GingerbreadGirl's Xanga

98% Done

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:27:07 GMT

Graduation Date: Friday, May 16, 2008.

North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE): PASSED!!!

California State Boards Examination: PASSED!!!!!

New York State Boards Examination: None required.

1 Year Internship: California Animal Hospital, Intern 6/2008 - 6/2009

Match Day results were released last Monday. I didn't get my first choice, so I guess I'll be here in Southern California, specifically the LA area for another year! Pros and cons. But boy, I was pretty shocked originally when I saw where I matched to. Nevertheless, I'm excited to meet my internmates and the rest of the hospital staff. And scared shitless when I have to start dealing with emergencies. Hah, can't wait!!!

Summer on the East Coast

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 01:59:02 GMT

September already! Having spent the majority of the summer externing or rotating through hospitals for school, I am surprised that there was actually a nice balance between work and fun. A total of 8 weeks was spent at one of the top hospitals in Boston for my first 2 clinical rotations in oncology and cardiology. I definitely learned a lot and the oncologists and cardiologists there were wonderful. Lots of patients receiving chemotherapy and saw what seemed like an endless amount of echocardiograms being performed. Heart murmur anyone? Much thanks to Jinnie for housing me and putting up with my bug neuroses. I thoroughly enjoyed Boston thanks to the Boston Crew, or rather, the "Cornell aKDPhi Boston girls plus respective boyfriends/husband", hahhaha.

Below are just a few pictures from the millions that we took due to the millions of dinners/get togethers that we had. Majority of pics are all on facebook.

Also spent a total of 6 non-consecutive weeks at home in NYC. Attended my Biggie's Bridal Shower/Bachelorette Party. Will be back in NYC Columbus Day weekend for the wedding. Congrats Helen and Jason!

Attended 2 weddings this summer - Jennifer & Johnnie's (Hong's real brother) and Pei & Dave's (Hong's fraternity pledge brother). Unfortunately, I only have scant pics from Johnnie's Rehearsal Dinner.

Pei and Dave's Bristol, Rhode Island Wedding. The scenary was beautiful - grass, ocean, flower gardens, and huge mansion. However, the wild outdoors led to paranoias of blood sucking mosquitoes, high heels sinking into the grassy dirt or tripping along cobblestones, and the annoying wind in your face and hair. Nevertheless, it was very nice.

Now it's time to buckle down and starting studying hardcore for the national board examination in November. My next rotation will definitely be crazier since it's a core rotation in internal medicine at a California hospital. Oh yeah... and I have to apply through the match program for internships post graduation..... So many things to do!!!!

Since I never really considered Jan. 1 to signify anything new, here's to the start of a new school year!

The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass

Wed, 30 May 2007 18:46:49 GMT

Having read Philip Pullman's trilogy almost 10 years ago, I am anxiously awaiting the first book's adaption into a movie this coming December 2007 - His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. Thinking back, I would have to say that this trilogy was one of many books that I would consider my favorites. I actually don't have a favorite book or series; I've read far too many and consider many of them excellent (for example, The Dark is Rising series, Where the Red Fern Grows, etc etc).

I can only pray that the movie reaches my expectations. But I think I'm going to be disappointed. The books have far too much rich detail and creativity to be properly mastered on screen (much like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings). The other problem that I learned recently, is that the director was going to cut out the themes of religion and the bible, fearing that the movie will not make money in the US because it is anti-Church. (I guess they fear protesters similar to when the Da Vinci Code came out.) That's bullshit! The core of his trilogy is about original sin, human consciousness, the difference between adults and children (innocence, maturity, puberty), and how the church is bent on labeling everything good/pleasurable as sinful. In the last book, The Amber Spyglass, there is a full out war against the Authority (or God). Furthermore, the Authority was NOT the creator of all worlds, he was merely the first angel to be created out of Dust (embodiment of knowledge and consciousness), and then told the later angels that appeared that he was the all power creator. But wiser angels figured it out, and thus the first rebellion. Interesting twist/interpretation on God and religion, huh? I don't know how they plan on continuing with the movie if they're not going to address these issues. I would comment more, but I don't want to spoil the story any more. Then again, if they're not going to even have these themes, I may as well let everyone know, haha.

