Friday, June 23, 2006

Cute bra

Second semester is in full swing and it's crunch time now. Parasitology has been getting alot of my attention lately as it will be the "bread and butter" of being a veterinarian. Anatomy has been fun this semester as I have a keen interest in large animals. What is cool is that the donkey, goat, and swine body systems are similar in some areas and not so in others. However, in the areas that that are similar it re-enforces what I've learned with the dog. What I wasn't counting on was learning about other organisms like fleas and mites, but hey it's all interconnected.

Now that I'm knee deep in parasitology and bacteriology I don't want to touch a blade of grass, pet a horse, eat sashimi or walk barefooted. Call me paranoid but the truth is that they are everywhere, looking for the perfect environment (small intestine very popular) YOU! For example I did a google on a parasite I could've sworn was spelled cutebra, the search result revealed numerous sites for "cute bras". Well I've been in parasitology long enough to know that wasn't a parasite so I checked my spelling. . . . Cuterebra. Now this guy likes to lay its eggs on rabbits and rodents but also consideres humans and dogs. The larva penetrates the skin and Bam! A month later this bad bow below emerges from a hole in the skin!
not to be confused with a cute bra
Well the girls are back after a brief hiatus to the "Cowboy capital of the world". Sharie has been going through cowboy capital withdrawls ever since she arrived. Here's a picture of them arriving (planes fly right over our roof top).
I see this soo much that I know when the pilot is coming in too high or too low!

Dr. Berg: "let me tek you to z bar, I wants to show you sumzeen"

Sergio: "uhhhh...Dr. Berg do you think it's a wee bit too early in the day for a drink?"

Dr. Berg actually wanted to take us to the "barn" to show us the material we need to know for the next palpation exam of the pelvic limb. The horses pelvic limb starting from top to bottom goes a little something like this: boring, boring, boring, interesting (knee), boring, what was that again, whoa, whoa that's alot of stuff from the hock down. The horse has many structures, vessels, nerves, bursa, retinaculums, bones, you name it and it's no wonder why so much goes wrong from the hock down! Alright, I'm gonna relax before things get crazy for the coming week. Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae

Sharie and Nicole have been gone for a week now and am starting to miss Sharie complaining about the sugar ants or the clothes line. I'm also missing Nicole wanting to sit on my lap while I'm studying or running around and having a hissy fit. We have her potty trained so let her run around without a diaper, but when she throws a fit she takes a leak on the spot.

pee fit

Nicole wants to do everything Papa is doing. If I'm studying with headset on, she wants in on it too. If I'm walking chump she wants it too, or if I spank Mama on the toosh guess who wants to spank too?

hee hee

The cool thing about being in school is not only that I'm getting in debt, but that we get to attend voluntary inservices. These include such topics as turtle conservation on St. Kitts, hoof care, horse handling, or as we did last week horse physical examination by Dr. Yverchuk. There's always something going on in terms of learning to the point that it's impossible to try and make all of them.

Max checkin' out heart sounds on Ricky

Interesting to know that Max and I were inspired by the same veterinarian (Dr. LeTourneau) to go to veterinary school. We grew up about 40 minutes away from each other and met each other on some remote island because of one great guy!

How's this for a tounge twister: Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae

Learned that bad boy today, bacteriology isn't bad. It's parasitology that I have a difficult time with. I equate learning parasitology to cracking open a phone book and trying to memorize random names and their corresponding phone numbers. Don't get me wrong I've learned a great deal but it all comes down to bulk memorization and I suck at that! I prefer subjects like physiology where one can make a story out of biological pathways. Anyhow back to bulk memorization.