So after my last entry, the elections to determine the next POTUS happened and only recently, did the counts became official. The electorates would formally submit their votes to confirm Joe Biden into office next week? Also after being rejected from the super cool heart valve place, I saw this university position open and applied for fun since I have a background in education. Being "relatively" fresh out of school with no real experience in animal hospitals and whatnot, I didn't really think I was in a place of consideration but the odds worked in my favor. It's partially because there were two positions open, I think, and my manager's open to hiring technicians at any level.
I never thought I'd be working in a general practice when it came to being a veterinary professional but if I had to, I know I'm in the right place. I'm pretty lost at everything, especially since I spent like two months studying research animal material in preparation for interviews with research facilities. It also didn't help that after being rejected by the HR (almost instantaneously) of several places and applying for positions that would just be filled or taken down not to long after being posted, I started to catch up on reading comic books again and put everything I learned in technician school back into the archives of my brain.
When it comes to working with vet students at the moment, I'm really awful at answering questions because (1) I barely know how the place operates and (2) I barely remember anything I learned in school. A lot of it is coming back, but I'm still the most amateur, novice, rookie person amongst my colleagues and it doesn't help when even the part-time veterinary assistants are so well versed in the things I should already know. Nonetheless, everyone is super nice and supportive. Being in a pandemic helps a bit since vet students in the hospital are limited and clients can't physically be in exam rooms until herd immunity is reached, so I have some months to know my shit and talk the talk but that doesn't go without me making mistakes and being awful at the skills that require physical practice. I don't even have a dog or cat at home, so it's a bit difficult to even practice and review things I learned in school.
I'll list some things that others may learn from my mistakes:
- Listen to how many CCs/mls people ask you to pull for them and pick the syringe closest to that amount. That'll save you a scolding, but also it really does make a difference when it comes to accurately pulling up the correct dose. I'm so used to using 3ml syringes that I naturally just gravitate towards pulling them out of the drawer, especially when it's the primary syringe for vaccines and the refrigerated drugs. And then there's drugs like propofol, which usually ends up needing more than 3ml syringes because it requires a projected high dose, but only given until effect (titrated) and all animals require a different amount to become sedated.
- I've been writing notes for clients on post-its just to remind myself to tell it to them but also give to clients, and I only recently realized that I could've been typing them up as "discharge" instructions which look way more professional than a pink post-it in my ugly handwriting.
- I forget that x-rays often are either abdominal or thoracic and if they're not, it's usually joint focused. And if it's not joint focused, then it's specifically bone focused (but I don't often hear those shots being requested). A vet student asked me once what kind of focused shot should be taken for an arthritic dog's lower back and I was like "femoral?" when it should be like hip joint or something...IDK.
- This should be like an obvious one but if the owner doesn't mention like "he got a vaccine right?", I'll forget half the time to remind owners to monitor for vaccine reactions, provide examples of signs of that, and what to do if it does occur (which isn't often but it does happen).
- I absolutely hate dealing with money (estimates and invoices) because it makes all the difference in the world when it comes to helping the animal get the best care they can receive and dealing with a client with multiple pets at the same time is almost always a guarantee you'll forget something when it comes to billing, so...take your time...double check your notes and written instructions. **Not that working in research doesn't deal with money but it's a bit different because it's either from the corporation [which is basically unlimited] or through research grants**
There's probably more but I can't recall at the moment. Some cool things I've done or been a part of since working at this vet school:
- I saw my first reptile surgery which was a tail amputation. I also saw how to intubate a lizard which is a bit different from a snake but easier than a cat? You also really get to hear and see how much slower the heart pumps and how little breaths they take. Moreover, if you're like me, you'd wonder why a tail would need to be amputated for a lizard when most of them have the ability to drop their tail? The tail attached, however, had signs of necrosis and it didn't occur to me that even though they could drop it, the priority now was to stop an infection from occurring and traveling into the blood stream (sepsis).
- I scrubbed into an orthopedic surgery which was kind of like a..."I wasn't expecting this nor am I ready but ok" moment. I didn't really do much besides hold a plate in place so the doctor could drill into the side of the dog's knee. I knew I wasn't going to faint or anything because I've sort of trained myself to see the insides of animals through videos of people doing museum research prep work where they skin dead animals, but holding the leg and feeling the drill go through and seeing the surgeon take a saw to the leg isn't the most fun thing to watch. Likewise, seeing open flesh and a dog's stifle joint and bone exposed is like looking at fresh bloody chicken?
