"I Want It So Bad!"

Monday, July 27th & Tuesday, July 28th

Monday morning.  Back to work.  Our last week at Vetora.

The first call was to check out two sick cows and one lame cow.  One cow was a little slow-going and had a fever.  She looked like a classic case of metritis.  The second cow had some really foul-smelling, watery diarrhea, in which she was shedding some of her intestinal lining.  No other cows in the herd were exhibiting the same symptoms, but just in case, we took a sample to test for salmonella.  After some antibiotics, both cows were reported to be doing better the next day.

The third cow at that farm was lame on it rear leg.  We palpated a bit of swelling over it's stifle and felt some crepitus over the joint and tendons.  The farmer opted to rest her for a while and see how she did.

After the first three cows were squared away we went to check out a cow who was acting strangely.  She was down and somnolent.  Her head looked generally swollen and she was holding her eyes partially closed.  I was able to easily move her head up to face me and examine her.  She only minimally responded to a menace and didn't fight us when we examined her nose.  It's not uncommon for cows in New Zealand to get sticks caught in their nose.  They use sticks to their muzzles and next thing you know, you've got a cow with a branch, broken off, up in its nose.  We pulled two long sticks out of this cows nose...

I was able to barely brush the end of another stick, still lodged up its nose, with my fingertip.  The farmer pulled FOUR more sticks out of this poor cows nose.  We suspect that one of these twigs migrated too far up her nose, invaded a sinus, and caused an abscess.  It's likely that this abscess either caused a raging headache, or penetrated into her brain and caused a brain abscess.  Based on the severe neurologic signs she was exhibiting, her gave her a guarded prognosis.  The farmer decided to drop the money to treat his cow and we gave her some antibiotics that would hopefully help clear up any infection she had. 

Here are the culprit sticks:

If we had been in the States and were told that a cow was exhibiting neurologic signs...we would have to suspect rabies!  (In this case, the somnolent form of rabies)  Reportable disease!!  Meaning, we might cull the cow and test for disease.  Not in New Zealand....lucky buggers.

The next call of the day was a calving.  Didn't take too long to pull, but it was tricky and I did a lot more watching than participating.

The last call on Monday was a lambing.  It was a "lifestyler" who called us out.  A lifestyler is someone who either keeps livestock as pets or runs a small hobby farm.  The house we visited had about 7 or 8 sheep running around their back yard, most of them with lambs at their sides.  The ewe we were called out to examine had lambed earlier (an adorable tiny white fuzzy healthy lamb), but hadn't quite bounced back.  The owner was concerned that there might still be a twin that had not been born yet.  I examined her and could not find a second lamb.  She was, more likely, a bit weak from lambing earlier. We gave her some meds that should help her bounce back and were on our way.

Tuesday was slow.  Tuesday was REAL slow.  As in, I went on one call on Tuesday.

Luckily, the one call happened to be a calving.  Pretty straightforward.

Murphy and I treated ourselves to a movie on Tuesday night at a pretty cool theatre in downtown Te Awamutu.  The Regent Theatre first opened in 1932.  It still has that old timey movie theater feel.  Everything is covered in red velour and the walls are plastered with posters from films released over the past century and pictures of old Hollywood starlets and actors.  We saw Mr. Holmes, because you can't go wrong choosing a film with Sir Ian McKellan. 

Here's what the theatre looked like when it opened in 1932

And now it still has the same, old cinema vibe, with small theatres inside plus a few necessary upgrades. 

It made for a fun (somewhat overpriced) movie-going experience.  Mr. Holmes was a solid movie, by the way.

It's 6:30?! Oh Boy!!

Saturday, July 25th & Sunday, July 26th

Today, we went on a hike.  A serious hike.  We went on a 19.4k hike through snow to an elevation of 1886m.  

At 7 am we met up with our guides and the rest of the group before setting off across the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.  We were lucky.  The weather has been hit and miss for the past week, but for just this Saturday, it was absolutely beautiful.

