Hard work

Okay so I’ve been a very sporadic blogger lately, there always seems like either there’s nothing to talk about or there’s so much to talk about I don’t find time to blog. So here’s a cute picture to make up for it.

This is Henry my new dog! He’s a border collie cross, he’s 3 years old and we got him 3 weeks ago from his previous owner who was having a baby and couldn’t look after him. She rescued him from being used to train fighting dogs so there are a few behavior issues, so far its reserved to attacking other dogs and men with hats. He is mad about tennis balls and loves them more than food, he’s also extremely good at find the ball, even when it was in a box it only took him 3 minutes to find it.

As anyone applying for Vet in the UK knows the deadline for applications was on the 15th of October, I was acutely aware of that because my admissions tutor was on paternity leave, but all my applications are done now all i can do is wait…and hope…and fill in the Nottingham questionnaire. It’s quite annoying and I’ve had to look up a few words and really think when it comes to broad blanket terms, but  I’ll finish it eventually, by eventually i mean tomorrow which is the deadline, I just wanted to make sure i got as much in as possible because I’m on my final week of work experience this week.

Yes I did say that, I finally got my 2nd week of vet work experience in my area, it only took me a year. It’s great there but a lot of hard work. I get to help the nurses out with some of the animals and i even scrubbed in on a surgery, before you all gasp in horror all i did was hold an ear flap and cut some suture’s, they aren’t that irresponsible. It’s the standing around for hours at a time that kills my feet though, especially in consults but it’s worth it.

So far in surgery I’ve seen:

1 cat spay

2 cat castrations

2 dog castrations

1 widening of the ear canal

2 lump removals

1 anal gland removal

I have seen some absolutely gorgeous dogs, the husky in today was one of them, she had both her hips removed and came in to be spayed but she was just the most beautiful wriggly licky thing. Of course there have been the not so good ones that try to rip your face off but at least he went home early.  As you can probably tell I’m loving my time at the vets and hopefully (fingers and toes crossed) when I’m a vet student I can go back and watch some more practice.

 

Summer’s over

I  lost summer, somewhere between my farm placements i think. This has been the most exhausting (mentally, physically and emotionally) summer ever. As I said last post I was going to Scotland to do my work experience, 2 weeks turned into 4, that’s a hell of a long time to be away from friends. I came back for results day but no party for me, guess my birthday went by without friends this year. My family did come to see me though, with presents and balloons, that was nice. Anyway I’m getting ahead of myself, the family I was staying with had forgotten the pass code for the internet so i couldn’t blog, so here’s the last 5 weeks.

The first week was great. I was on a beef farm with a nice, if heavily accented, Scottish farmer called Archie and his three sons. Mostly I was left to explore on the first day and it was mostly observation that week. I went to a cattle auction with him on the second day and what chaos that was, the caller was speaking what sounded like gibberish until it was coming to an end and Archie was distracted with another farmer so i felt kinda confused by it all. Eventually we left, he bought 23 new steers all for around £500. He buys the cattle at 300 kilos (15 months old), lets them graze in the fields till their 500 kilos, then fattens them to 700 before sending them to the abattoir, where they use  70% of the carcass at around £2.77 per Kg. I got to help vaccinate the new steers for IBR intranasally and saw them getting wormed with a spray on wormer which happens every 2 months.

I went to the agricultural show that Saturday with Lydia, Rebecca’s older cousin.  The farmer she works for was judging the sheep so we went and helped give out prizes for the Beltex. I got to see all sorts of aspects of agriculture, from the machines, to preventive medicine and of course the animals. I got to see a performance by chariots of fire, a horse troop with carts and ponies. I talked to the vet at the show and even won a bowl and some kitten food on the vet raffle… Too bad I don’t have a kitten.

The dairy farm I hated. It was an Irish farmer that I couldn’t understand and even when I could his instructions weren’t very clear at all. I think he expected me to know things about farming that I didn’t, like not to open gates but to hop over them. But the calves more than made up for him. They were so sweet and just wanted to suckle anything and everything, including my clothes. The calves only get bottle fed for 2 days so that they can get the antibodies they need, within the first 6 hours its crucial for them to absorb the antibodies otherwise they sicken and die. Then its a bucket of milk for 8 days, then solids. I did 2 hours of milking everyday, it’s hectic and confusing in the milking parlor and really noisy and smelly. I had to do a lot of poo shoveling and I ended up covered most days but I was fine as long as they let me feed the newborn calves.

