Absenteeism

Whoops! I've been a little bit forgetful when it comes to updating lately! I promise you're not missing out on much-my life at home is even more mundane than my life at school. Perhaps a little highlights reel is in order for this post.

Friday: nothing terribly exciting to report about Friday. The excitement of the evening came when I got to use my new anatomy knowledge to dislodge a stick from a dog's larygopharynx. Silly neighbors. And parents for thinking the dog was choking (hey-if the dog was choking it would have turned blue and passed out just like a person). Both of my brothers had a full day of school (yay!) and we had pizza for dinner (this is significant and exciting because it was NOT Grenadian pizza and there was no nutmeg in the sauce!).

Saturday: idle Christmas Eve shopping with my mother to escape being in the house. Later in the evening my aunt and grandmother arrived to spend Christmas with us. We had turkey tacos for dinner. I LOVE this meal and it's the first time in 4.5 months that I've had it. There is no ground turkey meat in Grenada and ground beef just isn't the same. My older (but younger) brother* and I played ping pong for two hours!

Sunday: awakened at 8am. Not terrible, but I wanted proof of life of all the other family members before I was crawling out of bed. My youngest brother was VERY excited that Santa had come over night. So was a very curious puppy. We enjoyed a nice family Christmas day unwrapping gifts and spending time together. Everyone liked my Grenadian gifts (spices, chocolate, and trinkets oh my!).

Monday: Penny had a recheck appointment at the vet to see how her teeth were coming along. She got a gold star, yay! No radiographs or CT scan needed! Tomorrow morning she gets her last dose of antibiotics (I know she will be thrilled to get rid of that regime!). A couple of friends from college drove over to visit for the afternoon/evening. More Grenadian trinkets to be given : D. We enjoyed catching up on life and they enjoyed playing with all of the animals at our house (Lance, Lacey, Penny, and my grandmother's yorkie Bo)!

Today: it rained the entire day. Cold, wet, rain. Gross. I suppose it could be worse because it could be snow or ice, but I'm not a fan of cold rain either. My older (but younger) brother* and I did some post Christmas shopping for awhile and then my mother and I took my younger brother to see The Adventures of TinTin. It was pretty cute, but it could have done with a bit of romance (or female characters, because the only woman in the movie was a brief opera singer) and more PG-13/R rated drama haha. Turns out that alcohol/alcoholism and gun violence are all the rage in PG movies nowadays.

The rest of the week: we are off to visit my mother's family in New York for a few days. This likely means no internet access until we get home Friday so don't expect anything before then. Wish me luck with two days of 7 hours of car time for a three day trip.

*My older (but younger) brother: is actually younger than I am-a teenager. However, because he is the older of my two brothers, I almost always call him my older brother, even though we've got a few years in between us (I'm the oldest), and call the little one my younger brother. Sorry, I know that's pretty confusing! I don't always remember to explain this part which has led to confusion before!

Prezels Anyone?

I'm really not quite sure how to handle all of my free time any more! So far each day I have gone shopping, done some baking, and watched Burn Notice. It is so strange having so much time on my hands! I've been idly going through my anatomy book and coloring in the pictures over the last few days. It's a good way to review and relax at the same time.

Handy work from today:

 Chocolate covered pretzels painted in colored chocolate. Yum!

Brownie Bites with Peanut Butter Mousse

Need I say more? These are DELICIOUS! Take an ordinary brownie, add peanut butter mousse, and you have a little bite of heaven.

 I made these for my father's work lunch tomorrow. Don't they look awesome? Just a general brownie mix into mini muffin cups and the frosting from this website. 

Oh, and for all you calorie counters, I found this at a store recently:

: D

Vaccinations

Today I finished off my hepatitis A vaccination series and got my seasonal flu vaccine. Yay...so much fun. The hep A. vaccine is a two part vaccine. It is two IM injections 6 months apart. It's really no big deal at all and ensures nice protection against the foodborne illness hepatitis A.

