A Grueling Task

Sylvalyn Simpson, Texas A&M

Experiences, Honorable Mention

 

I could no longer stand.  The sweltering heat, nauseating stench, and physical exertions had drained my stamina.  After the gigli wire slackened, I dropped the saw handles and slumped against the nearest fencepost.  While attempting to blink away the stars that danced in my eyes, I examined the pieces of bisected fetus sprawled across the maternity pen.  It was the most gruesome composition I had ever seen: one head, two vertebrae, two pelvises, and eight legs. 

            On a hot July morning in Turlock, California, Dr. Kavishti Kokaram and I had been performing the routine pregnancy checks of a dairy herd from five until noon.  Dr. Kokaram called the Lander Veterinary Clinic to report that we had finished, and the office personal notified us of an emergency; a dystocia at a nearby dairy.  In the interest of time, we skipped lunch and headed straight over. 

            We quickly located the straining cow and were assaulted by the putrid, sickeningly sweet smell of decay.  Palpating around the legs of the fetus, it felt as if the corpse were doubled over and twisted downward past the point of my reach.  It was obviously an incorrect fetal position, although not a familiar irregularity.  Dr. Kavishti decided to pump sterile lube into the uterus and attempt to pull the calf.  Although we knew the fetus would likely remain trapped, we were hoping to reveal more about the nature of the dystocia.  Dr. Kavishti was correct; pulling had shifted the calf enough for us to feel additional abnormalities.  The fetus was deformed. 

            Removal of the dead fetus via a fetotomy was the most plausible solution.  Dr. K. prepared the fetotome and obstetrical wire saw.  After using the wire guide to position the wire, he instructed me to stand by the cow’s pelvis, brace myself, and prevent the fetotome from moving.  Sweat was pouring down his face when I offered to switch places.

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Scream. Pause. Jump.

Merry Kroeger, Texas A&M University

Life as a Vet Student, Entry

Over the course of my last 2 years, I have made some fond memories in veterinary school. During my second semester as a first year student, I had to take 6 hours of large animal anatomy. We were put into groups of 6 to 7 per cadaver horse for lab. One of my newest friends, Ashley, was put in my lab group. All semester we had a blast dissecting our horse. On one occasion, I had wandered over to look at some radiographs on the wall of the equine limb, and Ashley came up behind and scared me. It surprised me so much I screamed, and then jumped. I think a majority of the lab heard my racket because when I turned around to see who had scared me, not only was Ashley there laughing, but half the lab was looking my way. They were probably wondering why I had screamed and why Ashley was laughing. I have never be so scared out of my wits like I had that day. And to this day, Ashley still teases me about the pause between when I screamed and when I jumped, because in her head, she cannot understand why a person would jump AFTER they screamed, instead of screaming and jumping at the same time! I guess I am a bit unusual.

A fond memory during first year was Hawaiian Friday. One of our microbiology professors had a routine of dressing every Friday in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals. Not kidding. And so, one of my classmates had the clever idea of emailing the entire class and coordinating a Friday in which we would wear Hawaiian shirts in spirit of Dr. Musser's Hawaiian Friday. This resulted in about 20-30 students showing up for Friday classes in Hawaiian shirts and making Dr. Musser gleefully excited. Our class historian recruited some of the students to stay after class and pose for a picture with Dr. Musser as a capturing memory of a fun day.

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Lindsey Mathews, Texas A&M University

Creative Corner, entry

"It's Not What It Looks Like!"

Blair Dingler, Texas A&M University

Life as a Vet Student, Honorable Mention

As my first year has come to an end, one of my best pieces of advice for future vet students is to find friends as quickly as possible. Spending multiple hours at school learning endless amounts of information is a grueling task, and my friends are definitely the reason I made it out of first year alive. With that said, our friendship hasn’t been smooth sailing from the start. I’m here to tell the story of how social media and iPhones can betray even the most innocent of actions.

After three long days of orientation, all I wanted to do was relax at home. I was hanging out with Heather, whom I had met at a welcome dinner earlier that week and instantly clicked with. I was requesting anyone and everyone in my class to be my friend on Facebook. Shortly after sending Manny (fellow first year) a friend request, he messaged me and told me that he was going to Chimy’s that night with some vet school friends if I wanted to join. Heather and I decided to go and began inviting other people we had met that week. She decided to send a Facebook message to Ben (her first vet school friend) telling him of our evening plans. We were both excited to widen our circle of friends and get to know our classmates better.

We got ready for the night and headed to Chimy’s to meet up with everyone. Ben had never responded to Heather’s message so we assumed he wasn’t attending. Upon arrival, we were surprised to see Ben already there and sitting at a table with Manny and Cameron (first year as well as Manny’s roommate). We all said “Hey!” to one another and started chatting. As I was talking with Manny and Cameron, Heather approached Ben and asked why he hadn’t responded to her message. Ben, who is one of the nicest guys I know, wanted to defend his honor. He hadn’t ignored her message, so he checked his phone to see if he had gotten it. He promptly unlocked his phone with Heather looking over his shoulder, which was a mistake. His phone unlocked to a zoomed in photo of Heather’s face. Zoomed in. On Heather’s face. What he hadn’t remembered is that he had told the guys Heather was coming to Chimy’s. Ben had showed them her profile picture so they would know who she was and had locked his phone with the picture on the screen.

As you can guess, Ben was mortified. When we talked about the incident at a later date, he said he thought his heart stopped beating for a second. Heather, surprised, only uttered a shocked “Oh!” Ben immediately began backtracking, saying,  “It’s not what it looks like! I can explain!” He then proceeded to clarify why a zoomed in picture of her face was the first thing on screen upon unlocking his phone, and they both laughed it off.

Even though I wasn’t directly involved in the situation, it’s still one of my top five favorite stories from first year. It sealed their fate as friends and helped solidify us as a group, but I wouldn’t suggest trying to make friends that way as it can lead to a very awkward encounter. 

"Daisy Mae, the Contrast Queen."

Entry, Creative Corner
Alex Alderdice, Texas A&M

"Daisy Mae, the Contrast Queen." Sharpie Pen