent testing starting next week, so I can't promise I'll be blogging anytime soon - but who knows... maybe I'll need a study break :)

PS - Today happens to be Cole's birthday!  So..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE ;)

Week 3 is underway!

I'm officially in my third week of the semester and so far so good.  I'm enjoying all most of my classes and already feel like I'm learning a ton!  Here's a quick rundown of my new found knowledge :)

General Pathology: One of my absolute favorite classes!  I actually enjoy studying for this class - it all seems so applicable to the veterinary profession.  Like I said last time, my professor for Gen Path is the nephew of my boss from home - and they are SO similar.  This makes it "fairly" easy to pay attention in class :)  First, we reviewed normal cells and their structures.  Now, we're discussing abnormal and injured cells and tissues.  Today we began discussing the reasons for and mechanisms of cell necrosis.  Necrosis is basically the death of a cell due to injury.  It is NOT a good thing :/

Pharmacology: ...not one of my favorite classes.  We haven't covered very much yet and most of it seems pretty common sense.  We've talked about pharmacokinetics, which is a fancy word for studying drug movement into, through, and out of the body.  We've talked about how to affect the rates of elimination and absorption of drugs. 

Round worms in cat feces :)

Parasitology: This is the class that is ruining every food and every outdoor experience I have ever had or will have.  Basically there are parasites everywhere and in everything.  So far we have covered hookworms, tapeworms, roundworms, and more!  We are expected to know their genus, species, superfamily, hosts, geographical locations, recognition characteristics, life cycle, diseases they cause, ways to diagnose if animals have this, clinical signs, ways to treat animals with this parasite, and lastly (but most importantly) it can be transmitted to humans - and what problems these parasites can cause in humans.  Pretty much we are expected to know every detail there possibly is about all of these parasites.  We also run fecal tests (we look at animal poop) every Tuesday and Thursday in lab - which is gross and smelly, but really interesting!  This class is going to be challenging, but I really enjoy it so far.

Bacteriology: Boring.  I really like this professor, but I don't find studying bacteria very interesting.  We've learned different traits about bacteria and general information about spreading bacteria and disease/infection.  On Monday we talked briefly about different antibiotics and bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which was really interesting - so hopefully this class will continue getting more interesting :)

"Auntie A - get off me!"

Study buddy!

Outside of vet school life is great!  We haven't had any tests yet this semester - our first is a week from today - so I've had a nice time balancing school and actually having a life.  I've gotten to babysit Mr. Eli, spend time with Cole and actually get some sleep - it doesn't get much better than that!  We also had our annual vet school party "Shaft" - which happened to be on my birthday!  Shaft is a party thrown by the second year class for the first year class (and the entire school) to celebrate them successfully completing their first test!  Turns out, this tradition started 30+ years ago by a student with the last name Shaft who threw a huge house party to celebrate being done with the first test.  Turns out the idea caught on :)

That's all for now!  Happy Hump Day :)

Second Year: Day 1

Obligatory first day front porch pic ;)

Is it Christmas Break yet? :)

I just finished my first day of second year and I can already understand why everyone says second year is the hardest.  One of our professors told us that if we thought we covered a lot of material last year, just wait because second year covers at least 10x the amount of material from last year.  Yippee!

Here's a rundown of what classes I'm in this semester:

I started my morning of with General Pathology.  Gen Path is an introduction to basic disease mechanisms and processes.  It's goal is to give us the basic information necessary to understand disease diagnosis and therapy.  We will learn about the causes, pathogenesis, and structural and clinical manifestations of disease.  And yes, I got the word manifestation (and pathogenesis) from the syllabus :)  Today we discussed basic factors of disease.  Then we went to Gen Path Lab.  Today we did a histology review of microscope slides that we learned last fall in Microanatomy.  Future labs will be spent in lab working with slides and tissues, but some days spent in necropsy just to keep things interesting :)  Our professor for this class is the nephew of my boss back home - and there are some crazy similarities between them.  This should be a hard class, but hopefully a good one!

