Rising Briefly from Obscurity
About two posts a month -- that seems to be the trend here... Every once in a while some bloggable topic surfaces in my brain, but when the evening comes there remains little desire to sit at school and type.
I learned a good deal in "Large Animal Clinical Medicine" and am significantly more comfortable making decisions about medical cases.
The last week of the rotation was considerably crazy. For me the craziness began Sunday night the 24th of September, though I believe it started on Friday for Dr. W. I arrived at the clinic and was handed a clipboard for a case that was coming in -- a <1 day old cria whose mother was not allowing it to nurse. Assessment proved the cria to be in good current condition, but we treated it for failure of passive transfer and a meconium impaction and sent it on its way to success. Later that evening a cria came in with watery diarrhea (which later proved to be cryptosporidiosis). She was strong but pyrexic and anorectic. She was remarkably good at remaining hydrated in spite of the nasty diarrhea, and didn't require fluids as much as many cria cryptosporidiosis cases.
Simultaneously with this case, a horse came in with a swollen muzzle which later proved to be a rattlesnake bite. I accepted this as my case as well (which I was pleased to do considering the owner of the horse and the pure fact that it was a horse).
I started the weekend with one case and ended it with four.
And then Thursday the 28th we took in a colicking horse with a mass (potentially an abscessed lymph node) and a recent history of strangles. That evening a horse came in with laboratory evidence of renal failure. To top off the week, a seizuring, slobbering, recumbent goat arrived Friday in the middle of grand rounds. We assessed the goat, treated it for possible organophosphate toxicity, pondered the recent application of an essentially harmless herbicide to the field neighboring the goat's pasture, and did not discern the cause of the debilitation.
Two animals were euthanized that day, and so we ushered in a calm weekend that completed my large animal medicine rotation. I expected to miss it, and I already do in some ways.
I learned a good deal in "Large Animal Clinical Medicine" and am significantly more comfortable making decisions about medical cases.
The last week of the rotation was considerably crazy. For me the craziness began Sunday night the 24th of September, though I believe it started on Friday for Dr. W. I arrived at the clinic and was handed a clipboard for a case that was coming in -- a <1 day old cria whose mother was not allowing it to nurse. Assessment proved the cria to be in good current condition, but we treated it for failure of passive transfer and a meconium impaction and sent it on its way to success. Later that evening a cria came in with watery diarrhea (which later proved to be cryptosporidiosis). She was strong but pyrexic and anorectic. She was remarkably good at remaining hydrated in spite of the nasty diarrhea, and didn't require fluids as much as many cria cryptosporidiosis cases.
Simultaneously with this case, a horse came in with a swollen muzzle which later proved to be a rattlesnake bite. I accepted this as my case as well (which I was pleased to do considering the owner of the horse and the pure fact that it was a horse).
I started the weekend with one case and ended it with four.
And then Thursday the 28th we took in a colicking horse with a mass (potentially an abscessed lymph node) and a recent history of strangles. That evening a horse came in with laboratory evidence of renal failure. To top off the week, a seizuring, slobbering, recumbent goat arrived Friday in the middle of grand rounds. We assessed the goat, treated it for possible organophosphate toxicity, pondered the recent application of an essentially harmless herbicide to the field neighboring the goat's pasture, and did not discern the cause of the debilitation.
Two animals were euthanized that day, and so we ushered in a calm weekend that completed my large animal medicine rotation. I expected to miss it, and I already do in some ways.
posted by Claire at 18:02
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