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Vet Medicine: the greatest career on Earth

So, you read about all my whining and complaining in the last blog. Being a vet is TOUGH. Understanding that you can treat an animal without having the exact diagnosis and without choosing the same treatment as any other vet (there will never be full consensus on treatments for any disease, ever) takes a long time of feeling like a failure, staying up nights worrying that you didn’t treat something right, wondering if you should have gone with the high dose, short therapy or the lower dose long therapy. Are you causing antibiotic resistance? If you don’t send an antibiotic home, will the owners hate you? Will you get a bad review because, even though you spent hours researching and worrying, the animal didn’t get better, or another vet threw you under the bus? So, why even try? Why enter this field?

Because it’s FREAKING AMAZING!! That’s why!

Reasons it’s FA (freaking amazing): The animals, obviously. Granted, you LOVE animals, but must accept that they hate you. You must just understand that you’re doing it for your love for them, and not to win their love (though I handily try with multiple treats and a slow approach). It’s much like being a mom or a religious leader. You care for and are responsible for others, but they might not like what you have to say or do. Occasionally you get the adorable puppy/kitten, but sometimes you have to deal with the jack-wad pet. If you are companion animal, most of your patients will be middle to older aged animals with skin, ear, endocrine issues. If you are large animal, most will be reproductive, preventative health, and emergency. Most of the animals are happy with you anyway, especially if you keep pushing the treats.

The SCIENCE – if you love science and seeing things work like you read about, you will love vet med. It doesn’t always work out, but when it does, it feels MAGICAL – and it works out most of the time. You get a rush of dopamine (this is not proven, just theorized) when you hear back from a patient you’d been working on and hear that they’re SO much better! Even when it’s just an older dog with probable arthritis and the owner didn’t think it was pain but was willing to do a trial of pain meds. They call back and go on and on about how much like a puppy their old Bella has become. It makes my insides smile.

Not arthritis

You can FIX things! Sometimes this feeling is amazing! Female intact dog walks in, sick as, well, a dog, you find it’s a pyometra (uterus is huge and full of pus). The dog looks like death, but with a 30 minute surgery (spay), the dog is back to almost 100% overnight! Laceration repair can be tedious, but is like creating a work of art. Indoor/outdoor cat comes in with a swelling and a fever – cat bite abscess – super rewarding to drain the abscess and the cat is back to normal by the next day. There’s nothing like the feeling “hey, your animal has this problem, but don’t worry, I’ll fix it!” The feeling only gets super frustrating when the owner chooses not to treat for one reason or another (finances, chronic issues that require multiple rechecks, long-term medication). Then, this leaves you totally frustrated – “but I can fix it…”

Learning all the time. You may think this sounds tedious and awful, but it’s not. Again, learning something new that you can immediately apply to a case, whether it’s researching for a current case and finding an actual answer or going to continuing education conferences and learning a new fabulous (and low cost) new treatment regimen, actually gives you a rush. As a vet you are (or should be) CONSTANTLY learning, researching, RE-learning and it’s actually fun. There are always new things to learn and ways to check your pride and try a different methods and while you’ll find yourself frustrated in the moment, and may take awhile to institute the change, you’ll be elated when it all falls into place. Because – science.

The clients! (okay, there are some sour lemons, but with the current demand for vets and long waiting list to get an appointment, we have the luxury to “rehome” clients who are naughty) Are you a people pleaser? Do you get a physical giddy sensation when you make someone happy? Vet med *can be* for YOU! For the most part, clients are extremely polite, understanding, and grateful for what you do. I think it helped my client communication skills to be a large animal vet for awhile. When you’re stuck standing over a newly gelded colt, waiting for him to get up, you learn how to chat with people and not feel awkward. Depending on the client’s attitude toward me (the more positive, they more they get), I will go to all sorts of lengths to make sure they and their animal are getting free samples, internet sources, brochures, under the table treatments (slip in a free nail trim), etc. If a client is cold and dismissive, they will get what they ask for and that is it.

Then there’s the not so obvious perks to being a vet; Comradery – Everyone in the vet world is stressed and many take it out with a twisted sense of humor. When you find the right clinic, it’s like getting together with your friends every day – joking, griping together, getting excited over gross things, inappropriate humor. Everyone working in your field (or at least the vast majority) love animals and share the common goal to help people and their animals. I’m sure there are others, but how many other work places do you have where everyone in the company has the same interest? Want to talk about your cat’s cute way she chirps to you? So does your co-worker!

Rescues will be a commonality in your field. This pup was born with no bones in her forelegs and now belongs to a co-worker

Something for everyone. You like working with your hands? Large animal is perfect for you, prefer indoors with more meticulous skill? Surgery is for you! Like both? Do both!! Don’t like working with your hands? Medicine. Pathology. Teaching. Like people? General or referral practice. Don’t like people? Pathology, lab animal medicine. Want to practice medicine everyday, great! Don’t? Government work! Like people, but only your kind, and not general public? Become a drug representative, traveling to clinics telling them about all the new products coming out! Want to work all day everyday, and be on call – don’t worry, there’s plenty for you! Only want to work 3 days a week? Pick up relief shifts! Night owl? Work emergency overnight shifts. ***These examples are all highly generalized, and I’m 100% sure vets working in all of these fields will have something to say, but my point is there’s a job out there for anyone with a Veterinary degree, don’t just envision working at a clinic***

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So, you want to be a vet?

I was driving to work yesterday morning, feeling COMPLETELY miserable. Flu-like symptoms, my body ached like it had been beaten and rolled down a hill. I was freezing, then two seconds later, sweating. My head was pounding and I had a very painful baseball sized lymph node under my right armpit. Don’t worry, though, I wasn’t going to spread a horrible sickness among co-workers (this time), but instead, I had gotten vaccinated two days prior – my third COVID-19 vaccine (a booster) and it hit me like a truck. I kept thinking to myself “Ugh! I just want to go home. This is going to be a long day. I can’t call in sick though because I already have a completely full schedule and can’t just leave my co-workers to take all of my cases.” Such is the life of a vet. Don’t worry, there’s awesome parts too (just not in this blog).