After we finished lab we had Pharmacology.  We didn't take any notes in this class today and just talked about how important pharmacology is in any field of veterinary medicine.  In Pharmacology we'll learn about the interactions of chemical compounds in animals, how to categorize drugs by their mechanisms of action and how the drugs affect physiological systems and pathophysiological condition.  We'll also learn the names of common drugs and how to judge production info from pharmaceutical companies.  I've heard this class is ridiculously hard, but I'm hoping I'll feel as though the information I learn is really relevant.  Obviously it's important.. I'll just need to remind myself that!

Pharmacology lead to lunch time! This meant treating myself to Pizza Hut lunch buffet with some of my labmates... We deserved it :)

To finish my first day up, I had Bacteriology  I'm not sure what all we will be covering in this class, but today we discussed the divisions between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and the differences between different types of bacteria.  Mostly it was introductory material we'd covered in undergrad Microbiology.

Study time with the kitty boy!

Tomorrow I'll have my first Parasitology class.    According to that syllabus we'll be learning to identify the parasitic protazoa, helminths, and arthropods of domestic animals and also learn to diagnose, treat, and manage parasites of clinical importance.  Hopefully all of my tick training this summer will come in handy for some of that!

After my first day back I'm completely exhausted and have already started listening to my Titantic Soundtrack Pandora station in preparation for studying.  As you can tell from this picture it didn't take me long to change out of my dress clothes and get comfy with Little Bear today.. He's the best study buddy!

It's go time!

Let's give this second year a whirl :)

Summertime Adventures!

It's only been 2 months since my last post - I'm obviously doing a great job of keeping up with this over the summer.  Sadly, without being in school 24/7, my motivation to do anything (and I mean anything) has completely disappeared.

So far, my summer has been nothing but a big adventure!  I am working for the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory as a research assistant and love my job (for the most part).  A "typical" work week for me includes collecting ticks for a few mornings around Manhattan and a night or two (or three) in SE Kansas - working both in the morning and evening.  However, the thing about this job is - there really is no "typical" day.  Here's the rundown:

The tick girls and our boss

Ticks are known carriers for many diseases.  The disease our professor/boss has a grant to research is anaplasmosis.  Anaplasmosis is a disease that affects the blood of cattle and can lead to anorexia and cardiovascular problems.  Our goal is to collect as many ticks as possible this summer in SE Kansas - an area known to have problems with anaplasmosis.  We just passed the 2,000 mark last week!

typical morning

There are three of us girls working on the project this summer.  Our "uniform" is white, disposable coveralls, rubber boots, and latex gloves.  (Talk about being ridiculously hot).  Did I mention we have to duct tape our boots to our coveralls to prevent any creepy crawlies from sneaking in?  We drag a square meter of fleece/flannel around through pastures, woods, fields, etc and the ticks attach to them in the same manner than they attach to humans and animals.  The way the ticks attach to a host is through a process called "questing" in which they climb to the top of grass or a bush and stand on one set of legs while sticking all the others up in the air - waiting for an unsuspecting host to walk by so they can latch on.

Garnett, KS

St. Paul, KS

The best part about this job is the schedule - when we aren't out traveling.  Because ticks can't handle the heat (and neither can I), we only collect for a few hours, usually around 6-9 AM and then have the rest of the day off.  It's not so bad getting up in the morning when you know you can come home in a few hours and nap!  Our boss is also quite possibly one of the best professors to work for - which makes the job so much better than it could be.

Arcadia, KS

Tick larvae

The downside to this job?  Nasty hotels in tiny towns that give you a fly swatter with your room; crawling over, under, and through barbed wire fences; poison ivy (enough said); angry cows; grasshoppers getting trapped inside your coveralls; dragging for 3 hours in 100 degree weather and getting one tick all morning; burrs, brambles, and basically every sharp plant in SE Kansas; and lastly, walking through a "nest" of sorts and discovering you have hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of teeny, tiny tick larvae crawling all over your coveralls.

