Grades are In...

AND I PASSED!!!!!

WOOOO!

Yea I was REALLY worried about anatomy and physiology...

Now I get a few days off and start school again Monday with Diagnostic Imaging. We are using Radiography in Veterinary Technology by Lisa M. Lavin and it is the 4th edition.

Tuesday I have my first day of job shadow at the vet clinic! Super excited! I already know they're doing a spay on a 5.9 pound chihuahua which shall be interesting.

Not gonna lie, I'm really nervous about it...

Wednesday I start Lab Animal Medicine which should also be interesting. Mice, rabbits, and rats... oh my!

Some goals for the summer semester:

1. Get more organized. I've already started accomplishing this some. I purchased a dry erase calendar which I put over my bed. Along with this, I'm colour coding everything. So, diagnostic imaging is blue, lab animal is purple, job shadow is orange, and changes and choices (blech) is pink.

2. Pass my classes with a B at least! I don't want any C's like a got this semester. I would really like to achieve at least B's in all of my classes! I think its a great goal to go for.

3. Relax. I don't think I let myself relax enough. I get so stressed so easily and I need to relax every now and then. This is a hard program and I think if I let myself get stressed, it will make it a lot harder.

I have some other odds and ends goals that don't really have to do with school, but I'll put them down anyway.

1. Lose weight. I've been kind of trying but not really seriously. I want to lose weight. I'm getting married next July and would just like to lose some. :)

2. Camp NaNo. Camp NaNo is like NaNoWriMo except in the summer! June and August I think. I really want to participate in this and am super excited. It'll be hard in June with my classes, but that's okay.

3. READ. I want to get back into reading. I've had to put it aside because of school, but I really want to start reading seriously again.

4. Beat the Zelda games I've started! I'm currently playing both Ocarina of Time for the 3DS and Twilight Princess for the Game Cube. I WANT TO BEAT THESE!!!!

Summer Schedule:

Monday: Diagnostic Imaging 9-12:30 (twice until 3:30 because of lab)

Changes and Choices: 6-9pm

Tuesday: Job Shadow 7:50-4ish

Changes and Choices: 6-9pm

Wednesday: Lab Animal Medicine 9-3:30

Changes and Choices 6-9pm

Thursday: Job Shadow 7:50-4ish

Changes and Choices 6-9ish

Friday: Job Shadow 7:50-5:30

Saturday: Work 8-2

Sunday: Work 10-Whenever

Yea... Busy summer... BUT summer classes end July 9th so it won't be to bad!

Well, I have homework I have to do before Monday so I'm off!

Megan

Playing With Poop 2

It's been a while since I've updated (sorry)...

We haven't actually played with poop for a while BUT the last time we did... I finally found something!

The poop that I had had hookworm eggs in it. It really is as exciting as everyone else who has found something has said.

I wasn't sure at first if it was actually what it was, but after looking close (and confirmation from the teacher) I determined that that was in fact what they were.

Thankfully all of these worms are very treatable and usually won't make the animal sick.

Since I updated last, we had our clinical technology lab. It was a lot of fun and definitely an eye opened at some of the things this job will entail. It was my first time restraining an animal while something was actually done to it and it wasn't easy. I feel like I need to start working out as a matter of fact! Of course, the dog we had was a little nervous which didn't help matters any.

However, I learned a lot from the lab and can't wait to get into doing this this summer during my job shadow/experience.

We also had a test last week in parasitoloy and part of it was a practical in which we just had to look at a slide and decide what eggs we found. It had all three (whips, hooks, and rounds) so it was pretty easy. 

All in all, its been an interesting two weeks. This semester is almost over! In fact, I have 3 exams a week from today (ahhhh!). 

We've also started dissecting cats for anatomy & physiology. We finished studying the muscles a while back so we're looking at them closer. My partner and I are so afraid of cutting the wrong thing though! We have been successful and it is in fact really interesting to see all the muscles we've learned about up close.

Well, I'm actually off to class now!

I'll try and update this every... oh let's say either Thursday or Friday until the end of the semester then probably Wednesdays or Thursdays when summer semester starts.

Take care!

Megan

Playing With Poop

Yup.

Playing with poop.

That's what we've been doing the last couple of classes and what we're going to be doing for the rest of the semester.

It's actually a lot more interesting than you may think, especially when you actually find something.

I haven't found anything yet, but my friend was able to find something the first day we did it. She found whipworms which are a little more rare than the others.

This is what they look like.

As you can see, they have a really unique shape compared to some of the others. Our teacher says they look like footballs with nipples.

I was able to test my cat's poop today for eggs, which basically means letting a sample sit in a certain solution for about 15-20 minutes with a coverslip that you would put on a microscope on top of the solution and the eggs float to the top and end up on the coverslip.

Thankfully, she didn't have any eggs. 

Well... at least not in that particular sample.

You can't say that the animal is ever negative for worms, you say that there were no oocytes (eggs) seen.

Also registered for fall classes today!

Four classes (Clin Tech 3, Anatomy and Physiology 2, Clin Path 2, and Pharmacology) for a total of 13 credit hours. 

That's less than I've been taking so it shouldn't be to bad!

We'll be playing with poop again on Thursday so I'll update again with if I find anything then!

So, until next time. :)

Megan

Introduction

Hey everyone who bothers to read this!

Before I really get into this blog, I wanted to do a little bit of an introduction about myself and the program I'm in.

My name is Megan and I am 21 years old. I work at a Humane Society which is definitely helping me and teaching me some valuable lessons before I become a vet tech. I currently own a cat named Bubbles who is 6 and a hamster named Nutmeg who is probably about 2. We recently had to put our 16 year old dog down back in October and it was extremely hard.

I am currently in my second semester of a veterinary technician program at Muscatine Community College.

I wanted to start this blog to document the rest of my time is this program and talk about the hardships and victories that I go through.

A little about this particular program.

This is a two year AVMA accredited program, including a summer semester. It is very hands on and is getting you ready to take the Boards exam (which, by the way, I'm not looking forward to).

This summer, along with a couple of classes, we will also be doing a job shadow/job experience class which I am incredibly excited about.

Besides talking about my struggles and victories, I also wanted to talk about the job experience I do this summer. I plan on putting things I do on a day to day basis, of course withholding and names of clients.

I hope if you are reading this, you are as excited as I am and even if nobody ever ends up reading this, I still plan on keeping this going.

Thanks!

Megan Smith