I am also a big fan of the yearly flu shot. Not because I like needles and pain and such, but because I feel that if I still get sick, then at least I can say I did everything I could to prevent it. A quick $25 vaccination and a few moments of lost comfort seem like a small price to pay for health. As busy as I stay at school, I can't afford to lose time to being sick! Usually I sign up and get the easy IM injection, but this year I was surprised with an intradermal device. It sounded kinda cool at the time. It even comes in this nifty contraption with an itty bitty needle. BUT. Don't be fooled, that sucker stung going in! And then the site swelled a little and itched and now it just hurts! I am grumpy :(. Why did the vaccine that was 1/5th the amount with the teeny tiny needle have to be the worse one?! My arm muscle isn't even sore or stiff from the hep. A vaccine! My forearm skin on the other hand, hurts!

If all this talk about needles and vaccines has you queasy, don't worry, I don't like them either. I just prefer them to the risky alternatives haha. However, I will absolutely stick to things that go into muscles and avoid things that go into skin layers at all costs next time!

Burn Notice

So while I'm home for a month doing very little, I had two options for entertainment. Find a good TV series to watch or read my anatomy book. Guess which one I opted for. Okay, so there are probably other things I could have come up with like reading books or watching movies or knitting, but this is easy, provides endless hours of entertainment, and allows plenty of space for Penny to come cuddle and spend quality piggy time with me. This is what I tend to do when I'm home on breaks!

The show of this break is Burn Notice. It has come recommended for years, and much to my delight there are five seasons to catch up on! It also happens to be an amazing show : D. An excellent mix of action and romance. If you have nothing better do, I highly recommend looking it up!

I swear I will also get around to flipping through my anatomy book. I took a few peeks on Saturday! I want to review stuff from last semester (i.e. the details I skipped haha) as well as see how I can make it cross over into the new stuff. Should be a fun time.

A Day Trip to DC

I met a friend for brunch and wandering in Washington D.C. today.

The fun began with the metro ride in. Apparently they are doing track maintenance, which led to some interesting delays. I also learned not to get on a train labeled "special," because you just never know what that means. Today it meant that the train line ended two stops before where I wanted to go. Fabulous. Oh yeah, and the train that had been a few minutes behind us also mysteriously disappeared off of the track schedule too for a while. Who knows. After living in Grenada, this sort of thing just gives me a good chuckle.

We met for brunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill, which turned out to be this delicious and adorable little restaurant! The food was amazing and the service was fantastic (after all, I'm used to Grenada which is just a tad bit slow, or where I live which is usually rude and impersonal). I had apple pecan butter french toast and my friend had country style ham, eggs, and grits.

After brunch we wandered back into the cold (have I mentioned how much I HATE winter weather recently??) to tour the city. We didn't really have any plans, and ended up walking through the WWII memorial and then went over to the national Christmas tree. I've never seen the tree except on TV, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a cute train set up, trees for each state, a Santa's workshop, and (my favorite) a fire pit! Very cute! I'm glad I had the chance to see it!

When we were finally thoroughly tired of the cold (I hate the cold, he spent most of his life in Florida-we're not a pair who like cold weather in general), we hit up a coffee shop for some hot chocolate before parting ways. The hot chocolate was excellent, although I managed to scorch my tongue :(.

All in all, a very fun afternoon!

Random Musings

Before I fall asleep, here are a couple of random thoughts from the day:

-I used "I live in the Caribbean!" as an excuse when whimpering about snow flurries.

-Learning about something(s) in class and then seeing it present to a hospital is super cool.

-Christmas time at a veterinary hospital is awesome-clients bring in such yummy goodies!

-I know so much and yet so little about anatomy.

-Much to my disappointment, you cannot tell the difference between the two parts of a vertebral disk that has ruptured and been surgically removed.

Normalcy

It appears that just in the nick of time, everything is back to how it should be with Penny. The vegetables were mostly gone this morning as was the hay in her cage, but she had left behind some scraps and everything in her hay bin. About to pick up the phone and call her vet, I decided to feed her for the day first. To my delight, she started chowing down everything! She scarfed down the lettuce treat I offered her after her meds, and has continued to do so ever since. She was even begging for treats this evening! I am a very happy mommy! I was very concerned that something else was wrong-perhaps an infection, or further issues with the remaining roots. Either way, I knew we were looking at assisted feedings and probably radiographs/CT imaging. Thank you Penny for not taking me there today!