- The other day, I was taught how to do a rectal exam because your finger is already up the butt to express anal glands. I was basically told to feel for the landmarks (the urethra below and sacrum above) and then feel for uniformity.
- I've also been corrected numerous times for holding dogs and cats wrong and improper vaccine administration, so don't feel bad if you think you're a dumb POS because I'm also a stupid POS.
- Old dogs with heart murmurs can take gas anesthesia fine (we only use sevoflurane which is the safer of the two options anyway, other being isoflurane). The only time it's really contraindicated would be if congestive heart failure is found in x-rays, so that'd be the next procedure to do before getting an older dog into surgery or dental cleaning. You'll want to look at the size of the heart and see if there's any fluid in the lungs. Bloodwork is also super important in determining which drugs to use for sedation and anesthetics. Likewise, going on the chest x-ray thing, there was an English bulldog in for 'trouble breathing' and the exam went fine until it started developing into an emergency situation and the owner ultimately decided to euthanize. After the dog was intubated, given regular breaths, and provided emergency drugs and had radiographs taken, it totally sucks when you try to help return a patient to a normal state but then find that the dog may have developed a mass in its oral cavity and whatnot (not sure what exactly because you don't want to be intrusive with the doctors and the owner around). One of the options was to provide another passage way for the dog to breathe via tracheotomy which is basically cutting open a hole in the throat (think of those smoking ads in the early 2000s). English bulldogs, as cute as they are, have no benefit from the really smushed faces and chunky bodies they've been bred to have. It only makes it harder for them to breathe and difficult for doctors and technicians to treat because of their really fat necks and shortened muzzles. It was pretty wild being only 3 weeks into my new job and thrown into all these situations I'm not ready for (or ever will be, unless forced into it).
- Grain-free diets are not good for dogs, unless they help with food associated itching. The argument for grain-free diets is basically that since dogs are descendants of wolves, they need a more "carnivorous" diet because they're practically wolves but dogs and wolves are different. They split from a common ancestor thousands of years ago. It's just like how humans and monkeys split from a common ancestor a long time ago, yet we're not pushed to have the same diet as a gorilla or chimpanzee because we know that our species have adapted to an omnivorous diet (and dogs have developed the same diet as both species cohabitated together for thousands of years). Long story short, grain-free dog food is becoming ever more clearly to be associated with dilated cardiomyopathy. The scientific proof is yet to be published as research is still continuing. But if I'm being taught that, then there's enough evidence for my colleague to confidently inform me and other vet students about the connection. **But as a general note though, correlation ≠ causation. Just because one study says something doesn't mean it's fact. It's just what they found...and that can be due to poor controls and whatnot. But when multiple studies lead to the same conclusion, then you can confidently say 'yeah, this causes that'**
I'll share some pictures but not of patients since you never know if they run into your blog or something.
Although I do post a lot of the cute and happy things to my Instagram stories a lot from my work, there's also the patients that are poorly raised or just develop complications that can't be remedied by a general practice. I'll never not get glossy eyed and on the verge of tears over people deciding to euthanize their pet. Watching as the propofol puts the patient to sleep and then the euthasol stops the heart, while I'm just standing there with the doctor and owner around is...not fun.
I constantly have to remind myself that euthanasia is part of animal welfare and prolonged periods pain and suffering is not a good feeling. What's worse is that our pets can't communicate how they're feeling and sometimes hide the fact that they are in pain and it's probably one of the wildest guilt trips a person can take from it.
Well anyway, I got my first "adult" paycheck a couple weeks ago. I wish I was paid a bit more but at least I know my college education and license has a contributing factor to my position and wage. Also, the fact that the paycheck was for about 1.5 weeks rather than 2 weeks due to the Thanksgiving weekend, speaks some volume. I'm also super used to just seeing checks being less than $400 that it was kind of a 'wooah~' moment when I got this in the mail.
But with that, you got to spend money to make money, so I've bought a lot of junk since then. A week or two before I started working my new job, I went back on a more comprehensive skincare routine because I wanted to clear up my acne and ultimately just come out from mask wearing with clearer skin. I went from just using moisturizer after washing my face to a toner, serum, acne treatment, and then moisturizer after showering. If it's the morning and I'm in a rush, then it's just acne treatment, moisturizer, and then sunscreen. More recently, I have to also moisturize my neck a bit more with a thicker moisturizer to try and stop the eczema around my neck from flaring up. My neck still itches on occasion but it's not as bad as this one specific day during work where I was insanely self conscious about someone possibly bringing up the fact that my neck looked insanely red.