The rare sweet puppy cuddle

Training to be a vet is sort of like boot camp for a marine (but not at all the same). Once you enter vet school, they start the mental and physical conditioning. Not only is there no rest for the weary, but if you’re weary, there’s extra work. They start with a grueling schedule of 8 hours of advanced science/medicine classes per day – 8am-5pm, then expect you to go home and review the material (they approximate an hour per hour of class). Then, the testing starts. This means studying night after late night into the early morning, internally debating whether more review or sleep will be better for you (psst! Get the sleep). One professor described the onslaught of information vs retention as throwing a giant pile of horse crap at a wall and hoping some of it sticks.

No time? Drink! My 27th birthday party – technically, I was an intern.
Driven to madness, Emily is seen here sipping Guinness from a straw

After three and a half years of dragging your brain across a cactus field, the clinical rotations start. Vet school clinicians (drill sergeants) are notoriously miserable themselves, and therefore, feel the need to make sure everyone else is also miserable. I can’t blame them, necessarily, they are dealing with the hardest cases (most animals don’t come to the vet school unless there’s a super complicated issue that a general practitioner can’t deal with), they are doing it on very little income, and they are having to “babysit” over eager students who, despite having studied for 3.5 years, don’t know squat. **side note: some of the senior clinician are absolute SAINTS – made to teach AND a master of their field. And some are literally trying to drag you down to hell with their miserable selves – none shall be pictured.**

Definitely one of the saintly clinicians – seen here with my horse, Orion – a stone stuck in Orion’s urethra, and more in the bladder.
Stone cut out of Orion’s urethra about 4 inches below his anus (making him pee like a mare)
The stone in the bladder, seen here being lasered to break it up for easier extraction

While a student, you are expected not to complain about not sleeping because someone always has to comment how they’ve been up for 32 hours straight (to which I guess you are supposed to bow down to that person?). You are expected not to complain about being hungry – you may, I don’t know, end up eating some horse or dog food because you are so hungry and it doesn’t look too bad when you’re holding a horse for the 90th hour and haven’t been allowed to move. You are not to use the bathroom while people are around – thou shalt not flaunt your excessive time allotment by urinating when others cannot.

Another saintly clinician, in the middle, Dr. Hollett, who has now, sadly, passed away. Also pictured, my intern-mate.

You are expected to show up NO MATTER WHAT is going on. Snow storm? In Georgia, where snow plows are a thing of fairy tales? Better start hiking or you won’t hear the end of it when you finally manage to drag yourself (and wreckage of a car) into the hospital. Have the flu? Might as well resign vet school before calling in. I mean, technically, they’ll have to allow you to stay home, but you may be excommunicated for showing an ounce of self care. Also, you’d be so much cooler if you just took some ibuprofen and pushed on. Vomiting? Just bring a bucket and you can empty it during your bathroom breaks which don’t exist. Pregnant? Just get out. (There were actually a few classmates who were brave enough to have kids during vet school and they are all amazing women and vets to this day).

Me, pregnant with India, but not until after I got my first job.

You made it to graduation, yay!! You somehow also survived the SIX HOUR test you have to take to apply for a license. Some will go on to start their career, while some will choose to get internships with the idea that this will ease them better into the work field (because when you graduate, despite the physical and mental torture and water boarding of information, you still know nothing, but are happy to be alive). Some internships are AMAZING (I’ve been told), but some are just a way to get you to do the crap work, while getting crapped on (pun intended), further breaking you down (because now it’s about breaking your soul) all with the exciting wage of $25,000/year – with the ($100K+ with 6-12% interest) student loans lapping at your heels.

Me and my students, “horsing around” on the breeding dummy. We were responsible for making this area look “presentable” for the stallions – rake the dirt, water the grass, make sure the wool fleece was warm and soft.

You can then, enter a residency if you choose to be specialized in a certain discipline (surgery, medicine, oncology, ophthalmology, etc) – typically you will need to be at the top of your class (I was NOT) and even more into self torture than most. This option is three years of more intensity than anything previously experienced, with, again, little pay – but from what I’ve heard, you won’t need the money anyway – sleep at the hospital, never eat, etc.

The wild hog, named Ferdinand after he took up residence with an anesthesia tech’s horses. We came to castrate him – it took a LOT of ketamine. He was later “let go” for attacking and mauling her dogs.

Finally, it’s time to start your career. Due to the mental, physical, and spiritual beating you have endured, you’re perfectly happy and, in fact, eternally grateful for your first job offer. $42,000/yr? YES!! That’s almost twice as much as you were making as an intern, living on literal beans and rice!! You’re going to be rich!! (you might even be able to add some CHEESE to your beans and rice). From here, it may be a good 2-3 years before you don’t think you’ve made a huge mistake and that you’re a failure and imposter, and then 7-10 years before you realize your worth – as a vet, but mostly as a person.

My job as holder of the blood donor goat.

So, now, you’re finally comfortable in your own skin, you work hard, contribute your all, but also expect respect from your boss, co-workers, and, especially, clients. Finally, it’s time to start realizing what there is to love about veterinary medicine. *See next blog*

Another amazing clinician on the right.

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A Kid’s Eye View

It has been an absolute blast (among the eyeball scratching and hair pulling times) raising my three kids and listening to the crazy and insane ideas that come out of their minds as they struggle to grasp what life is all about and how they will manage it as they get older. I have been trying to get some basic ideas about living and adult responsibility in their lives to help prepare them for more intensive lessons and conversations later in life. Some of the questions and answers they give me (and some random, unprovoked comments) make all the frustrations totally (well, mostly) worth it.

Body autonomy – Since sending my kids to daycare or putting them in other people’s care and since they could understand English, I’ve been trying to teach them body autonomy – that they are in control of their own bodies and they decide when and when not to be touched. Obviously, the intent was to make sure they are aware that even if an adult tries to touch them and makes them feel uncomfortable, that they can say “no” and it’s okay. We don’t even force hugs or kisses from us if they don’t want them.