Nothing makes me happier than to have her snuggled up in a ball on my lap cooing. She makes this cute little low pitched sound when she's extremely content and I love it. I also love the cute little yawns she does from time to time while stretching her tiny little paws out in front of her.

Christmas Baking

Here is what I have been up to for the last couple of days:

Chocolate cookies with vanilla frosting and peppermint topping.

Yellow cake dyed red with green sprinkles. Chocolate frosting with decorative strands of Christmas including a Hokie theme and one for my brother's hockey team.

A Not So Hungry Pig Day 3

Well Penny seemed not so excited about food yesterday, but she ate and drank some throughout the day and then scarfed down her lettuce and hay at bedtime. Today she's been really reluctant to eat much. Even when offered her favorites, she takes maybe just a bite or two. Usually she is happy to scarf down every bit of lettuce she can find. Not so good :-/. Depending on what food she eats over night, she will probably be making a trip back to the vet tomorrow. Can't have a guinea pig who won't eat unfortunately.

The rest of my week has been idle shopping and errands. I made chocolate peppermint cookies yesterday and am working on making yummy cupcakes (bake one day, frost the next). Oh yeah, there has been a lot of relaxing and doing absolutely nothing in the mix too!

Toothless Pig Day 2

I think Penny's mouth was feeling a little more painful today because her appetite was not as voracious as usual. She still seems to eat and drink better though so I'm pretty happy about that! She's also currently stuffing her face with lettuce, so life can't be all bad ;).

She was not a fan of the metacam or the baytril this morning when it was dosing time. I do not look forward to continuing this fight for 2 weeks! The current technique is to have someone hold her while I grab her head and squirt the medicine in her mouth (I'm very gentle so don't worry!). Tonight she fought me way less and then was excited (and expecting) to get lettuce in her house afterwards so I think maybe I'll give her some lettuce after every dose as kind of a reward/incentive. My main goal is to keep her from hating syringes. She gets a vitamin C supplement every morning with her breakfast. It is an orange flavored liquid that she sucks out of a syringe and she absolutely loves it! This is an awesome thing, because proper vitamin C supplementation is a must for guinea pigs (and humans and bats) because just like us, they are unable to endogenously synthesize the necessary vitamin.

"All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth..."

I can't remember if I've posted about Penny before or not, but Penny is my guinea pig. While I am at school, she has been living at home with my parents but she used to live with me during undergrad.

So anyhow, I've had Penny in my life for a few years now and she has been the sweetest, best little pig I could ever ask for. She's also spoiled rotten, but I'll save that for another post haha. I got her from a local vet when I moved off campus during undergrad. She was supposed to just be a practice spay, but she ended up getting a home out of it all, and I think she's pretty pleased with her accommodations.

She's been perfectly happy and healthy the whole time I've had her, but a couple of weeks before I came home, my mother noticed that she suddenly stopped eating carrots. Penny LOVES carrots and lettuce, so that was a little flag in her mind. Wondering if perhaps she was just tired of carrots, they gave her a break from them and tried again. Same result-untouched carrots. She also had been leaving the stem of her romaine leaves behind at night (also unusual because she happens to think the whole romaine head is solid gold). Since she still seemed to be otherwise happy and healthy and eating all of her other food, my mom let it go until I got home.

Moments before we're pulling into the neighborhood on Saturday night, my mother says "oh yeah, Penny won't eat carrots anymore unless I shave them or cut them into disks. I'm not sure what that's about." At first I figured Penny had figured out a way to get my mother to work even harder, but then began to wonder about the possibility of dental issues.

I tried feeding her some carrots that night and found that although she ate them for me, she was much slower at it and taking smaller bites. She only ate 2 of the 4 carrots as well but readily gulped down a third when i broke it into pieces.