The third week I was at an animal sanctuary where I met Zoe, she was on an animal management course from Leeds and was in her last week of her 6 weeks of work experience, she was living in the caravan on sight with Anthony, also on work ex. I had a lot of fun at the sanctuary. Yes it was hard work: mucking out the goats and pigs, walking the ferrets and feeding all the animals, but it was a lot more hands on. I even lead tours in the last few days and collected donations. My favorite animals were the goats and rabbits, although Annabel the sheep was cute too. All the animals had their own unique stories of why they were there. Like Connie the horse who had been a champion show jumper until she refused to go back in her horse box and ended up at Mossburn.

My last week was the best and worst. Best because I was finally at a vets. They were so nice, especially the nurses and Grace who is a 3rd year vet student at Edinburgh. I got to see a lot of interesting things including : a Yorkie getting pins in its leg after a break, a cow with an LDA (left displaced abomasum(stomach)) and many consultations. I saw my first animal get put down at the start of the week (a calf) and then a cat on the 4th day, it was in such an awful state with a distended belly and it couldn’t even stand, putting it to sleep stopped its suffering which was drawn out far too long.

Worst because the family that I was staying with had had enough of me, things that were overlooked in the first few weeks because i was a guest were blown out of proportion and I was accused of not respecting their boundaries when I was trying my best not to upset their household. They lost all their trust in me, I really have no idea why and started accusing me of things I didn’t do, then lecturing me on honesty when i wouldn’t confess. I wasn’t allowed to talk to the children without an adult in the room and had to ask for everything. I tried to stay out the way and get through the week but they accused me of going into my shell and not interacting, then threatened to send me home. I was so glad the surgery where I was getting my work experience was so nice otherwise I wouldn’t have made it through the week. I went home early on the Friday and I’m never going back.

During my week at Mossburn animal sanctuary i went home for results day. Not as good as i hoped but then again not as bad as i feared. I got an A in chemistry and Biology and a B in Maths and Physics. I’m dropping Physics and resitting my Math to get an A. At the moment I’m meant to be writing my personal statement but I’m finding it difficult, there’s not much room and I’m trying not to sound boring, plus the fact i haven’t technically got all the experience i need. I need 1 more week at a vets so i sent letters to all the neighboring surgeries. I got a phone call this morning saying they wanted a CV, don’t know why, its just work ex but i wrote one anyway. Hopefully since they’re asking they might have a place for me, fingers crossed.

It’s been awhile

It’s been awhile since i last blogged and lots has happened. I’ve started writing again and my new book is coming along well. I love fantasy so it is about werewolves, especially because I’m obsessed with them at the moment. Now don’t go mistaking me for a twihard, although Jacob is very nice XD,  however i prefer reading books with a better plot and much better heroines that don’t suffer from DIDD (Damsel in distress disorder).

School finished! I’m now officially done with year 12. When I go back in 5 weeks I’ll be in year 13 apparently one of the most stressful years of my life, according to most teachers. I’m not too worried about that yet. I’m worried about results day in 3 weeks! I know not to stress but I can’t help it, these are the grades that are going to give me a shot at Vet school.

Now I did lie about being worried about year 13. Yes i know its stressful but i can handle stress, yes i know its a hell of a lot of hard work and i can handle that too, on the other hand what i might not be able to handle is my new chemistry teacher Miss Hannlin. She used to be a student teacher who taught us the atmosphere topic last year. She did very badly, no one understood her and our usual teacher ended up taking over after 3 lessons. She has very little experience with 6th form as fr as i know and has never taught A2 chemistry. My school is giving us a teacher that we were told was meant to be teaching year 9’s for year 13 chemistry. That worries me.

So to de-stress this holiday i thew myself into planning my birthday party. I was born in August so nearly everyone was 17 before me this year, which was extremely annoying seeing as they got to learn to drive before me. My first lesson won’t be until late in the holidays. However my mum said that this year i could have a BBQ, and sleepover in the tent. I was planning the playlist and finding some good truth or dare questions and generally having fun sorting out my party. Last year everyone loved it so it had to be better this year. I pulled on all my experience from the parties i had went to this year both with and without alcohol and invited all my friends via face book.