Outside of collecting ticks, I'm making the most of having so much free time this summer.  Cole and I've spent almost every weekend this summer at a wedding.   Outside of that, we've also spent quite a bit of time shooting - I'm moving up from handguns to shotguns and rifles.  He's convinced me to take hunters safety with him in August, although I don't plan on shooting any animals any time soon :)  Best of all, I've had plenty of time to hang out with my favorite boys - Little Bear, my nephew Eli, and Cole.

And the LB photoshoot begins...

Happy Thursday!

Year One: Check

First Day of School

I'm officially 1/4 of the way through vet school - where has the time gone?  This year has literally passed me in the blink of an eye.  I figured this was a good time to do some updates, some reflections, some goals, and some thank you's... and we all know I love lists... so here we go..  be prepared it's gonna be a long one :)

Updates:
1.  I ended the semester with A's in all of my classes except Physiology... YAY! I was so close to an A in physio, but obviously I know nothing about reproduction - that test did not treat me nicely :/

Gross Anatomy Lab

2.  Friday is my last day working in the Radiology Department.  After spending the past two months there and searching for another part time job to fill up my summer, I was unsuccessful at finding anything else part time.  I accepted a full-time position doing research in the vet school with the understanding that it wouldn't conflict with the radiology position.  Turns out the university has a policy about students working more than 40-hours a week, so unfortunately I had to accept the full-time position and say "bye-bye" to the cats in the radiology department.  Which brings me to...

My summer.

3. I am spending my summer as a research assistant in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.  What does this mean?  I am working with two other girls from my first year class collecting ticks all across SE Kansas to observe the prevalence of anaplasmosis, a disease often found in cattle.  Here's how this works... We dress in coveralls and rubber boots (duct-taped to the coveralls of course) and trek through farmland across SE Kansas in the ridiculous summer heat and drag a piece of flannel in the fields hoping that ticks attach to it.  I assure you it's a very scientific process (insert eye-roll here).  Then we collect these ticks in little jars and bring them back to K-State to ID them (based on their species and sex) and grind them up to study what types of diseases they carry.  Overall it's going to be a sweaty and disgusting summer full of bugs and allergies, but on the plus side - it pays well and gives me the opportunity to have published research.

Finals week

So now I would say it's time for some First Year reflections and maybe a little advice for those getting ready to start their own vet school adventures :)

1. Vet school is a ridiculous amount of work.  Far more work than anything I've ever done in my entire life and far more than I ever prepared myself for.  Undergrad came so easy for me, when others studied hours for tests I would "review" and somehow manage to do just as well as them - I was so fortunate in that aspect.  That being said, I had heard vet school was going to be a lot of work and require a lot more time and effort than undergrad - I knew it would be more work, but just how much more? I was in no way mentally prepared for what a life change it would truly be.

Finals week study break

2. Vet school has blessed me by meeting some of the most amazing people.  One of the great things about vet school is that it is full of passionate, driven, ambitious people.  People who want to make a difference in the world and who have similar goals and dreams as you.  People who understand your weird obsession with animals and why you'd rather spend a day with your cat than with actual people.  People who sacrifice their own studying to help you understand something you're struggling with, people who make you a Christmas ornament of your canine cadaver (because who else would really understand how much you loved Bud), and people who bring you McDonald's hash browns before your last final because they know you had an awful morning at work.  I am so fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful people and am so excited to not only spend the next three years with them, but to get to call them colleagues for the rest of forever :)

My desk at school

3.  Vet school is diverse.  As many amazing people there are in my class, there are quite a few interesting ones as well ;) People end up here in Kansas from all corners of the U.S. and with all different backgrounds.  Also, I'm surprisingly young compared to most of my class.  So many students have gone out and had real world (aka "grown up") experiences before coming back and deciding to go to vet school.  I'm just over here with my high school diploma like.. "oh yeah, I haven't even finished college."  Despite our differences, this has helped me become more patient and understanding of others beliefs.

