A Day in the Life of a Vet Student

Written by my sister

7am- at school to examine my dog, give meds, plan today's treatments,
track down doctor to get approval, write a report and call 2 different
owners

8am- remember everything I did yesterday, including all lab work,
radiographs, and be ready to report to clinicians and 10 classmates by
8:30

8:30 am- grilled by clinicians on the cases that I did yesterday,
including being yelled at and made fun of for following the directions
of any doctor who was not in the room, all of whom have complete
authority over me, and also have to answer any question on other
people's cases on the spot

9:30- appointments begin

10:30- learning all about Rover and how special he is, and how he
"almost died" aka coughed

10:31- faking that I care

11:00- next appointment

11:30- can't find doctor who needs to go over case with me.

11:35- doctor still not found. not responding to 2 pages, running
through the halls, or calling his office

12:00- find doctor. get paged to go to radiology "10 mins ago" for case
#2

12-1:00- in 3 places at once. no time to pee.

1:00- psycho owner in waiting room spotted me. I had to swear on my
life that Rover is ok, and that he is being carried because he is not
allowed to touch the "dirty hospital floor"

1:30- open lunch. get paged overhead. my pager stopped working and
yesterday's owner is on the phone.

2- on phone with pager company. What is my day time number for
technical support to call me back? Uh, I don't have one. That's why I
have a pager. so people can reach me during the day. Techs will call
me in 2 days, I will miss call, they will leave message with a return
number to call. But I can't just have their number so I can call and
skip step 1 and 2. Oh yeah, and the $0.06 bill (which they screwed up)
I have to pay by tonight or they will call the collection agency on me.

3- faking interpreting bloodwork to doctor. getting called out for not
knowing what a mild increased monocytosis means in a case of chronic
pneumonia

3:05- teaching owner to give fluids at home to cat we just diagnosed
with cancer. probably has 1-2 weeks to live.

4:00- fight with classmates over cases for tomorrow, so i don't get
stuck seeing diarrhea all day long

5:00- overhead page to the ward. no one can leave the room until we all
sign up to come in for a one hour shift in the middle of the night.
since i'm already on call from 5pm-8am I get out of the "extra"
mandatory shift.

6:00- run to target. buy watch to replace one eaten by dog day before.

7:00- treat and write report on my dog in isolation, wearing biohazard
suit.

8pm- call owners. all 4. only 2 dogs.

9:30pm- get to grocery store for first time since boston. realize #1-no
dinner eaten yet. #2-$200 stolen out of wallet at school (rent money)

10:00pm- get home. still no groceries. EZ Mac round 4.

10:05pm- hospital calls. can they patch me through to pyscho owner of
Rover? She finds out I'm at home, and thinks it's great how she can
reach me 24-7. I fake caring. She wants to chat about the pets I own.

10:35pm- hang up. roommates cracking up at me and my fake sympathy for her cat who ran away 4 months ago.

10:45pm- writing email to you while I wait for my laundry so I can have
something to wear so I can wake up and repeat.

Hope you enjoy. 'Tis my life.