Back to business.

Posted on April 21, 2012 by admin

Well, things improved with my attitude towards school just as I hoped they would. After a few days back in from Spring Break it was like I never left. I guess having a break in the middle just felt too much like summer break and I didn’t want to go back! But since then I’ve had a Chem exam that I got a B on, took my 401 final so now I am DONE with medical terminology, and basically that has been it. I haven’t had a couple of exams that I thought I was going to have, and my Chem professor didn’t give us a quiz on Thursday like he had originally scheduled. We are probably going to have it on Monday now. My husband is out of town this weekend so I am using the time to tackle as much of my math & chem homework as I possibly can… I am pretty behind in math but somehow even with “overdue” midterms, quizzes, and homework, it says I have an 85% – so I know in reality I have a solid A. I am pretty sure I have As in all my classes except Chem, that will probably be a B.

Let’s see, this weekend is Farm Walk, a fundraising event that the agriculture department has every Spring to raise money and invite the community to see all the neat stuff we have going on at the farm. We’re required to work 10 hours, so I will be there all day tomorrow, working the information booth and hanging out with the goats. Exciting! It will be A MILLION degrees so I’ll be wearing lots of sunblock and drinking plenty of water. I about died yesterday morning when I was there, doing manual labor, sweating in the sun. I love it though. I’d take that over being in an office cubicle ANY day.

We had an RVT from the LA zoo come talk to our 401 class on the last day, it was pretty neat. Sometimes I think it would be incredible to work with zoo animals, but other times I’m not sure. Perhaps if it were all big cats, monkeys/non-human primates, and bears, I’d be okay. I’m just not sure if I’d enjoy working with all the odd species and reptiles/amphibians as much, but who knows, maybe I’d love it. I am going to try to start volunteering at the Wildlife Waystation this summer so I can get more experience with exotic animals and wildlife. I updated my resume last night so I can try to volunteer at a local animal hospital too. I really need to start getting that experience under my belt. I will be taking a work study class in the Fall and I’d like to have an existing relationship with a small clinic here that I can get my tasks checked off without having to go to some corporate animal hospital where I don’t know anyone.

Another thing I’d like to do this summer is take horseback riding lessons. I’ve been on a horse a few times, but never had real lessons. I’ve always loved being around horses, but I am not a “horse girl” – you know, the kind of girl (or guy) that really only cares about horses. We have an equine science department at our school so we have a lot of horse people there!

The fall schedule of classes came out this week and I promptly made about 4 different schedule options for me. We got our registration dates and mine is May 18 – later than anyone else I talked to. I will be SUPER bummed if I don’t get into the classes I need. For the record, here is what I am planning on taking:

Microbiology
Anatomy & Physiology of Animals
Phys Ed (Yoga)
Work Study

It’s only 10 credits, the bulk of my studying will be Micro & Anatomy/Phys. They are both tough classes. The Anatomy class only has ONE lecture so if I don’t get into that one, I am screwed. I can try to crash the class when it starts, & I know the teacher is pretty good about letting a lot of people in (he is my Principles of Animal Science teacher this semester), so maybe I will have a good chance. Micro has several sections, only a few of which might work for me. If I HAD TO, they have evening classes, and I could do it, I’ve done it before. But I will avoid that at all costs. Yoga has several sections too but is a very popular option for PE and since PE is required for all students you can imagine how quickly it fills up. They have Friday & Saturday classes, but I would HIGHLY prefer to have my weekends free. Friday I could deal with, but Saturdays…. NOOO PLEASE. I like to be able to take weekend trips!

