A Year of Learning

Things I learned in 2009:
*I love veterinary medicine - I'm pretty sure that is because animals are nowhere near as gross as humans and they don't talk back.
*Things don't always happen in the time frame that you think they should.
*Just because you move out of your parent's house doesn't mean you get a separate invitation to family dinner
*Being an adult is...interesting. Sometimes awesome, sometimes leaving something to be desired.
*Don't wear underwear with lace trim while riding a horse.
*A full time job makes you miss Christmas break.
*Cat bites ALWAYS get infected.
*It takes time for your adult family members to come to the realization that you (at age 20-something) are an adult and can have an opinion and voice that opinion.
*Cafe Rio tortilla soup is AWESOME.
*Gaining ten pounds makes a difference. Losing ten pounds makes a difference.
*Lifetime movies suck you in if you let them.
*I have GREAT friends, even though they live further away than I would like them to.

The Biggest Loser

My holiday gluttony is nearing its end. On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, the staff at VCA Hualapai Animal Hospital will engage in "The Biggest Loser". The competition is stiff. The rules are simple: $20 to buy in (the pot is about $300 right now), 12 weeks to lose as much weight as you can, if you lose weight great, but if you gain you owe the pot a dollar for each pound. Winner (by percentage of weight lost) takes all. There are no rule as to how you have to lose the weight. I am personally thinking of getting a tapeworm. Others are going to try sabotaging the other players. By March 31 we will all be slimmer and healthier (hopefully). Heres to a healthy happy 2010!

2009 in Review

January
January seems like it was so very long ago! I moved into my house and started the long list of projects needed to "finish" my humble abode. Furniture was delivered, linens washed and put away, bookshelves organized and groceries bought. About half-way through the month school started back up again and my house project list went on hold. My favorite part of my last semester of the CSN Vet Tech program was assisting in surgeries.

February...
...was CRAZY!!! The month started out with a trip to SLC for Esther's bridal shower. It was an awesome weekend with friends that I hadn't seen in quite some time. The Western Veterinary Conference annual conference was also in February. I takes a ton of time and effort to plan one of the largest veterinary conferences in North America. The last day of the conference I took a late flight to Denver for Esther's wedding. She was a beautiful bride and while the trip was short it was fun. I went to Colorado Springs to see Shannon and her new baby Travis while I was in Colorado. I rounded out the end of the month with a trip to St. George to assist Dr. Olsen with a knee surgery on a Yorkie. The trip was a blast and we stopped for our traditional Cafe Rio and Neilson's.

March
Gus (my horse) got really sick half-way through the month. At first we thought that he may have been bitten by a spider. The vet gave me everything I needed to treat him without having to move him to the clinic. Luckily, the weekend he got sick was right before my spring break. I spent my spring break taking four trips a day out to the barn to cold hose Gus's legs and walk him. He had a ton of edema in his legs, chest and abdomen. Keeping him moving was the only was to keep him from getting too swollen to move. After a week it was evident that Gus was not getting better and rather than a spider bite he had purpura hemorrhagica. He spent a week and a half at the vet clinic and another two months recovering fully. Luckily I had been doing my clinical hours for school at the equine clinic and was able to spend as much time as I wanted there with Gus. It is amazing that he even recovered.
April
One word: Piranha. I took on a foster puppy that had a patent ductus arteriosis (a heart condition). She came with the name Samantha and was quickly renamed Pirhana. She was a total spitfire that didn't want to be messed with. Her heart surgery went well and she has since found a wonderful home with an older couple. She rules the roost and has been renamed LuLu.May
Busy, busy, busy. Work was busy. Prepping for finals (and graduation!) was busy. But no matter how busy life was there was always time for a caffeine break with friends and classmates. I did not attend the CSN graduation ceremonies but I did attend our program's pinning ceremony and was extremely glad to be done with school for a little while. I was ready to be out in the world working and not worrying about exams... Then I started studying for the Veterinary Technician National Examination.

June
Gus went lame, probably a complication from his illness earlier in the year. He earned himself a three month vacation in pasture. Then...NEW TRUCK!!! I traded in the Jeep Liberty for a 2009 Ford F-150. I LOVE my truck! Toward the middle of the month I took the Veterinary Technician National Exam. Six weeks later I found out that I passed with an 87. I was really glad to find out that I had passed because I definitely could have studied better. At the end of the month I went on a family vacation to Encinitas, CA. The San Diego county fair was going on. Of course we went and I got to ride an elephant for the second year in a row. The rest of the trip was full of fun, sand, shopping and food.

July
Work, work, work. Not much fun.

August
Work, work, work again. I decided that I needed to find a new job. Many applications and inquiries later, I decided to go back to VCA Hualapai Animal Hospital. While I would like to work with horses, anything was better than working 10-13 days without a day off. My mom and I also bought a horse trailer in order to haul Gus and Jack (my mom's horse). We now go on a trail ride every Monday.
September
I adopted another dog. No more pets for Aubree, the inn is full! When we went to Lied Animal Shelter at the end of August to pick up dogs to spay, I found an unspayed female spaniel mix. She looks like a miniature English Springer Spaniel. For a spaniel, she is unbelievably mellow and even-keeled. As I was walking her to the van to take her back to Western Veterinary Conference, i noticed she was limping on her rear right leg. Turns out she had a non-union femur fracture (her femur had been broken and healed as two separate bones) and infection in both ears. I couldn't send her back to Lied (to be euthanized) so I decided to keep her. I named her Mary Jane and now she and Milly are inseparable. Her leg has been repaired, her ears are clear. Shortly after adopting her, I found out (through a series of small partial seizures) that she has atypical epilepsy. Even with all of her problems she is a GREAT dog. October
I'm pretty sure that October was relatively quiet. Work was good and I had the opportunity to help out with a couple of colic surgeries at Desert Pines Equine Medical and Surgical Center.

