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Dr.Tops

aggiebugaggiebug member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Students
hehe sorry I like calling you that. you can tell me to stop :)

4th year is good! I have started on some of the easier rotations so I am pretty sure I am going to have several rough months ahead of me, but is all better than being in the class room.  And I can survive anything for 2 weeks! SOO nice not to have to study every evening for hours! -until boards come around at least.

Planning is going, just under a year out now and I have most of the big stuff done.  No cake or flowers but the rest is just getting the details in line (or so I think).  I have steered away from DIY stuff because I know my schedule won't be condusive to a lot of it. 

How was Alaska? I had a couple from 2010 that did their externships up there- they are now Army vets.  Had a blast it sounds like.
Image and video hosting by TinyPic Love is like infinity: You can't have more or less infinity, and you can't compare two things to see if they're "equally infinite." Infinity just is, and that's the way I think love is, too.
Fred Rogers
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Re: Dr.Tops

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    TriSaratops10TriSaratops10
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    hehe sorry I like calling you that. you can tell me to stop :)
    Haha, I don't mind the nickname, its cute! :)

    So are your rotations 2 weeks? (I'm facinated by the differences/similairities of vet and med schools) - ours were typically 4 weeks - glad to hear that 4th year is easier. Ours is tough in the beginning with all the residency applications/sub-internships (where you are treated like an intern), but after that it's all gravy :)

    I think I remember an Army vet telling me that your boards are like everything you've ever studied all at the end of school, is that right? - ours are done in 3 "steps" spread out from year 2 to intern year - step 1 is the "big" one where the score matters a lot.

    That's awesome with your planning!! I think it was definitely way smart of you to have a long engagement, I wish I had a longer one! I'm desperately trying to get as much DIY stuf done as I can before intern year starts (ahh!)

    Alaska was AMAZING!! I had such a blast - I actually was supposed to work with the town vet b/c apparently he loves med students (or just company, haha) and lets them operate. Alas I was so busy I kind of forgot and I really do regret not meeting him, he's kind of a legend in Sitka, AK.  You should go, for. sure. Maybe even as a honeymoon?? (seriously, it's that amazing!!)

    Here's a pic from one of the mountains I climbed :)

    actually here's another, LOVE the view



    Here's a question for you aggie - I ride horses (dressage specifically) - always heard and used the term "colic" but what does it REALLY mean?? Is it a catch-all term?

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    aggiebugaggiebug member
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    I love hearing the similarities/ differences as well.  Yep we have 2 week rotations, although this could vary between vet schools.  Some schools start rotations in the middle of 3rd year, we wait until the end of 3rd year to start.   Our rotations vary on toughness.  ER you are on from 6am-6pm for a week and 6pm-6am the other week so there is a day when you are literally on for 24hrs-I am dreading that day.  I also have some classmates who have to treat their sick patients every 2 hrs so they are pretty much not getting any sleep right now :(  I want to take them cookies I feel so bad (I got done at 1:30 today).  If you want to do an internship most our applications are due in Sept/Oct time period, but its not required so I am really glad I don't have to deal with that. 

    Yeah our boards are one big test over everything we have learned in the last 3.5 years.  We take them in the middle of our 4th yr.- you don't even have scores back when you apply for internships. 
    --

    There are some big pros and cons to a long engagement.  Most of the time I am glad I have the time, but sometimes I just want to be married!
    _

    your pics are gorgeous! I really want to go to Alaska, and we will sometime I am sure.  FI is in charge of the honeymoon and right now its changing every 2 weeks, but I will suggest that to him and see what he says then haha.  So your trip was just a vacation? family or with FI? or is he stationed up there?
    _
    oh and your question.  Colic really means abdominal pain, so it can be a lot of things. Typically however people us it as a term for a GI obstruction, horses have a 180 degree turn in their large colon with loves to get impacted with feed/ sand/ gas.

    Image and video hosting by TinyPic Love is like infinity: You can't have more or less infinity, and you can't compare two things to see if they're "equally infinite." Infinity just is, and that's the way I think love is, too.
    Fred Rogers
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    TriSaratops10TriSaratops10
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    edited May 2010
    Cool!! Your ER rotation sounds like our hardest rotation which was 3 weeks on Shock Trauma - since as students we don't fall under the 80hr work-week limit we were on call for 30hrs every 3 days (UGH!!). It was a TON, TON of fun and got to do A LOT, but it was exhausting. I literally had no idea what day it was, just if I was on-call, pre-call or post-call, haha!! Other than that most of our rotations have a "q4" call schedule where every 4th night we are "on-call" for 30 hrs (24h + 6h to round); which isn't as bad. Then we have our outpatient months which are nice, because no call!! :-)

    For Rads I do one year as a "transitional intern" so I skip about the hospital doing various rotations (Peds, OB/GYN, psych, medicine....) which isn't as bad as a general med or surg intern :-)

    What makes people do an intern year? Is it if you want to specialize in large or small animal or something more specific?

    Thanks for the answer on colic, makes total sense now!!!!! FYI - colic in people medicine means the same thing :-) haha, but its usually in babies and is pretty brief (and is a diagnosis of exclusion).

    ETA: the best thing I found to help survive call is a fresh pair of socks and washing your face (or use one of those towelletes) Smile
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    aggiebugaggiebug member
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    Socks and wash the face... I can do that. Thanks for the tip!

    Yeah I figured colic was the same in people, and just as vague haha.

    Most people that want to do an internship want to specialize.  We have all the specializations that human medicine has, its still just much more common to be a general practioner.  So caridology, derm, internal med (species specific or general), sx, orthopedics, exoctic med (thats not like human med haha!), onco etc etc etc. To be board certified you have to do the internship/residency. A lot people wanting to get into the equine med world do internship/ residencies as well.  Eq med is super tough, bad hours and poor pay until you make it into the inner circle- the best way to do this is through an internship.

    FI is calling says its time to hit the road haha.  Have a good weekend.
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic Love is like infinity: You can't have more or less infinity, and you can't compare two things to see if they're "equally infinite." Infinity just is, and that's the way I think love is, too.
    Fred Rogers
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