There were about 14 people in our group, with 2 guides.  They emphasized that everyone needed to be reasonably fit in order to complete the hike within our time frame.  We started walking at a brisk pace and didn't stop for about an hour.

Then we came to this sign.  

Well, we had already paid the fee for the guide, so there was no turning back.  Plus, everyone who knows Murphy and me knows that we are both in outstanding shape....really, the pinnacle of female fitness...American Ninja Warrior level.  Ha...False.  When asked to describe our body types, we usually respond, "pizza."

We hiked onwards.

Eventually, we hit snow and had to stop to equip ourselves with crampons, helmets, and ice axes.  We learned that crampons are as fun to use as they are to say...crampons.

After a slow, very steep hike to the summit, we stopped for a brief lunch.  Here we are chillin in front of Mt Doom. 

Hiking back down towards the Emerald Lakes (which were frozen over and not-so-emerald) was fun.  We got the giggles watching everyone lean back and take big steps in the fresh powder, trying not to fall. 

Clouds started to roll in as we hiked.  We lost a bit of visibility for a while but our group did a good job of staying close together.  The hike got a bit less exciting after we got out of the snow, but the views were still great.  I can see why they filmed a lot of The Lord of the Rings in this area.  It can sometimes look like an entirely different planet.

The last hour of our hike was through the bush.  After 6 hours of hiking, we were starting to lose some of our original enthusiasm and were eager to find the end of the trail, where a van and a cold beverage were waiting for us.  Not to brag or anything, but Murphy and I were the first ones to finish the hike.  Nothing motivates you to move like sore toes, aching backs, and the promise of a cold beer at the end.  We enjoyed our complementary Speights beer and rested our feet while we waited on the rest of the group to finish, feeling very proud of ourselves. 

We treated ourselves to a warm dinner at The Station Cafe and a piece of chocolate cake.  We tried to stay awake but after a warm shower, we fell asleep to the sounds of our Airbnb host playing soft, acoustic guitar....at 8:30pm.  Solid day.

We both ended up waking up around 4:30am the next day.  The weather was rubbish and rainy all day so we wound up lazing around, reading books, and napping most of the day.  Our Airbnb host got off work early and made us homemade pita bread and hummus and told us about how he moved from India to New Zealand.  For anyone who loves being outdoors, New Zealand is probably one of the best places to be.

Frustration & Chocolate!!

Thursday, July 23rd & Friday, July 24th

We're over half way done with this externship! NO! It's going by too fast!

Thursday and Friday were both fairly slow days so I'm mushing them together too.

Thursday morning we were called out to a calving.  The calf was backwards and slightly tilted.  I placed the chains and after a couple of pulls, with the pully, we were able to twist the calf into a more appropriate position.  I kept my hand on the base of the calf's tail while we pulled to make sure it didn't bend backwards.  The vet was nice enough to snap a pic of me, pretending I know what I'm doing, while I guided the calf out.  

The calf was surprisingly alive, but it didn't look like he would survive for long. He wasn't very lively and was rather puny.  

Later that same day I went out on a call to see a sick cow.  While doind mmy physical exam all I could hear were some slightly harsh lung sounds on the left side...and I couldn't even find the heartbeat.  I thought it was due to my inadequate abilities in examining cows, until the vet checked and said she couldn't hear any heart sounds either.  (That made me feel a lot better)  Based on all of the signs and the information the farmer gave us, we suspected hardware disease.  We gave some antibiotics and popped a magnet down the cows throat.

On Friday morning, we went to collect blood from a group of cows to be tested for BVDv.  I had never collected blood from a cow before but it was pretty easy.  I got the hang of it and Murphy and I got blood from all of the cows in no time.  Then, the farmer showed of some of his calves for a while.  He had a lot of very handsome bull calves.  He started talking about genetics and scoring and breeds....a lot of it went over my head but what one thing I am sure of is you can never post too many picture of cute calves.  So here.