Suturing prolapses in cattle

4.  Live with people who are similar to you.  Being in a sorority was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. Kappa gave me the opportunity to live with girls I had never spoken to before and helped me find some of my best friends in the world.  Wellllllll... that was great during undergrad, when I'm in class 40-hours a week and studying another 20-hours on top of that?  It's probably best to live with someone who understands how hectic life can be.  I began the school year living in a house with four other girls, and I've come to the conclusion that it would be best to have one or two roommates while in vet school.  One of the hardest things towards the end of the semester was when my roommates would get to go to bed early - I was so tired and all I wanted to do was sleep, but I had to force myself to stay awake by myself and keep on studying.  That being said, I was so fortunate to have one of my favorite people in the world live in the house with me. Without her I would've completely lost my mind this year and through the craziness it only brought us closer. Unfortunately, she's leaving me to get married and move to Oklahoma... although she still has a few days before her wedding to change her mind.... just kidding Jacob... kind of :)

Gross Anatomy Lab

5.  It's okay to depend on your parents - even when you're in a doctorate program.  Having my parents living in Manhattan has been the biggest blessing in the world.  Perks to having my parents here: my mom helping me out with my laundry when I'm stressed, my parents treating me to McAllister's sweet tea and mac and cheese the night before a big test, or knowing that I have a spot in the garage and a cat waiting for me when I come to stay at home after a late night at the library.  Lucky for me, my lease ends at my rental house tomorrow and I'm almost completely moved back home and will be living free of charge for the next year.  Second year only gets harder and it will be so great having such a wonderful support system :)

Summer Goals?

1. Not get Lime Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, or Anaplasmosis from the ticks.  Also, not cry if they crawl on me...
2. Review, review, review - I can not afford to lose any knowledge from this semester.  I constantly have to remind myself I'm not learning for a test - I'm learning for a lifetime.
3. Palpate a cow :)

Time to thank a few people who have helped me survive my first year...

-Most importantly, I have to thank Cole - I couldn't have made it through this year without you.  Thanks for always loving me and supporting me through the tears and the mean things I said to you out of sleepiness, stress and hunger :) Thanks for never letting me quit even though I wanted to about a billion times.

Dr. Steve Mosier - Class of 1966

-Another important man in my life has been Dr. Mosier.  Steve has shown me just how amazing and influential a veterinarian could be and set an amazing example of the type of veterinarian I want to be.  Thanks for all of the books, encouragement, and priceless experiences I've gained working with you.

The pink eye disaster of 2013

-A huge thanks to my mom and dad for the laundry, and meals, unconditional love, support, and encouragement (and for the free rent).  And especially to my mom for driving me to and from school so many times when I had pink eye and my eye was swollen shut :)  Let's all pause for a moment and have a quick laugh at how gross and swollen my eye was this semester...

-Thanks to Little Bear for reminding me why I want to be a vet in the first place.  To give back to the animals that give so much purpose to our lives.

Kev built me a desk!

-Thanks to Kevin for my beautiful new desk and Jane for listening to all of my stories that Cole is tired of hearing about :)

-Thanks to Kels and B for being such great sister and brother and for always calling to check on me :)

-Thanks to Ryan and Kelli for the meals and the walks and most importantly for blessing me with the sweetest nephew who reminds me there's so much more to life outside of school :)

Best walking buddy

Mid-finals break :)

-Thanks to the best lab and study group in the world.  I owe so much of my success this year to all of our studying and talks about everything except school (study breaks.. right?).  Thanks for teaching me so much about school and about myself.

-Thanks to Summer, Paige, and Abbie for being the most amazing best friends and making time for me when I'm not good making time for anything.  Thanks for always making me feel loved and included and keeping me a part of your lives :)

-Thanks to the rest of my family, Cole's family, and all of my friends and past and present teachers and everyone at Hays Vet for helping me become the person I am today and helping me follow my dreams.

Okay... Now that I've set a new record for the longest blog post ever... I think that's it. For now.  Happy Wednesday :)

Love,
A