I really got lucky this semester with having my early registration, part of the reason why I took advantage and enrolled in as many classes as I could possibly handle! But all those classes are required for me to get into the Upper Level RVT program. The program director is flexible, she knows that sometimes you can’t get into your classes, and my grades are good, so if I weren’t able to get into PE, or Micro, I think she’d allow me to start taking the uppers as long as I agree to take it as soon as possible. But Anatomy? I don’t know if she would allow me in without that one. And I’m not trying to be in school for 3 more years. 2.5 is bad enough. Blahhh. No use borrowing tomorrow’s problems though. But I can’t wait until May 18 so I can at least know what classes I CAN get into. And then I can spend all summer worrying about whether or not I’ll get into the others, just like last year.

Back to homework…. xo

Spring Break

Posted on April 9, 2012 by admin

I’d like to be as honest as I can be on this blog, since the whole point of writing it is not just so I can look back at my experience, but so other future students can read and get a feel for what it is like. I don’t always have time to write every detail (though I always plan to…) because I spend the bulk of my free time studying & living life. But I try.

So today I have to be brutally honest. I am OVER school right now. Maybe it’s because today is the last day of Spring Break, or that the weather is finally starting to be nice & warm everyday, or maybe just because I’m burned out from this too-hectic semester, but I have been hiding from my homework & studying all week and whining to my husband about having to get back in the classroom tomorrow. Waahhhh I want to stay home! I don’t WANT to study Chemistry. I don’t WANT to write an essay. I don’t WANT to do my math homework. I don’t WANT to take an exam. I don’t WANT to write up a lab.

Blahhh. Before Spring Break I was hooting & hollering, “I’m halfway done!!” and now, a week later, I’m whining & crying, “I’m only halfway done?!?!” I am so looking forward to summer!

Cry cry cry.

I will never, ever take this many credits in a semester again. It is just too much for my little brain to handle. I’m thankful to have had this week to spend with my family & friends. I flew home to celebrate my sister’s bridal shower & my Mom’s 50th birthday, then spent the rest of the week here at home with my husband, eating, relaxing, watching Mad Men, cleaning up the house, etc.

Aside from going to the farm on Thursday morning to take care of the chickens & sheep, and taking my 501 midterm online last Friday (first day of Spring Break – I got a 98.7), I haven’t cracked a book. The emails from my professors telling me I need to be studying “every other day” or that I need to do a pre-lab writeup by Weds for a FOUR-WEEK-LONG lab are just making me dread it even more. I have an exam on Beef Production on Thurs, and an exam in Chemistry. I have my final in medical terminology on Monday, and an essay due the same day. I have a lot of math homework, which I will probably start working on here shortly so I can feel a little productive. Right now I am feeling kinda glad that I busted my butt to get As the first half of the semester in case I slack off second half. But, I know I will likely jump back in tomorrow & feel better about things, get back in the groove, feel more optimistic. Right now though? The last thing I want to think about is schoolwork. The thought of it makes me sleepy.

I’m going to approach the last half of the semester with a more balanced mindset so I don’t let myself get so crazy stressed that I can’t even function. I will try and be more accepting of getting Bs instead of killing myself for As, just to prove I am smart. And next semester…. I am taking only TEN credits!! Which technically isn’t even full-time, but really it’s all I need to take before I apply to the upper level program. Matter of fact, this will be my last ‘full-time’ semester of the entire program!! That is hard to believe. But most of the upper level semesters will be anywhere from 5-10 credits. Here’s how I have it laid out on paper (pending I am able to register for the classes):

FALL 2012

AS 511 – Anatomy & Physiology of Animals (3)
AS 512 – Anatomy & Physiology of Animals Lab (1)
AS181 – Work Study (1)
MICRO 20 – General Microbiology (4)
PE 225 – Yoga (1) or Tennis (1)
TOTAL: 10

-apply for Upper Level courses-

SPRING 2013

AS 470 – Laboratory Animal Care (2)
AS 402 – Topics in Vet Technology (2)
AS 430 – Clinical Pathology (2)
AS 431 – Clinical Pathology Lab (1)
TOTAL: 7

FALL 2013

AS 410 – Small Animal Nursing I (2)
AS 411 – Small Animal Nursing Lab (1)
AS 420 – Clinical Procedures I (2)
AS 421 – Clinical Procedures Lab (1)
TOTAL: 6

