Smorgasbord

Ready for a GIANT update? I recommend preparing yourself, this is going to be intense.

There is a hurricane coming soon. Probably tomorrow. We're ready though.

(got the picture from a nifty iPad app my dad got me. Pretty awesome, right?)

Our old landlord gave us a giant bag of fresh fruit from our old yard a couple of weeks ago. It was delicious. We made lots of guacamole and mango salsa. This is a definite pro of living in the Caribbean!

Om  nom nom

What am I going to do with such a GIANT avocado??

Make a new nose for myself.

My donkey is true to his name. He is an A**. Seriously. I thought that maybe we had become friends a while back, and maybe we had, until I lost his trust. The only procedure he was scheduled for this term was a casting lab where I learned how to apply fiberglass casts to a limb. It was a lot of fun for me, but not so much fun for Bullwinkle because he had an adverse reaction to his sedative medication and became very angry and aggressive. All the hard work we had put in before that was lost and it was back to square one. The upside is, my donkey now has minty fresh breath at the end of each exam. Why? How? Dinner mints. Those red and white hard candy mints you get at restaurants? Donkeys loooooooooove them. Yes, I use bribery to examine my donkey, and I have to admit it works great. Yes he still kicks and bites but in a more manageable way where I don't end up with giant bruises. Moral of the story is, carry a pocketful of mints anytime you need to get a donkey to do something, and both of you will be much happier. Bullwinkle also knows his name now too, or at least the sound of my voice when I call his name. Either way, it makes finding my donkey in a group of 60 others much easier. Now, this isn't what my donkey looks like (and unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him) but this is just so hilarious... so enjoy. :)

What are gas prices like at home right now? They seem absurd here currently. I finally did the math (had to convert EC to USD and liters to gallons) to find out that gas prices are currently around $5.60/gallon. Ooooof. It hurts. Good thing the island is so small and the furthest I ever drive is about 5 or 7 miles. Electricity is also getting absurd. You don't want to know how much I paid for electricity last month. Let it be suffice to say it was nearly double this month last year. Oooooof.

I've been dreading talking about this, and now I'm even so sure I want to get into the details anymore. Long story short, I experienced my first patient death. I was in charge of the anesthesia on someone else's sheep. I chose very safe drugs that normally have zero adverse reactions, and they have reversals in case of reactions. Well, our sheep was special, and he had an instant allergic reaction to the drugs which caused him to get fluid in his lungs and his brain almost immediately after the drug was given. We reversed then drugs  and did everything we could to get rid of the fluid in his lungs and brain. He did recover that day and after 2 days of close monitoring and nursing care he was ready to re-enter the herd. He did great for almost a full day but was found dead the next morning. It was quite sad at the time as us students who were in charge of his care were shocked by his sudden death. The professors working with us were shocked too. We did a necropsy (which is an autopsy, but on animals) and found changes in his lungs and brain as expected for what we saw during the anesthesia. Poor guy. Anyway, out of this I learned more about what it takes to be a doctor and the responsibility that is on your hands. It is tough and stressful but I can't wait to get better at it and really know how to take charge. I'm glad that I was able to experience an event like this, but it is never fun to see your patient pass away. It also taught me to never get too comfortable with the drugs we use, you can never predict how a patient will react and it is very important to understand that. Thank you Latte, for being an awesome sheep and a great learning experience for a future veterinarian.

On another note, Rocky's "mohawk dreds" along his spine came out. Now he just looks like all the other sheep. So much so that I even started examining the wrong sheep a couple weeks ago! Oops.

Over August break I want to do a little sewing project for the fun of it. I want to make these adorable little lamb pillows...

Adorable, right??

Yesterday Matt and I went on a cat trip with some friends. It was a gorgeous day, probably the last gorgeous day until this storm blows over. I'm hoping that it will just be a storm, not a hurricane.

Here are the boys enjoying some drinks on Nevis where the boat stopped for a couple of hours:

Lastly (for today) I have my mock spay procedure this week. I have to pass it to pass the semester. I'm not too worried but I'm still practicing a lot. The other day I looked at one of the suture packages I have more closely than usual only to find out that it was made in Portland, Oregon! Crazy how things from Oregon find me on the island once in a while.

I realize I still have to finish talking about the europe trip... a few months late. I'll get there, eventually.