It's Christmas Eve!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!  

It's snowing a lot here in Dubuque right now.  We're up to four inches since last night.  Those four inches on top of the two feet of snow already on the ground, adds up to too much snow for me to shovel.  I attempted the other day when we got around 3 or 4 inches.  The actual pushing of the snow isn't so bad but the lifting -- that's awful.  When the snow pile is about as tall as I am, I can no longer add to it.  Like I said, I attempted, but it was a failure.  Luckily Nate was there to rescue me again.  Our two-person team consisted of me pushing the snow to one end of the driveway and him lifting it to the top of the pile.  By the time we had the driveway shoveled, another half of an inch of snow had fallen.  In fear of not being able to move the next morning, I retired to the house and let my dad and Nate resume the shoveling at a later date.  The best part of shoveling is providing Addie with ample time to lie outside in the snow.  She loves to spend time outside accumulating small piles of snow on her back and tiny icicles from her mouth.
 

Last night was our Gilligan family Christmas.  Good news!  I received an electric mixer!  (See previous blog about cupcakes).  It was a lot of fun last night.  Lots of laughter, chatting, presents, cookies and a few drinks here and there.  My mom distributed her homemade rings and mittens that everyone fell in love with.  I wore my mittens the other day while I was shoveling and I can definitely say my hands were toasty warm.  My only problem last night was that for some reason I only ate one cookie.  I must stop writing now so that I can go meet my cookie quota from yesterday and today.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas Eve!

Christmas shopping

I was taught from the time I was little, to put family and friends before material things.  "Things" are cool, but if you aren't surrounded by loved ones, the coolness factor of the item decreases rapidly.  I have been focusing on family a lot lately as I finish my Christmas shopping.  Of course, the inevitable with SHOPPING is that it is filled with "things" too.  As I wander through the store aisles (or click through the categories on Amazon.com), I have to remind myself why I am shopping in the first place.  It is easy to get lost in all the shopping fun, especially with all the great sales going on (Black Friday anyone?!?!).  I always have very bad buyer's guilt except for when I am shopping for other people.  I think that's great.  It keeps me in check when I'm buying stuff for myself but allows me to spend lots more than I should on my family members!  

Despites trying to focus on others during the holiday season, I can't keep my mind from wandering as I see items on shelves that I wish I had in my home.  I love to dream about the day when some of these things can belong to me.  I realize I have a very good life and I am not complaining at all that these things are still in the stores and not in my home.  It's just that as I click from link to link and end up on the appliance page, owning a dishwasher, for example, sounds pretty amazing.  I haven't lived in a place with a dishwasher for 8 years (Ambrose and trailer life) so I am accustomed to washing everything by hand --but I still dislike the task.  Especially the silverware.  They are the worst.  After I am "done" doing dishes, there is always a cup or bowl with 15 pieces of silverware left in the sink to be completed later.  When I was growing up, we had three dishwashers.  THREE!  They meant so much to us, they even had names --Sadie, Emily and Megan.  :-) My mom always said that doing the dishes was a good time to talk and bond.  Looking back, I realize that she was right.  We all did have lots of conversations while doing dishes by hand.  Plus, it was one of those chores that kids should do to help their parents.  Now that I do all my own dishes alone, with no one to bond with and many other tasks that also need to be completed, the benefit of washing dishes by hand is less obvious.  

I also realized that I need a mixer.  I wanted to make a cake this weekend.  I have had a box of cake mix up in the closet since the 4th of July.  I know that is has been in my closet that long because it has red, white and blue funfetti sprinkles.  I decided it was time to finally make the 4th of July cake so I got out the mixing bowl, threw in some eggs, oil, water and batter mix, and started mixing.  The directions said to mix on medium to high for 2 minutes.  Well, when you have no upper body strength, there is no "high" or even "medium" setting to mix with.  After a few minutes and many clumps still present, Nate volunteered to do the mixing.  He suggested that I get a mixer sometime in the future.  I agreed. 

So, as Christmas draws near, it is important to remember the people that help make us who we are.  If possible, a gift here and there to express our love towards each other is fun too.  And, it's also not a terrible idea to brainstorm about what future gifts may be -- dishwashers and mixers in my case.

9 rotations left...

