Vet School at the Beach

I'm Tenley! This is a blog for my vet school experiences down at St George's University in Grenada (class of 2017). I really want to keep family and friends updated through this as well as share my experiences with other vet students, prevets, or anybody thinking of making a huge move for school. I love to talk to people, so feel free to message me with questions or just random bits of conversation. Vet school in the Caribbean is one adventure after another. Seriously. This place is nuts. I wouldn't trade it for the world. TAGS Undergrad Packing Dorms Grenada is pretty Photography Orientation PAWS White Coat Ceremony Funny Haha Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4 Term 5 Term 6

[thehappyvet]

This is a reply to that post which has gone viral about people leaving dogs behind for euthanasia’s and guilt tripping them for not staying.

It’s bullshit.

In my experience less than 10% of patients actually look for their owner after they’ve left the room, and they get endless cuddles from me and my nurse as we perform the procedure. I always heavily sedate them as well so they are relaxed and calm.

Lots of people have very valid reasons for not wanting to be there. For example the owner with four children all different ages climbing all over her and she just doesn’t want any of them to experience it but can’t leave them unsupervised, or the lady who’s just lost her husband to the same cancer. Honestly I don’t judge people for not staying. It’s a traumatic thing and some people just aren’t cut out to experience it.

For me, the shittest part of my job is people thinking I’m some kind of sales shark leeching them of money when I just want to do the right thing by their animal, or treating preventable diseases (like paralysis tick, heartworm, pyometra etc).

Don’t guilt trip people about not staying for a euth. It’s not the worst part of the job, and it’s not up to you to decide what an owner can cope with.

[tdiazsguvm]

Ok. So. A metric shitton has happened since my last post. First: I PASSED THE NAVLE. Second: I am really trying to adult and not give in to adopting every single adorable puppy on my shelter med rotation. Super hard. But, hey! I'll be a real doctor in a few months! (Oh god, why is that so close.)

[tdiazsguvm]

Survived the NAVLE today. Just got a wait until January now for results.

[tdiazsguvm]

Hi there, friends! It's been a while, and I hate neglecting you all, but clinics are where I spend 90% of my waking time. The rest is spent panicking over the NAVLE, which I take next month. So, have this gorgeous picture of my beautiful Charlie Doggie on Black Dog Day! Remember that black dogs are far more likely to be passed over and killed in shelters than dogs of any other color. Consider adopting a black dog--they're great little shadows and they might even save your life.

[tikkunhayam]

Uggggghh

I get that “C = MD” and “what do they call the lowest graduate from med school? Doctor” is often used with scorn for people who like, maybe really shouldn’t be in the field but…

Those phrases are something my dad has always used to encourage me. Because I’m not innately good at math and science even though I want to be a veterinarian. I’ll study my absolute hardest and still not reach the level of my peers who are more naturally inclined to it. And whenever I felt most distressed about my shortcomings my dad would always tell me that even if I could only graduate at the bottom of the class, I’d still made it. I was still good enough, was still competent, was just as deserving of the position as anyone else.

It wasn’t until I was older that I started to realize those words of comfort are actually meant to imply that some people aren’t to be trusted. And I get that it applies more to the people who goof off and scrape by grade wide, not someone who tries their goddamn hardest and still isn’t above average… but I still hate hearing it. Especially from people I respect.

[drferox]

Saying “C’s get degrees” or “the lowest graduate in the class is still called doctor” is NOT used to imply that some of us shouldn’t be trusted as clinicians. Believe me, I know quite a lot about bovine gastroenterology and am telling you that’s bullshit.

We say it to each other to comfort those of us that are burning out, that are driving themselves insane, to remember that vet school was targeted at the top 20% of academic students. If you’re there, then you’re already smart. It’s supposed to challenge you.

I was an A+ student right up until I hit vet school, then had the shock of my life. I finished high school with an ENTR above 96%, which means I was in the best performing 4% of that graduating year. I did not graduate vet school in the top of my class. In Australia we don’t rank our uni students that way, but I know I was not in the top 20%. Should anyone trust me less because I wasn’t the best of the best in a challenging course? Seriously?

And employers don’t care what your marks were, only that you passed and you can work.

We say these things to keep ourselves sane. Goodness knows THAT is an issue we all have ongoing trouble with.

[tikkunhayam]

Aaaand I’m crying (happy tears).

I just…. really, really am glad to hear that. Because aside from my dad, and now you, I’ve only heard it recently in a negative light. Sometimes spoken BY teachers in the medical school where I work at a comparative anatomy lab. Which is obviously, extremely disheartening because these are the people I look up to and admire and work under and are of equivalent standing in human medicine to the kind of people who will be teaching me once I get to vet school. 