Later and the next day I noticed that she made a weird noise when grinding her teeth, and that she was just freely grinding them. Usually She grinds them when she's mad at me for something, but this noise was coming when she was just contentedly sitting somewhere. It was a more metallic sound too, and she would sort of lift her head and extend her neck while doing it. I also noticed that she seemed to drink more gingerly from the water bottle.

Concerned about dental disease, I made an appointment with our local exotics specialist. We went in today and had a nice little evaluation, and then opted for further diagnostics since awake piggies are not the most cooperative! Although she was able to get a quick peek at the teeth, we anesthetized her to get a more thorough look.

Once she was knocked out, we propped her mouth open and took a good look at all of her back premolars and molars. We were both pleased to see that they looked to be in perfect working order with no malocclusion or pointy parts. We turned our attention back to the incisors. During the awake exam, the intern had noted that one of the top incisors looked potentially twisted, so we investigated the top teeth to see if the one was loose. They both turned out to be wiggly! Some how Penny managed to fracture both of her top incisors! Both were broken above the gum line too. She was able to extract the broken parts of both teeth and now it's just a waiting game for Penny. They should grow back and hopefully they'll grow back nice and straight with no further complications.

Penny is on two oral medications. One is for pain-meloxicam, and the other is for infection control-enrofloxicin. (For kicks, spell checker thinks that pain-meloxicam should be Camelopardalis and that control-enrofloxicin should be control-microfloppies haha). We went with injectable meloxicam this afternoon so that drug isn't due orally until tomorrow, but Penny is currently not a fan of her oral antibiotics. Which is really quite disappointing (they smell delicious!) because it means that twice a day for 2 weeks I will  be forcing them down her throat. I have my fingers crossed that she likes the meloxicam better (because otherwise I get to shove 3 doses of drugs down her throat daily yayyy). She liked it just fine when she was spayed a few years ago so we'll see!

Once she woke up from anesthesia, she seemed to being doing just fine. She came home and has been chowing down on all food placed in front of her face since then. I was worried she wouldn't want to eat, but she was more than happy to stuff her face full of bite sized goodies. Unfortunately for her, it has to already be appropriately sized for her molars to grind it up in order for her to eat it. This means finely shredding lettuce, shaving carrots, and cubing apple pieces. I am going to be a master chopper by the end of this. I am also happy to provide her favorite treats in a bite sized format because I love her so much :). Lucky for her the pellets are already appropriately sized and she can still stuff hay in her mouth!

All in all pig is doing very well. It was an expensive day, but I love her and she needed the medical care. I am more than happy to provide her with anything to help her live a long, happy and healthy life. She deserves it. All companion animals do in my opinion. My mother and brother shook their heads at the bill, but I asked them if they would want to have broken front teeth. Human or animal, if we take responsibility for a life (pet, person, or child), then we are agreeing to be there through thick and thin. For Penny that happens to be broken teeth.

Real Stores

I forgot how amazing my bed was! It is soft and cozy and warm! : D

I did some real people shopping today at real stores! It was crazy seeing all the rushed people, crowds, traffic, and actual shelves full of stuff! I was never crazy into shopping, but after 4 months of nothing it was a lot of fun! I went to Target, two grocery stores, and an aquarium store.

Airports and Airplanes

Today was a long and exhausting day of traveling! We started the day at 3:30a by heading to the airport to wait for our morning flights. Chatting and Uno kept us occupied while we waited for the airport to open. Checking in wasn't too much of a hassle. I managed to get really lucky and didn't have to have my checked luggage hand searched (because I really don't know how I would have gotten it all re-packed!). After check in it was emigration, security, and more waiting.

Boarding time finally came and we all raced to get on the plane! All of the students were anxious and excited to be leaving for home! I slept the entire flight only waking up to put on my jacket and then later change into pants because I was cold. We landed uneventfully at JFK and made our way through immigration and customs, all of which was very easy.

Next up it was checking in for my next flight, more security, and even more waiting. My first US meal ended up being beef stew from Au Bon Pain, something I used to love getting at Virginia Tech. The final leg of my journey was pretty short and easy, and I spent the whole time chatting with the person next to me which was awesome because it made the flight go really quickly!