The other night, I was trying to get all three kids bathed in the 30 minutes we had to bathe them, feed them, and then get them to bed after soccer practice. Luckily, we have two bathrooms, but, of course, THAT particular night, they all decided they wanted to take their own baths and not share (we would typically have the two boys share a bath to move things along). The two older ones are mostly reliable for properly washing themselves, but Calvin, at 4, still hates to get his head wet – like he does the whole, jump up, jog in place while screaming and trying to bat the water away. This night was no different and when I rushed in there to change out the boys for baths, I saw that, as expected, Calvin didn’t have a wick of moisture on his head. So, I walk over, frustrated, grab the cup, douse him with water, absorb the following tantrum, get soap, wrestle this wart hog until his whole head and face have been washed all while he is screaming and then says “MOMMY! I said ‘NO’!! Don’t you KNOW what NO MEANS?!?!?” **

**Granted, this is also the child who will find moments like when he’s getting into trouble to look me in the eyes and grab my breast, smile and say “I touched your boob”

Mortgage – The kids were asking us about money one time and about why we have to work. We told them that we have to make money to pay for living – our house, food, electricity, etc. Kids: “What do you mean, you have to pay for the house?? We already own it.” This produced good laughs from Tony and me. We explained that houses are too expensive to buy and that most people have to borrow money from a bank to buy a house and slowly pay the bank back over time. This completely blew their minds. India asked “Well, there are so many houses, why don’t you just go take one that no one owns?” Oscar came up with “So, when we turn 18 and have to move out of the house (this is something we have convinced them of), we don’t just get our first house for free??” No, you don’t, silly, they’re too expensive and you’ll likely have to rent for awhile. Oscar “But why are houses so expensive? They’re just like walls and a roof and stuff” – It’s the “and stuff”

Working for wages – We have been trying to get the kids to help out a little around the house – as much as can be expected from a 9, 7, and 4 year-old. We offer small amounts of money in exchange for doing jobs around the house like unloading the dishwasher or cutting the grass. Depending on the level of difficulty, we pay $1-5 per chore. I was busy one day doing all the normal chores that I do just to keep the household going while Oscar was begging me to buy something for him that he found on Amazon. I told him HE could buy it but he said he couldn’t afford it. I offered him the opportunity to clean the kitchen with the enticing offer of $5 to start to save up for said toy. He reluctantly started unloading the dishwasher, upset and said “It’s not FAIR!! You guys don’t have to do chores to get money!” Hahahahaha – no, we get to do chores for free, but we do have to work for our money.

Going to school – Calvin got to start pre-K this year and he was SO excited. He can’t wait to get to go to the same daycare and school as India and Oscar, but pre-K was the first step. He talked about pre-K for a minimum of 6 months before it started. He knew who his teacher was going to be, he loved her, he wanted to pack his backpack and his lunch and just ABSOLUTELY could not wait for all the magic and glory that pre-K was sure to be. The first morning we had to get them all up for school, it was 6am and I went to wake him up, he grumbled his adorable tiny person grumble, then I told him it was the first day of pre-K and he bolted upright in bed, a huge smile spread across his face and then he leapt out of bed, ready to start his day! The next week, Monday morning, we went in to wake him up, he grumbled, we reminded him that he gets to go to pre-K, bracing ourselves for his burst of excitement, only to hear his tiny muffled voice, buried in blankets and pillows “No, mommy, I’ve already been.” Me: “Oh, sweetie, this is just the beginning!”

How babies are made – Since I knew I wanted children, I was determined to make sure they know how babies are made and not dance around it too much. Obviously when they’re very small, we just said stuff like “You came from mommy’s belly” and that was acceptable. Later it progressed to “Well, how did you get me out?” – “Well, you came out of my vagina” to India and “The doctor cut you out of my belly” for Oscar (footling breach) and Calvin (after hours – no VBAC). Inevitably, the questions got more detailed as they got older. Oscar was convinced that girls came from the vagina and boys from the belly. India finally got to the question I was both looking forward to and dreading. What if I told her how sex works and she thinks she should try it at her age?? I wanted to keep my girl innocent at the same time, make sure she was fully aware of the meaning of sex from the beginning so she wouldn’t be caught by surprise or taken advantage of (cause knowledge is power)

So, armed with the tiny bit of amusement I get from telling someone that the bump next to their dog’s penis that they keep touching to show me is, in fact, his erection and watching the horror on their faces, I told India how the man gets his “seed” which I now changed to “sperm” into the uterus. Upon telling her the exact mechanics of how fertilization happens, she had a horrified, disgusted look on her face. “Ewww, mommy!” Then, a touch of realization entered her face. “Wait, is that what you and daddy had to do make us?!” “Yes” Mouth agape – “Was it GROSS??”

A little while later, all three kids were gathered and the topic came up again. This time, Oscar decided was the one to ask the hard question. “Mommy, how does the man get the ‘seed’ into the woman?” Up pops India, in a heroic effort to protect the innocence of her younger brothers, but also, more likely to keep her own ears from hearing it again, she screams “You do NOT want to know!!!”

The cost of life: Last weekend, India had her first sleepover with her friend coming to our house. We had pizza, I made brownies and some weird unicorn milk shake thing, they stayed up until 4 and had a blast. The next day, her friend wanted her to come over there and Oscar begged and begged to spend the night with his friend. I finally pulled some strings and had Oscar spending the night and also had Calvin staying with his grandma. Then, we stopped at a grocery store to get the team snacks and drinks for Oscar’s soccer game we were going to. You would think we would just have a bunch of happy kids, dancing and singing us praises in the backseat. You would be wrong. Tony went into the store to get the snacks, while I sat there and refereed whiny kids who kept saying things like “it’s not FAIR” until mommy lost her mind.

When Tony got back to the car and noticed the somber atmosphere he entered, he asked what happened. I said, “oh, I was just sick of hearing them talk about how unfair life is when they are ALL getting exactly what they wanted, so I told them about orphans and how babies are given away at birth and they don’t even have a family to love them.”

