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Thursday, November 30, 2006

Lots to write about this week, though not really as far as work goes as I’ve been on FAP and EMS. Rich was over from Thurs to Mon and times been incredibly hectic with Soiree and Open Mic2…

My second farm animal rotation finishes at the end of this week before moving onto Anaesthesia for two weeks up till the end of term (this term has gone lightning fast). Last week on farm was farm animal practice which involves going out with the farm animal clinicians and being on call every night for emergencies, though it has potentially to be very busy my week was fairly relaxed and really useful on the practical front. Now I’ve moved onto EMS (extra mural studies) where you have the option to do three days of farm work off practice, I’ve opted not to as I’ve 2wks booked over xmas plus I wanted to get a lot of non-vet stuff sorted this wk. Therefore basically I’ve got the whole wk off except for a foot trimming practical yesterday and a preventative medicine talk plus farm animal hospital rounds Fri morning.
As far as Anaesthesia goes for next week I think for the first rotation yet I’m actually going to read up before starting as there’s definitely potential for rotational disaster with my currently exceptionally poor knowledge in the field. Therefore this weekend and maybe tomorrow is going to involve library time trying to get breathing systems, drug combinations/side effects, anaesthetic machine set up and anaesthesia monitoring sorted in my head.
Results back for last rotation (surgery) = merit, which means I’ve now had a merit for every rotation except farm in which I got a high pass. So results suggest I’m doing well this year but personally I’m sure I’m doing the minimum to get through these rotations, least it’s reassuring to think that clinicians feel I’m on track and after plenty revision 2nd/3rd term I’m sure vivas will be fine.

The past week has been pretty crazy out of school with a Soiree, openmic2 night, 2comedy nights, relaxation girlfriend time in front of scrubs and the musical cats…

Rich flew over Thurs night and then had to put up with panto and Levator rehearsals. Friday I went in for FAP and managed to get a 3:00pm finish so we could get over to the Marriott in Bristol to set up for the Soiree. Friday night was awesome, sound levels were quality and band performance no worries, even my two songs went well. Crowd didn’t get into it as much as last year though as the lower year’s don’t really know us but a few of our new covers went down well.
Rest of the Soiree involved the usual much dancing, drinking and general antics including the compulsory long island ice teas and flaming sambucas (spelling?) as has become customary with the big J Spence at every Soiree.
Saturday involved organising/sorting for the OpenMic2 Sat evening, PA had to be collected and set up and cars collected from Bristol. Rich kindly parked Ian’s car for him, as he couldn’t make it in, in the big city centre NCP and then promptly forgot which level he’d parked it in (Ian found it eventually with Rich’s highly useful instructions of “I think it’s on a floor above level 2”).
Saturday night couldn’t have gone better, the performance quality was amazing and I think it’s safe to say that the night was even more of a success than last year with £700ish profit made for the spey clinic. The line up for the night was as follows…
Act1
- Andy F, (chasing cars etc).
- JP, (Fratellies etc).
- Me, (Time for heroes/Hallelujah/Lights go out (mine)
- Kieran, (decemberists and album of the year)
- Me and Rich (death cab and greenday)
- MiniMat etc (horrendous spice girls dance routine)
Act 2
- Valenzia (3songs inc. 1 originial)
- Chris Q (soundclash)
- Henderson (baby can I hold you)
- Em (bic runga sway)
- Chris Q (stand up in a bear outfit)
- Ad and Miles (the Hoff!)
- Charlie et al (big band inc. trumpet/sax/keys playing grapevine and grease)
Prizes as awarded by Domingo were…
Most entertaining…The Hoff
Biggest talent …Me n Rich (not rigged)
Best overall performance…Charlie et al
After party was fairly comedy at Jocks house, Kieran had a big Irish argument and produced the random quote of the evening…”NO,..Christmas,..I Agree”.

Sunday there was a lot of sorting and clearing to do before me and Rich could relax and make our way over to Cheddar to get some Cheese and drink some cider. In the evening we watched fast show and Mighty Boosh live with Dave, Ian, John and Paul and made some mulled cider.
Monday Rich flew home early evening so before then we went over to the Garden Centre and finished watching Boosh.
Generally the past week has been crazy with practices for panto and Levator and sorting Soiree and OpenMic, thankfully Rich was around as would have been a major struggle getting everything done without his help.

