Last week in Charlotte

I'm in my last week of externship at the specialty hospital in Charlotte. On Saturday night, I head back to Athens to a home I haven't seen in 3 weeks. I'm hoping that Gabriel and Brendan have kept it clean or at least clean it up before I get back (hint, hint, Bubby).

My impression of my time here at the emergency/specialty clinic is that it is a fantastic place. The doctors are all top of their fields and very willing to educate me while we go through their day treating patients. I find that they are quite generous and happy to explain lots of the reasons behind their diagnostic tests and treatment regimes. I always want to know which parts of them are pertinent to a general practitioner in a regular vet's office and which are too advanced to occur there. Since my plan is to go straight into private practice next year, I need to know what I will personally be able to do for these patients and when I need to just refer to them.

Next block, I'm on Orthopedic Surgery, a notoriously brutal, busy rotation that allows no free time for person life. I am anticipating very little time with my husband, baby, or friends. Guess that's med school, for ya. To make matters worse, I am to share the burdensome caseload with only 2 other vet students from my class, when the minimum number is supposed to be 4 students. Sometime there are even 5 students to split up the responsibilites of the patients, but I guess we're just going to be extra busy. I think the reason it's such a hard rotation is that they have a lot of cases, since cruciate ligament ruptures, hip problems, and bone fractures are so common and often too advanced for the general practitioner vets. I know I don't plan to do much orthopedic surgery when I get out either. Also, the post-op patient care is very intensive, since most of them are big dogs who can't walk and are very painful, ie dificult animals to care for. Also, besides being responsible for just my own patients and their treatments, I am also on-call some nights and responsible for all surgery patients' treatments some nights at 10 PM and some weekends at 3 PM and 10 PM. Therefore, I will not even get one day off for weeks, including Independence Day. My life as I have known it is over.

This summer, I go from one hard rotation to another. Here is my schedule, in case you are interested.

June 15-July 5: Orthopedic surgery

July 6- July 26: Oncology

July 27-August 16: Internal medicine

August 17-September 6: Soft tissue surgery

September 7-September 28: Large animal internal medicine

If I can get through this hard summer, my fall will be easier and I may have more time for a real life again. October is a more relaxed month, with Pathology and Parasitology rotations. Wish me luck.

-Shirin

I've been on Cardio all week and have been looking at a bunch of echocardiograms.