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More light, less right

I listened to a great and eye opening sermon this Sunday (at home folding laundry). The basic message was that we need to remember to be a light for people – giving them inspiration and making them feel loved – instead of trying to convince them what is technically right (their doing wrong) but meanwhile hurting them. The example he gave was that age-old story of the woman being brought before Jesus to be stoned for adultery. Jesus could have just as easily let her get stoned to death and been technically right according to the old testament, but, instead, he chose grace and shined the light on her.

I know very much that I have been guilty of trying to force people into my interpretation of right – social issues, medical issues, political issues. But what I need to be doing is spreading the light of love. I have struggled so much with dealing with our current atmosphere and trying to decide when to comment on something, knowing I’m not going to change anyone’s opinion, and when to just let it go and try to be that happy person.

I have found that much of my depression and anxiety is linked to what’s going on in the world and why people are being so stubborn as well as all the negative energy and messages people are openly sharing. My friend sent me a meme that basically says that back in the day before internet and social media, we would only occasionally get hit in the face with bad news, but now that we have access to everything all the time, the amount of bad news is just overwhelming and we’re likely not made to deal with that much. I just need to let it all go. If people don’t want to listen to what the experts are saying and self medicating or denying doctor’s recommendations, then there’s no way what I say will matter. It’s like we say in the veterinary world ‘You can’t care more about your patient than they (client) do”

If people want to spew hatred toward things that are harmless but it makes them feel uncomfortable, I can’t change that. I just need to let it go. But, for sure stand up for someone if you know it’s directed to hurt that person. If I think people are sinning and going against Jesus’s teachings, I cannot change them, I cannot make them a project – that’s all for me, all selfish. But, I can show them love even through it and hope that through my love and support they will also see the light and come around to doing good.

I’m 100% guilty of posting things that are not constructive just to prove a point or make fun of someone for their science denial. But I would like to start anew and ask that you do too. Remember ALL the people who will see your message and if you can think of one person it might offend, don’t do it. Let’s also stop making fun of people for being offended and calling each other snowflakes. Literally everyone is offended by something, so making fun of others for being offended by something is only creating more hate and division in the world.

As far as being Christian goes, you may feel the need to make proclamations directly toward someone or in a general statement that individuals are “sinning”, but as Jesus said, “Let the sinless cast the first stone”. We need to show EVERYONE love (except like mass murderers of child abusers, etc) or they will see that we are Christian, only feeling the hate and rejection we are saying our God will show and that just makes them turn away from the light. You can’t save someone whom you have already rejected as wrong. We are all sinners, but God loves us all.

Sometimes I blur the line when I comment on something to give a different light or to politely correct misinformation, but it’s gotten harder and harder with people being anti-evidence based medicine. I try sometimes to stop the anger and fear before it gets out of hand. I really wish people would exercise their brakes more than their gas pedal. In other words, if you see something that seems offensive, makes you angry, get riled up, etc, STOP. Question the information, do a quick internet search for unbiased information (though I understand that is really hard), think about what is being claimed. Does that make sense? Is there an important part of the story that’s being omitted? Don’t just take the information from a meme and run with it, causing inflammatory reactions and a domino effect of false information. False information can be like juicy gossip that is fun to share and get others riled up like you, but it’s not the Christian thing to do.

One example of this out of control freaking out: My friend is running for school board and when she went out to talk to people about what they want to see, she met one person who said she heard the schools were going to be replacing Math with critical race theory. My first reaction was to laugh super hard. This information makes no sense, is completely preposterous, and perpetuates the fear and hatred that people suck up like a dry sponge. Just stop, think, criticize, ask God, then move on. If you don’t 100% know it’s true, don’t spread it. Be the light. Lead others out of the dark areas of their brain to analyze and be with God and His light.

There’s plenty of toxicity in the world without spreading lies and hurtful things that will just cause more fear and hatred. Let’s be better, let’s be the light. What ever religion or nonreligion you are, this can be achieved just by being a good and thoughtful person. Love others and forgive others like you would yourself. Give them the benefit of the doubt and if they’re no hurting anyone, let it go. Don’t be a bully. BE. THE. LIGHT.

Love you all, sorry for the rambling post. I’m just 24 hours out of anesthesia and a tad loopy. (had laparoscopic diagnostics done looking for endometriosis and all they found was endosalpingiosis – no clue what that means, but it’s nice to not be in constant pain as long as my post surgery drugs last)

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Torn with Porn

Some friends and I got into a very interesting and enlightening conversation the other day. One friend, we’ll call her Jenny, had just accidentally found out that her husband had been looking at porn for the past several years and was horrified. She went into the confusing feelings she was having dealing with it all.

  1. She had been lied to. Even when she directly asked him about it, he denied it. He did not confess until she presented her evidence she had come upon. Her husband, whom had been a fantastic dad and husband for their entire relationship had lied to her – for years. He had cracked that solid base that she stood and relied on to function in life. What else could he be lying about?! What else could he have hidden after all these years while being able to look directly into her eyes and lie!?!
  2. Was she not attractive enough for him? All the women in the porn videos are completely made up with ridiculously impossible bodies (often surgically and/or digitally altered) for her to achieve, especially after kids. What if he was going there because she was not enough for him anymore? Should she put in more effort into losing weight? Wear more provocative clothing? Make-up? Get a boob job??
  3. Why was she trying to appease HIM? Why was she putting all of this on herself? She should love herself and he should love her just the way she was, but obviously he didn’t.

Another friend, let’s call her Wilma, just brushed off Jenny’s concerns and said “I don’t see the problem, all men do it, and it’s actually healthy – sometimes I’ll watch it with my husband if we want to spice it up a little.”

When the men (adamantly trying to avoid being involved in the conversation by watching the tv and fervently discussing soccer) were questioned, one’s point of view was that there is a lot of pressure on a man (or a decent one I’ll interject) to make sure the woman is interested in fooling around, and then has a good time during intercourse and that with porn, there is no pressure in either way and he can just enjoy himself all by himself and not feel stressed.

We understood that, but Jenny’s feelings were also pertinent. They were REAL feelings and it was okay for her to feel those feelings. We encouraged her to talk about it with him so that they could each air out what they were feeling and discuss it.

