3 days off!

I'm currently halfway through my 6 weeks of summer employment at Giant Veterinary Corporation (GVC). And, today is the second day of my THREE DAYS OFF IN A ROW!

Overall, I'm much happier at GVC this year. All but one of the staff members that I disliked last year has since moved on, and they've all been replaced with much nicer, hardworking, and responsible people. There are two new doctors, both of whom I like, and the doctor I wasn't super fond of last year is much better this year. My favorite doctor unfortunately moved to a different hospital location about a week ago.

I'm getting better hours. The office manager this year actually seems to care about my preferences for days off and desired shifts. The first week, I worked 5 medium days, then 4 long days the second week, and 2 short and 3 long days this last week. I'd much prefer to work 4 long days than 5 days, since that cuts my commute down to 8 hours a week instead of 10. (In reality, under ideal circumstances I can make the drive in 42-45 minutes; during morning or evening traffic, or in bad weather, it takes 55-60 minutes).

So this coming week, I'm working Wednesday through Saturday. It is so AWESOME to have had yesterday, today, and tomorrow off. Last week was really a killer - I worked 12-8 on Tuesday, 9-2 on Wednesday, 8-5 on Thursday, 9-6 on Friday, and 8-6 on Saturday. We were really busy, so I mostly got a 20-30 minute lunch break rather than a full hour, and had to work late at least a couple days. Saturday was really tough - Saturdays are the busiest day of the week, plus we had a relief doctor who we weren't used to working with, plus it was my longest day and my 5th day of work in a row.

Yesterday, we got up early for church, which was followed by a book sale and ice cream social. I only bought 8 books, which I am pretty sure is less than the number of books we donated to the sale, so we'll count that as a win? We had a little Arby's for lunch, then CLH practiced for a few minutes while I worked on some cross-stitch. We drove to Westminster to meet a friend to see Iron Man 2 ($8 for a matinee: EIGHT DOLLARS!), then to Boulder for a chamber choir concert. Headed home and watched an episode of The Office on DVD, then time for bed.

I slept 13+ hours last night (woke up at noon today) and I think I really needed it. I sure felt a lot better afterward. I forgot during the last year how exhausting it is to work as a technician/nurse. And no, it's not just that I am working 40 hours a week instead of sitting on my butt in class for 30 hours a week (although that's part of it). It's really physically exhausting. I come home every day with new bruises and scratches. My neck and back and feet and legs hurt from walking dogs, carrying dogs, lifting dogs, restraining dogs, being kicked and scratched by dogs, etc. I know that working as a vet is going to be exhausting, too, but I think that will be more mental exhaustion than physical - I won't be the one getting dogs in and out of kennels, holding them down when they don't want to sit still, etc.

Working at GVC has given me an interesting opportunity to reflect on what my first years as a DVM will be like. Most of the vets I'm working with are recent (2008 or 2009) graduates and sometimes seem like they are still getting the hang of things. I'm sure it will be a difficult transition to go from the role of "technician" to "doctor" - I'm so used to doing the tech stuff (restraint, running labwork, cleaning, etc.) that it will probably be a little hard to let go of those things and focus on my doctor duties (which, strictly speaking, are: diagnosis, prognosis, surgery, and prescribing drugs). No, it's not black and white, and there are plenty of times when the doctor needs to help draw blood or administer premeds before anesthesia or whatever, but I'll have to learn how to step back from being intimately involved in all the tiny details of treating every animal.

Anyway, back to today: had some "lunch" (if you wake up at noon, is your 1pm meal still called lunch?), did some grocery shopping and checked out "The Blind Side" from Redbox, made a blackberry cream cheese pie (which I'm sure will look JUST like the picture). Played some Farmville and got caught up on Facebook. Made some cheesy potatoes in time for a "European style" (aka late) dinner.

Plans for tomorrow include: sleeping in, maybe going shopping for some running shoes, and getting my brain back in gear so I can make up some flash cards for important things I need to know as a junior in the fall.

Want some more random information about my job at GVC?

We had a staff meeting (excuse me, "team" meeting) last Thursday. "Lunch" (by which I mean chocolate covered donuts and a fruit tray) was provided. However, no important information was.

The upper management people at GVC are doing a much better job this year of getting vet students integrated into their hospitals. They have been in touch with us by email, held a "fun group bowling event!" a couple weeks ago (I actually bowled a 118 [withOUT bumpers] to win the second game), and are taking everybody to a baseball game in July (I'll be done working there and out in Massachusetts already).

All the staff and doctors from my hospital are going to a Rockies game (baseball) on Sunday (me too!). I hope it will be fun.

I've gotten to see some cool stuff, including: a Meibomian cyst, a descemetocele, a gastropexy, an aural hematoma repair, some dental extractions, an anal gland abscess, tons of vomiting/diarrhea patients (I'm pretty sure Saturday was National Dogs-With-Diarrhea Day)... other neat stuff that I can't remember at the moment. One of the doctors has decided that I should be the one who gets to catheterize every male dog under anesthesia from whom we need a urine sample. Lucky me.

My Spanish veterinary vocabulary is terribly out of practice, so I retrieved my copy of "Spanish Terminology for the Veterinary Team" from upstairs and brought it to the clinic. I also printed out a copy of my awesome list of translations of veterinary terms into Spanish.

I felt almost like partially a real doctor in a few years, when one of the doctors needed a surgery reference to look at before a complicated surgery, and I offered to bring in my snazzy new edition of Fossum. I even brushed up on the various surgical techniques that morning.

In my random moments of free time, when I have nothing better to do, I've spent some time acquainting myself with my 5 or so new reference texts, by looking up additional info on stuff I've seen at work that I don't know much about.

And that's about all I can think of about GVC at the moment!