There was one calf who looked a little duller than the rest.  His head was a little more dome-shaped and one of his hear was smaller and deformed.  It looked like the other calves had been trying to suckle his small ear, mistaking it for a teat:

Later, we were called out to two calvings.  Murphy and I were both able to go along to both of them.  The first cow wasn't even dilated yet. (whomp whomp)  The vet gave some PG and said to look for more obvious signs of labor over the next 12 hours, and that we would send another vet out that evening to look at her again.  

At the second calving, the uterus was twisted clockwise, almost 180 degrees.  We rolled the cow and with a little bit of cow surfing, managed to get the uterus back to the proper orientation. (Cow surfing with where you roll the cow over on ther back, but use a plank pressed against her belly to keep her uterus in the same position). Once her uterus was untwisted we found that she wasn't dilated. Yep, the second call in one day to an non-dilated cow.  

The last thing scheduled for Friday was RMT testing about 160 cows at a dairy.  RMT=Rapid Masitits Testing.  In the States we call it the California Mistitis Test.  Take a bit of milk from each quarter (quarter=teat) and swirl it with the blue test solution.  If the mixture starts to thicken or gel, then it's positive, and you mark the cow accordingly.  Once we got the hang of milking, it wasn't that difficult, aside from the occasional kicking cow... and occasional falling poop.  Even though we were all covered in a nice layer of poo by the end, it was actually pretty fun.

Here's Murphy demonstrating a technique for staying warm in short-sleeve coveralls:

On the way back to the office we met one of the vet's pups. An adorable, precious, playful, little Golden (my FAVORITE breed). We played fetch for a while and he posed for the camera...

After my failed attempt at dog-napping him, we rushed back to the office.  The RMT testing had taken a while and we ended up getting back to the office about an hour later than we'd expected.  We set out for Tongariro after dark.  

When we arrived (super late), we met our airbnb hosts, Mo and Bobby.  They greeted us with warm, homemade lemon and ginger tea and a warm stove to gather around.  Excellent ending to a long day.

It's Called Pugging!

Tuesday, July 21st & Wednesday, July 22nd

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty slow this week.  They kind of started to blur together.   We all got a touch of cabin fever.  Here are the highlights

One call was to see a prolapsed uterus. When we got there the farmer had already given his own epidural and pushed the uterus back in to place.  Way to steal our thunder, man.

Murphy and I went out to two different calvings. Unfortunately neither calf survived.  I did learn that I am not a huge fan of using a calving jack in the chute while a cow is bouncing around.  A large metal pole swinging around off the rear end of a very unconfortable cow is something I like to avoid.

Here's what a calving jack looks like:

    Picture courtesy of Google. The jack attaches to the legs of the calf and pushes off of the cow. I'm pretty sure that lady in the photo is just posing for the picture....she looks way too clean.

I also learned that it is very easy to get carsick on the winding roads of the hills of New Zealand in a manual transmission truck with a very bouncy suspension.  

Another call was to assist with a calving in a cow that was down in the padock.  The farmer told us his jersey was having twins.  Here's how he knew:

That's two heads and four forelimbs coming out all at once.  Eager little calves.  They were fairly easy   to pull but neither lived.  After a bag of Calcium, the cow was up and trotting across the paddock as if nothing had happened.

Going out to the paddock for a calving is usually less than ideal. First, you have to get your truck out there, which can be a feat in itself if you don't have 4-wheel drive. Then, you have to lug all of your gear across the field. Hopefully, there's a farmhand around who can help out.  Then, there's the fact that the cow is out in the paddock, which means that for whatever reason, she's down, and they couldn't get her to the shed.  

There are also some cool things about being in the paddock.  There's always an audience of curious cows, standing around, re-chewing their grass, and watching you work.  The occasional cow will sneak close enough and give your gear a quick sniff or try to lick at the water bucket.  Any calves who happen to be around are a bit braver.  They come running up, awkwardly, like a clumsy toddler who's just learned to run.  They look around, moo, sniff your stuff, and then run away.  It's adorable.