Later, we asked her about it and she said that her husband had no idea how looking at porn would hurt her, that he had never even thought about how it would make her feel and that he was just sold the normalcy of it through TV, advertisements, media, etc. He claimed that now that he knew how much it hurt her, he would never go back to it. I was like, “so if he didn’t think it would hurt you, why did he lie about it to your face?” She said he was just ashamed because it was embarrassing.

Hopefully, Jenny got one of the *rare* good ones and he will uphold his word. But what has gotten us into this conundrum? Is Jenny being silly for being upset about this? Should we, as partners, just expect “boys to be boys” and internalize our feelings of betrayal, hurt, or not being good enough? Do men just have the unspoken okay to go out and seek other sources of sexual entertainment without their spouse’s consent?

Watching shows like “The Crown” I see that back in the day, it was quite normal, though not talked about for men to go to “Gentlemen’s club” and to seek other women’s attention that way. Since, this has become less acceptable, but online porn is still VERY easily available. Many will tell you that it is perfectly normal and healthy, and if everyone involved in the decision to partake is ACTUALLY okay with it, then, sure, go for it, it’s not hurting anyone per se. But, this conversation makes me wonder – How many women or partners just pretend to be okay with it so they will not appear “uncool”? How many accept it and tell others to accept it because they feel they cannot change men and if they make a big deal out of it, no men will want their prudish selves?

I’ve been listening to a book called “Boundaries” and one thing I’ve learned from it and will try to apply to this subject is that everyone has their own limits and boundaries as to what they find acceptable behavior. From the get go, if you find the idea of your partner doing something wrong or unacceptable, you set that line. I bet a lot more people would set a line if they thought it was okay to. If you would feel hurt by your partner looking at others for sexual pleasure, you say “I’m not doing that.” and set that limit for you and your partner. Your partner will either, with respect and love that they should have for you, say, okay, I will stop, or tell you you’re being ridiculous and continue to bring you harm.

The main point is: you and your partner should feel comfortable with each other AND with each other’s set boundaries. There should be open conversations about LITERALLY everything. To be honest, I am a terrible communicator in that I cannot get the right words out when I want to – the other day I was angry with Tony and told him “I want to love you, but am not able to right now”. What he heard was “I don’t love you even though I’m supposed to” He, then, proceeded to sink into a deep depression for at least 24 hours. I thought he was just pouting because I had gotten onto him, so ignored his behavior. When I finally talked to him about it, I found out how my statement had come off and had to completely reword my statement. In typical Emily fashion, still not communicating well, I said “I didn’t mean that I want to love you like I want to like cheesecake (because I absolutely don’t like cheesecake, but everyone talks so highly of it), I meant I want to love you like I want to eat an entire chocolate cake, but know I shouldn’t” because he had wronged me. He understood and we’re fine now. Just a little communication. I have told him since that when he feels put out by me or my words, he needs to IMMEDIATELY say something like “wow, that kind of hurt. What I HEARD was… ” and then I can immediately confirm that’s what I meant or change my wording.

Sorry, got side tracked. The point is, it’s okay to set personal boundaries and expect your partner or future partners to respect those boundaries. There’s no point in bottling all of your heartache up because you feel that you’re supposed to accept things you personally cannot accept. THAT is NOT healthy.

*Side note about porn* – I’m not picking sides here. If both partners are absolutely and honestly okay with it, then great! But have the conversation and really talk about how it makes each other feel before continuing.

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“The Meaning of life” – my interpretation

Everyone has their own interpretation of “The meaning of Life” some say it’s to enjoy life, some say that we’re all just play pieces on God’s chess board, some even say there is NOT a meaning to life and that it is all random because there is no God. My interpretation of the meaning of life works out for those who believe in God and those who do not and just requires that you care for someone other than yourself.

For me, the meaning is to make the world a beautiful place, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And I strive to pour everything I can into the world to help it be a better place. Some days are certainly harder than others and sometimes I just need to focus on me to replenish my ability to give so that I don’t become bitter and unwilling to beautify the world in the future.

My painting is actually depicting how I sometimes feel; giving everything I can to make people happy and help to plant seeds of fairness or humanity, but that sometimes it feels like it’s just draining my soul. The world is a tough place. Sometimes, it’s hard to accept the way people are and that they will likely never change. But you never know if you have influenced that person or not and if you just keep pouring love and beauty into the people and world around you, you have no idea what that might produce in the future – how people will treat each other down the road because of the way you treated them and how that can produce beautiful fruits and flowers – even if you may never even be aware of them.

Keep being beautiful and watch the world blossom – even if it’s from heaven.

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5 ridiculously easy ways to avoid pet emergencies and BIG bills that your vet doesn’t want you to know… oh, wait.

***Warning: graphic content – pictures depicting emergencies discussed will be held until the end of the blog***

If you haven’t heard or experienced it, here in the US, we are having an onslaught of new patients and cases in veterinary medicine and people are experiencing extremely long wait times or even being rejected from places because there is simply no room/time to see the animals. I work at a general practice full time, and pick up emergency shifts at the local ER, as well as have access to tens of thousands of other vets’ perspectives on my groups on Facebook. One night, when I got to my shift at the ER – after working a full day at my regular job – by 6pm, I was pickup up cases that had been waiting since noon. In the first hour that I was there, FIFTEEN more cases showed up. We were telling people that wait times could be 8-12 hours! There were only three doctors there with one about to clock out. There were also very few assistants/techs to help us – I counted 5 total – 2 techs, 3 assistants and two of those had to come in on their day off.

This was absolutely insane! How could they mess up this scheduling? How could they be so careless with hiring staff that we get to this point?? In frustration, I finally asked someone what on earth was going on?? That’s when they informed me that everyone was getting so burned out that they were all quitting. They were also having trouble hiring anyone because of the workload and hours. This COVID pandemic has somehow increased pet ownership exponentially and, in doing so, has run the vet industry ragged. That is a whole other discussion, but today, I want to talk about the most common “emergencies” we see and explain how to avoid them so that you are not only not having to wait at the ER for 8 hours to spend $1500, but you are also not taking up staff and doctors’ time when they could be seeing other emergencies that were not so avoidable.