In preparation, I am currently re-reading all three books, so that my memory is perfect with all the details. Hmmm, that sounds really dorky.......

And on a totally unrelated note - I have a cavity and my eye is dry from overuse of contact lenses. I guess wearing them for 12+ hours every single day has taken a toll on my cornea - the doctor said the surface looked very "rough". She therefore recommended glasses for the next three days, with frequent eye drops; and when I do wear contact lenses again, to frequently lubricate my eyes with drops. Blah. Funny how I've gotten used to the dryness that I had no clue my eyes were in bad shape.

I'm back in NYC for June; let's play!!!!!!!!!!

aKDPhi 10 Year Anniversary

Fri, 11 May 2007 00:42:59 GMT

aKDF 10 Year :: 100 Sisters!!!! Thanks to EVERYONE for a spectacular weekend. Words can't describe how proud I am of Cornell akdphi!

Charters Representing! Lucie, Hellin, Patti, Kelly, Natalie and Michelle.

Okay, since there are a GAZILLION pics on facebook and what not, I decided to just post family lineages and a few other random pics since that would incorporate almost everyone (although......my memory is starting to get fuzzy with all these new additions!!!)

Below is PML! Look Jinnie, your name stuck and the family has grown!

Light Lineage!

ADD Lineage - fastest growing and craziest line.

And below is the Wood and Paper Products Lineage (I guess this name will be sticking, huh?). The line is smaller because it's one of the THREE remaining lineages that are straight with no adoptions or twins. (That means these three remaining lineages are PURE. Lol.)

And of course we have the best lineage EVER, the Champagne Lineage. (Hint, it's one of the pure lines!) Don't worry grandlil and lil lil lil.....we'll get a FULL lineage pic one of these days.

Okie, below is (clockwise) Cindy (middle), Kim, Selina (green), and Kelly. Cindy and Selina are representing Crazy Sexy Cool.

Clockwise here is Jess Hsu, Cindy, Jen Jout, and Annie. And in the adjacent pic is Diane and Linda (Head of the 10 Year Committeeeee!) Now it gets kinda confusing since the remaining lineages don't have a name and they're in scattered pics. (Or do they??) Representing from Helen Jen's Lineage, are Jen Jout and Diane (the last of the three straight lines).

I'm missing one more family!!! Kelly's line with Annie, Nancy, Sammi, and Cindy present.... sorry guys, couldn't find a comprehensive enough pic. =(

Random pic of me and lil lil lil....maybe I should call you lil3 or L3. Ooooooh, L3 like the larval stage of parasites!!! Nevermind, that's disgusting. Hahahhahahhahah, I'm such a dork.

Jenn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good seeing you, you covert operator, heh heh heh.

And here's the best banner EVER, the Zeta Banner!

And that's all! Sick of me talking about akdphi yet?

"From the outside looking in, you can't understand it; from the inside looking out, you can't explain it...."

Role of the Laboratory Animal Veterinarian

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:19:23 GMT

These past 2 weeks at the S_ Research Institute have been extremely laid back. For this particular rotation, I'm learning about the animals used in research, and what a lab animal veterinarian's job entails. (So many options to choose from as a vet - food animal vet, small animal, large animal, mixed, equine vet, exotics, public health vet, zoo vet, shelter vet, clinical/anatomical pathologist, etc etc. Whatever your heart desires.) Of course, one cannot learn about research animals and NOT hear about animal rights, welfare, grants, politics, and its own rules and regulations. A lab animal vet does not DO the research, but rather, is responsible for the care and well-being of the mice, rats, rabbits, birds, moles, nonhuman primates, and whatever species the research is being performed on. The vet checks up on the animals, performs daily rounds, prescribes treatment, and sadly, recommends/orders euthanasia. Which is usually the end verdict of the mouse. Mice must be bred by 3 months of age, and "retired" by 6-8 months of age. If the mouse has a severe case of dermatitis and has been scratching itself for 2 weeks, and treatment hasn't helped, euthanasia is usually the only option (because no one is going to spend the $$$$ for crazy extensive procedures).

