Life on the Wild Side
A new grad trying to figure out life after school. |
Everyone’s heard the old adage “If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” In today’s world, we are constantly adapting, so I’ve adapted the adage to “If something happens, but it isn’t posted on social media, did it really happen?” You must all be thinking, if that’s true, then this girl has been sitting around doing nothing the past few months. Sorry to disappoint, but I promise I’ll share some stories from Oncology and Radiology (and maybe even some vacation stories!) soon. For now, I want to share a few stories from my first week in the ER that highlight just how amazing and crazy our profession truly is (and maybe touch on the power of social media while I’m at it.) When I walked into the ER on my first Monday morning shift, it was quiet--no patients on the exam tables and no patients in sight. Two minutes later, we had a cat, barely breathing with no heartbeat, on the table and seven doctors crowding around, trying to revive it. I felt useless. I couldn’t draw up emergency drugs, I didn’t know what was wrong, and most of all, I didn’t want to get in the way of the professionals who did. A moment later, I was breathing for the cat (who was now intubated and on mechanical ventilation), and I felt like I was making a difference. The cat didn’t make it, but my very first introduction to the ER left me with an awestruck feeling of both helplessness and hope that carried with me throughout the week. On Tuesday, I was transferred a case that had come in the night previously--a stray dog who had been hit by a car and was showing severe neurological signs. He wasn’t microchipped. When I pulled my patient out to look at him, he had a face only a mother could love--scratches on his head and front paws and a severely swollen and red left eye. He couldn’t stand, couldn’t eat or drink on his own, and we weren’t sure he was going to make it. But something about him made me stop and look twice. Somehow, I knew he was special in his own way, I just didn’t know what way at that moment. When we talked to the faculty in charge, he leaned towards humane euthanasia--put the poor stray out of his misery and save shelter money for patients that had a better chance of recovery. We begged for more time to see if the little chihuahua, endearingly named Charlie, would show signs of improvement. We were given one more day. By that evening, Charlie was standing on his own, albeit still wobbly, and could drink water with a little help. The next morning, Charlie’s attitude was improving and he was less wobbly than the day before. He was improving, but not fast enough. One of my rotation mates asked where he was found and if we knew he was definitely a stray. A friend was a member on a Facebook page in the city where the dog had been found. She scrolled through a few posts until she found one that looked like Charlie. The supposedly stray dog might have an owner! The next few hours were torture waiting for the owners of the dog to contact us back--time was of the essence for little Charlie! They finally messaged our faculty member back and requested a visit. The dog was in fact their dog (not actually named Charlie though), and they agreed to continue therapy. If we were just a few hours later or hadn’t thought to check social media, the poor stray neurological dog wouldn’t have made it to see the end of the week. Thanks to quick thinking, compassion, and the power of social media, Charlie was reunited with his owners. (There was also a powerful conversation about the benefits of microchipping your animals, and these owners immediately made an appointment to get the dog microchipped!) On one of our slower days in the ER, the faculty received a call from another doctor at the hospital--they were coming from across campus with a kitten who was in bad shape. The cat was in such bad shape, in fact, that when it arrived, it had arrested and was for all intents and purposes, dead. The ER team jumped into action immediately--chest compressions, mechanical ventilation, and life-saving drugs were all started simultaneously. I’ll spare you the gory details of what the next hours entailed, but the kitten survived, and the very next day was meowing for food and making biscuits on anyone who came to visit. It’s can be both terrifying and tragic to hold the life of an animal who is on the verge of death in your hands, but cases like these remind me why I got into this profession in the first place. For every animal you lose, there is another one waiting for you to save them. There will always be wins and loses--the key is to learn from the losses and apply the knowledge so the wins seem that much greater. This was a huge win in my book and I could see how much I had learned from the first cat that week to this cat just a few days later. In the Emergency Room, you never know what you’re going to get and when you’re going to get it. That’s part of the beauty, it’s spontaneous and fast-paced and the most unpredictable part of this profession. You take the bad with the good and cherish cases like Charlie and kitten, who make me feel so proud and lucky to be a part of this profession.
3 Comments
Brenda
8/28/2017 10:30:11 pm
I am looking forward to hearing more of you!
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Kathy
8/29/2017 07:54:26 am
Oh there you are! Hi love! Thanks for posting! I wish you had time to post every day!
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AuthorKatie is rotating intern at Atlantic Veterinary College in Canada. She graduated from veterinary school at UC Davis in 2018. Archives
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