But I know that I have the drive, and the genuine interest in veterinary science, and the genuine desire to devote my life to the craft, same as many of my friends. I know I can be a goddamn good vet because I personally, expect nothing less from myself. Its irritating that the school system has me doubting myself simply because it has reduced my accomplishments to ‘my numbers’ vs ‘their numbers’ in a cutthroat competition against my peers and keeps telling me that finishing the race- even if I’m a straggler towards the end- isn’t good enough, even though I did finish and thats’s ultimately the important thing- as you mentioned with employers not caring about my marks.

In other words, this has been a long ramble because there is no way to verbally express how extremely freakin’ grateful I am reading your response and having what my dad told me confirmed as words of hope and I’m just really emotional right now, thank you thank you.

[drferox]

You are welcome little vetling. Take care of yourself.

The vetblr community is here.

[tdiazsguvm]

Clinics: The Beast

Or: Wow, I didn't know I could be this tired and still pass as a functioning adult. Hey lovelies. You'll all have noticed that I've been distant for a while on here. It's not because I love you any less--it's just because the end of sixth term ended with a sucker punch that is all the feels of leaving my island family behind and trying to get a grip on my new reality of living back in America. It was hard. I have my apartment finally (mostly) settled and put away, my dog has made a bunch of new friends, and I'm running blind through clinics and I don't even know where the time has gone. It's absolutely absurd how quickly things are going here. I'm in the middle of my third rotation and that is still blowing my mind. I am in clinics. I am less than a year away from having my degree. I'm gonna be a doctor. (I'm gonna have moldy towels if I don't get them out of the washer soon.)

[tdiazsguvm]

Hello! I was just accepted to Saint George's University to begin veterinary school in January 2017 in hopes of returning to UF (my undergraduate school) for my clinical rotations. Do you have any advice on how to keep your head above water? I was very excited about the experience until I was accepted and now I am quite nervous/scared.

Don't worry, dear! Everybody is nervous/scared/excited/terrified to start vet school! Add into that mix the fear of the unknown--you'll be moving to a foreign country if you go to St George!--and that's a pretty potent mix of anxieties. My best advice to you is this: Take the help offered to you. SGU has a bunch of study help sessions specific to different vetmed classes, all taught by students who just took that class. It is a phenomenal resource. They can help you figure out what to focus your studying on, how that professor teaches and tests, and what time is best to head to the grocery store. See if your study style has changed: the things I used to do in undergrad would have gotten me failing grades in vet school, so I had to seriously adjust to find something that worked for me.Another thing that a lot of people forget is to schedule some 'me' time in. First term is chaos, but there's enough free time that you'll never have again in other semesters and you will kick yourself for not using it. Get SCUBA certified. Climb a mountain. Go on a hash through the rain forest. Go see the turtles nesting in the spring. Take your books out to the dock and study there instead of being cooped up inside. Grenada is beautiful and you'll find that you're a better person for not being stuck solely to your books.Everybody is in the same boat down there and nobody expects you to know everything. Your classmates and the upperclassmen will become your family and somebody will always have a rope to toss you if you fall overboard.

[tdiazsguvm]

SORRY I'VE NEGLECTED YOU ALL SEMESTER BUT THIS IS MY LIFE.

[tdiazsguvm]

When we last left our adventurers.......

I do believe that it was pre-midterms that we last spoke, and I told you all of baby goats. We're still waiting on professional pictures from that little jaunt and I've run through all of the rotations except for two. Ambulatory is still my favorite, but medicine and the shelter med one were also lovely. :)What's not to love about petting doggies and giving vaccines? Also, I got to not look like a complete idiot in front of my favorite clinicians and now they all know my name. Planning for our class party is heavily underway. We just sent out invitations for our professors today and we've already gotten back quite a few responses. I've disassociated myself from the serious seriousness of it for my sanity and placed myself in charge of silliness for our class. Right now, the class is nominating and voting on awards and superlatives--traditional vet school things, like "most likely to become a crazy cat lady" and "Disney Prince". Professor awards include the "Foot in Mouth" award and "Best Hair". As of tomorrow morning, we will have 52 days left of school and exams and then we will be unleashed on the world of clinics. God help us all. Also, next weekend, I'm going to Barbados! Woo! (It was cheaper to fly there and go on vacation than it was to go home. And one of my very good girlfriends is from there and arranged it all for us. <3 )

[tdiazsguvm]

Exams, Apartments, and Baby Animals--oh my!

Hi everybody! As it turns out, sixth term is even crazier than fifth. Shocker, I know. You would think that I would learn, but you would be wrong.

I had a midterm on Monday and I have the rest the week after next. I finally found an apartment in Florida and am just reviewing the lease, but it’s looking good. So, life has already kicked it into high gear.

So far, ambulatory has been my favorite rotation down here. I castrated three pigs, did physicals on a couple of goats, and then went out to see some juuuuust this side of feral horses for exams. I have a couple of pictures with baby animals that I’ll have to update the queue with because the east of the semester is going to be nuts.

