warped

That's right.....I can park here, finally!

Burrhoda is camera shy

Nic enticing Che che with Cheerios

Gloria lookin' for some treats

we will surely miss south friar's beach when we leave

First round of exams were my best so far. The professors probably figure we've been through the ringer and have proved ourselves worthy. We got our donkey "Burrhoda" and MuFossa our Sheep. Burrhoda sure does have an attitude, but she's coming around slowly. Sharie and the girls come out to watch me SOAP (assess) Burrhoda. Twice, someone (on cue)has stopped to want to take a picture of "the family" watching papa SOAP so we try our best to pose.

Of course here at RUSVM taking photographs is against school policy due to some pro PeTA student. Such student (1) has warped the facts and released photographs of our post operative animals. It's unfortunate because implementing such a rule will not be effective (but it's a try) and more importantly will make it seem as if we have something to hide (which we don't). Anyhow if your interested read the article from our local St. Kitts paper, our dean put it very well and I support him 100%:

http://mail.rossvet.edu.kn/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://sunstkitts.com/paper/?asknw=view%26asknw=view,view%26sun=171540048302272008%26an=400549086502262008%26ac=Local

In my opinion if PETA really does feel that we treat animals inhumanely here then I have news for them.....the way we surgically treat animals is at the same if not higher standards than the average US veterinarian. So perhaps the veterinary profession as a whole should be condemned?

Indee's latest hang-out

Homestretch

future construction worker?

So far the semester has been kind. We're in the middle of midterm exams and I've managed to pull of my best grades thus far in Large Animal Surgery and Theriogenology. I still have Large Animal Medicine on Monday but I don't feel as prepared so far....I still have a full day of studying left tomorrow.

Today I met with the Ross Board. Apparently the CEO, President, etc. of DeVry (own Ross) wanted to meet with three Ross students. I'm not sure why I was selected maybe it was random. Regardless I showed up and expected only 5 or 6 folks. To my surprise it was like 20 or so folks ready to hear us share our background and experience at Ross. They asked us a few questions and then we were on or way. Nice people.

We had some very special visitors recently, Auntie Mek from Ventura, Uncle Dave and Auntie Carol from Bakersfield. Even though their visit was brief it was special to have them here. I know for sure Nicole very much appreciated seeing them. I'm not sure that she understands the way we are all related. She does however, understand that they look similar to Grampa and have a similar body language so she warms up to them immediately.

Auntie Mek and Nic

Uncel Dave and the girls

Nicole has been asking to go to school so we called around to see if we could get her enrolled. Now she's officially a Ross Prep School student. Occasionally I sneak over to their playground and see her from a distance in action....it's great to see her grow up, what a privelage!

let the education journey begin...

We got our surgery donkey and sheep last Tuesday. So far our donkey Burrhoda has a bad attitude. I've taken the time to look at other groups with their donkeys and it seems like they are so friendly. We SOAP (assess) our donkey and sheep in the mornings before class and at 4:30pm. This last Thursday Burrhoda gave us a glimpse of hope as she showed a little love to us. I'm sure my surgery partners thought the same thing......it's gonna be hard to see her go for our terminal surgery. Im definitely not looking forward to that day, but I remind myself that she is serving a noble purpose. I will make every effort to learn as much as I can from her in the hopes that my future patients will benefit someday.

Oklahoma State

backyard at Leeward

grampa working on dinner!

That's right! Stillwater, OK to be exact. My first official day isn't until May 19th, 2008 so that means we have exactly a month to transition from the rock to Oklahoma. If heard nothing but great things about OSU: they were the first ones to break the mold and invite foreign graduates for clinicals and they love Rossies. So it sounds like I have a reputation to maintain at OSU. I had them down as my 3rd choice, Colorado was my "longshot" but I put it down anyways and Missouri my 2nd. I'm so excited about going to OSU especially for their large animal/food animal rotation.

This semester we are taking Large Animal Medicine II (LAM II), Large Animal Surgery (LAS), Theriogenology, and Practice, Management & Jurisprudence (PMJ), and Introduction to Clinics II. Intro to clinics has us go through various rotations (emergency, clinic, surgery, ambulatory, etc) as an appetizer for clinicals stateside.

So far I'm enjoying all the classes, especially Dr. Wallace's LAM II. Here were learning everything and anything about all cattle, sheep, and goat breeds.

Grammy and Grampa were over for a week. Grampa enjoyed golfing nearly everyday! Grammy was content chasing the little ones around.

dinner has been served!

7th

I made it to seventh! Now I get to park in the exclusive seventh semester parking. Sixth semester was brutal and it will take a while to forget it. The learning curve was steep in sixth but looking back on it there was no other way but straight up! Mentally I was embracing failure before I checked my grades on the computer. Sharie kept talkin' about all this plans and I had to remind her we had to pause until we found out the results. As I've said before here at RUSVM one day your a vet student the next day your not.

