What professionalism?

So I get a lot of hits on this blog from the Student Doctor Network forums. People link to my blog as a good way to get an idea about what living in St. Kitts and being a Ross student is like. Awesome! Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

However, I just clicked on one of the links that has been sending a good deal of traffic this way, and I have to say that I was majorly disappointed by what I saw.

Among students who can't get into U.S. schools, there's a lot of agonizing over whether they should attend Ross or St. George's University. Each has their own ups and downs, and both are good schools that have AVMA accreditation and produce high quality vets. I can honestly say that I've never heard anyone at Ross putting down SGU or its students. The only time I hear it mentioned is someone talking about a friend that goes there, or as an option should they fail out of Ross.

So I was pretty startled when I read this thread and a bunch of SGU students were talking a ton of smack about Ross. They were repeating the same old conventional wisdoms about Devry and Ross that are tiny nuggets of truth surrounded by a lot of hoopla and exaggeration. Some of them got downright nasty.

Guys, we are all going to be future colleagues. The specialist you refer a patient to ten years from now may very well be a Ross graduate. Can you at least try to put aside your biases and act like a professional? Because talking trash on the internet about your peers? Not that classy.

Mega update.

Gah! Sorry, my approximately two dozen readers. I've been insanely busy. But I did get a ton of awesome pictures to share from Seattle.

First off, my externship was great. I got to do a lot of cool things, including watch an endoscopic enterotomy procedure. I placed the ET tube, catheter (okay, I blew two veins first - pigs have really tough skin), and monitored anesthesia for surgery. Then afterward I got to perform my first terminal (meaning fatal) heart stick while the pig was still anesthetized. I was planning on spaying her once she was dead, as well, but by that time it was noon and we'd been in surgery for four hours and I could tell that the techs wanted to take their lunch break. They couldn't leave me alone with a dead pig, unfortunately.

I have to say, the University of Washington's Comparative Medicine department has the best enrichment program for their lab animals I've ever seen. The dogs and pigs have extremely nuanced enrichments that are switched up on different days of the week to keep them interesting. The pigs even get rooting opportunities in ice, straw, wood shavings, etc! The rabbits get fresh fruit and vegetables. It's really impressive. I spoke with two of the members of the Environmental Enrichment Committee (yes, they have a freaking committee dedicated to just providing enrichment for their animals) and took notes, and got permission to take photos so I can put together a presentation when I get back to Ross.

Don arrived in Seattle on Friday and we spent the weekend sight-seeing and doing tourist-y type stuff. My favorite was definitely the Pike Place Market. The foodie in me was practically high the entire time.

The Space Needle.

Inside of the EMP museum.

Don playing the guitar in an exhibit at the EMP.

Scuba Santa at the Seattle Aquarium.

Moon jellies.

A mandarin dragonet. So pretty!

I thought the play of light here was really cool.

Fish market.

*droooooool*

I may have eaten a pomegranate seed or five from the free sample.

Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Mmmm!

 We put together a Christmas dinner of some of the freshest, most gorgeous-looking ingredients I've seen in years that we purchased in the market. We bought rainbow trout filets, shallots, brussels sprouts and three different kinds of mushrooms. I made trout almondine, roasted veg with shallots and garlic, and cream of mushroom soup yesterday. It was incredible.

In other news, Don and I adopted a kitty the other day! He was our Christmas present to ourselves (and to him, really). His name is Roosevelt, and he's an absolutely enormous, dark grey, long-haired bear of a cat with bright yellow eyes. I can tell that his last owner must have been a man, because he's already very snuggly with Don but not so much with me.

Snuggling with dad.

Onward and upward!

Grades came out a little earlier today, and I'm officially a 7th semester! It's so hard to take that in. I cannot believe that in a few weeks I start my last semester on the island. Next semester begins live animal surgeries, clinical assignments, going away banquets, and saying goodbyes.

I know of one person we lost so far due to Small Animal Surgery.  Hopefully I won't find out about too many more.

Right now my husband and I are watching a terrible movie just because Nathan Fillion is in it, about to eat some homemade pizza (yup, I married a guy who can cook), and having ourselves a quiet night in. Tomorrow I pack up to fly out on Sunday to start my externship in Seattle.

Dem bones!

We had a bone fracture repair lab yesterday where we placed pins and cerclage wire to stabilize oblique fractures on plastic femurs and tibias. My partners and I took a lot of photos, which must've looked funny to my other classmates. But I thought it was really cool.

Me placing an intramedullary pin through the long axis of the bone.

A screw pin being placed across the oblique fracture.

Laura, my lovely partner.

Cerclage wire being fitted over the screw pin and tightened to hold the fracture closed.

Laura and Vanessa holding our stabilized femur fracture with an IM pin, cerclage wire and an external fixator.