It was all going fine until Friday. I got a call while i was at my friends house to say that the farmer in Scotland had decided when i could come. This would involve staying at my friend’s aunts house for 2 weeks in Lockerbie. Of course i was overjoyed, finally the work experience i needed. Then she told me the weeks i would be going. The first 2 weeks in August, my birthday’s on the 5th. Going would mean missing both mine and Mel who is turning 18’s birthday.

Of course I’m going to Scotland, this is my chance to get the long sort after experience i need. I will have my party the week i get back. But then i might be back in Scotland for another 2 weeks doing my vet practice experience. A birthday’s just a day right? I can celebrate it later, and because it will fall in the week of my exam results i can join them both together, to celebrate both my Birthday and my grades (hopefully!).

Things can only get better

Hi everyone my exams are over! YAY! The worst was definitely my stats resit it just went terrible, but weirdly i think i did best in the math C2 exam, i thought i only got 2 marks off, will probably get proved wrong but at least I’m optimistic. Physics went badly and so did my developing fuels chemistry but my elements for life test went really well so I’m just hoping that that and the ISA pull it up.

I also finished my shrug! It took me months and it was knitted in used wool because my mum thought i would never finish it but i did. The sleeve edgings were hell and i can now sew pretty well because of it but i loved every second i came closer to finishing it. It’s now washed and ironed, it stretched a bit but it looks tonnes better. I shall be wearing it with pride once this heat wave passes.

I’ve been really depressed over the last 2 weeks over the issue of work experience. Everywhere I’ve asked either i have had no reply, they don’t have the insurance, I have to be 18 or the latest one we’re full. I sent a letter to the vets 3 months ago and they said i could have a place just not that week so i said any week in my summer holidays. They got back to me last week with a “Sorry were full” after 3 months of waiting for a reply. They were the only ones to give me a glimmer of hope and they dashed it.

I was seriously considering if being a vet was for me. Then i met Lauren’s new kitten. He is gorgeous! I will post a picture as soon as i get it off my friend because my phone died just as we were allowed to see it at her birthday party Saturday (great party by the way). He was just so lovable, cute and always begging for attention. I realized that this was what i wanted to be around for the rest of my life. Yes i know there are the down sides, fatal diseases and animal cruelty, but i can handle that if i know i can help one pets life for the better, even if it isn’t all just cute kitties.

That kitten gave me the courage to phone up a total stranger who was my friends aunt and ask to stay with her in Scotland for 2 weeks and get work experience. She was more than willing to oblige and i now love her to bits for all the help she’s giving me. She’s arranging work experience on 2 farms, dairy and beef, and asking her local vets to take me on too. She owns sheep and is a dog psychologist so hopefully this time all will go well and i will be spending my summer in work experience heaven.

So it just goes to show that kittens are the most manipulative little creatures on this earth XD and that things can only get better.

Easter and updates

Happy Easter to the 2 people that read this blog (that includes my mother) XD. My mom aka the Easter bunny aka the Easter budgie (according to my mom) brought me 1 giant cream egg Easter egg (YUM!), a Xena box set (I’m addicted to old TV shows) and my final book in the Garth Nix keys to the kingdom series Lord Sunday. Now yes it might be a bit of a kids book but I’ve been reading them for years and i can’t not read the final book just because I’m a bit old for it now.

Recently I’ve been panicking a lot, especially because of chemistry, i got an E in the exam again, luckily it was on stuff that i was iffy on to start with and not stuff i have forgotten that i lost marks on, so i went through it and made sure i understood everything all thanks to my little Chinese helper (you know who you are 🙂 ) Unfortunately my teacher then decided to tell us that we had spent 7 months learning what we needed for the first test however, we now have 3 more chapters to learn for the second one which is happening round the same time as the first! This means coming back after school for extra classes and maybe in the holidays to finish what we are meant to learn for the exams never mind revising, and this is the exam i need an A in first time. Can you see why I’m panicking now?

On a totally unrelated note I’ve taken up knitting, and its driving me crazy. I definitely  think I’m no natural at knitting, i’ve dropped stitches, gained stitches and even managed to mess up a whole line all while thinking I’m following the pattern, and this was supposed to be my relaxing new hobby, HA! I’ve managed to do about 48 rows so far, this is the furthest i’ve gotten so far without having to scrap it and start from scratch again. I’m making a cap sleeved shrug. Its blue with a diamond pattern, if it ever gets done i’m going to wear it with pride, no matter how bad it looks XD.

