Oh jeez, I’m so far behind in reading and writing! Things have been SO busy!
First of all, things have been a little better around here. We’re all still sad and mourning over both Nigel and Nesmith’s deaths but we’re recovering.
My mom and I had been going to pet stores and the Humane Society as therapy. Seeing happy, healthy critters just helps a lot. Well, last Saturday we went to the St. Paul Animal Humane Society and this happened…
We brought home a puppy!
We did not go in there intending to add another member to our family but…yeah. They had just gotten several Chihuahua and Chihuahua mixes from Tennessee. We made the “mistake” of visiting with that little guy and we were goners. He’s a male Chihuahua mix. They weren’t sure what he was mixed with, but we’re thinking possibly miniature dachshund because of his conformation, but it’s really hard to tell. He’s nearly two and a half months old, weighs about four and a half pounds, and is already neutered. We’ve named him Harvey :)
For a puppy as young as he is, he is incredibly charming. He is so incredibly friendly and wants to kiss and cuddle everyone he encounters. He is the snuggliest puppy I have ever encountered. When he sleeps with us at night, he wants to curl up right next to our necks. He’s learning to go potty on the pee pads we have for the other dogs and is making pretty good progress on that front. He loves playing and makes the cutest growly play noises when you play tug of war with him. Stanley and Gracie are a little weirded out by him but seem to be coming around, Stanley more slowly than Gracie. Ridiculously, Stanley was afraid of him at first, but then again, Stanley is afraid of flies and lampshades, the goof. Gracie is enjoying having another dog to bitch at and plays very gently with him. Mogget is fascinated by him and let Harvey jump on his tummy while gently batting at him, but still often runs away when Harvey tries to play with him. Lirael is content to watch the puppy but wants nothing to do with him, which is normal for her.
We’ve been having so much fun with him! He’s a little goofball and so easy to love :)
In other news, I started my first rotation, Acupuncture, on Tuesday and holy crap has it been keeping me busy! For the longest time I thought I was the only student doing that rotation at the time and it was making me so incredibly anxious because I haven’t completed my training and don’t really know where stuff in the hospital is. Thankfully, I was wrong and another girl is doing it with me. She’s been very helpful and patient with me.
The rotation itself is fascinating. Eastern medicine is so different from Western and it’s really hard thinking in such different terms. Dr. C is amazing. She is so knowledgeable and creates a really comfortable learning environment. She knows we have next to no experience in this field and just wants us try. If we happen to have dumb answers, it’s OK, as long as we can explain how we came up with the answer. It’s been great and, despite not doing anything really medical or academic in such a long time, I think I’m doing OK.
I’m as skeptical as the next person and really don’t know much about acupuncture, but holy crap! Dr. C gets results. One of her patients was a young horse that was found as a stray. She was very lame and could barely walk. Dr. C performed acupuncture on her and a few hours later, the owner sent a video of the horse running. And Dr. C has so many amazing stories like this! I love hearing about them and love seeing immediate changes in my patients during their sessions.
It’s definitely keeping me busy, though. I’m super busy while I’m at school/the hospital, seeing appointments, discussing things with Dr. C and doing lots of paperwork. Then, at night I spend a lot of time preparing for the following day, getting to know my patients’ histories and why they’re coming in, studying, etc. Yesterday, my rotation mate was sick, so I had to handle all of it all by myself! It was crazy and definitely a sink or swim type of situation. It was a full day, with 6 patients, but I think I did well! Dr. C seemed fine with paperwork and patient observations, so yay! We’ll see if she has any followup comments when I go back on Tuesday.
Hmm…oh and it’s November so I guess I’m going to try to do the whole writing every day thing for the month. I’ve been successful in the past but I’m not sure how that’ll go with this rotation and doing a Raptor Center one afterwards. So busy!
Harvey says hi :P
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