Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Hillary is Coming! Hillary is Coming!

Got in at ten of eight this morning and after a fair amount of chitchatting, we got down to surgery. Just two this morning—Maggie, a really adorable chocolate lab from a local breeder, and Miracle, a sweet little cat a nice couple rescued from a coalmine. It was cool to see the contrast between the two spays: Maggie was way bigger than Miracle (obviously), and her uterus was full of fat and big veins and stuff. I have pictures…somehow other people don’t find them as cool as I do. They just think it’s gross. I don’t get it. Anyway it was all very routine—I’m starting to memorize how to do a spay, but Christie says they’re actually the most technically difficult thing a vet will do aside from ortho. Neuters are easy: cut open, pull out ball and stringy thing, clamp, cut, stitch, cut, pull out other ball, etc.

            I got some lovely hands-on experience today! I shaved and washed Miracle before her spay, and afterwards I gave her a shot! Luckily she was just waking up from her surgery, so she was nice and sleepy and didn’t attack me. Before her spay, Josh put on a huge glove like the kind people who handle birds of prey wear and held Miracle while Christie gave her a knock-out drug (so we didn’t need to use gas during the surgery). As soon as the injection went in Miracle, who up until then was totally sweet, gave a howl and a scream, and proceeded to sink into a lovely sleep. Both surgeries went very smoothly. That pregnant cat never got dropped off last night, so we don’t know what’s going on with that. D.R came at 12:00 and we finished up at 11:30, so Christie gave me a run-down on anesthesia, and then we sat around and chatted away about Westtown and college and vet school and things.

            When we got home, I had some lunch, finished watching The Constant Gardener, and took a really long nap! It was supposed to be one of those “one hour power” naps, but I kept changing the alarm and eventually got up at 3:15. I took my camera outside and shot a role of 36 around the Holler. There’s a good six inches of snow on everything, so I got some great wintertime shots. Also, D.R looked like a garden gnome in his coat, so I took some of him, well, looking like a garden gnome! I can’t wait to print them! A nice pasta dinner, followed by playing solitaire on my iPod and watching Hillary speak at the St. Clairesville high school. All the vets went to see her-I think it’s a pretty liberal practice. And now I think I’ll take a bath! I don’t have to be in until 12:00 tomorrow. I wonder if the abortion-kitty will come in tomorrow…

Robin

P.S. I met The Cutest Puppy in the Whole Wide World today. His name was Sam, and he was a Saint Bernard puppy. Oh. My. God. I almost died when I saw him. He had these huge paws that he has to grow into and he was really clumsy but gentle and not annoying and bitey like most puppies. He was so sweet and soft and cute and mom and dad we HAVE to get one. Don’t you want a big ol’ Beethoven to climb on top of you in the morning and drool on your face? I think that would be great.