Alright, its been a while since I've posted but school has been absolute madness. And now I'm finally on spring break and ALL I want to do is sleep. I will just take un-planned naps every time I sit down, its nuts. It doesn't help that I've been eating a lot of junk food...candy bars...so I'm blaming it on the sugar crashes and the fact that I don't really have anything to do otherwise. (Even though I do have a page long to do list-which I am ignoring successfully) Whatevs, I'm trying not to feel guilty about it, apparently my body needs a lot of sleep and it sure as hell wasn't getting it the last 2 months. So I can now finally sit down and bang out a post, if my hypothalamus will let me stay awake long enough (sorry, just had a neuro test right before spring break so I've still got the brain on my brain, ugh bad joke- sorry again). So there were a few things I wanted to write about but I wasn't sure how to tie them together so is just gonna be a willy nilly random one.
First off, I got to witness my first birthing experience a few weeks, maybe even over a month ago, not sure the weeks have started to blend like a fast carousel ride. I actually stuck my hands and arms up a cow's vagina and got to help push out the baby; I would've helped pull too but the Dr and 4th yr resident were both he-men and were straining with it; hopefully I wont be expected to turn into hulk to help pull a calf if/when I get into this stuff on my own. They put chains (smaller links but yes actual chains) around the 2 front feet and attach those to hand holds and just grit down and pull. It was nuts. I thought they were joking at first when the Dr. said go get the chains. Apparently it doesn't cause much damage to the calf and they recover pretty fast. Not a way I would chose to come into this world but hey, gotta get them out of there somehow I guess. The whole thing was awesome but pretty brutal; its not an easy process for momma or baby. Didn't make me in any kind of hurry to be pushing anything out of me in a while. They do perform c-sections-out of the side of the cow when the natural path isn't working well, I am excited to see one of those.
SO after that, I was on a pretty decent high and went to check in with the horse ICU, where we learned 2 newly born (2 hour old) foals-yes plural, twins!!! were coming in. In all my years in the horse world (like 16?) I have never heard of twins being born and everyone surviving; its pretty much a miracle. Horses aren't made to carry twins, not enough room and birthing is difficult, not to mention the twins usually have development disabilities from not getting enough nutrients each, so if a vet discovers twins they usually try to abort one for the safety of mom and the other baby. Apparently their vet wasn't so great at palpations or ultrasound because no one had any idea until 3 front legs were trying to come out at the same time. The stable owner who was trying to help mom had no clue what was going on so he just picked a leg and shoved it back and shooting out came 2 foals. They were hypothermic and super weak but they were alive and fighters. I had never seen such a baby horse, their hooves were still soft for gods sake. We got to try to warm them up, bottle feed and give fluids. They weren't strong enough to stand and nurse so we had to put a tube to their bellies in and left a jugular cath in to give fluids if they got dehydrated. These were thoroughbred horses, so they were even more legs than normal foals. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures for the clients privacy sake but I did manage some kisses when no one was looking and I will always remember cuddling with them to "keep them warm" when really it was fulfilling my dream from when I was 5 years old to cuddle with a newborn horse. Turns out the owner was a total jackass and he was running a breeding operation for race horses and since these girls were twins, they were much smaller than normal and would continue to stay small so they weren't going to be good racers. He took the mom away 2 days after and was ready to euthanize these miracle babies but the bleeding hearts of the vets, students and everyone else who saw these girls fight for their lives got involved and that day a 4th yr student stepped up and took them home. One of the vets kept asking me to do it, he could tell I had fallen in love, and I was just picturing our little trailer with Aggie the pit bull, Bart and Marley the fat cats, Norman the bird and 2 foals running around. It would've been quite an experience. Reality won out and I'm sure they are in a good place now. :) I was so pleased to see a happy ending. And it made me realize, no matter what kind of vet I become, I will never get away from the assholes who only care about money. They own every species of animal and are in every town in America. Just something I am going to have to get used to dealing with.
Sorry for the novel, it was just one of the coolest nights of my life and I want to remember it forever. It was one of those moments when you realize that it doesn't matter how hard the rest of the work is, you absolutely love what you are doing and would NOT trade it for anything else. A feeling I would like to hold on to when I'm up at 3 am studying for an exam or cleaning up poop after a long day of taking orders from other people. I know I am in the right place and there are few better feelings than that.
Also, something that deserves mentioning, no doubt, is my friend Ashley and her recent brain aneurysm. I was kind of waiting to post anything to sort out my feelings and see how she was doing and after a short time in the hospital and a quick brain surgery; she is in rehab and working her right side limbs like no other. I can't even begin to explain how scared I was when I first heard, and now it is hard to explain how amazed I am by her strength and progress. Its not everyday that you get to see and hear about absolute astonishing things and I get to write about 2 in one blog post! I love all my friends and of course, respect and look up to them; but she is truly an inspiration of strength, resiliency, positive energy, and persistence. I have no doubt in my mind she will be able to get back to where she was snowboarding, soft-balling and being all around amazing with whatever she decides to do. Seriously, sometimes the english language just fails us with words, and expressing my pride and happiness in her recovery is one of these times. Love you with all of my heart Ashee, can't wait to hug you in person and rub that bald beautiful head of yours :)
Also, I just turned 24 not so long ago. I realize it's not that old so I'll save the-my life is passing me by panic attack- for myself but its not so young either. I was able to go to Phoenix the weekend before my b-day for a swine conference and get money for traveling and interviewing a Dr. there so it was basically a free trip home and happened to have pretty sweet timing too. Also, pretty much the only reason I joined the club was for this trip and I think it was worth it :) I was a good student and went to a 11 hours of lectures and took notes so I feel like I wasn't totally cheating the system, but the more I heard about swine vets and their jobs, the less it appealed to me. I will probably continue to stay in the club though, there is a lot of money in swine and they are throwing it at students to get us interested, plus they pick cool places for the convention...Denver next year and I think Cali after that. Anyways, I got to stay with 2 of my besties, Bina and Jo, and see Chels all the time since she conveniently lives about 1/2 a block down the road. They were nice enough to cart me back and forth to the convention and hang out with me at night and threw a nice little surprise party with my fav ice cream, icing turtle, birthday banner, wine, bananagrams and all around awesome times of hanging out with them! And their boy halves who I adore as well-but not like the creepy kind of "I adore you" Ginger was talking about. Thanks girls, it was one of the better b-day celebrations I have had, and its some tough competition-I've had some awesome parties in my 24 years. I also got to do dinner with my parents, brother and grandma who drove up from Tucson to meet me, which was sweet and nice, and had some actual good Mexican food.
Once I got back we had two tests that week-including my least fav-histology- so my actual birthday wasn't the best time I've ever had since it consisted of a lot of studying but my friends up here did make it special with an awesomely decorated brownie cake (pic on fb), cupcakes, funny cards and a harry potter balloon. I definitely felt the love that day so thanks! We did go out for some yummy Thai food after the histo test on Thurs and they sang to me again (3rd time) :) so I definitely got to have like a birthday week. 4 yr old Savannah would be so proud-she stretched the day out to a month if she could manage it. It was awesome.
Alright I'll wrap this novel up, I just can't believe how blessed a person can truly be. The next month and half left of school is going to be ridiculously difficult but I'm going to try to carry the love and support and good feelings I have from revisiting all these great things through with me. Still no clue what I'm going to do for summer but I'm sure I'll figure something out, if not, maybe I'll jut be a bum and soak up vit D to battle the frigid yellow ball they call a sun out here. :)
Happy St. Patty's day!