SPRING 2014

AS 412 – Small Animal Nursing II (2)
AS 413 – Small Animal Nursing II Lab (1)
AS 422 – Clinical Procedures II (2)
AS 423 – Clinical Procedures II Lab (1)
AS 480 – Clinical Experience for Vet Techs (6)
TOTAL: 10

FALL 2014

AS 435 – Veterinary Radiography (2)
AS 436 – Veterinary Radiography Lab (1)
AS 441 – Large Animal Nursing (2)
TOTAL: 5

SPRING 2015: GRADUATE! & have a baby. Haha.

Looking at that makes me feel a lot better. I’ve got this! If I can get through this semester… I will never have to sit through 4 straight days of nonstop classes again! (Unless I decide to finish my Bachelor’s one day, but I think you can probably guess that the idea of that is looking pretty unappealing to me right now.)

Stress

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin

Sometimes, life is stressful. Sometimes, it’s too much to handle. Like today, because I have too much going on in my life (all good things – but even too many good things at once can make a person go crazy). Somehow, writing my pre-labs for Chemistry lab has taken my heart rate back down to a more healthy level than it was about an hour ago. Writing formulas and procedures that are systematic, tried-and-true, no questions about it, makes me feel calm. It can be challenging, and our lessons can be hard to understand at times, but there is always a right and a wrong way to do things, and for that, I love it. I love the way everything just “works” in science. It may take you some time to get there, but the solution is set and for that, I am grateful.

Closer to caught up

Posted on March 27, 2012 by admin

It’s been a while since I’ve updated because it’s been my very own version of a hell week. My brother came into town last Friday evening with his three roommates, who were here for the weekend before leaving on a cruise. My brother ran the LA marathon on Sunday, and then was here visiting with us til Thursday (awesome). I love having him here. But I am not used to having to divide my time with family and school… besides just going to class, I had a couple big quizzes and two exams. Not to mention my husband was crazy busy as well and then left for a business trip on Wednesday, so we have hardly had any time together! By the time Thursday night rolled around, I was SPENT. I seriously crashed and it felt so good to just sit on the couch and do nothing. I spent the weekend playing catchup on a lot of homework and studying. I did several of my overdue homework assignments for math, two online quizzes and an online midterm (As on all!). I am nearly at a point where I am “caught up,” but I’m not sure if this semester will ever really allow for that. I am proud of myself for staying afloat and getting all As & Bs so far. Last semester I cringed at every B, now I am like, “hey, it’s a B!” Somehow I feel like I am not completely lost on all the material either, and I actually got an A on my last Chem quiz, which was awesome.

So yeah, all in all a good but busy week. Got to hang out with my brother. Got to play catchup on a bunch of studying, & I started running again which feels great. I ran 4.5 miles on Sat and then did 5k tonight. It’s not always easy to fit it into my schedule, but it always makes me feel so much better.

But now I am tired. And tomorrow morning we are meeting at the goat unit to do hoof trimming, tagging, vaccines, and more fun stuff I’m sure. Yay! Goodnight!

The grossest thing I’ve come across so far

Posted on March 17, 2012 by admin

I don’t get grossed out by too many things in my studying (so far), but I have to admit, syndactylism is totally skeeving me out!!!

Syndactylism is ‘joining together of two or more digits’ – this can mean fingers OR toes. I don’t know why, I’m sure it’s relatively harmless, but it really gives me the heebie jeebies. At least when it’s a human condition… I’m sure if it were a cat with two ‘toes’ stuck together I wouldn’t mind. Yet another reason why I am destined to be an animal nurse… NOT a human nurse!

