Equine Medicine

Today is day 2 of my equine medicine rotation.  And man are we slow.  We have our first appointment today at 1pm and that is actually an eye problem so ophthalmology will be in charge of it, we just do a quick physical exam on the horse.  The rest of the week only has a couple horses coming in for us so it's not looking too busy.

On another note, I had my first chiropractor appointment yesterday.  My neck has been bugging me for a little while so I decided to get it checked out.  Well, I have slight scoliosis, more severe kyphosis (essentially giving me a slight hunched back appearance), and two of my vertebra were out of line.  My whole back was adjusted and now I have to go back 12 more times as we attempt to correct my hunch backedness.  Good thing we are slow on equine medicine so I'm able to make it to those appointments!

Goodbye Ophtho!

Today was the last day of my ophthalmology rotation.  The week went really well, had lots of appointments and a number of surgeries.  Had another emergency surgery this week for a dog who had a real deep ulcer in its cornea, it was almost all the way through the cornea.  So, a piece of conjunctiva was taken from next to the cornea, rotated, and placed over the ulcer.  We had another cataract surgery this week, and also took the inside of a Newfoundland's eye out (but leaving the globe of the eye in) and put a prosthetic inside the globe of the eye.  That dog is not totally blind as its other eye was already removed due to glaucoma.  I really enjoyed my time on ophthalmology.  While I don't think I would want to specialize in it, it is really good information to know because as a general vet, you often see eye problems. 

Tomorrow I hope to go to the pathology club cookout at noon and then head out of town around 4pm (I'm on call until 4pm tomorrow) to spend Saturday evening and Sunday with Uncle Loren and Aunt Joan.  Then Monday morning it's off to equine medicine I go!

Picture from the weekend

I forgot to post this picture yesterday of Heidi and I with Uncle Phil and Aunt Darlene:

Weekend

This past weekend I was in Tremont and able to spend some time with Heidi as she flew out for William and Brittany's wedding.  Yesterday, we got to meet our great uncle and aunt, Phil and Darlene, for the first time.  They live in North Carolina and we had never met them until Saturday when they stopped in to my grandparents to visit.  They had driven from NC for the wedding.  It was nice meeting them and getting to know them a little bit.  Today was William and Brittany's wedding in Tremont.  It was a real nice wedding, always nice to see people so happy! 

This week is week 2 of my ophthalmology rotation.  I'm hoping it will go as well as last week!

Eyes, Eyes, Eyes!

Wednesday afternoon I took in a horse.  It had what is called equine recurring uveitis which means that tissues in its eyes become inflamed, then the inflammation goes away, and then comes back, etc.  Eventually the horse's eye became so bad that he couldn't see anything so the owners elected to have his eye taken out (called an enucleation).  So, yesterday, after doing another cataract surgery, we went down to the equine surgery ward and I got to scrub in and assist in taking the horse's eye out.  It went well and the horse went home a few hours later.  We also had two emergencies.  The first was a dog who had a hole in its eye that we believe came from an ulcer on its cornea that eventually ate its way all the way through the cornea.  When this happens, the iris (the colored part of an eye) actually will push forward and plug the hole (called an iris prolapse).  So, the dog went into emergency surgery where the doctor cut some tissue from along the side of the eye, rotated it and sewed it in place over the hole.  He is doing well and will go home this afternoon.  The other emergency was a dog with glaucoma, or increased pressures in the eye.  He was able to go home on medication.  Unfortunately, no matter what medication the dogs get, glaucoma will always win and the dog will no longer be able to see. 

This weekend I am planning to head to Tremont for a wedding.  I am on call tonight for the ER at school until 11PM but then am free the rest of the weekend!

Cataract Surgery

Ophthalmology has been going well.  Yesterday I took in a dog who stayed overnight and had cataract surgery today.  She has diabetes and a common consequence of diabetes in dogs is cataracts.  She had a hole cut in her eye, her lenses were broken up and sucked out of her eye and then on her right eye, a new lens was placed.  No lens was placed in her left eye due to there being a tear in the capsule that surrounds the lens in that eye.  It was neat to see and she's doing well, actually went home today already but will be back tomorrow for a recheck.  This morning, I sat with her for an hour and 20 minutes.  Before cataract surgery, the dogs have to have four different kinds of eye drops put in their eyes four different times.  However, between each drop you have to wait five minutes.  So, every five minutes I was putting eye drops in both her eyes and it took about 80 minutes for me to complete.  I don't think I've ever put that many eye drops in in my life, never mind in one time! 

In other news, I signed up for boards yesterday.  I will be taking boards on Wednesday December 3, 2014 at 8AM.  The time slot to take the exam is 7.5 hours long so that should be awesome.  Can't believe it's already getting to be time for me to take boards, where has the time gone!?

Weekend

Had a good weekend this weekend.  Flew back to Illinois yesterday morning.  Last evening I went to dinner and then went to Krannert Center for the Performing Arts here at University of Illinois campus to listen to Rosanne Cash (daughter of Johnny Cash) sing.  Today, Jerry and Kathy, Uncle Dan, Heather, Andrea, and Hannah came down for a visit.  After church we came back to my place, changed and hung out, went out to dinner and then I had made cinnamon roll cake for dessert so we chowed on that in the evening.  It was fun having them down.  Now it's time to get back to school.  I begin my ophthalmology rotation tomorrow morning so I'm hoping it will be a good rotation!

Here's Heather, Hannah, Andrea, and I outside the restaurant:

Who Wants Their Appendix Anyways?

I think it's safe to say that yesterday did not go as I had planned.  Wednesday evening after dinner I had noticed a slight pain in my abdomen.  When I was going to bed, I figured it would probably be gone in the morning.  Well, I hardly got any sleep at all during the night as the pain increased and I couldn't get comfortable.  At some point during the night I was pressing on my abdomen and noticed that I was most sensitive on my right lower abdomen.  I immediately wondered if I was suffering from appendicitis.  In the morning when my parents got up I told them that I was concerned that it might be my appendix causing me the pain.  So, Dad called the doctor who told us to go immediately to the ER.  So, away we went.  A CT showed an enlarged appendix with thickened walls indicating inflammation.  Around 6pm last night I went into surgery to have my appendix removed.  I got out around 7pm and left the hospital for home around 915pm.  Today I am feeling much better than yesterday.  I do have some soreness near my incisions (I have three small incisions from my belly button down) but otherwise am doing great and am not taking any pain medications.  I am still okay to fly back to Illinois tomorrow morning as long as I get up and walk a little bit a couple time during the flight. 

Safe in CT

After a 3 1/2 hour delay in Champaign, I finally got on the road to CT and landed safely around 3:45 pm yesterday afternoon.  Just in time to make it to the open house at Finalsite, my sisters work place.  I am looking forward to doing some relaxing although I do have to study for boards while here. 

Labor Day Weekend

Spent the past weekend in Oakville, IA.  Had a real good time meeting new people and catching up with old friends.  Now tomorrow morning I head off for home.  Haven't had a good visit there since Christmas so it will be nice to see everyone and be able to spend some time with them!