Much to the chagrin of many of us most everything related to medicine, dosages, and animals' weights is on the metric system. People in this country go into a panic over the metric system. But if we can get used to buying soda by the liter then we can get used to this facet of veterinary work. We've been practicing converting pounds into kilograms (1 kg=2.2 lbs) and then determining amounts of medicine based on the dosing strengths. Not too bad if you have a calculator and take a deep breath.
Did I mention I forgot my calculator for Tuesday night's quiz? Sigh. BUT I remembered my glasses. My goal is to one of these days remember everything.
We've also been learning the names of directions on an animal's body (like caudal means towards the tail, cranial means towards the......you can do it- YES, head!- rostral means towards the nose [rhymes with nostril -easy one]). It took a bit for the body "planes" to sink in (median, transverse and dorsal) The planes divide the body into left and right hemispheres, front and back hemispheres, and top and bottom hemispheres. It was a brain sprainer in the book. Thankfully the instructors brought out a big (toy) stuffed dog for us to see it in 3-D.
We heard about a kitten who was brought in because of continuous vomiting who had actually swallowed a metal nut (from a nut and bolt set she had been playing with). Surgery was a success. And we heard about a dog with a horrible yeast infection all over its feet and in between its toes. (Also successfully treated.)
Tomorrow we go to the veterinary hospital and take a tour and shadow the staff. Oh, fun!
well this is getting better at least you only forgot one thing this week. i see progress.
ReplyDeletevery interesting blog! keep it up, i am reading.