Also lately I’ve started watching a new anime called The sacred blacksmith, quite a lot of boob jokes so far but the animation is really good and i love the characters. I have a totally different taste in anime and manga than my cousin she loves blood and gore and i like a good action adventure story with some romance thrown in. I’ve watched things like death note, Yu Yu Hakusho and needless and liked then a lot but i don’t think i could even watch Elfin Lied, it makes me sick just from my cousins descriptions. So if anyone could recommend any good anime it would be much appreciated.

Exam Results

Well my first round of exam results are in. I did much better than i thought I would. I got an A in biology, top of the class yay! I got a B in physics which i was sure should have been an E, I was really happy about that one, and i got a B in both my math tests, which was good but i might resit next year if i don’t drop it before then.

For the first time in months i actually feel like i have a chance of getting into vet school. I got good grades, I’m hopefully going to stay with my friends aunt in Scotland so i can get farm and vet work experience, plus she’s a dog psychologist.

Unfortunately not all is happy right now. Because of the exam results in biology nearly all my friends have either been kicked out outright or have till Monday to decided whether it’s worth them continuing. In my class it was mostly U’s with only 2 people getting A’s so the teachers aren’t happy.

I had my chemistry and physics ISA’s this week. Physics was boring and i know i dropped at least 3 marks out of shear forgetfulness. The chemistry was the observation paper but i never get what I’m supposed to get in practicals. It’s meant to go cream, mine was very white. There was meant to be a red colour, bleaching and bubbles, i saw none of these. My experiments are never right. But hopefully I’ll do well, my teacher has already given us the “A* talk” and i’m one of the ones he’s expecting it from.

Catch up

Haven’t posted in a while, been very busy trying to get work experience. Had a bad day on Wednesday, called up the only 2 farms in my area, neither of them do work experience, called a cattery they don’t need anyone, called 2 vets 1 led me on a wild goose chase but the other at least gave me an alternative. I have to write to 2 vets in my area and hopefully get work experience there, no idea how I’m gonna get farm experience though.

I had a great time last Tuesday, went to a lost prophets gig. It was amazing and one of my friends even caught one of Ian Watkins’ thrown water bottles.

We got a new budgie this week, its a gorgeous pastel blue with a yellow head, but its off the handle crazy. It’s nearly killed itself quite a few times. Its food dishes have perches and it keeps squeezing between the perch and the food bowl. It squashes itself into every little space it can find. It escaped and went for a swim in the fish tank. It burrowed under its sand paper and falls off everything. We called it Bambi (i was going to be called dumbo, dopey, dory, and Stu short for stupid) I’m calling it bimbo just to annoy my mother.

I’ve got the stables again tomorrow, and this time i should be able to ride (fingers crossed), I’ve got to leave early because I’m going to a friends for a lord of the rings marathon.

Holiday

It was my week off this week, i got my homework out of the way early an decided to relax after weeks of stressing about school. I called up the volunteer centre to get the right number for the rising sun farm, called them and left my number on the answer machine, i will be calling them again soon. I was at the stables on Friday for 6 hours which was utterly exhausting. It was all private lessons until 4:15 which was when we needed to get home. Me and Becca ha only been lured in on the Friday because of the promise of a riding lesson, which we didn’t get. We groomed 3 horses between us, little Kirsty, and huge Annie and Percy. We shoveled the outdoor arena so that the plastic shavings were distributed evenly, this was back breaking work, we then filled hay nets. There was a rat in the hay box, Rebecca was having a dither spaz, it was really funny. But hay nets are really heavy and by this point we were ready to go home. However we got cornered by a man who I’m sure is not speaking any versions of english I’ve heard in my life, and had to clean out the heavy metal (XD) mangers with freezing cold water in the snow. Before we left we had to order all the grooming brushes, this was boring but thankfully painless. We did a lot of work and got nothing for it. We get hours on our card which goes towards a lesson if we lead, but there was no leading that day so my first riding lesson has been put back again.