First Chem exam

Posted on March 14, 2012 by admin

85.5%. SUCK. I wanted an A so badly. I could have had one, if it weren’t for some mind-boggling stupid mistakes I made, like writing law instead of hypothesis and saying that precision is necessary for finding accuracy in measurement when I know it’s true value. BARFF!!!! It is still a high B, so I am happy, and he does drop the lowest exam score, so maybe (hopefully) this will be mine.

But if I end up with a B in Chem, I will still be proud of myself.

Speaking of Chem, lab reports are one of my least favorite things to do. Writing them up takes FOREVER and is painful because the carbon paper we use is so crappy I have to press SO HARD for it to show up on the page behind it. My hand/arm always aches after I’m done. At least it is just once a week… and we are almost halfway through the semester!

A day in the life – 3/13/12

Posted on March 14, 2012 by admin

7:30am – Alarm goes off. Husband is already gone for the day.
8:00am – Wake up, make coffee, shower, get dressed, get books together, feed cats, rush out the door with damp hair and no makeup.
9:35am – Principles of Animal Science lecture.
11:15am – Eat a mediocre chicken quesadilla from a food truck.
11:35am – Library. Study Chemistry – nomenclature for molecular/covalent compounds, ionic compounds, & polyatomic compounds & how to write their formulas.
1:30pm – Intermediate Algebra lecture.
3:00pm – Break, eat a pack of Famous Amos cookies
3:15pm – Back to Intermediate Alg. lecture.
4:00pm – RVT Club meeting/vaccine clinic orientation. Record meeting minutes to email to Club members.
4:45pm – Go visit the new program cats, Kitty & Jack (ADORABLE!)
5:00pm – Drive home
5:30pm – Do the dishes, put in a load of laundry, make the bed.
6:20pm – Go on a 3.5 mile run
7:15pm – Order Thai food for dinner (husband is out to dinner w/ cousin).
7:20pm – Stretch & shower.
7:30pm – Feed cats their 4th meal of the day (I break it up in portions so Scout doesn’t regurgitate).
7:45pm – Eat dinner and watch 10 min of The Good Wife.
8:00pm – Health homework – answering questions about the Root & Sacral/Naval Chakras.
9:00pm – Cut out & study ionic compounds flashcards.
9:30pm – See husband for basically first time today!
10:00pm – Write this post, debate more studying, or finishing the Good Wife, or going to bed early because I am exhausted.

Wordswordswordswordswords

Posted on March 12, 2012 by admin

It’s funny how you can stare at a word & its meaning for hours trying to memorize it without realizing you knew it before you even started studying. Our medical terminology unit is on orthopedics, osteopathy (bone disease), and body regions and I have gotten the word “osteoporosis” wrong about three times. OSTEOPOROSIS. The word that is on almost every commercial for women’s health! Like, c’mon.

I think my brain is on strike from adding new information. But I will force it to go on. Because I know I can and I am determined to get straight As! I got a 20/20 on last week’s unit quiz so I am motivated. That is 18/20, 20/20, and 20/20 so far. We only have three more quizzes and then the final in early April. I also have to write an essay about what specific field I want to work in (zoo, small animal, exotics, etc). Then I am done with medical terminology! Until I have to take 402 next Spring that is.

I had my first Chem exam on Thursday and I think I did well. I am really afraid to say that because the simple little mistakes are the ones that seem to do me in, and there is plenty of room for those in Chem. My professor looked over my homework notebook to see if I was doing the assignments (they aren’t graded, just for our own practice) and said “I wish everyone was this neat.” Maybe he’ll give me bonus points for that? Ha, I doubt it.

I am behind in Animal Science because I spent a lot of last week studying for Chem. After I am done with this terminology quiz tomorrow I am hitting the books hard for that one. Our next midterm is in-class and will be a toughie.

Math is kind of like a side note for me, a class that requires a lot of work but not a lot of studying. I spend a gross amount of time doing math homework during the week/weekends but I am allowed to retake my quizzes/tests, which are all online, plus the ones in class are open book. Aka, no excuse to not get an A. Thankfully I do have an A.