I can't say that my skin looks significantly improved, but it doesn't look as red and pimples don't appear as much? Treating acne takes time and dedication, so I shouldn't feel discouraged that I'm only 4-6 weeks in and nothing much has happened. Besides that, I went into this rabbit hole on YouTube focused Android head units being installed into older cars and found how easy it was to install one into a 3rd generation Honda CR-V, so I bought a random one (just knowing it had Android 10, 2gigs of RAM, and like 4gb of ROM) and some prying tools and did it over Thanksgiving weekend. If I had to solder wires, I probably would've just stuck with cellphone holder attached to the vent but it was already pre-wired to a harness and was basically just plug-and-play.
The main reason for that was so that I could use Android Auto which required me to buy a separate USB attachment to plug into the USB plugs that came with the head unit as well. The head unit itself was less than $200, so I didn't feel bad if it broke in a year because I could easily just replace it without much struggle. If it was like the other ones where I'd have to remove a huge chunk of the dashboard, then I definitely would've spent a bit more knowing I paid for some more quality but it does what I need it to do. Pinch to zoom in Google Maps is kind of hard to use on it, but I only really need it to know how traffic is, play music from my phone via Musicolet (since Google Play Music shut down and YouTube Music is a POS), while simultaneously charge my phone. Prior to that, my USB-C port was occupied by an auxiliary-to-USB-C plug and my 30 minute commute would pull some battery before I even started my shift. Most recently, I used the speech-to-text function when I hit traffic to respond to a coworker and it worked which was neat, but not as smoothly as I thought it would. Also, my mom called me a week or so ago about how to read QR codes (because basically every employer's COVID survey is through a website), and I thought it would play my phone call on the car stereo after accepting the call but it was just via my phone on speaker. It does what I need it to do, nonetheless. I watched a YouTube video of a guy who installed one in his Subaru and he had to buy a on/off switch placed between the dongle and the unit because he said it messed with the radio. I ended up doing the same thing after noticing and realizing that I had the same experience of the radio continuously breaking off every couple of seconds. I realized it wasn't the actually connection of the antennae to the unit but the app and the dongle repeatedly keeps attempting to search for and connect to a phone to activate Android Auto, so that came in handy. I only ever use it for short car rides where I'd rather listen to my local NPR station via the radio rather than the NPR One app because the app plays stories catered to you rather than what's actually being played live on the radio.
Consequently, during the Thanksgiving weekend, I bought myself a new watch and a Vitamix blender because I had the money to. First, I needed a new watch because I had a Fitbit prior and it wasn't a good watch to utilize for counting seconds or creating a timer to set reminders. I ended up getting a Ticwatch Pro 2020 mainly because I saw it was heavily discounted and that it was a WearOS watch, so it had Android integration alongside many watch faces that I could use. I also liked the fact that it acts like a regular "kid" watch when the screen turns off but it kind of sucks when I'm looking at the second hand, I'm working with a dog or cat that isn't staying still, and it shuts off to save battery. I wish I could program it to sleep after a longer period of time but there isn't. Either way, I have a shortcut on the main watch face for a timer and a stopwatch which is so convenient. Likewise, I have a calculator I can use on my wrist, so I don't have to pull out my phone. I can check notifications on my phone and reject phone calls via my watch too. I noticed it doesn't really notify me about my Outlook emails but most of my work email stuff doesn't even relate to me, so it's not that big of a deal. And then to my second reason, my Ninja blender was starting to smell like burnt plastic again and I'm on my second stand. I'm anticipating the part where it just loses the strength to spin and eventually just stops responding to me pressing the level 3 spin button. I also bought a quality stethoscope because I'm so invested in my new job that I felt that it was appropriate to. During school, I would see people get it as a graduation gift but I wasn't even sure if I ever needed one, especially since I was planning to go into a part of the veterinary profession that focused more on rats and mice? I ended up getting a 3M Littman but not the cardiovascular one because those were over $100. I did notice, later on, that the doctors had the cardiovascular ones but it wasn't really necessary for me, since I'm not even that great at hearing murmurs and abnormal lung sounds.
