Shifting Gears

"It's time to practice being a good clinician", that's what Dr. Stimmelmayer told me as she "high fived" to my starting 5th semester news. The shift in how we think has been clear and present from one class to the other. We're starting to throw around a term....diagnosis! My first experience of doing this was during our first clinical pathology lab where we did cell counts, packed cell volumes, and urine analysis. We were presented with a case and blood samples to then analyze.

Dr. Kelly also held a wet lab on physical exams and this coming Friday we will have another wet lab on ultrasound. I got to work on a dog named "Rosa" where I did a head-to-tail physical exam....good times. I hope that someday I can look back on this long journey and only wonder how we did it.

Today we hosted Dr. Casey a racetrack specialist from Maryland. He shared a wealth of information about the latest in joint injections in race horses. Tommorow we will host Dr. McClure an expert and authority in shock wave therapy.

Last Friday we got to do rectal palpations on the cows. Compared to my first experience before I started Ross it was like night and day. Back then I had no idea what I was looking for, all I knew was that the I was supposed to slide my arm all the way IN and feel around. Friday I had a greater appreciation for the anatomy, and got to feel ovaries, and a fetus. You can tell who has done this before: I was covered in cow poop = beginner, other's where clean as a whistle = experts.

I was impressed by a story Dr. Casey left us with: He mentioned various stories about his veterinary school experience in Tuskagee. One of them was regarding a professor whom was known to be super tough on his exams, and not the nicest of professors by far. But what stuck with him was his professors willingness to meet with his students at 4 am twice a week to squeeze in extra surgical practice. Now that's dedication, nice or not, being their when it counts!!

Ready to Roll

shottin' clay pigeons at Matt & Cherie's

Well I made it to 5th semester!! This semester we will get to actually touch an animal. We'll start off with rectal palpations on cows this coming Friday.....heeeeehaaaww! Just gimme some lube and I'm good to go, I've done this a few times. My two week break was all over the place, from NorCal to SoCal to Mexico and back! I had to take Chump to my mom's place in El Ranchito, Michoacan. Chump has been there before and he quickly picked up where he left off with his girlfriend "Leyvee". Before I left to MX I shadowed the vets at Pioneer Equine in Oakdale. It was great to see the vet profession in action, it always gets me excited!

Auntie Mek fixin' the hair and Nic

While in MX I got to see many cousins and their teenage sons and daughters I hadn't met. Given that my trip there was only 24 hrs I got to visit with my grandmas and grandpa, and many aunts, uncles and aunts. I even got to drop by my uncles bar "El Caminero" around midnight. It was a light night so I talked to him for a few minutes. I told him that Sharie and I would like five kids, so he leaned over and said:

Nic flyin' her first kite

"mijo", "I'm gonna give you the secret recipe". "If you wanna have a boy go at day 15 or 16". "If you go day 17 it's a girl, day 14 it's a girl".


My uncle has about 30 kids between 7 wives at the age of 66 so I suppose he has some credibility...we'll see.

Mami and Indee at Leeward Cove

Now on St. Kitts Sharie and the girls are enjoying the new place at Leeward Cove. We already have plans for family and friends to visit. So those of you who haven't booked a date better hurry up! This semester is a rainbow of colors as far as my professors are concerned:

Dr. Beths: French (super duper thick accent): Anesthesiology

Dr. Shockry: Egyptian (super thick accent): Toxicology, Pharmacology II

Dr. Sedon: Kiwi (kate = cat, taste = test) Clinical Pathology

Dr. Kelly: Australian (not too bad) Small Animal Medicine I

I'd have to say Small Animal Medicine is the most interesting to me so far. Toxicology just doesn't do it for me but I'll manage. Anesthesiology I haven't figured out if I like yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I can figure out what Dr. Beths is trying to say.

We'll it's time for a diaper change, a few notes and hit the sack!


Laters,

Sergio

since we live on St. Kitts our nicknames are "joker" and "giggles"

our mechanic: "happy"
our maintenance guy: "blaze"

Paul Bandemer

Life is quickly put in it's place when tragedy strikes. On April 27th a very good cycling friend died in a car accident. Paul Bandemer was a father of two and husband who lived in Oceanside, CA. He taught Sharie and I to surf in Carlsbad where he was born and raised. Paul was kindly referred to as "Big Paul" because he was unusually tall and muscular for a cyclists. He was soo tall that I remember him standing in the surf and pushing Sharie on her surf board so she could catch a wave. I also remember doing a ride with him on highway 2 near Wildwood, CA. He descended fast because of his build, easily dusting all us light climbers. On that ride we started the downhill and I tried my best to draft off him. However, soon he opened up a gap of about 200 yards on me. Down the road I noticed Paul was weaving left and right on the road and then he tumbled. As I slowed down to check on Paul I had noticed a deer limping away!!!! Yup Big Paul hit a deer and lived to tell about it! I hadn't talked to him for about two years now but I always remembered Paul because he has a son about the same age as Nicole. He was the type of guy that I would trust with my family a great guy. We will miss you dearly Paul.