Yesterday was very cool. We suited up (changed into scrubs, put on sleeves, DOUBLE gloved, wore 2 forms of eye protection - goggles + face shield) and proceeded into............................................................the rhesus monkey room and the baboon room. I don't think I've ever been this close to these animals - they were just on the other side of the cage! And in both rooms, these nonhuman primates had their own tv so they could pass the time watching nature shows and videos. They watch TV! The whole experience was very disconcerting. It's one thing if you're looking at a mouse, cat, dog; quite another to be looking at a monkey/baboon. I mean, they have fingers like us, and can grab you!! Not to mention, this facility was level 2-3 biosecurity, AND we had just learned about the DEADLY diseases that nonhuman primates can pass on to humans. (herpes B! - don't let them scratch you! fling poop at you....) I can understand why people have issues taking such intelligent (and closely related) species, putting them in cages, doing tests, etc. But rest assured, in research, only 1% of the animals are nonhuman primates. The 90% are mice.

I have to admit though, I had scenes from the movie OUTBREAK playing in my head when looking at those monkeys, heh.

What are your views on using animals in research? Where are you on the spectrum of animal use, animal rights, animal welfare? My opinion - it's beneficial to both us and them; it must be done (What, you rather the experimentation be done on human primates? Haha.) But it should be done correctly, minimizing pain and suffering whenever possible.

For those who don't know: Animal rights = extreme, think PETA, animals shouldn't even be pets (dogs, cats) because they have the exact same rights as us. Other extreme = animals are there for our use, we can do whatever we want with them. And animal welfare = somewhere in the middle, use as needed, minimize use, look out for their well-being.

Kon, Revisited!

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:54:57 GMT

6-8 Weeks Old

11 Months Old, almost 1 year! And a Big Brat

Here he is, biting Chau's mom's fingers.

Older pictures courtesy of Chau!

.................

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:02:01 GMT

So the past 2 months I've been on-campus, learning epidemiology, outbreak investigations, foreign animal diseases, veterinary public health, USDA, and food and feed safety. I now know the 6 diseases that can aerosolized by terrorists for bio/agro-terrorism as categorized by the CDC in their A List. Yes, we as veterinarians are at the frontlines to detecting terrorist activity, as they can affect our food supply and our pets. We must therefore be vigilant!!! Apparently, we're also the ones with the best knowledge of zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted between people and animals. Is that true? What about human doctors?? I'm sure med students learn about roundworms, toxoplasmosis, anthrax, cryptosporidium......

How much do you know about the food that you eat? We went over the beef, pork, poultry, and fish industry.

1. Fish actually has next to ZERO regulations. The public thinks it's all fine and dandy because it's the ocean and the waters are clean. But there are no mandatory inspections, regulations, guarantees. I guess you take your chances with fish....

2. Beef is the most regulated industry. The government inspects every carcass for slaughter. Cattle that are disabled, dead, dying, or diseased are condemned - meaning we do not eat these!

3. Poultry is also inspected. Every bird must be looked at before and after slaughter.

4. Every pig, also inspected. And pork are actually pretty much free from Trichinella. Unfortunately, the public does not think so, and neither do the Europeans.

Organic food is regulated - if the label says USDA Organic, it's regulated organic food (meaning the farms have followed the required rules and regulations). If it does NOT say USDA.....you uhhh....take your chances...... But the silly thing about organic cattle, is that if the cow gets sick, the farmer can either:

a) Treat the cow with antibiotics, and then sell the cow to a NON-organic farm b/c antibiotics are not allowed

b) Don't treat the cow at all and have it suffer so it's still considered organic for either milk or meat. Ewww.