Wednesday ended for me with a call to see two sick cows.  The first cow had a large amount of subcutaneous edema and emphysema over her sides and back.  She had a fever and was lethargic and mildly dyspneic  She had calved more than a day before, and at the time was given two bags of calcium IV and one bag of calcium sub-q.  The vet thought she may have been innoculated with and infection when she received her sub-q injection.  A clostridial infection seemed most likely based on the large amounts of gas she had under her skin. We gave her some antibiotics.  The second sick cow had respiratory signs and enlarged lymph nodes with a fever.  Her signs were very non-specific so we gave her some anti-inflammatories and antibiotics, and said to keep an eye on her for changes.

 

During one of the calls on Wednesday, a farmer showed us one of his calves that he was very proud of.  He said it was from a Friesian cow bred to a Dutch Blue bull.  (That's what I heard at least...sometimes I miss-hear some accents)  It was a pretty cool calf:

While he was showing us his prized calf, he let us hang out with some more of his calves.  Happy, handsome, calves.

Majestic little heifers

"Just a Load of Rotten Fizzers"

Monday, July 20th

Todays cases were too depressing to describe in detail.  

Here's the spark note version: Picture two hours of trying to pull a dead, rotting calf.  Now picture it's raining.  It smells terrible.  Despite everything, the cow dies the next day.  Now, picture pulling two more dead, rotting calves in the same day.  I ate a lot of chocolate at the end of this day.  I know my mom is probably reading this so I will not post any pictures. (You're welcome, mom)

In other news, here are some interesting facts to consider:

 

Population of New Zealand: 4.47 million

Population of Georgia: 10.1 million

Population of Te Awamutu, NZ: 10, 000

Population of Athens, GA: 120,000

Number of AVMA Accredited Vet Schools in the States: 30

Class size of UGA College of Veterinary Medicine: 112 students

In the US, vet school is usually a 4 year program that starts after having completed a 4 year undergraduate degree, or after completing all prerequisite courses.

Number of AVMA Accredited Vet Schools in Vew Zealand: 1

Class size of Massey University (NZ) BVS Program: ~100 students (25% from abroad)

In New Zealand, vet school is a 5 year program that starts immediately after completing secondary school (high school).  

The average debt load of a vet school graduate in the States exceeds $160,000.  Often higher for those who receive no help from their parents.  These loans are government issued and unsubsidized, meaning that although my calssmates and I will not graduate for another year, our loans are already acruing interest.  Basically, the government is making BANK off of veterinary students.  It'll take decades to pay these off.  

The average debt load of a domestic vet school graduate in New Zealand is a bit lower.  Mind you, they get to start paying off their loans at a younger age, usually, than graduates in the States.  They also sometimes have the option of subsidized loans.

It's super fun to look at the differences.  It's also rather disheartening if, like me, you're already over $75,000 in debt with another two years before you can, hopefully, have a salary-paying career, with which start repaying your loans.

   Here's the part where I start my rant:

UGA charges students a full semester's tuition for the summer that we complete part of our clinical rotations.  During this time, while our unsubsidized loans are accruing interest, we work 10-12 hour days in the teaching hospital.  We also come in on weekends and do morning and evening treatments for our patients.  We also are required to work an extra 10+ hours each 3 week block in the ER.  These shifts have been known to keep students in the ER until 2-4am.  These same students have to be back at 6am to complete treatments and then complete another 12 hours of work that day.  

Personally, I do a very poor job of learning after 4 days with a cummulative 9 hours of sleep.  This particular week I am refering to, ended with a me having a minor melt down in the ER, when I couldn't figure out how to set up a fluid pump.  Embarassing, yes.  Very.  But the few tears I shed in front of a very uncomfortable/frightened clinician (who I'm fairly certain now thinks I'm loony) were 99% exhaustion and 1% frustration.  There are vets and interns who love their jobs.  Their jobs are their lives.  Honestly, they live at the school.  They spend 80% of their time there and sacrifice a huge chunk of their social lives.  They don't mind doing it either because their jobs are rewarding and they love it.  I admire them.  I wish I loved it that much, but I don't have the same level of passion.  I do love this job...but for 10, maybe 11 hours a day, tops.  I also love to cook and sleep and do laundry and go to church on Sunday....all things I don't have time to do when there are patients attached to my name.  I'm amazed by people who function so well on so little sleep and still manage to calculate drug dosages, perform emergency procedures, speak calmly to emotional clients, and save lives.