This week is revolving around getting stuff sorted that’s been put on hold…xmas shopping, puppy revision etc.
Night before last had a wkd comedy curry night with the lads. I made mince vinderloo and mulled some lambrini….we got mul-led*
* As quoted from the comedy genius double D (can’t have me taking credit for his jokes).
Last night had a much needed chilled out evening with Sarah watching Cats musical in Bristol at Hipperdrome. Not really my cup of tea but entertained never the less, think I’ve had a sufficient dose of eccentricity for another year though.

Now it’s off to the bank to get some puppy money and then later Sinead is cooking me dinner. Tomorrow Xmas begins with home alone 1 and 2 and more mulled lambrini.
Xx

PS: For this Christmas season I recommend for all those festive Chavs…mulled Lambrini, and I’ve been good enough to provide you with Pete’s tried and tested patented recipe…
- Half one 1.5L bottle of Lambrini into two pans and add half a bottle of dry white wine into each.
- Place one mulled wine sachet into each and a good sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg so it turns a gravy type colour.
- Add half carton of OJ into each to make a dull urine type colour.
- Pour large quantities of sugar into both and bring slowly to the boil.
- Serve in ornate glasses and allow dirt to sediment before consumption.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Time for another weekly blog entry, though I’m gonna keep this one short (and I actually mean this for once) as I’ve panto prac in half hr…

Currently still on farm rotation and will be for another week after this. The theme of this week being farm-animal-practice (FAP) where we go out on calls the farm vets and generally have an awesome time getting in loads of practical experience. Over the three days so far I’ve sorted my surgical castration technique, gained competence at pregnancy diagnosis and scanning, dis-budded some calves and paired up some feet plus diagnosed a solar ulcer and treated a lame cow. Today I went on a repro routine visit in the morning where we did some scanning and then saw some lame cows, and then this aft we’ve just finished a sheep fertility seminar and practical, learning about examining rams for fertility soundness and performing vasectomies.
The rest of the week on FAP continues as similar, though tomorrow aft a few of us are helping teach the first years in cattle handling/examination etc.
Next week work is minimal as I’m on EMS for the week which is basically a week off with the opportunity to visit some local practices if you wish (I’m gonna opt not to as I’m not going into farm work and time is essential nxt wk for relaxation and panto rehearsals).

Social life over the last week has been eaten up by panto, soiree rehearsals and sorting the open mic night, though I did find time for a Goth n Gimp party and a visit to Wales to see some puppies…

Panto is going full steam ahead with rehearsals every night except Fri up until the panto on the 4th and 5th. As my parts quite major (timid farm vet Isllyn, spelling?, as narrator) I’m in every practice until the panto plus I’ve got two songs to sort. However I’m sorted for most of my lines and the songs are coming together well so there’s not too much to worry about.
Theme of the panto is Narnia (Lion, Witch etc). More to follow nearer the time.

Soiree is Friday and our jam last night was pretty awesome so should go fine. This will be Levator’s third and potentially last Soiree so fingers crossed will go well, though there’s still one more prac Thurs night.

Open Mic2 is on Saturday night which I’m organising. I did one last year and it was a big success so repetition hopefully a good idea. Basically night revolves around aprox 10 acts from the year/vet school/graduates(Mr Borgeat!) singing, playing guitar, dancing etc with an aim to raise some money for the final year spey clinic at the end of the year. Biggest event of the night looks currently to be DD’s and the big J Spence’s raffle, as Dave’s been all over the place on his EMS week collected prizes including 3 free meals, hair cut, £20 gift voucher, bottle wine, cheese hamper etc (literally incredible).

Last Friday was another in the fairly minimal series of this term’s house parties (Goth and Gimp), evening fun but little to say, best bit was me, John, Mat and Dave getting ready before hand (John was getting majorly jealous at the awesome quality of everyone else’s make-up and Goth accessories, John made a s**t Goth).

Rest of this week involves FAP, Soiree and OpenMic, will report on all nxt wk…

Also Rich is over Thurs to Mon so hopefully get some quality brother time in Sun and Mon i.e. visit Cheddar buy Cider and Cheese and consume vastly inappropriate quantities.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Two important recent occurances that I failed to mention in past blogs...
- Chav party eyebrow shaving. House mates plus Shep and some randomers all got bits taken out of their eyebrows to look even more authentically Chav. However Milnthorpe's large middle section, my left side and Dave's two stripes are still incredibly visible after 2wks. Quite comedy really.
- Got to have a spin in Uncle's 911 Turbo other day, like some ride at Alton Towers.
Expect nxt blog nxt wk.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

After three weeks of time consuming surgery rotation I've now moved onto my second 3week block of farm greatness, this is especially ideal as the last farm rotation I completed the 3more difficult weeks leaving VPH, EMS and FAP for this1. However now that work has slackened off slightly I've got some time to get the many other events coming up sorted.

