Hey everyone,

Taking a study break right now, so I'll fill you in on what's happened
at the clinic.

With my schedule I can only be at the clinic at 4 pm on some weekdays
and only on Saturday.  Arriving at 4 pm is just in time to start with
closing procedures.

On Tuesday, it took four tech to medicate Oogie.  Yes, count them,
FOUR.  Theresa holding the scruff, Tosha holding the front legs, me
holding the back legs and Mike giving hte medication.  Oogie was QUITE
vocal in showing his distaste.

When we were done, Theresa told me to hand on to the back feet and we
would return Oogie to his cage.  "Ready?  1,2,3!"
REOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Two people holding a squirming, royallying pissed off cat walk about
five feet to a cage and literally toss the cat inside.  Whew!

Let's see, there's a really cute cat named Maisy staying for a few
days.  She's shorter than most cats are from nose to tail, but her
belly is HUGE!!  So imagine a gray and white short and fat cat.  When
she meatloafs you can really see the tummy bulging out on both sides.
hehehehehe.....

Last night when I came into the clinic, I was told to get onto the
closing procedures and stay on it because the doctors were trying to
get through their appts and prepare for emergency surgery.

Apparently a black labrador named Pepper thought he could jump over a
fence.  The owner came home to find the dog impaled on the fence.  Poor
guy!  He had lost a lot of blood, and had two holes in him, but still
seemed BAR (Bright Alert and Responsive)

I took a brief sec to look at Pepper.  He was on fluids, but wasn't
showing any obvious signs of discomfort or shock.  I guessed that he
had been stabilized and was resting as comfortably as he could.

I talked with Julie, and we surmised that because Pepper wasn't in any
obvious pain(restlessness) or hemorrhaging any blood that there wasn't
any life-threatening organ damage at the time. The vets were confident
that he was stable enough to wait a few hours without being in danger.
Otherwise they would already be in surgery.  They stabilized the dog
and once all the appts were done Dr. C would go into surgery and open
up Pepper to see how bad the damage really was.

Well, we were short staffed so Theresa and I cleaned up the clinic and
went about our closing procedures.  I wanted to stick around and help
the doctors, but Theresa told me to keep on with vacuuming and mopping.
*sigh*

It's times like these when being the least experienced tech really
sucks.  I want to stay and help, but I don't really know much so I'm
sent away to go clean something.  it's frustrating at times, because
how am I going to get experience if I don't actually do something?  But
I don't know enough to really be of any help.

Like one morning, I was in early and was walking the dogs and Dr. S.
asked me why the blood machine had not been turned on and calibrated.
Well, I didn't know how to do that.  Why not?  Because everytime I've
been there in the morning someone else is doing it and when I try to
find out more, I'm told to keep walking the dogs.  It sucks sometimes,
because even new stuff I do learn I don't get a chance to really
practice because some other experience tech has already beat me to
doing it.  I'm supposed to jump in and find out stuff, but that's kinda
hard when you've been told to go clean something.

Ah well, I'm learning more and more so hopefully I'll reach a point
when something will come up and I can prove myself.  In time...........

When we were all done  Dr. C was still in surgery.  We tried to peek in
but we couldn't see anything.
Finally at 7pm, an hour after closing, Theresa and I have nothing to do
except wait.  The Doctors said we had done a great job closing up and
we could go home.  From what I heard, Dr. C had found that the
abdomenal wall had been punctured just behind the bladder.  I couldn't
find out anymore information (sorry!) but I hope that Pepper is okay.
I'll find out tomorrow when I go into work.

Okay, time to go back to studying about drugs and other anesthetic
agents........

Kristi