Retrieving my luggage was super fast and then it was off to home for dinner, family time, and snuggling with Penny :). Now I am exhausted. And I should be! I've had a whopping total of 6 hours of sleep in the last 60 hours. Oops. Guess I should work on that!

Done Done Done!!!

Wow, the last 48 hours have been completely insane. I woke up yesterday ready to start the day fresh and take on histology. Within a few hours, my plans would be totally shattered by the events happening at Virginia Tech. My heart aches for my fellow Hokies and the Hokie Nation as well as the wonderful officer, husband, and father who lost his life yesterday.

I lost many study hours and my brain decided to be elsewhere any time I did settle in to study. One of my friends graciously offered to help me study and teach me the material again. When we called it quits, I came back to my room to figure out the best way to cram as much material into my brain as possible. Here's what I came up with:

I only managed to get 3 hours of sleep last night. Going to bed at 4, falling asleep at 5, and housekeeping coming at 8 did not lead to enough sleep, but I managed to make it work! More studying until the exam and then it was final judgement time!

When I finished the exam, I was certain I had failed it. The whole time I felt like all I was doing was circling the wrong answers and it was very frustrating. The thought of having to repeat histology was unbearable. We didn't get to grade this exam when it was finished (apparently that's how Dr. Gupta's final exam works). Usually we grade them immediately afterward (I wasn't going to grade this one anyway though).

Next up it was packing time! I started at 3p and had until 7p to get all of my possessions into storage in one of the other dorms. Easier said than done! Packing was so stressful! I had plenty of room when I came down here and haven't accumulated anything! I'm even bringing all of my textbooks home!! That and I had to get a load of laundry done because I didn't want to store dirty sheets and damp towels! I'm pretty sure I was more stressed about making everything fit into my bags and boxes!!!

Somehow it has all managed to fit. Everything is in storage and ready to go home! Thankfully I had some amazing help getting my extremely heavy suitcases out of my building and up to the top floor of the dorm with storage! Being my stubborn, independent self, I did try to do it alone, but it turns out that I am most definitely incapable of lugging such heavy objects up stairs.

Dinner plans commenced since we were all hungry and we ended up at Umbrellas for one last time! Delicious milkshakes, food, and many laughs :). I even got to stick my feet in the water one last time! It felt so nice to be at the beach even after dark. I swear I need to make a better effort at getting to Grand Anse more next semester.

I got an email a little while ago saying histology grades were up-quite nerve wrecking! I debated for a couple of minutes whether I wanted to know or not, but curiosity won out and I checked. I passed! I more than passed actually :). And I also didn't do too badly on the exam either. What a relief! This means that my first semester of veterinary school is officially over! 5 more pre-clinical semesters to go and my clinical year!  

Now I am waiting my departure to the airport. A small group of us with early flights are leaving at 3:30a. I think it's a bit excessive since the airport doesn't open until 5a, but oh well. I wasn't really planning on sleeping anyway. After all, I have no bedding! I can't wait to be home snuggling with my pets, eating delicious food, seeing my family, and catching up on some sleep!

(I apologize if this post was at all incoherent, I'm having a hard time putting words together on so little sleep).

Anatomy is OVER!!

I am officially done with small animal anatomy!! I've pretty much been waiting for this day all semester!!! It's really too bad that I still have another exam because I'd love to celebrate this victory haha.

Lots of drawing and coloring on the lecture exam, and lots of poking at things in the lab exam. We'll see how it went. Fingers crossed for an A or B+!

We went for a swim off the cliffs again this afternoon. It looked like it might rain (especially when the sun came out-Grenadian hallmark) but it didn't! Still no cliff jumping for me. I will continue to be a royal pain and freak out about climbing down and up the cliff. Fear of heights + fear of jumping in the water...why can't they be normal people and just swim off the dock? ;) I caught a glimpse of an angel fish today-it was a beautiful blue and yellow but sadly very shy so once he realized we were looking, he took off. One of my friends is very good at finding and collecting sand dollars so we have a few of those now too! I am really going to miss the ocean while I'm away for a month (and the tropical weather-I don't like the cold).

