Day 155- Back the Reality

    This week was my first week back in Stillwater, Ok after completing 9 weeks on "Off Campus" rotations. As I traveled from Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, then to Texas I was overwhelmed by homesickness and excitement to be in Florida again. As I packed my bags after a month in Florida I couldn't help but wonder where the time went. As the old saying goes...time flies when your having fun, and so it did. I enjoyed family, friends, and seeing my country.....the Spanish moss hanging on the giant oaks, the fog, the orange trees and the smell of the cows and the leather on the saddles of the horses as the cattle where driven into the pens at day break. Now that is home and the food for my soul. So I can't say that I was happy to return to Oklahoma, but I know this is my final stretch to freedom.
     My first rotation back began with Diagnostics, a rotation consisting of diagnostics procedures such as reading blood work, fecal (poop) samples and doing necropsy's (like an autopsy in a human). I am learning a ton and feeling more like a doctor each day but the longing for home persist. We have had some interesting cases such as a Boa Constrictor (snake), Koi Fish, a bull, a possibly rabid horse and many dogs. I still can't believe that by the end of this rotation I will have surpassed the HALF WAY POINT. Still seems crazy that in just over six months I will be a DOCTOR!!!!!!!

Day 144- Old Cotton Tail

     As I started my second week as an intern for a large animal veterinarian, it has been every more apparent that my dream job will include being a women in a man's world. My first day on the job we palpated almost three hundred cows and as I prayed for a lunch break so that I could take a pee break I noticed a truck coming up to the cow pens in which I frantically prayed..... please don't be someone bringing lunch....please don't be someone bring lunch, and low and behold it was someone bringing lunch. This meant for me that their was no pee break in site, I was either gonna have to hold it or find a tree to squat behind, well I held it, all 12 hours of it! With each new set of cow pens we visited and each new set of hundreds of cows I palpated, I constantly prayed for a lunch break that would have what I now refer to as a porcelain paradise.
     This weekend my sister came into town and I started to feel like a women again as we spent some mommy daughter time shopping with dinner and a movie during her weekend visit. But like everything in life things don't always work out as planned, I awoke Saturday at midnight with chills, cold sweats, and liquids shooting out of every orifice. As I prayed for daybreak so that someone could help pump me full of Pepto, I realized it, yup I had food poisoning.
     I had no choice but to pull on the big girl panties and cowgirl up Monday morning as I was too tough and too proud to call in sick! So as I played off the nausea as a simple gas of indigestion I prayed that our location would be porcelain paradise equipped....but you guessed it...NOPE. As I tried to force down the vomit that tried to creep its way up after lunch I was contemplating an escape route for my inevitable "episode" that was about to be the most embarrassing and possibly career ending moment. As the afternoon rain started to fall, Dr. G asked me to run to the truck and put away anything that couldn't get wet and I knew this was my one and only moment to escape the reticule of the cowboys who can fortunately whip it out at any moment when the urge hits them. I ran to the truck and desperately looked for "assistance" in the form of a paper towel and of course we were out, just as I thought it was too late I found a roll of cotton used to wrap horses legs and dashed into the bushes just in the nick of time. I escaped being completely mortified in front of half a dozen cowboys but will forever be known to my family as Luder Cotton Tail.

Day 135- Nervous Nelly

       The last two weeks have flown by in a whirlwind! Between working diligently during my first internship in my hometown and keeping up with school work as well as spending precious time with my family who I will not see again until next year at graduation, time has been cut short for blogging, but I promise to make a better effort!
       This weekend I attended the Florida Ranch Rodeo finals in which I had the honor of being a volunteer/time keeper for the forth year in a row. My dad, Fred Waters, has been a committee chair person for the rodeo since it's conception and puts his heart and soul into every aspect of it's organization. I couldn't have been more proud when they brought him into the arena at the start of the rodeo to thank him for his efforts. I found myself fighting back tears as I was over come with a since of pride in my family. Then I looked back at the rest of my family as well as Chad's in the stands and realized how very blessed I am to have such an amazing and supportive family. The rodeo went off without a hitch and was once again a huge success! If you weren't there I suggest you make plans to attend next year as you are severely missing out!
       It is 6am now I am wait with overwhelming nerves to leave to meet Dr. Gukich for my second internship in Florida! I am the most nervous about this one as Dr. Gukich has been a mentor to me since I was young and my biggest fear is that he would be disappointed in my progression as a vet student. So send some prayers my way!