This final semester I spent four hours on Fridays at Tassajara Vet with my mentor Dr. Dowd.
I would typically come in to see a surgery or dental work or wait around for Dr. Dowd to get off of break before going into individual appointments. In the individual appointments I learned many different ailments that happen to dogs and cats. I witnessed euthanasia of pets and a feral cat and helped hold animals upside down while an ultrasound took place. Dr. Dowd allowed me to look at skin scrapings and earwax and pustules under an immersion microscope. She told me about the normal problems that occur with certain breeds and the negatives of breeding. When I wasn't with Dr. Dowd I was working with the awesome vet techs holding animals for blood tests and listening to abnormal heartbeats. Twice, a cat came in for a good grooming and I got to brush out the mats out of fur. Other times I would chill out with the sick animals and pet them while I waited for an appointment to come in.
The greatest thing about the internship was being around the animals, for sure there was always something I could pet and look at. I liked the whole "behind the scenes" feel. I know Dr. Dowd cares for her patients and doesn't hurry or try to milk money out of her customer's pockets. All the vet techs were nice and helped me learn as much as I could and I was able to see the surgery my own cat went through and was told everything I needed to know about any possible relapse in her condition.
Don't get me wrong, I love animals. I am an animal lover to the max. I just couldn't see myself working all my days here. There weren't too many frustrations, but the ones that I had really took over my mind. Because I was under 18 when I shadowed Dr. Dowd, I was unable to do almost all procedures including animals because of liability. I could not hold a mask onto a sedated cat or retrieve medicine or give shots of vaccine or saline. I messed up bringing in a dog once and was never fully trusted to help bring an animal to the back again. One thing that really made me sad was coming in after a good 2-3 months and having three of the prime vet techs not know my name.
I learned about my patience threshold. I can stand for 4 hours just observing without racking my brains out.
From this iQuest subject I learned that most dogs and cats are overweight in a vet's perspective and that when you cut into animal flesh it doesn't bleed as much as one would expect.
I expect my learning curve to either jump or sink this next semester. Now that I'm in Environmental Resource Management with an emphasis on storm water and construction, I have a whole new subject to learn. From my APES class I knew a little about the subject but this job delves deeper and incorporates all the concepts into one. My tasks these past two weeks have been recreating documents and I've been told the importance of the documents, but it's so much to sink in at once. My mentor has not yet unleashed her full knowledge upon me, and to be honest, I'm glad. The amount I've tried to soak in the past 6 hours of interning time has been a lot.
Mrs. Sekera, I would like to warn you that I may seem frustrated and overwhelmed in the upcoming weeks, but I'm trying my best to put the pieces together. I hope it all makes sense soon, but I'm proud to say my excel AND word skills at making worksheets are now up to par.
I would like to say as an after thought that I believe I've done so much this past year. I learned how to hoop and knit and I've saved up enough money to go to a festival in Southern California. I know I dreaded Fridays but I think I walked away with more knowledge than I really know.