Being that I'm becoming more adjusted to my new job now. I'm less stressed about learning the hospital management computer program and the stuff I should know from school. Now it's really just being more comfortable and better at the skills I know how to do and talking to people without stammering and sounding like I don't know what I'm talking about. Currently due to the pandemic, I'm on winter break like the students of the school but if there wasn't a wide spread infection situation, I'd probably be working on a modified schedule. Sitting in my room, I've been bothered by the sound of my desktop fans, so I bought replacement fans to replace the 8 year old fans that came with the case. And after much thought, I decided to not be wasteful and to keep using my case, but replace the internal parts to create a new computer. I don't want to buy all the parts in one go, so I'm just buying whatever parts drop in price and go from there.
I already replaced my fans, so I don't need new ones nor a new case. I also replaced my video card back when the pandemic just started and there's a shortage now apparently, so it's hard to find a nice and new mid-range graphics card (mine was new in 2017). I bought a new CPU the other day since there was a significant price drop for it. I also needed a mediocre CPU cooler with it because it doesn't come with a stock cooler which I find odd. I guess when they get to the high end tier, Intel knows that people just don't use them? I don't plan to overclock anything though, so it sucks for me but whatever.
I just need a new motherboard, DDR4 ram because I only have DDR3, and a SSD because I want to be modern and have my computer boot in 30 seconds. I might also need a new power supply but according to Newegg's calculator, I should have JUUUST enough to supply everything. We'll see if my new computer boots or not, I guess...hahah...
Incidentally, I had to buy my mom a new phone since her old one was annoying me. There was a point where I made her Nexus 6 lag so much that the screen froze and split into two within it, not physically. The fact that the camera also doesn't auto-detect QR codes was another thing, so I bought her the same phone that I have. Now we both have OnePlus 7Ts but she has the gray version. She's been complaining about missing her wallet case which is my fault for not noticing that the case I bought on Amazon was sold and shipped by a third-party, so it'll be a couple more weeks before it comes. The phone was only like $350 bucks and I had 5% cashback on PayPal purchases which lightened the burden a bit.
As much as I'd like to be cooler and want to consider a Stinger or an older Genesis G70 or something, I need the fuel efficiency and those interiors don't appeal to me. Moreover, I don't live near a Hyundai dealer, so taking it in for maintenance wouldn't be convenient. Basically, I want fuel efficiency and not a giant car, but also not an ugly car either?
Lastly, I plan to buy a new car but it's not an immediate need. I'm waiting for my mom to find the ownership papers for my dad's car so I can trade his POS car in for it. I was also fearing that I might owe a lot in taxes for the coming year because I didn't withhold anything when I was claiming unemployment, so I thought about taking advantage of rebates and tax credits for buying a plug-in hybrid but I doubt I'd make enough to really benefit from it. If I'm estimating correctly, by the time I do have to file taxes, I won't even be in the bracket to really owe a bunch of money back, so it's not a big deal.
I'm pretty much set on the 2020 Kia Niro Touring Special Edition in Solar Orange because I want the LED headlights, orange accents, 10.25inch infotainment screen, and the Harmon Kardon audio system. Furthermore, I need the fuel efficiency and the usefulness that a hatchback gives over a sedan because my future dog will most likely be sitting in the trunk space. I also don't want to sacrifice style which is why I prefer the larger wheels and rims of the Touring trim. But if it comes time and my local dealer doesn't have it in stock, I might consider the Honda Insight in EX trim or wait to see what the next generation Niro looks like before deciding.
Is that all I had to say?
I do miss the gym very much. I'm hoping it'll open by the time my 32nd birthday comes but I doubt that. I've been so cold that I don't even want to work out in my room and coming home from work tired, just wanting to shower, eat, and then sleep again doesn't help. I'm hoping my gym doesn't end up closing for good because I've already sort of planned out how my morning routine would go once the vaccine rollout is wide-scale and the positivity rate significantly drops.
I've given up working out since I started working. I'm just trying to work on my diet for fat loss now but I'm not exactly tracking my food intake and weighing my food either. Will this become my demise? I did work on my legs the other day and now they're super sore since I haven't used them the way I used to 3 weeks ago. I wanted to work on other parts of my body as well but my fingers are ice cold and I have no motivation besides wanting to crawl under my blankets and ruin my sleep schedule.
I'll just focus on my new job in the meantime...
I also noticed that my age is wrong on the side box thing. I need to fix that...
Merry Christmas~!
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