intravenous caffine

I feel like I am almost dead come Thursday mornings. I sit in desperation for caffine in our two hours of lecture, holding on to any morsel of energy I have to pay attention to the lecture. I have learned that I have to listen--I am strongly an auditory learner and listening in lecture helps me piece things together later--oh how I wish I could just zone out. But, when 10 am rolls around, and I am thanking the heavens for my 3 hour break--I get my second wind. This seems to get me through Friday, but this week it has to get me through Saturday.

To be fair, after Tuesday my week is pretty much downhill. I have a two hour break on Wednesdays (well including an hour lunch break) and then we get out at 3! Yes! cheesey afternoon TV here I come--(I know Oprah, I have missed you too) Thursdays include a 3 hour break but we get out at 5. And Friday's, glorious Friday's--lecture only from 10-12. Albeit this week we have an extra "mandatory" lecture from 1-3 and then a meeting from 3-5. Either way I get to sleep in, hall-a-freakin-luya! Our first round of exams start next week, so it looks as though my Saturday will be pretty full of studying--hopefully productive time. I am really trying hard to save Sunday's from any type of school activity--especially studying. I use this time to do laundry, clean up the house, nap, and I spend Sunday evenings at a vet school bible study. Hopefully, I can make this last.

As it turns out, while I require intravenous caffine for Thursdays, Wednesdays are an INCREDIBLE day (yes, so good it deserves capitalization). Wednesdays over lunch are BP Rounds (Bovine Practioner--I didn't know until yesterday either). Basically, instead of eating lunch, we spend our hour in the food animal ward discussing cases with the food animal clinicians (i.e. attending/teaching veterinarians). We are presented the case and then asked to come up with a list of differential diagnoses--the list of potential things that could be the issue. While I felt slightly stupid ( hey, I've only been at this two weeks, I can't be expected to know everything) I was suprised at the level of knowledge I actually already posess. First, the clinician didn't use a single word I didn't know--this is a big deal, I am learning that medicine is basically just latin. I was able to piece together several things I thought could potentially be wrong, and most importantly I was able to follow along with the actual diagnoses, the reasoning and treatment plans. I felt almost like a real doctor. It was so incredibly refreshing to be using my (small) knowledge to do almost actual medicine--or at least to put the puzzle pieces together as to why sitting in lecture for 4 hours a day is actually going to help me be a good vet. (as it turns out, we actually need to know physiology.) More than that, it was GREAT to see live animals--as we are only allowed already dead ones right now--and some of us can even mess that up. And the best part...the 3 day old calf. I love calves--my absolute favorite animal. For those that have never experienced one--cuter than puppies, I promise, they look at you with such inquisitive looks, love to play and will use your fingers as a pacifier if offered. I want one in my backyard. The whole experience was amazing, and only helped to solidifiy in my mind that no matter how hard this is, I know I have chosen the right career. How blessed am I to be doing something I am truly passionate about? Awesome.

So, overall it has been a good week. I need to buckle down and study this weeked--exams next week. But, so far I don't feel too much pressure. I'm sure that'll change come Monday morning. Ok, I'm really gonna study now.