Baby Duckies!

There was a youtube video that went around the vet school during the fall that was about a baby monkey and a pig and had a very catchy song.  You can see it here, but be warned, if you watch it more than once, this video will be stuck in your head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_sfnQDr1-o

My husband coined a song to the same tune about my new wildlife case.  “Baby duckies, baby duckies, swimming in a tub, baby duckies.”

Monday I was assigned my new wildlife case, a female mallard duck and her 9 ducklings. Apparently this little family was attacked by a goose and 2 babies were killed and the mom now has a broken femur (Bad Goose!).  It is pretty much the most adorable thing ever. 

Twice a day my partner Wade and I go down to the wildlife ward to care for the family.  We change the water tubs, all the towels, the paper in the bottom of the run, and the food.  We also weigh all the ducklings and the mom every morning, and give the mom a ton of medicine.

Overall, it’s pretty cool.  We have named the ducklings Ferdinand, Filbert, Speedy, Lyle, Julia, Dolly, Arnold, and Lucy. They are very cute and “cheep” a lot.  They all want to be huddled together all the time.  If one gets separated from the group, it panics and runs in circles screaming… if you are imagining a cartoon, that’s really exactly what it looks like.

Mom is getting better.  She had surgery to set her leg.  Yesterday she actually started defending her ducklings. While that is unfortunate for us and our hands, it means she is feeling better – which is great! She will likely be in the hospital for 3-4 weeks, so I will likely pass the case off to the next on call shift Monday after next.

Then I am done with Wildlife Team!  It has been a good experience and I learned a lot, but it is definitely not one I am planning to repeat There has been a lot of unnecessary nonsense involved, and I am ready to pass the torch.

Happy Friday!

If you can’t say anything nice…

I have been a very bad blogger for the past few weeks, which is truly an indication of how hellish they have been.  I hope to give you guys several updates in the next few days.  

Finals.  We had them.  They were awful.  So much harder than last semester.  While, I don’t think that any of them did my GPA any favors, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, right?  Mine were also unusually spread out because…

Last Thursday morning – the morning of my last final, I woke up to excruciating pain in my right eye. It first started at 5:30 am and by 6:30 it became apparent to me that there was no way I was taking a test that day. I called the school and left them a message and then went to seek medical aid.  I asked both of my roommates to drive me to the health center (and both of them turned me down), but I managed to painfully get myself there anyway.

Turns out that it was a flare up from an old injury.  In July of 2009, my neighbors’ baby poked me in the eye and ripped up part of my cornea.  The neighbors never really thought it was a big deal, but it was honestly probably the most painful thing that has ever happened to me. I was on Percocet, so I don’t remember too much of my recovery.  Anyway, it turns out that in many of these cases the cornea never completely refuses the basement membrane as it heals.  So on Wednesday night while I slept, my cornea fused to my eyelid instead. When I opened my eyes Thursday morning, the eyelid ripped off a chunk of the cornea.  The technical term is "Recurrent Corneal Erosion."

When I got to the health care center they asked me what my pain was on a scale of 1-10, and I said 8-9.  Then they took my blood pressure, which rolled in at 140 / 90 (my usual is 110 / 65), and the nurse said “Wow, you really are in pain, huh?” The nurse left and the doctor was there about 2 minutes later.

The optometrist at the health care center was great. She examined me and then gave me some ointment and instructions to keep my eyes closed and the lights off for the rest of the day.  She also put a large unattractive patch on my face, so it was pretty unlikely I was going anywhere anyway.  I, amazingly, slept all day AND all night  with only limited breaks.  I imagine the stress and lack of sleep of finals combined with my injury was just more than my body could deal with.

Luckily, my very awesome friend Elizabeth came to my rescue that evening and took me to get food and more bandages.  I was a big whiny baby, so I really applaud her patience and kindness.  I don’t know what I would have done without the help. During this trip I also began to feel really sick to my stomach and that continued for 3 days unfortunately.

I was still obligated to work the vet school open house on Friday.  Luckily, I was staffed inside - out of the sun.  I also went for a follow up appointment with the optometrist. My eye was not progressing as she had hoped, so she dilated the pupil and gave me some salt drops to reduce the swelling.  I didn’t really understand the dilation at first, but apparently it paralyzes the iris to prevent said iris from agitating the wound.  She knew what she was talking about because other than the temporary numbing drops she used when she examined it initially, that dilation was the best thing that had happened to me since this debacle began.  This also gave me the chance to wear a pirate eye patch, which is not nearly as cool or as fun as it sounds.

I finally made it back to the city Friday night. (That drive was probably not the safest decision I have ever made.)  My dear husband took care of me and sat in a dark house with me for the rest of the weekend.  He went out and got me food that actually sounded good, and let me sleep a lot.  Today I finally took my last exam, and I am feeling mostly better. (Pain about 3 out of 10 J)  The stress of having to delay that exam was almost as bad as the injury itself. Looks like I either have to put this ointment in my eye for the rest of my life or have surgery.  We'll see.

Well, this post is already long enough without anymore color commentary from me. Coming soon… Posts on my baby ducks patients and electives.