  1. Spay/neuter you dog (unless you are a very careful and meticulous breeder)before the age of 12 months.
    1. Pyometra – during heat cycles, female dogs can produce a lot of mucus in their uterus, then, when they don’t get bred and go quiet for the next 6 months. If ANY bacteria gets introduced into the system (including bacteria swimming up the blood trail from their heat) this excess fluid/mucus accumulation provides an optimum breeding ground for that bacteria. As most cervixes close up tight after the heat cycle, this can lead to a sealed sack of purulent material (Pus) and infection. This causes the dog to get VERY sick and can lead to systemic infection and/or death if not treated immediately. Surgery being the treatment of choice, there is WAY more risk to this spay than a routine spay as typically the dogs are dehydrated, toxic, feverish, some can be septic, and then when you get into surgery some of these uteruses literally look like a giant summer sausage in the abdomen – just hugely distended with pus – and if any of that pus escapes during surgery or is already leaking, the dog’s chances of survival will fall even more and much more expensive aftercare will be needed. Literally any non-spayed female dog on the schedule that is sick, lethargic, or vomiting is assumed to be a pyometra until proven otherwise. – Cost of routine spay (depending on town) – $150-500 Cost of emergency pyometra surgery – $800-$5000
    2. Dystocia – So you thought Princess Fiona was the perfect dog and you just wanted one litter from her to show your kids the miracle of life – or , like others on the Doodle mania wagon, you thought you’d make some cash by slapping a cute “breed” name along with a hefty price tag on the puppies. When the time comes, she has two healthy, beautiful puppies and then nothing for 7 hours. You didn’t have her radiographed to do a puppy count whether out of ignorance or to save money, so you have no idea how many she’s supposed to have, but she still looks pregnant. You decide to take her into the emergency clinic. Now, you find out there’s 5 more puppies and she needs emergency C-section, and the 5 remaining puppies are dead. Estimated profits before the C-section at $1500/puppy – $10,500. Profits after emergency surgery and spay because most places give you a discount to spay at the same time: $-2000.
      1. Conclusion: if you absolutely insist on puppies, get patient checked by a vet before her due date – ensure the puppies are alive, and get an estimated count. Save money and prepare for a C-section just in case. Don’t breed for profit – you’re not helping the breed become better. Evaluate your breeding stock before you breed to check for genetic diseases. Good breeders will tell you they don’t make much money (if any) breeding dogs – they do it to better the breed and ensure physically and mentally healthy animals.
    3. Neuter – okay, this doesn’t necessarily cause too many emergencies.. as long as the dog is kept in a fence. Intact males will wander if they smell a bitch in heat and can get into all sorts of other trouble as discussed next.
  2. Keep. Your. Dog. In. A. Fence! (or otherwise contained)
    1. HBC – vet lingo for hit by car – could be anything from some bruising to instant death and everywhere in between. Broken bones (legs, ribs, spine), internal bleeding – come to us coughing up blood, abdomen full of blood, ruptured diaphragm – abdominal organs floating around in the chest.
    2. Dog/animal attacks – your dog wanders, gets into fights or gets attacked by other animals – I’ve literally had to sew a dog’s throat back together.
    3. Gunshots – dogs wander into a hunter’s territory, chases away their deer, gets shot. Dog goes onto a farm, chases some sheep/goats/other livestock (it is completely legal and encouraged in most states to shoot a dog chasing livestock). Dog goes onto someone else’s property even, if someone feels threatened or is just a jerk, shoots your dog.
    4. Diarrhea/vomiting/foreign bodies – you swear your dog couldn’t have gotten into anything because you keep your trash locked up, but the dog is not in an enclosure. So, they could have wandered to find a rotting carcass, someone else’s trash, compost pile, animal feces, discarded drugs, rat poison, antifreeze, etc.
    5. Traps – I have seen dogs and cats get lost and when they are finally found, their leg is crushed or strangulated, and rotting in a small game trap.
    6. Porcupine quills – yes, it’s possible for a porcupine to wander into your yard, especially if you have invisible fencing, but it’s far more likely that your dog (or cat) wandered into the woods and found this prickly friend.
  3. Vaccinate your animals –
    1. Parvo is a horrible virus that attacks the small intestines, stripping tissue off and causing horrible bloody diarrhea and vomiting and is 100% preventable with vaccines. And yet we see numerous puppies a year that need to be hospitalized and can take 5-10 days to fully recover – if they recover. They will be hooked up to IV fluids and medications while we try to get on top of their intestines melting and prevent infection traveling to all the organs and causing a horrible septic death – all because vaccines were too expensive or inconvenient, or whatever ridiculous reason we are given. And we have all seen numerous parvo cases where the owner bought vaccine at a farm supply store. Just go to the vet. Just do it. Vaccine $30 (with 1-3 boosters depending on age of presentation) Parvo treatment $1000-5000 depending on length of stay
    2. Distemper – more rare now, but severe neurologic (can’t walk, breathe, etc) symptoms – very rarely recover.
    3. Lyme – very big in parts of the country and getting worse – mostly tired acting sore/painful animals, but sometimes they go into kidney failure – grave prognosis
    4. Lepto – a bacteria spread by urine from other animals – your pet picks it up from drinking from water on the ground – rivers/lakes/streams/puddles. Causes severe renal and liver failure – poor prognosis.
    5. Rabies – 100% FATAL!! and 100% preventable. That is all.
  4. Look at/touch your animals occasionally. No, you are not a vet, but you can certainly keep track of something not looking right about your pet before it gets to the point of a 1am emergency. I can’t tell you how many “this 7lb tumor just grew over night and is now open and bleeding” or “I don’t know how his collar got embedded 2 inches into his neck” or “we just noticed his ear melting off his head” etc.
  5. Get established at a veterinary office – so many ER clients end up there because they have a semi-urgent problem, but they don’t have a primary DVM so they are stuck going to pay for a $1000 visit (usually they decide to do this at 9:30pm for some ungodly reason).
Sweet parvo puppy who was surrendered to the vet due to finances.