How sucky for the cow. And some farmers actually own 2 farms, one side organic, one side non-organic. So all sick cows that get treated, he moves them to the non-organic side. Because organic milk fetches a higher price.

Actually, who am I kidding.....none of this stuff is actually THAT interesting. Sorry people. Maybe I'll have better stories when I start my surgery, zoo, and lab animal rotations next month. And if I hear avian influenza, plague, anthrax, or BSE anymore I'm going to scream.

Cut! Drill! Sew!

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 23:13:34 GMT

Total catheters placed in my lifetime = 7 (all dogs - should starting working on cats for their smaller veins)

Total dog neuters = 4.5

Total dog spays = 1

Total cat neuters = 0.5

Total cat spays = 1

Assisted in 1 cystotomy (I helped to suture up the bladder of a cat w/stones)

Assisted in 1 cranial cruciate ligament (ACL) repair via lateral suturing (Whoa, he let me drill a hole in the tibia AND place one of the 2 sutures - it better hold!!!)

Assisted in 1 distal tibial fracture repair (He placed the bone plate and I drilled 6 holes and placed the screws in - drilling holes into bone is SCARY.)

And countless times I've helped to close up abdominal walls and placed subcuticular sutures.

Dr. B is the BEST!! I can't believe he let me do all this - I really lucked out being placed with him for all three surgery days. I'm so sad today was my last surgery day.....now I'm on office calls and nursing. Hopefully, the next clinic rotation will also let me assist in sx.

The only downside was that we were always so busy, I barely had time to eat. I ran over to get KFC and downed the 5 boneless chicken pieces all in 15 minutes (mind you, that's including the time it took for me to drive to KFC and back, and to eat).... ehhh, a minor minor downside for such a great learning experience.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:56:11 GMT

Happy Halloween!

Me, Jiwon, and Mei, plus some random guy who jumped in.

Thanks for the pics Eric!

Hunnie - drank something bitter, me, and Jiwon

Danny, Eric, Jiwon, Hong, me, Hung, Mei, who stole someone's pitchfork.

And this here is an old pic when Tpot came to visit a couple of weeks ago....

In other news, TODAY I DID A HALF NEUTER on a 25 week old cat. I only got to remove one testicle because the doctor was demonstrating on the other one how to do it. WHOOHOO - this was my very first small animal surgery. Hopefully, they'll let me progress to doing more neuters and SPAYS too!!!!!! I should have kept the testicles as a Halloween present - especially since this was my FIRST.

How to Castrate a Bull and Shoot a Cow

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 21:28:59 GMT

I'm finished with my food animal rotation! And I'm halfway done with my equine rotation. That means, unfortunately, that it's almost time for midterms. Since I haven't updated in such a long time, I decided to post some of the very few pictures that I have. Too bad I couldn't get one of me doing a rectal. Owell.

So the very last day of my cow rotation, I actually acquired a whole bunch of skills. I got to castrate 5-6 bulls; now I'm an expert! It's very different from neutering a dog or cat. And much simpler...if not cruder....

Step 1: Inject 5cc of lidocaine in 5 different areas all around the scrotum and in the testicles. It was actually pretty hard to inject the lidocaine directly into the testicles.

Step 2: Push the testicles upwards, so that you can cut off the last 1/3 of the scrotum (skin) with the blade.

Step 3: Now that a chunk of the scrotum has been removed, you will see the testicles hanging. Grab one with one hand, and using a piece of gauze, grasp the spermatic cord with your other hand, and rub it. Okie, I know this is going to sound really crude, but I can't figure out a better way to describe it. Basically, imagine a guy masturbating. But instead of just merely rubbing, what you're doing is you're applying tension on the cord, pulling at it, while rubbing it up and down, until the cord becomes thinner and thinner. Eventually, the cord will snap, and the testicle will end up in your hand. (I hope that makes sense!!) The reason you just can't cut the whole darn thing off, is because then the bull might bleed to death. Or you'll have to suture it up, thus taking extra time and effort. By rubbing the cord (and the arteries) back and forth, you are slowly but surely cutting off the blood supply, until the testicle just comes off.