Health is… well, we talk about Chakras every week and that’s about it. At some point I do need to write up the last two article reports and do my Lifestreams journal. And I think I need to do a vision board later in the semester.

I decided to skip out on one of my cross-country trips this Spring. My husband is working in Orlando that weekend and instead of going I will be staying here and studying. I will also be going to see the Hunger Games which I am VERY excited about!!! Hopefully that weekend I will get ALL caught up on everything I need to be caught up on because I won’t have any distractions. I just have to make sure that I don’t get sucked into shopping, or TV, or deep-cleaning the house, or any of the other things that contribute to my procrastination.

It just took me 3 minutes to think of the word procrastination because my mind is so full of terms. I guess I need to get a good night’s sleep. But first… more studying!!!

Dean’s List

Posted on March 7, 2012 by admin

Got a letter in the mail today from the school congratulating me on being a Dean’s List Fulltime Honor Scholar last semester. How cool! It is awarded to students taking more than 11 credits in a semester who get above a 3.5 GPA. I knew I was going to get the Dean’s list because I took 14 credits and got a 4.0, but it is still neat to get the paper in the mail. It also said it will go on my official transcript and that if I make it three semesters in a row, I’ll be on the President’s Honor List, which is super exciting. That will look good on a resume one day, or perhaps on a future (like, way future) college application. Just the motivation I needed 2 days before my first Chemistry exam… which is not scantron, I might add… good old fashioned hand-written tests… so much harder!!

I’ve got to update more often with stories from school, by the way. Monday night is my medical terminology/intro to vet science class, so there are a lot of beginner students who are just starting their journey to becoming an RVT or veterinarian, and many of them have no experience or knowledge whatsoever. My teacher, the program director, spends a lot of classtime talking about what the jobs look like, and there a lot of questions as you can imagine. I personally did a lot of research about the field before starting school, so most of it is not new information to me. I do enjoy the lectures though, and I get a real kick out of the questions people ask. For example. Monday’s lecture was on euthanasia, not a fun topic, but something we all encounter and will have to deal with in our careers. A lot of people that go into this field are very animal-rights oriented and thus believe in a no-kill philosophy. My school respects this, though it is not common in veterinary medicine (most doctors are of the belief that if an animal is suffering, it should be put out of its misery), and at the beginning of the lecture my teacher asked if anyone in the room had a problem with euthanasia – no judgement whatsoever, she just wanted to know. Of course no one raised their hand, though I know there are likely a few. At the end of the lecture, this one girl (pre-vet) raised her hand and asked if it was possible to go through her entire pre-vet education and career as a veterinarian never euthanizing an animal. COME ON!!!! I get that nobody wants to do that, but it’s a necessary task in this field. My teacher looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language and said, “I highly doubt it.” What kind of veterinarian will help sick animals but won’t put an old, terminally ill pet out of its misery when it is time to go? Out of selfishness because you don’t want to feel sad? It just seemed like an immature question to me. Veterinarians always have the right to refuse to euthanize a perfectly healthy animal (and many do) but to not want to perform it because it makes you too sad? Time to find another career, most of your life will be spent observing and treating sick, suffering animals. That is a huge part of your job! Another girl asked if the school would give them experience with performing euthanasia. I mean, of course the school will give you experience with IV injections, but no, we do not kill animals for no reason in the program! If you really want experience with euthanasia, I’m pretty sure you will get plenty of experience with that by volunteering or working at an animal hospital or shelter, which is required to both get into the upper level programs and to graduate.

Of course this is just one of the many silly questions that people bring up in class. I should be less judgmental, I just don’t understand how people can come back to school deciding to become a doctor without ever thinking about major things like this. Did you do NO research before signing up for classes???? It is frustrating to struggle to get into your classes because of space constraints yet to have people registering that clearly will be dropping out of the program. But it is what it is.

Enough ranting. Smell ya later.