Today I checked how much progress I've made through 4th year.  After this rotation, I will only have nine rotations left.  I'm pretty scared for some of them -- like equine medicine, which I have next.  It's not that I'm scared of horses... I just have zero experience with them and a bundle of allergies that attack when a horse is within a football field of me.  I keep telling myself that it will be a good experience, but I'm still quite unsure.  We've all had rotations that were not the most enjoyable and we all seem to survive.  If I can get through equine medicine, then I'll have two weeks off for Christmas.  It almost seems unfair to have another break so soon.  I just had four day off for Thanksgiving.  Like I said, ALMOST seems unfair.  I'll take all the breaks I can get.


This week I applied for a job.  Job searching is a task that makes me very nervous.  I'm worried that I will not find a job where I want to live.  After having a semi long distance relationship for the past three years, I'm ready for the distance to become shorter (or non-existent).  I don't want to be picky, but a job as a small animal veterinarian in the upper northwest corner of Iowa is not what I'm hoping for.  Or a job description that contains any of the following words:  cow-calf, feedlot, mixed animal, or an interest in reproduction.  I also do not want to buy the practice now or within the next five years.  Is that being picky?  I hope not...  I like to think of it as knowing what I want and being motivated to find it.

This week I also put a "FOR SALE" sign in my front yard.  It truly feels like yesterday that I was looking for a trailer to purchase as an incoming first year veterinary student.  It was such an exciting time-- going to orientation, looking at the school, looking at trailers... I had no idea what the next four years would bring.  I had no idea that I would come to love vet school so much.  I must say I loved it more the first few years than I do right now, but I think that's a good thing.  It's almost time to move on and that would be so much more difficult if I was as attached to this school now as I was in the past.  It has been an awesome four years.  I'm very glad that six years ago I decided to apply for vet school.  Even though it seemed sudden, it was something I had thought about for my whole life.  I was very happy the day I left Saint Ambrose.  The day I leave Iowa State will be full of mixed emotions.  I'm grateful for each experience I've had here and I'm excited for the future.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Today is Thanksgiving Day and I am very thankful to be in Dubuque, Iowa!  I didn't think there was any way that I'd be able to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year but things at school fell into place nicely.  Well... until yesterday.

Last night I received a phone call that one of my patients suddenly died.  I feel absolutely terrible for the family.  The first thing the owner said to me during the appointment a few days ago was, "Emily, do you want me to have a good Thanksgiving?"  Now instead of having a good Thanksgiving, he is having the worst Thanksgiving ever.  I feel like it's my fault, but honestly I don't think there was anything else we could have done.  I guess that's the evil side of medicine.  We are doctors.  We are not God.  We run tests, read results, diagnose, and treat... but sometimes it doesn't end the way we expected.  I have been on the patient's side before.  My dog was diagnosed with a back problem in June of '06 but died of hemangiosarcoma a few months later.  I cannot blame her vet for not knowing what was truly going on.  I knew they did not have a magic wand, even though that's what patients often want.  No matter what, I feel terrible for the family.  It makes me more thankful for spending the day with my family and my dogs.  I have so much to be thankful for.

One of the things I am most thankful for this year is my future niece or nephew.  Sadie and John will be having their first baby next May.  Most people who know me know that I'm not a big fan of.... well... children... but I am very excited for Sadie and John!!!  Maybe through their baby, I will learn a thing or two about kids and be more comfortable around them in the future.

Even though this week didn't start out the best with the board exam on Monday, I am hopeful that it went better than it seemed.  I want to wish all my classmates good luck on their exam.  We will be vets very soon!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It's almost winter....

I didn't dislike winter until undergrad.  Walking to class each morning at Saint Ambrose was not fun... and my campus was small.  I can't imagine walking to class across the Iowa State or University of Iowa campuses.  I feel for you, Megan and Nate.  I'm still spoiled, only having to walk 5 minutes across the parking lot to the vet school.  It doesn't change how I feel about winter though.  I don't like walking the dogs in the cold or dealing with travel complications due to weather.  I loved planning my days out in California -- thinking about the beach, outdoor shopping, walking down the street to Starbucks -- and never worrying about what the weather was going to be like.  Today while walking the dogs, a bunch of geese flew above me.  "Take me with you" was the first thing that went through my head.  It would be nice to leave for the winter each year.  Having a winter home in Scottsdale or San Diego would be a lot of fun.  As the trailer and Addie's nose gets colder each day, I must face the fact that winter is coming once again and I will just have to deal with it.

I will be taking the veterinary boards exam in a few days.  I'm very nervous but it's something that must be done. All I can do is prepare as best as I can and hope for the best.  I guess that's why I have written anything for awhile.  Too busy studying for boards and doing projects for rotation.  My current rotation is very tiring.  By the end of the day, it's all I can do to stay awake and study for a couple hours (at best).  I want to wish all of my classmates the best of luck on their exam.  Our future lives as doctors is getting closer every day!