One thing I find incredibly frustrating is, regardless of how many externships students take, even if they only spend three weeks at the actual vet school, they still have to pay a full semester's tuition and are personally responsible for all expenses incurred during externships.  I'm not saying I want the school to pay for my trip to New Zealand...that would be absolutely ridiculous....but, I strongly believe that there are many educational experiences that can only be offered via externship, that the vet school does not provide.  I'd appreciate being cut a little slack, financially, if I'm doing my learning elsewhere on my own dime.

When starting vet school, everyone likes to remind students that being accepted to vet school is an incredible honor, and that they shouldn't complain because there are a thousand other people who would kill to be in their shoes right now.  I understand that.  I also don't want to be paying off my debt from this incredible honor for the next 30 years.  No one would want that.  Anyone who says they don't mind the debt is naïve or daft.

Please do not misinterpret this rant as me bashing vet schools.  The time that I have spent in vet school, has included the happiest and most rewarding years of my life.  It has also been the most time-consuming, most stressful, and most exhausting time.  Being in a teaching hospital teaches you a million things that you can't learn in a classroom.  At the end of the day, you go home completely worn-out, yet feeling accomplished, and knowing that you've learned valuable things.  There are also days when everything goes wrong; patients die, clients are rude, patience wears thin, techs get sassy, there's no time for lunch, classmates annoy the bajeezus out of you, ...or all of your calls are for pulling dead calves in the rain and, despite doing everything right, mama cow dies.  

The bad days test you.  Every good vet learns how to compartmentalize and move on to the next patient.  (Or me, I just cry in the ER and scare clinicians every once in a while) It's usually on the bad days, when I'm burnt out, that I look at my intimidating mound of debt and wonder if I've made a terrible mistake, if I should have made a different career choice --  like maybe just marrying rich and doing a lot of yoga and starting a blog about thrifty interior design and gardening my own organic vegetables.  Doesn't that sound nice?  

In the end though, the good days usually outweigh the bad ones, and that's what gives enough of a push to keep at it.  The good days hopefully provide enough blind motivation to overlook the heaps of inevitable debt and exhaustion that comes with being a vet student (and eventual veterinarian).

Monday was a rotten day, but Wednesday was better:

Goopy Goopy Goopy

Sunday, July 19th

We woke up fairly early on Sunday so we could get ready for a big hike.  Our Airbnb host was nice enough to let us leave our larger luggage in her spare room while we were hiking, so we wouldn't have to leave it in our trunk.

We set out for the Rainbow Mountain Scenic Reserve. It's a large mountain just southeast of Rotorua.  The whole area has lot of thermal activity and a few brightly colored lakes.  Our path was called "Te Tihi o Ruru".  Not sure what it means but it's fun to say.

Along the way, we passed by Crater Lake.  It's a thermal lake with a bright turquiose color, that is partially due to the high level of minerals it contains. 

Here's a picture of Murphy starting a forrest fire:

Jokes...Murphy loves nature and would never (intentionally) set a mountain ablaze.

That steam is coming from natural vents in the ground.  

The hike up Rainbow Mountain took about 1.5 hours and the view at the top was awesome!  It rained the day before, making our path nice and slick, on top of already being very steep.  We were very proud of ourselves for reaching the top....until we were hiking back down and saw some guys mountain biking UP the mountain. Crazies!

After hiking back to our car, we enjoyed a nice LARGE meal in town, scooped up our luggage, and drove back to the little town of Te Awamutu (Population: 10,000.... and a bunch of cows)   

Sweet as!!