Keep scrolling for less cute pictures

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Gruesome pictures coming

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I’m warning you

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Turn back now

Pyometra in a cat where the uterus (or giant sack of pus) was bigger than the cat
Pyo in a dog with pink drawn to show how big and where the non-SOP would normally be
Vaginal hyperplasia – happens sometimes when a dog goes into heat.
Hit by car (HBC) shattered pelvis
HBC – fractured spine
Dog shot
Bullet found in the wound – most bullets don’t have to be removed unless causing a problem
Cat shot
Dog fight – hemostats holding the jugular vein which got ripped out – dog is fine now.
BDLD – big dog little dog attack
Guns aren’t the only thing that can be shot. This dog also did okay.
Mastitis case – owner waited 5 days to seek care
This dog presented for a regular annual exam – found giant ulceration in the eye – just look at your animals
Dog presented for “something stuck in his mouth” – giant tumor that I guarantee didn’t just show up
Cat bit by dog a week ago – then nose fell off – was euthanized.
My dog – Daphne in the Shenandoah river – luckily, she’s vaccinated for lepto and I’m not worried about her getting kidney and liver failure from drinking this water. We did bathe her afterwards because of all the e-coli, though.
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Exercise schmexercise!

Every time I go for a run, I think about how much I would love to help other people also enjoy exercise. So, I decided to write a blog about it. This may be one of my most boring posts, but I thought maybe I could inspire others to just get out there and move. First off, exercise has NEVER helped me with weight loss. Like, even when I was biking 30 miles a day, I still could NOT lose weight. It has definitely helped to increase my tone and joint health, but the best thing about exercise for me is the psychological benefits.

The theory behind exercise in weight loss, as I understand it, is not that you burn the calories and then have a calorie deficit, allowing you to lose weight. If anything, when I exercise, I become ravenous and definitely eat the calories I had just burned under the idea that “Hey, I exercised, now I can eat whatever I want” because, remember, an hour on the treadmill (like, a frickin’ lifetime) is only a candy bar’s worth of calories. No, the theory is that you change the metabolism of your body. You are starting to change your body, waking it up and making it work. Did you know that your skeleton is constantly breaking itself down and rebuilding? This also happens to your muscles and joints. When you go out and stress your body physically, you are doing minor but all over “damage”, stressing the bones and muscles. The body immediately begins to rebuild the damage done and your bones can even reshape themselves to better be able to deal the the type of stress you are putting on them. This kicks your body into a catabolic (burning calories) reconstruction phase. Like remodeling your bathroom starts with small changes like picking the dirty towels off the floor. You can’t expect to start with the sledge hammers.

Exercise will help your joints in the long run as well. I tell this to some of my orthopedic patients as well. Joints are responsible for allowing motion in your limbs, but they don’t have to do all of the work. My joints are very weak and the connective tissue is stretchy and easily fails me. This works out for rolling my ankle on the trail as I can just continue on my run with just a sore outer calf muscle for a couple of days, but it can also be detrimental. My joints are not tight, when I make motions, they don’t move just as they are supposed to; they wobble a little and over a long period, this can cause inflammation and pain. I had a doctor tell me to work on the muscles around the weak joints to help with pain. So, building up a thick muscular support system around your joints allows your body to obtain the stability without relying on the joints alone.

For me, anyway, just knowing how the exercise is affecting my body and the mechanics and theory behind it all helps me to design a workout regimen that suits my particular body. Doing a once weekly weight routine (though gut wrenching because I HATE it) actually improves my running and other activities more than I would have thought.

When you decide to start an exercise program, don’t expect to move mountains in your first week. Get your body into a state where you won’t injure yourself. Start with a brisk walk or light jog. Best if you are slightly sore that night, but not right after you’re done. Do this for a couple of weeks before you really start with exercise. If you start off fast and injure yourself, you have not only NOT helped yourself, but you have hurt your long term mobility. This is especially true as you get older. When you’re 18, sure, go out and cold turkey a 3 mile run, no problem, but when you’re mid 30s or older, your body is going to need an introduction first.

The biggest thing about keeping up with an exercise routine, as my dad told me once, is just to find what you can do, what you enjoy, and just do it. If you like running, run, if you like dancing, dance. If you don’t have time for a set aside exercise time, blast some party music and work up a sweat doing the chores that need to be done. Don’t judge yourself against others who choose to do other forms of workouts. I like to trail run by myself so that I can run when I want, and then walk or sprint when I want and don’t have to worry about if I’m keeping someone else back or pushing them too hard. I don’t like training for races. I like just keeping to myself and going at my pace. Others, however, can only get motivated with friends or by competing and that’s fine.

But the very best benefit I’ve found with exercise is the mental health benefits. Believe me, almost nothing the world has to offer will bother you so bad when you’re struggling to catch your breath. But even after you’ve attempted to kill yourself with bursts of wind busting sprints (or whatever) and you’re cooling down, you will (at least most people report) get a euphoric feeling. Yes, you will be dog tired if you did it right, but you will feel accomplished. Somehow that ragged, soaking in sweat, tremoring in exhaustion will feel amazing because you did it! And some experts report endorphin release upon completion of exercise. Personally, I know that I can much better manage my depression and anxiety if I stay on top of my exercise regimen. When I’m really struggling with life my doctor will ask if I have been keeping up with exercise because he knows that I need it to stay within the realm of sanity.

In case anyone is interested, my exercise schedule on my BEST weeks is to run Monday, Thursday, Friday/Saturday, weights on Tuesday. Spring and summer may vary as gardening is a huge physical workout (think “Buns of Steel – Mulching in the Mountains”). My runs consist of a 1 mile jog (10min/mile), then off and on sprint/walk – sprint/fast run until I can’t breathe, walk until breathing is controlled, but not completely recovered, then sprint/walk for another 1-2 miles, then back to a slow or extended jog for the last mile, walking when about to die. My weight routine is just this video repeated three times and then jump rope 100x front, 100x backwards, 75x front, 75x back, 50x front, 50x back, 25x front, 25x back, walking between sets until I catch my breath.

For me, music is super important, but for people like my dad, it’s just distracting. I have Pandora streaming with fast paced, dance and rock genres. And another plug for Jukebox the Ghost – about 95% of their songs are good for exercising.

