Finally!!! :)

So a bit late as I wanted to post this close to 2 weeks ago now……….

I AM GOING TO MICHIGAN! :)

What does that mean exactly you may be asking yourself? Well it means I was one of the students selected to go to Michigan State University (MSU) for my clinical rotation.   So hopefully if all goes well in less than 4 months I will be starting to next phase of my education and the next step to become Dr. Amgar; DVM :)

In regards to my financial situation; I cannot say how thankful I am of everyone who donated something to my cause; whether it be $5 or $500; I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  So the way it stands now; I was able to pay off my 6^th semester debt (as I stated in my last update); and I made enough over break along with your generation donations to be able to cover my living expenses for this semester.

 So now it is just a matter of trying to squeeze enough money out the Canadian banking system to be able to pay off 7^th semester that way the next phase of my education isn’t cut short abruptly.  Luckily I still have a little over 3 months to try and figure something out; plus who knows perhaps with enough generous donations  it might make it a little easier to achieve.  So please once again; if you can share my story with whoever you can it would be greatly appreciated.

 Now that is covered; let me tell you about 7^th semester and how it is kicking all of our asses haha :P  Not in the fact that it is extremely difficult or mentally draining as it was last semester but more physical draining as our days are long and very preoccupied.  It is quite difficult to find the time to study and when you think you have put aside some time to study you are to tired to properly absorb anything or to put in any progressive time.   Still I am loving seventh semester; I am up more or less every day as of 5am and the rest of the day just flies right by until about 5pm.  Why do I enjoy such a crazy schedule you may ask? Well that is easy! It is because we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel; we are finally starting to believe that ya; you know what; I can do this; I can be a veterinarian and it feels amazing.  

So far I have rectally palpated over two dozens cows; I have felt ovaries; I have felt the arteries of the animal pulsating inside of them; I have even felt a baby fetus inside the womb; plus to top it off we got to witness the birth of a baby cow; which is just a phenomenal experience that I cannot explain.

I have the experience of getting to SOAP (ie: perform a physical exam + update its file history pretty much) a donkey and a sheep at least once a day; sometimes twice a day.  We named them Waffle and Guapo respectively.  I have to say Waffle is amazing; and I want to adopt a donkey in the future; I am just in love with him.  As for Guapo he was a bit crazy at the beginning but I think today; after over a week and a half of effort; I think we finally broke through as he accepted feed from my hand willingly after we released him from his halter.  I felt just wonderful and I hope these experiences just keep on rolling in.   

I have an awesome SOAP’ing team and we get along super well.  Last Thursday we anesthetized Waffle so we could perform an arthrocentesis on him.  I got to perform one on the tibiotarsal joint; which in the hock to horse people or your ankle to us.  Our team worked great together and Waffle woke up with no complications and has been doing well I am happy to say.  

Now this week I get to take part in the spay of a dog; I will be the anesthetist; so I am looking forward to that.  Although I am definitely looking a little more forward to performing the surgery myself; which does not occur until the beginning of March.  Then following that; I start my equine rotation followed my emergency clinic rotation; which I have to say is not going to be a fun month.  If I think I am pulling long hours now; then March is going to be incomprehensible haha :S  Still I’m sure in the end I will enjoy every moment of the learning experience; as this is the time for me sharpen my skills and become a better veterinarian before finally treating my own patients.

Sometimes you doubt the choices you make in your life but I have to say I have never doubted the fact that I wanted to be and could be a veterinarian and my experiences over this past little while just goes to prove it.

I cannot wait to be a doctor of animals! That’s it for now; I will try and write again soon.

Jonathan =)

 Ammendum to this blog (something any vet student can appreciate at the moment):  11-02-2013
So originally this blog was supposed to be posted last Monday but unfortunately I delayed posting it and then my equine rotation kicked in.  Which pretty much meant we had no life for the rest of the week as we had to be at school by six in the morning and at four in the afternoon; which meant normally we were done by around five.  On top of that we just finished two exams; one of them being my Theriogenology exam; the other being our Large animal medicine exam which we just completed this morning.  I am still waiting on the results of our LAM exam but I am happy to say that I passed the therio exam with a comfortable grade.  As for the rest of my day; besides the fact that I had a horrible headache most of the day, it was actually quite enjoyable as I got to learn the intricacies of how to properly herd, restrain and examine a herd of cattle.  I have to say the work is hard, yet enjoyable but personally I do not picture myself ever being a production vet but hey; who knows.   Tomorrow afternoon I get to help anesthetize a donkey and then finish off the week with some cattle management followed by an exam on Monday.  Another crazy week almost finished :)

Unfortunately ChipIn the site I am using to collect my funds is closing down; so I won`t be able to monitor the progress with everyone but I shall keep you update of any changes.  So if you would like to make a donation you can do so by clicking on the donate icon on the side panel or go directly to PayPal and make a donation to: jonamgar@hotmail.com.  Thank you once again to all who have donated and my apologies for not having the time to contact each and everyone of you individually.