But my head told my heart

Tomorrow marks the end of week 1 of welfare rotation.  It has been very interesting so far.  Some sad moments, tough conversations and cold trips outside -- all very eye-opening.  I tend to be a pretty laid-back person.  It's nice to have a rotation that makes me think through non-medical situations that may present themselves to me in the future.  It helps to have a good group of people to think through issues with and a great discussion facilitator to bring up viewpoints that we hadn't considered or questions that hadn't crossed our minds.  Even when some of the issues are controversial, our group discusses things very appropriately.  There have been so many situations this year when people are not level-headed and discussions turn personal.  It's often so difficult to push aside our subjective opinions that influence the way we address touchy issues.  Our heart and heads often do not speak the same language.  As a future veterinarians, our medical knowledge and our desire to pick up and cuddle an abandoned puppy often conflict. 

At the end of the day, I'm so glad to come home to my two rescue dogs.  Neither of them came from very good situations.  Some sort of abuse or neglect played a role in both of their previous lives.  Even when I'm gone all day to class or on rotation, I know they have better lives now than before.  Addie especially has come a long way from when I first got her in the fall of 1st year.  She was a mess physically and emotionally.  I had no idea what I was getting into when she jumped in the back of my car and sat there expecting to go home with me.  She was covered in mats and had a body condition score of about a 1.5 or 2 if I'm being generous.  After shaving half her body and giving her a bath, she paced wearily around my trailer.  She was afraid of sudden movements, lots of noises, excited or angry voices, the kitchen floor, dog toys and spray bottles.  (I figured the spray bottle thing out from using cleaning supplies.)  Overtime Addie has become a well-adjusted dog.  She is still sensitive like all collies are, but she resembles the dog I found in 2007 in very few ways.  

Even after adopting them, it's hard to feel like I've made a difference in the big scheme of things.  There are so many homeless pets continually available.  I guess in the end, maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but I know I am a different person because of them and for that I am grateful.

Social Network

"You don't get 500 million friends without making a few enemies."

This past weekend I went to the movie "Social Network" with my sister Sadie and my good friend Anna.  It was an entertaining movie filled with words that reminded me of my old days in computer classes.  The movie was basically a history of Facebook, or The Facebook as it originally began.  It was interesting to see what Mark has gone through since 2003.  I looked up the "History of Facebook" on Wikipedia afterwards to double check some of the parts of the movie, and it all checked out.  It turns out Napster and Facebook really are related.  Who would have thought my two favorite websites in college were linked.  I joined The Facebook in 2004, the first year it could be accessed outside of Harvard University.  When I first joined The Facebook, it was a fun way to write little things about myself, my interests, my classes, etc.  Now it has turned into the primary way I keep in contact with high school friends and relatives that live out-of-state.  Facebook was actually the primary means of communication between Nate and I when we first met.  I have a near 50-page Word document of our messages back and forth to each other from the first few months-- those were the days before Facebook Chat.

The best part of seeing the movie Social Network wasn't the movie, it was the people I spent the time with.  If babies can have friends, I have been friends with Anna for 25 years.  Even though I'm only 3 hours away from home during vet school, I don't get to go home nearly as much as I would like.  As graduation draws closer, I look forward to spending more time with the people that have shaped me into the person I am today.

Veterinarian's Oath

"Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of livestock resources, the promotion of public health and the advancement of medical knowledge.


I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics.


I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence."


In approximately 7 months, this is the oath that I will take when I graduate from vet school.  It's amazing to me that this journey of veterinary school is almost complete.  I remember the day I sat in Jimmy John's and told my mom that I wanted to change my major like it was yesterday.  Now I'm suppose to be entering the real world with a knowledge base that allows me to be a practicing veterinarian.  I'm not so sure that I'm ready for that responsibility.  Hopefully the next 7 months will make me feel much more competent than I currently feel.


Don't get me wrong, I am excited.  I'm not just a bundle of nerves.  I am looking forward to living on my own, in my own house without wheels, with my dogs.  I am looking forward to a routine that doesn't change every 2 weeks.  I'm looking forward to making decisions for my patients based on my research and not someone else's knowledge.  When my mind starts running a million miles per hour with all the things I'll need to know and do and how much I will be depended on -- I remind myself that I will have to take it day by day, case by case and that Iowa State HAS provided me with a knowledge base that allows me to be a practicing veterinarian.  


If all else fails, I can just google it, right?  Wikipedia anyone?