November
November was also relatively quiet. Thanksgiving was nice. We had dinner at my grandparents' new home. My cousin and her family came out and it was really nice to spend some time with them and their little girl. After dessert, my uncle and his kids came over. Better late than never I suppose. Overall it was a nice day with family and nice to have a break from work.

December
Christmas...as explained by a previous post. :-)

Un-Christmas-ing

I have just sat down after a long round of un-Christmas-ing the house. I'm covered in glitter and feeling a little bit bummed that it is no longer the holiday season. I am, however, ready for life to go back to "normal". The holiday's are exhausting. Aside from normal life, it seems like there are a million things to do to prep for Christmas day. Then, within a couple of minutes of delving into wrapping paper and ribbon covered gifts, it all over. A month of preparations, shopping, decorating, and the like and its all over in the blink of an eye.
Somehow, I volunteered myself to have Christmas at my house this year. I think I thought that someone else would "man-up" and offer to have it at their house. Apparently everyone thought it would be a great idea for me to host Christmas brunch in my townhome. With barely enough seating, nine people, a breakfast casserole, and a wanna-be-Martha-Stewart Christmas tree my family had a nice morning. Everyone managed to nice to each other. The cat only drank part of my mom's bloody mary. And it was all over by 2:00 pm. After a short coma on the couch, I started to clean up the aftermath. I can definitely say now that I have a much greater appreciation for my parents and grandparents. All the years that they have hosted Christmas, its no wonder that they jumped at the chance for someone else to do it.
Now that I am almost done un-decorating, my house feels a little bit barren. I will definitely miss the tree, garlands, wreath and Christmas cookie jar. What I think I will miss seeing the most is the nativity. My nativity was on the mantle above my fireplace and could be seen from everywhere on the first floor. I loved seeing it each morning when I came flying down the stairs to hurriedly feed the dogs and rush out the door to work. It made me stop and think about what the Christmas season really means and how blessed we are to have the Savior in our lives.
This year I also tried really hard to take pictures during our brunch. Sadly, the only pictures I actually took were of the dogs and cat. I hope your holiday season was a good as mine!

Employment Dilemma

I have recently become more and more dissatisfied with my current employment situation. That being the situation I have begun the search for a new job and have run into the dilemma of what to do next. Here are the scenarios that are playing out in my mind.

1. Do I stay with Western Veterinary Conference? I accepted a job with them to network with vets from around the country (which I have accomplished). While I was still in school I had plenty to do on the days that I worked. However, the schedule that technicians are required to work includes at least two Sundays a month (not my ideal situation). Not only that, but now that I am a full time employee my days are spent struggling to keep myself busy. Ideally I would come in to work in the morning having my day planned out but that is not the case. I think that I function better in a clinic setting where there are appointments, surgery, and such scheduled throughout the day. Also, I just spent an additional two years past my bachelors degree to get a vet tech license and I use my skills for a couple days out of the month. Those being the cons, there are some pros to the job. Because I am the only one who works with horses, I have a bit of freedom in my schedule to be out of the office and spending time with our horses. I also have benefits and PTO. Sadly in this town no one is really hiring vet techs due to the economy and any job openings are usually snatched up before the word gets out about the opening. I have a job, I am not the low man on the totem pole, and I make decent (maybe slightly less than decent) money.

2. Do I go back to the small animal clinic I worked for a year ago? I had to quit a job at Hualapai Animal Hospital in order to complete my clinical hours for school. I have been offered a full time position with benefits there. The hospital is fairly new and is up to date with the current medical standards. The doctors and staff would be happy to have me come back. I would probably not be considered low man on the totem pole due to working two summers as a receptionist and a year as a technician there. The downside to this what people in the large animal field call..."the dark side". As a small animal technician you work inside for 10-11 hours a day. I also prefer horses, cows and sheep to dogs and cats. However, the inside of a hospital is heated and cooled (not so working with large animals).

3. Do I accept a job with Desert Pines Equine Medical Center? I may have the opportunity to work for the (one and only) equine practice in the valley. However, they would probably hire me as part time to start off with (30 hours a week or so), and there would be no benefits until they could make me full time (if they can make me full time). I would probably have to pick up another tech job one or two days a week in order to pay the bill, but that might be ok for a little while. Equine medicine is fun for me. I like the subject matter, the people, and the fact that you are not stuck in a clinic all day. You get to travel and be outside. At Desert Pines I would definitely be the lowest man on the totem pole and if they got too slow might be laid off.

So hopefully you can see the dilemma. Do I stay where I'm at?...Do I play it safe and go back to the small animal practice?...Do I take a big risk that might not pan out in the end but if it did would make me really happy? I don't think that I like being an adult and having these kinds of decisions to make. If you have any thoughts that might help me out I would greatly appreciate them.

P.S. Someday I will find the time to write an update on the more interesting parts of my life :)