Weekends

Posted on March 4, 2012 by admin

The tough thing about dedicating Friday & the weekend to “studying” is that most of the time, I don’t do much studying. By the time Friday rolls around so much of my week has been spent around school that I have neglected cleaning the house, grocery shopping, updating our budget, etc. I feel like I spend every Friday just trying to play catch up on all the stuff I’ve missed over the week. And then Saturday seems to be a lot of leftover tasks from Friday, including running errands, trying to see friends that I can’t see during the week, yadda yadda. It’s rough! Sometimes I think this might be easier if I lived in a small apartment again and didn’t have as much to clean or as many pets to take care of. Not that they are a burden at all (c’mon) but it takes me a lot longer to get back to “neutral” so that I can focus on studying. I am also the type of person who hates messes and can’t really relax or do anything else if there are dishes in the sink, crap piled up on the dining room table, the bed is unmade, and so on. I will pull an Energizer Bunny to get it all tidy and by that point I am too tired to focus on whatever I’m supposed to be learning or it is time to make dinner or go to bed. I know there are things I can do to change this. Tonight, for example, I made an enormous pot of vegetarian chili and put portions in the freezer that we can thaw for dinner during the week, which will save me a lot of time from cooking. Tomorrow I am going to make a lasagna that can be reheated as well. I know that as soon as I am done with a lot of the planning for various events this Spring, I will have an excess of free time as well. I am getting closer to “planned” and further away from “planning” everyday!

This week I nearly got sick. I was teetering back and forth on the verge of a sinus infection or cold or something disgusting that would no doubt put a kink in my schedule which really doesn’t have any wiggle room right now. I feel good today though, so I think I may be out of the woods. Still, I’m going to play it safe and not do too much alcohol/sugar/dairy. The green smoothies we’ve been drinking everyday are a huge help as well. I’ve never eaten so many raw vegetables in my entire life!

Nothing super to update about in my classes since last time. My Chem teacher decided not to give us a quiz on Thursday, which was nice, because we have more time to study. We do have an exam this Thursday though so I’ll be studying for that this week. I have to study Unit 3 in medical terminology tomorrow/Monday as well and do a LOT of math homework, which I am about to start right now. I need to catch up on reading for 501 too, but at least I know I don’t have any crazy tests coming up for that because I just finished the Midterm a few days ago.

Oh yes, my first day of Farm Duty was this week. It was pretty much exactly like Kennel Duty was last semester, except you’re only working with farm animals and you don’t have to update medical records. And all you do is rake up/shovel poop and refill water buckets. Sometimes you feed the animals, but sometimes the actual people that work on the farm do that. I got to work with the goats the first day, which was exciting because there are a lot of new kids there and they are so so so so so cute. One was super friendly, a little white girl. She kept coming up to us for attention/petting. She also kept putting her front legs up on the big trash can we use to put the poop in and knocking it over! It was hilarious. My favorite part was when the hay came and all the mama goats went to eat and the babies stayed down in the sun, sunbathing and goofing off with each other and trying to climb on top of overturned buckets. Too funny. And I’m sure to some reading this, raking/shoveling poop & getting dust & hay all over your hands/clothes/hair doesn’t sound like a good time, but I really do love being there. I feel so happy even when my hands start to get blisters, I have poop on my shoes, and I can’t hardly breathe because I’m caught in a dust cloud. I can’t imagine how it will feel when I start taking the nursing classes and can actually do more with the animals than clean up after them!

Also, I really need to work on not hijacking dinner conversations with stories about what I’m learning at school. People seem to be genuinely interested in what I’m learning, but I know there is a tipping point at which I need to reel myself back in. Not everyone wants to know about reproduction hot topics, for example: why artificial insemination can be more humane, or that only 10% of semen is actually sperm (the other 90% is seminary fluid). I can’t imagine why.

Time to get to that math homework. Xo

oh my fur and whiskers!

adventures in vet tech school