[tdiazsguvm]

Round 6! Fight!

Not really, that just kinda sounded cool. I've been back on the rock for 2 weeks now, and I have a final on Monday in exotics. And that sums up how freaking busy my first two weeks into 6th term has been. We start rotations on Tuesday, so the chaos will continue. Luckilly, I start with a week of clinical pathology followed by a week of pathology, so they're pretty light rotations, so I may actually catch up on notes. (I dream big.) I've been looking for an apartment in Florida for the last month and have a few places in mind, but it's absolutely nerve wracking. As we all know, I despise moving. I loath it even more when I will be moving into a place that I have never seen before AND that place is in an area I've never been to. At least I'll have my dog and my car. So, that's the story of me so far this term. Time to gear up for a new adventure.

[love-vetsurgeon-acvs]

The Veterinarian's Prayer

Guide me in medicine. Please let me find the tiny, dehydrated vein of the ancient kitty when I am asked to perform euthanasia under the emotional eye of her owner. I ask for this first, Lord, because it is my single most common reason for prayer, so let’s start there.

Lord, help me be a good doctor. Not even a great doctor like House, MD, but at least a doctor who will not space out and miss the glaringly obvious stuff that every veterinarian should know.

Lord, let no other doctor look at one of my medical records, shake her head and think, “What an idiot.”

If I do make a mistake, please let the lesson find its way firmly into my memory and not onto Google reviews or Angie’s List.

Grant me patience and understanding

Grant me a future that includes someday not having to work on weekends. And until that day, I beg you for a few Saturday shifts that are not completely insane.

When the anal glands express erratically, may their contents find my coat and not my face or hair.

It is not lost on me that the truly wonderful pets seem to have a significantly greater chance of getting an incurable illness at a young age. If these pets have memorable names (Professor Snacks, Captain America, Chipper Donut, Jabba Bear, etc.), live with children and have delightful owners, their long-term survival rates are even worse.

While I do not seek to understand your reasoning for this, and I am grateful for those pets that seem to be too bad to die, I would really appreciate it if more of the great ones could live nice, long lives.

Give me self-control

Bestow upon me the strength to eat heartily from the holiday veggie trays that clients send and to merely sample the brownies.

And when my strength fails (as it will), please guide me to be more reasonable in my goals and aim at least not to eat the entire batch before the technicians know the baked goods have arrived.

Make smooth my dealings with staff

Please make me the kind of veterinarian other people enjoy working with. Please let the technicians and receptionists like me for the right reasons, and if one or two of them decide not to like me, let that be for the right reasons, too.

Also: Might I request to be scheduled to work when the staff training meetings involve free lunch—and off when they do not? Speaking of schedules, please smite the technician who calls me at home early Saturday morning when it is not really, absolutely, without a doubt, critically necessary. Smite him good.

Give me wisdom in handling clients

I thank you for all the wonderful clients you send into my life each day. When it comes to those few who are less wonderful, help me to recognize the cases that I should refer away immediately. In extreme cases, feel free to strike me with an illness so I am not in the building when the true nightmare cases come in. If I were able to choose between getting pneumonia or getting sued, I’d take the former.

When I call the mean owners to check in on their pets, let my call go to voicemail. Likewise, please do not let the mentally unbalanced breeders find out where I live. I don’t want to have to choose between moving and changing professions.

Finally, please give me the wisdom not to ask any pet owner when she is due unless I am absolutely, 100 percent sure that she’s pregnant.

Amen.

[love-this-pic-dot-com]

Reindeer Parking

[tdiazsguvm]

I can officially announce that I will be going to the University of Florida for my clinical year of vet school!

Now, I just have to find somewhere to live.

(Luckily, I have some awesome friends familiar with the school to bounce things off.)

[tdiazsguvm]

Goodbye and Good Riddance

This semester has been one hellhole after another.

Classes were fine.

The entire universe seemed to be against my entire class--with a special proclivity to keep kicking me while I was down.

But it’s done. And, unless I really screwed up big time, I should have passed all my classes.

[tdiazsguvm]

Pre-Finals Life Update

Hi guys! I know I haven’t really been on here much this semester, and it’s not totally because nothing other than school has happened–it’s very much the opposite. I’ve had many adventures, both in vet med and general island stuff, but they’ve been peppered with my apparent inability to remain healthy for the last month.

I’ve been in the hospital for a few days and in the school clinic’s treatment room so much that I’m about to demand that they rename it after me. I’m doing much better now, so no real worries there, but I am definitely glad to be going home in just over two weeks so I can get my body under control. (On the upside, I lost 6 lbs in a week.)

So, that’s where I’m at. I’ll likely procrastipost while I’m supposed to be studying, so you’ll probably hear from me this next week. :)

Love you all! Tenley

[4yearsofvetschool]

There are two types of people in veterinary medicine

Those that hate abscesses,

And those that love abscesses,