I went to see Percy Jackson and the lightning thief on the Saturday. Now I’ve read all the books and really liked them so there were some bits in the movie that really annoyed me. They mixed 2 characters together, Annabeth and Clarice and made a very unlikable character. They missed out Dionysus, which will bite them in the butt if they do a sequel. But i have to admit it was very well done in places, such as Uma Thurman as Medusa, she rocked. And the sound track was very good, the lotus casino with lady Gaga’s song poker face in the background was extremely effective. So it could just be because I’m comparing it to the books that make it not as good of a movie in my opinion, but at least it wasn’t as bad as Eragon.

My Valentine’s day

Okay so this all really started on the day before Valentine’s day (valentine’s eve?), I was at the stables from stupidly early (10 am) and me and my best friend were leading in the outdoor arena. Now normally i lead with my friend Beth, and she normally swaps horses with me, if she knows i might not be able to handle the one I’ve been assigned. But on Saturday she wasn’t in till late so i got stuck with Willow. Apparently she bites, bucks and broncs and i know for a fact that she has stood on Beth a couple of times (its okay she wears steel capped boots).

Well Willow was being her usual self, if u didn’t want her to go she was going full pelt and if you wanted her to go she wouldn’t move, it was during one of these stand offs that she decided yes she would move, one hoof, on top of my foot. Now Willow is short and very fat so it damn well hurt! But nearly everyones been stepped on before and i couldn’t find a way to get the teachers attention so i carried on, for 3 hours. Then i had to go to town and my friend said it was only a bruise, that it obviously didn’t hurt and to stop being a baby. So i was walking in pain for another 4 hours.

It wasn’t until i got back to her house, where i was staying the night, that i finally got to have a look at my foot. It was really swollen and was starting to get a purple bruise in the shape of a hoof. Now her other was worried so i call my mum and asked what i should do. She said whatever i thought was best. So the whole of my friends family trooped down the the walk in clinic just in case it was broken. (my mum has broken her foot pretty severely quite a few times and could still walk and wriggle her toes)

We were referred to A & E where we stayed for a number of boring hours. After 2 X-rays and a ride in a wheel chair it turns out its very badly bruised and that if i had reported it earlier this could have been spotted hours ago.

So on to Valentines day. Because it was badly bruised i spent most of the night with my leg up and an ice pack on it, i also applied arnica for the bruising however it didn’t stay on long, their dog (named misty, she’s a border collie) loved the taste. So that morning i wasn’t in a very good mood. In fact i wanted to go home, which my mother had shouted at me for the day before once i told her about going to the hospital, she said “why didn’t you just come home?” honestly it never occurred to me. I didn’t know how to say i wanted to go home when the sleepover had been so pants so far. So i ended up going to church with them (the horror) and then trailing round china town for 4 hours and being trampled on my many people in the huge crowds.

So that was my boring valentine’s day, it was painful, luckily not in a heartbreak kinda way. And a lot of it was boring (church zzzz) but i was with my best friend and her neurotic dog (you cannot sneeze in front of her she goes mental!) and her crazy, but adorable, sister.

Stables

Didn’t go to the stables again today. Everyone says i keep making excuses not to go. This week my hearing has been fluctuating wildly. On Thursday i couldn’t hear anything but mumbles because both my ears felt like they were stuffed up with cotton wool. I finally regained hearing in 1 ear over the course of the day but not the other. On the Friday they petered in and out, and today it was the same as Thursday. At 9am when i got up this morning i couldn’t hear anything until 12. Now its too late to go to the stables. It takes half an hour to get there and the last lessons started at 12.

Okay so i will admit i don’t like the stables. I’m trying to be positive but i really don’t like not knowing what I’m meant to be doing. There are loads of volunteers there and sometimes the staff don’t know what to do with them all. I can’t hear in the lessons very well to start with so I’m nearly always getting told off because I don’t know what I’m doing. I have no idea how to work with the horses. I thought that would be what they were teaching me. But instead were just forcing them to go round and round and run a bit. And if it won’t move you make it. If it’s doing something that you think is strange you ignore it.

Grooming is the time you get hands on with a horse, but that’s usually to go into the next lesson so you have to be quick and i still can’t remember the brushes to use. Plus the fact that i don’t know how to handle horses, once again this doesn’t help. When they’re trying to bite me, won’t move, or just don’t want you near them, you just have to muddle through and hope for the best. I just keep feeling like I’m out of my depth. Supposedly it gets better with experience, but i just keep feeling like everything I’m doing is wrong and there’s no one who has the time to help me.