My last exam is histology on Friday. I am really lacking in the motivation and focus department right now, which is really bad because I don't know any of the material!!! It's just so boring, there are so many tiny details to know, and I am 3 days from being home! Bahhh histology!

Finals Week: 1 Down, 3 to Go

First half of veterinary physiology is complete! Yay! On to German physiology professor #2 next semester.

Next up is radiology which promises to be surprise tomorrow. Even though he practically told us everything that is going to be on the exam. The most thrilling part happens to be the fact that this exam is worth 100% of our grade. No pressure or anything. Oh yeah, and you can't miss more than 4 to get an A. Awesome. While I think I know my material, those facts make it just a little bit nerve wracking.

I started going through some histology tonight. I am completely terrified of this exam. Mostly because it's last. No fun. None at all. Going through the material I was wondering how the heck I am going to remember it all, but I started quizzing myself with a classmate's flashcards and was pleasantly surprised to find out I know more than I think I do. That's a relief. Now to just memorize all the new stuff and all the lab stuff and refresh all the old stuff. Oh yeah, there's an anatomy exam to be had as well. Joyous times.

Coral Reef

A friend and I decided to go for a mid-day swim today (so as to maximize the strength of the sun's rays haha). We started off along the campus shoreline and made our way out to an island, collecting sea shells and swimming over beautiful tropical fish and corals the whole way.

It was a beautiful day for a swim along a set of tropical islands. The corals and the fish contain so many vibrant colors! Blues, greens, oranges, reds, yellows, purples, heck even the black fish are really beautiful because they stand out amongst all the others. I wish I could identify more of the fish, but I know that I saw some parrotfish, tangs, and gobies. Oh! And I can't forget the gazillion sea urchins! Some are small, others are softball sized with foot long spines! Some are purple, some are black, and some are red.

All in all we swam for about an hour and a half (it was a long trip!). I can't wait to have an underwater camera with me next semester so I can share some of these treasures!

Spice Market

I went to the spice market in St. George's this morning with a classmate. Getting to and from St. George's is really quite easy, but I'm not sure I'll ever get over feeling like I'm being kidnapped when you take a reggae bus to town. It's just all a little sketchy! You're walking along the sidewalk one moment, and the next a van has whipped up beside you, you jump in, and you're either innocently hiding out in the back waiting for more "victims," or you enter into a van full of other people and squeeze in the best you can. It's just a very interesting experience. And there's really nothing sketchy about it, it's just that tv and movies have led me to believe that this is exactly how something bad goes down!

As expected the market was bustling with shopkeepers and shoppers this morning. Many different fruits and spices for sale. My friend and I went with the intention of finding gifts for people and getting fruit to eat while studying, but we only ended up completing that mission 50% of the way. I'll let you take a guess which part got neglected.

We found some unique things to bring home with us at the end of the week and generally enjoyed ourselves wandering around. One thing I don't particularly care for is being thought of as a tourist. The only thing worse than being a white female student on this island happens to be being a white female tourist, and I am always sure to mention affiliation with the university. I swear it makes them look at you at least a little differently (advantage). We made a quick trip through the "mall" and ended with a snack from the bakery. Delicious!

The mall had some cute decorations up for the holiday so here they are! I was surprised not to see more honestly (after seeing the Grand Anse/True Blue area). I also still remain in denial about the upcoming holidays. 85 and sunny just doesn't make me think Christmas, no matter how many trees you put around (or for those who watch college football, no matter that the regular season has come to a close). I guess it will just make it all the more surprising and sweet when I do get home next weekend!

More Christmas

I swear it still doesn't feel like Christmas time. Something about the tropical weather that really has my brain skeptical, no matter how many decorations the Grenadians dole out!

Christmas trees, wreathes, garland, lights, and flashing snowflakes can pretty much be found at any business and many of the homes in the area. It's very cute. I'm going to St. George's tomorrow to visit the spice market and I am very curious to see how town has decorated for the holiday!

 (Last picture taken on a moving bus)