Bad news, worse news...

I'm very sorry for the lack of posts. I've had a pretty hard couple of weeks. A bit more on my plate than usual. Two weeks ago my vet, Cheryl, was rear-ended on the highway by a man going almost 100mph. She was airlifted to the nearest hospital and checked out a couple of days later with stitches and staples to her head. She headed to North Carolina to visit her family because she had been planning it for months. I'm not sure if she tried to do too much too fast, or if the same thing would have happened anyway. However, she was taken to the ICU a few days ago. They predict she might have to stay there for up to a month longer.

Today she had a better day. Her sodium levels are rising and she was able to keep some food down today. I hope she gets better soon. Send her all your thoughts and prayers.

Back at work, it's even more stressful than usual. We have Genevieve back to help once a week, but we have many more animals than we have time to do surgeries one day a week. When it's Dee's days off, I work alone checking criticals. I've suddenly had to step up and become adept at wing wraps and leg splints. It's been awesome that they trust me enough for this responsibility, but it wears on you. When Dee came back today, we had over 100 patients to see. Somehow, we saw them all in one day. Unbelievable.

Tomorrow is my first real day off in about 10 days. Every evening I've had to drive 20 miles to Cheryl's house to house sit for her dog, 3 cats, bird, and turtle. It's nice to have cable, but I'd trade that in a heartbeat to sleep in my own bed again.

I'm missing you all a ton right now. I could really use some good news from others. And if you could send some cold, wet weather my way, you'd really make my day. Love always.

Dog Sitting

So, I'm becoming a regular dog sitter. Profitable and relaxing! When the dogs aren't being ridiculous of course. Starting Friday, I watched Dee's dogs while she and her husband went camping. I got to watch some pretty awesome guilty pleasure TV shows (Hoarders, Say Yes to the Dress, Law and Order SVU, Will and Grace, Frasier, and Millionaire Matchmakers) over the long weekend. It really made me miss Gwen, my old roommate. Pretty sure the Say Yes to the Dress marathon did that. Oh, and I learned Project Runway starts up again this month! Oh how I love girly shows.

For my days off I have spent them cooking homemade chex mix and puppy chow. I'm going out for pizza tonight with a friend, and tomorrow I'm volunteering at APA. Hopefully I won't wear myself out. Yesterday, one of our donkeys needed his second correctional hoof trimming. He's has been abused for a long time, and has been foundering on and off for over 9 years. Since he's been with us he's picked on other donkeys, and chased, bitten, and kicked at anyone who comes near. I've been working with him for over a month now. I was really nervous he was going to act up, but my work paid off! We trailered him easily and drove him to a different part of property to do the trimming so he was out of the heat for the surgery. I haltered him and stood with him while Cheryl stuck him with 2 needles and he didn't even flinch. He was out like a light for 25 minutes while we trimmed his hooves, and he popped right back up just as we were done rasping the edges. It was awesome! He really seems to like me, so hopefully soon we won't have to tranquilize him for his trimmings.

Well, I'm off to go grocery shopping. Love and miss you all.

Rough Days

Well, the past couple of days have been super busy, but not very pleasant. It started out great. I had two days off. Monday I spent lounging around for most of the day, and then I went with some friends to Dee's place for a Fourth of July party. Oh, by the way, happy belated Independence Day! For the US and Canada I might add. We had an awesome time eating barbeque, playing horseshoes, and relaxing outside. It was great.

Tuesday I went to the library really early to talk to Allison online. But I totally missed her! I hope I can talk to her soon. I miss her, and for those of you that don't know, she's currently studying in China. Makes talking together really different since she's 13 hours ahead of me. Yuck. Then I grocery shopped and hurried back to put everything away so I could go off to Austin to volunteer at Austin Pets Alive with Megan, the old vet. It was great to see her again. Jordana, the vet tech was so glad to see me and she went off to do about a million other things and I was the one who anesthetized all the puppies and kittens, and intubated them. I monitored anesthesia while catching up with Megan. It was amazing practice. I'm off again next week!

Then Wednesday happened. Sunday, one of the interns was bit by a raccoon, but couldn't tell which one bit her. The raccoon in question was in a cage of 10 raccoons. We sent one off for testing because they died naturally. Rabies testing has to be on a deceased animal because they test the central nervous system (brain matter). Well, the raccoon came back rabies positive. The intern had to be rushed to urgent care to start the post exposure shot series. She'll be fine. It was a very small wound and it's really hard to contract rabies. The part that made me sick was that we had to euthanize the other 9 raccoons because any of them could "possibly" have rabies. Apparently I was as pale as a sheet at the end of the day, and Dee took me to her friend Luther's house for enchiladas. We went for an exercise walk, and then ate. They were so good! It was nice to relax after a horrible day.

Today was a lot of work with deer. It got my mind off raccoons. I also went for a run, which was so hot, even at 8pm. Oh well. It's Texas. Miss all of you. Can't wait for my week to get better. I'd love to hear from you all. Love always.

Happy early fourth of July!

I've had a whirlwind of a few days. I had to cover some non-vet tech shifts and work in the clinic feeding some of the babies. The only good thing about the day... cutest skunks ever! They love stamping at you as a warning gesture, and it is so darn cute! I then had to give a demonstration about how to properly set up a net cage. We've been having issues with birds being put in improperly fitting net cages. Some are too small for the frames and the birds keep getting loose because they don't close, and others are too loose and the birds get tangled in the folds and break wings and legs. You'd think this would be elementary, and it really is. People just don't take the time to fit them properly. We do work insanely long hours though. Case in point, I had below dishes right after my 12 hour shift. Below dishes consist of a ton of very dirty 5 gallon buckets that take about an hour to do if you book it. Yuck.

The next day I had the produce run. We drive to 5 different grocery stores that donate their old produce to us. That's how we feed almost all the animals in the clinic and who live permanently in the sanctuary. I also had to go shopping for the supplementary food for some of our birds. My truck was so full, I had to go back to Boerne for a second trip because Walmart had over 50 boxes of produce for us. Unfortunately, during this whole ordeal, I had a massive headache and very nauseated. They still made me go on a minnow run for our birds which made my work day another 14 hour day. At 7:30pm, I told my roommates I was going to lie down a bit until I felt better. I woke up at 6am the next day. Thank goodness I woke up, otherwise I would have been late to work. Today I feel a bit better, but I've put myself on the BRAT diet until my stomach feels better. Hopefully before tomorrow when I'm off to Dee's for a huge July 4th barbeque. HUGE BUMMER! No fireworks! I missed them last year because I was in Germany and now we have a burn ban over the entire state. Sad times. At least I get a day off tomorrow. Thank goodness.

Once I figure out how to put videos up, I'll post one of the cutest skunk ever! Miss you all lots, and to Dad. So jealous! Wish I was with you fishing. Can't wait for our camping trip. Love always.