Now enjoy my embarrassing basement public display of attention =)

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Kidercise!!

No time to workout? Conventual exercises too boring? We have the workout video for you!!

We hope you enjoyed the video. And, as always, thanks for watching!!

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Movie Magic – Life on a Reality TV Show

I know Tony has done a post about working with the film crew, but I was just remembering some fun antics and thought you guys might want to read a little about what it was like to work on a reality show.

The film crew was fantastic! They loved their jobs, loved the long term nature of the show (most of their life had been going from one gig to the next), and loved working on a “real” reality show. I got to hear stories of some of them working for other shows where it was encouraged to set up disagreements or fights to get more viewership. Despite the long-term nature of the show, however, it still seemed as though we would make friends with them, then they would be let go and new ones would be hired. That was not my business, but still sad to see good friends go.

How did they get shots of the doctors driving? Sometimes the cameras fell off on the highway, but they got pretty inventive with how to get shots.

One bit of “movie magic” was the episode that was supposed to be my first day on the job. This was certainly NOT my first day, it was just a day they picked a few weeks into my employment to pretend that it was the first day. I had to pull into the parking lot several times, get out of my car and walk to the clinic a few times, all while clients were there, wondering what on earth I was doing. It was, frankly, embarrassing, but the best part was when I was introduced to the office and Charles greets me to show me around. The first clip done, he comes up to me, all excited acting and says “alright, so just go ahead and take off all of your clothes and I’ll show you around.” We had to re-shoot that one after all of us fell out laughing.

Early on, they got an idea to make a character out of me. They tried at first to get me to fully embrace my southern roots and the producer, Jon, asked me if I could say things with more of a southern drawl and more stereotypically southern phrasing like “I was happier than a pig in shit!” I flatly said no. I understood the risks that were going to come with putting my professional skills on national television to be assessed and critiqued by vets all over the world, I was not about to make a caricature of myself.

Bunch of characters here. Murder mystery night

When they found out I was pregnant shortly after I arrived, they decided to make it their center of every thing that I did. I would do a case and get asked the question “Are you afraid this could hurt your pregnancy” or “Weren’t you worried about your baby while doing this”? I was very patient (I think) for a very long time, but after becoming more friends with them, having a late night emergency with them involving maggots, and getting the ridiculous question asked for the 97th time that day “Are you afraid that the maggots are going to affect you or the baby and why?” My smart-ellic side came out and I got very quiet and serious, looked dead into the camera and said “yes, actually, there’s a condition where the maggots will burrow in through your belly button and infect the baby, which then pupates and eventually bursts from your abdomen and eats everyone”. The field producer just said “Cut” and we were done. I apologized for my antics, but he said that he was also tired of the questions from DC (headquarters).

When two sound guys talk, is there an echo?

One thing you will get tired of with cameras following you around all the time is definitely cameras following you around all the time. It was one thing when they were there for the cases you were seeing, but sometimes, you just wanted to research a case in a book or online or even just stare into space without having to worry about being filmed. One of the times I rebelled against the cameraman filming me do EVERYTHING ended up being a pretty good clip. I was hungry and trying to eat without having to worry about smacking or crumbs on my face in front of national TV, but Mikus, a very good friend, but also stuck to a camera would not leave me alone, so I intentionally went over, grabbed an obscenely large handful of animal crackers and ate them as sloppily and ridiculously as I could. I don’t actually think Dr. Pol was there watching, I’m pretty sure that was just an edited-in clip.

They’re ALWAYS there. This is Zach, not Mikus

Everyone had to be mic’ed (microphone attached to them) before a scene could begin. Sometimes, if I arrived too early to an emergency or a farm call, the crew would ask me to wait in the driveway so they could get to the client and get a microphone on them before I arrived or you wouldn’t be able to hear what was said. This always gets me in reality shows when they are going to “surprise” someone, but when they get there, the surprised person is already Mic’ed up and ready to go.

There were also numerous… upon NUMEROUS times where I was asked to re-enter a room or driveway so they could get different angles, or get the jeep going through a large puddle just so. The best was when it was after a farm call and doing multiple shots of the same scene was keeping me from returning to work. The worst were when I entered a room and gave bad news but the crew wasn’t ready for it and asked me to give bad news again – to real people about real medical issues with their pets.

There’s Mikus – the bald guy behind the camera. What the hospitalized animal sees when we check on it in the morning – with a tad bit of flare for this picture.

The interviews you see with the doctor on a chair with a barn scene background were all filmed in the garage at the clinic with a projector putting up the image that you see behind us. This was the time that the field producers would ask us questions about the cases they shot with us. There would be a multitude of cases all piled up on one day for us to remember. They would be like “you remember Buddy, the beagle?” No. Then, they would have to show me the transcript of what was done and said, sometimes weeks before the interview. Sometimes I would be like “Oh, yeah, of course I remember Buddy!” and sometimes we would go over the entire transcript and I would just say “Whatever, it was a pyoderma, I’ll just answer general questions about pyoderma”. It was interesting though, the producers definitely wanted a certain answer from you and so they would word questions to get you to answer like they wanted. It was a dance; sometimes we were in sync, sometimes I just said “just tell me what you want me to say!” when I was really tired.

Working on a TV show has certainly changed by perception of watching any “reality” show. Now, Tony and I will watch one and chide back and forth about what questions the producers asked to get that specific answer from a character or how they may have trimmed the clip to make it look like someone was angry with someone else when maybe they were just bored and sighed, but the clip was then inserted as a reaction to someone else.

Producer: Jon Schroder, Husband: Tony Thomas, Sound guy: Andy Schindeldecker (sp?)

Overall, I had a blast working with the film crew. I got to know most of them and even became good friends with some of them. They came from all over and had all different stories. Some were local, some were from Los Angeles, or even the Virgin Islands. Some were party happy in their early 20s, some were older family men. Some were a shoulder to cry on or an ear to complain to, some took me under their wing and helped me along. All of them were fantastic people and I miss them dearly and hope nothing but the best for every single one of them.

*** Disclaimer – all the medical things you see on the show were real – patients, clients, problems. ***

Interview at my barn