Word is that seventh should be a little easier....well maybe a lot. Lets hope so because I'm just recovering from sixth (12 days later). We had the Palitang's visiting from CA about a month ago. The girls had a blast it seems. Dennis I'm sure got a kick driving on the wrong side of the road St. Kitts style.

The Palitang's

This break I will once again be an orientation leader for the incoming students. If anything I'll be a testament that vet school is possible if you apply yourself resiliently. People fall many times, it's just a matter of getting up fast every time.

It's funny but I keep checking my grades to make sure I passed....as if it weren't real. It must be real, otherwise this is a super long dream. Alright, talks to ya laters.

Sergio

squeezing by

This semester is by far the toughest. Other semesters tested my determination, consistency, etc. This semester is testing my faith! I don't think I've ever gone into finals feathering the edge, a sneeze away from failure. I got so wigged out a few weeks ago that I couldn't focus on my studies. So far the semester feels like I'm all over the place. What makes this semester so challenging is that we have to start "bringing it all together". I'll admit I've been feeling quite stupid lately. Somehow vet school is chipping away at my confidence with a jackhammer. I hope I don't crack!

So many new things are thrown at us. Taking history's, SOAPing, surgery, surgery reports, anesthesia, paperwork, machines....it's too much! We are always under the gun and expected to know everything, amazing I tell you. Sometimes I have to split my time between studying for an exam and learning everything about the surgery I'm performing. I remind myself "I signed up".

Well lets hope for the best. I'm going to try and find the drive, determination and faith to make it through these last few weeks.

Sergio

Primera

Primera ("first" in spanish) was our first surgery dog. Chosing to do this was an unsettling decision. Nonetheless it was a decision I made a while back when I decided to attend RUSVM. We were given PCV (packed cell volume) and TP (total protein) and a brief signalment two days before surgery. This of course was 1 of 2 terminal surgeries we will perform this semester. After getting the results I quickly walked over to the kennels to meet my patient. She was a middle-aged, thin, timid dog with pendulous mammae, a far too common site on the streets of St. Kitts. All I could think about was her last sunset, her last meal, her last walk. I'm a sensitive kind of guy I'll admit that, but as Dane (my surgery partner) and I knelt down petting Primera I could see he was certainly thinking the same thing. Thanks Primera.

Desperate measures

This semester is proving to be tough. I'm enjoying it except for the part when I see my test scores. Currently we are taking our first rounds of exams and I'm starting to feel the burn. We will start our first surgery in two weeks. I will be running the anesthesia machine while my two lab partners do surgery.

Last week we had a lab practical exam. It was intimidating because they only allowed one student at a time. Walking into the lab we had four stations to be tested on. The first one I had to demonstrate gowning and gloving to the Dean. Now, I've known the Dean from swimming we usually pace each other. So naturally I had the added pressure of not messing up and he had the added pressure of not being too harsh.

Anyhow, next station was with Dr. St. Jean of whom I've cycled with on numerous occasions. Here I had to chose from one of five blank 3x5 cards. Upon turning it over you find out which suture pattern you will have to demonstrate. Once again I was a little shaky about proving to St. Jean that I can bust out a Horizontal matress like I can ride a bike.

Next station Dr. Bruhl-Day a gentle giant from Argentina and perhaps the best Surgeon on campus. Here I had a bad draw and chose the card with Halsted suture pattern. I started out right, Bruhl-Day questioned, I hesitated thought too much and ran out of time!!! But hey he's from Argentina that's close enough to Mexico and I'm Mexican-American...perfect!

Last station was with Dr. Pope my small animal surgery professor. Here I had to demostrate quartering off a pillow with huck towels followed by securing them with towel clamps. I breezed through this station and probably resonated with confidence as I swiftly finished. Later I found out I pretty much did everything wrong. The next day I went to Pope's office to find out where I went wrong. To my surprise there in the corner a yellow Trek road bike!! To think that I could have gone on ride with Pope was a chronological frustration!

In my opinion this lab practical was a crapshoot. I've never been the type of person who does good on anything concerning luck. For exampe, if I have to guess on a true/false question I usually do the following:

Choose the answer I believe (gut feeling) is the right one, then choose the opposite. Anyhow, this semester is proving to be very very tough. It's a tall order but I'll do as much swimming, pedaling as I have to. Shoot I'll even sing the Argentinian national anthem.....well maybe not a good idea. As they say "desperate times call for desperate measures". Well I better get back to my studying because that's all I'll be doing all weekend. Thanks for reading.

Sergio