Step 4: Repeat with the other testicle. Yay! The bull is now a steer. Go down the line and start from step 1 on the next bull.

Of course, there is a minimal amount of bleeding. But that's normal. Also, you'll need someone to restrain the bull while you're doing all this. I was very afraid of getting kicked, so I did all this standing to the side of the bull, instead of directly behind it. You'll be surprised by how far you can stretch the spermatic cord out, heh. And believe me, it is HARD WORK. My arms, hands, and fingers got so tired and crampy just rubbing it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, god, when is the stupid thing coming off.........

So after I helped the veterinarian do all this, I was all ready to go home. BUT, lo and behold, there was a sick pregnant dry cow that had a right displaced abomasum and was hugely bloated. I was given the choice of either hanging around for another 2 hours, to watch the veterinarian attempt to fix it, or I could leave. The prognosis for this cow was poor, and I was told that there was a 95% chance he was going to humanely euthanize the cow via the "lead" method (which for those of you that don't know, you shoot it in the head). I debated this, and asked him, "Are students allowed to use the gun?" He laughed, no student had ever asked him this. I think he was also very very surprised - especially since I'm this 5'3" Asian girl.

Now before I continue, I need to explain some things. Why attempt to surgically untwist this cow's stomach if her chances of living were close to none? This was because the owner wanted him to try. A dairy cow is worth about $2000, and in this particular owner's mind, an attempt was better than none. At other places, they may have just elected to euthanize immediately. Ok, so why a bullet in the head and not inject her with euthasol? It's because at this particular place, we weren't sure where the carcasses were going, and it's actually against the law to use the drugs if the cow ends up in a place where wildlife (hawks) could pick at it, eat the residual drugs (phenobarbital), and die. So why not send the cow to slaughter (so we can eat her)? Because a cow must be able to walk herself to the slaughter house, in order to be fit for slaughter. The way this cow was going, she was going to die by tomorrow without treatment anyway, and therefore, there was no time to rush her to slaughter. And the final answer, YES, I would have been VERY disappointed if he was able to surgically fix this cow. Luckily, the abomasum wouldn't untwist, so he loaded up this small rifle, placed a green mark on her head, in between her eyes, but a little further up, and handed me the gun. (I don't know what type of gun this was, I THINK it was a mini rifle, and there was no recoil, just a loud ringing in my right ear). I aimed the gun about 5 inches from the green mark, making sure it was perpendicular, and pulled the trigger. BAP! and the cow collapses under her feet. Wow. No blood. He then slit her throat (by cutting the brachiocephalic trunk) to make doubly sure. I think I would have wanted to do that too. And that's my exciting story, of the last hour of my food animal rotation!

Now for some picture fun!

Guess who's doing a calf necropsy? Well, these calves sure got their revenge, cause they came back positive for cryptosporidium. AND I ENDED UP GETTING CRYPTO. UGH. So unfair, cause all three of us were observing and helping, and I ended up with the watery, watery diarrhea and generalized abdominal pain for like 4 days. Geez. I was sooooo clean too. I didn't even do a majority of the cutting, I was just labeling the bags. Sigh. At least now, I will never ever forget the incubation period of cryptosporidium, it is 7-10 days. Thank you very much.

Here's a closer look, the veterinarian is pointing to the pathological lesions!

And we were very lucky, because we also got to see THIS:

Can you tell what it is? You get points if you can tell me the name of this! The veterinarian said that in all his years of work, he has only seen a total of 3 of these things.

Here's a closer look at its head. And if you still can't tell, it has 2 heads. So what is this called? And yeah, it was born dead. They rarely survive.

ANSWER: Diprosopus Monster!