My final week on the surgery rotation was on soft tissue surgery which was surprisingly pain free after the ordeal that was orthopaedics. I got called out twice over the week and both times it wasn't at rediculous o'clock and the surgery was fairly interesting, plus I got to do most of the suturing.
Over the weekend I was on call for soft tissue which was non-eventful. I assisted in surgery friday night for a dog that had impacted its ileum with chicken feed, and other than this case I had only one other over the weekend which was a awesome little Yorkie (not a breed I generally like but this one was comedy). Other than checks my weekend revolved around eating, watching star wars and scrubs and generally relaxing with Sarah, for a weekend on call it was surprsingly good fun (which is especially important as most of the year were off in Liverpool going mental on AVS without me).
Farm rotation begins this week with VPH (veterinary public health), for this we spend our time assessing Langford abbatoir on Monday and then spend the rest of the week writing a report. We split up the report and I received the section on zoonoses which I sorted out yesterday and this morning, the exciting title of my section being (drum roll if you will)... "Two important zoonotic biological hazards involved in the processing of ovine meat for human consumption".
Other than the report this week we have to attend a seminar Weds and a preventitve medicine talk on Friday, though as Mum's not very well at home I thought I'd escape the seminar and spend some quality time at home this week with a plan to return to Langford Thurs night.

Quite short on the work front this week (makes a change) as time has been directed elsewhere. Curerently I'm sat in the bedroom above the gargage at home awating a lift from Mother to get a much needed haircut (not sure why we don't call this room the study but never mind).
Time at home has, and plans to be spent:
- getting some quality son time in for the parents.
- shopping for ski wear (early xmas present of a white ski jacket, I'm gonna be invisible).
- buying 21st birthday presents for little brothers.
- doing VPH work.
- watching Borat again with little sister (probably tonight, I think Sarah is also watching it again in Bristol to).
- getting things sorted for the open mic night (wk on Sat).
- Learning lines for the panto.
Big news at home at the moment is the massively increased likelihood of us getting a puppy. There's been talk for a long time but recent occurances have changed Mother's mind. The choice looks to be a Miniature Schnauzer, hoping to get one some time before Xmas, hunt for puppies is about to begin...nice.

This blog was supposed to be posted yesterday but the cinema side-tracted me. Now it's lunch time ish Thurs and I'm due to go back to Bris in a couple of hours to make a panto rehearsal and band practice. The Soiree is now only a week away and so practices are being stepped up, though the last few have gone fine...set list this year is...
- Franz, this fire.
- Razorlight, in the morning.
- Chilis, other side.
- Ians new song.
- My new song.
- Libertines, can't stand me now.
- Franz, Matinee.
- Vet life.
- Brim full of asha (always comedy).

That's enough for now me thinks. Upcoming time probably going to be spent learning lines, sorting open mic and practicing for panto and Soiree. Going to be a busy week (though not with work...is nice)

Chinkoui, Yashamash etc...

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

On soft tissue surgery now and though I expected crazy busy madness the week so far has been excellent. I picked up a fairly time consuming case at the beginning of the week that needed PEG feeding though thankfully this went home yesterday and I’ve picked up a new case today with aspergillosis. This week’s work revolves around case management, watching ops, neutering and writing a set of assessed discharge notes. As my case went home yesterday and it was also my day-off I spent the morning writing my discharge notes, which means that the only extra piece of work for the week is ticked off. I had a neutering day on Monday during which I got a bitch spey under the belt and so now the rest of the week I’m checking and watching surgery.
On call this week is not ideal though, I was on Monday night and got called out for a cat rta and I’ve still got Friday and the whole weekend to go. However the surgery Monday night was rel. interesting as there were bladder complications plus I was able to suture up.
Being on call this weekend is far from great as it’s AVS and as everyone wants to go whose able to, so swapping isn’t possible. This is especially frustrating as I was well up for dressing up as Where’s Wally (my suggestion)…not bitter honestly.
Other work related stuff necessary for inclusion is my week on imaging just gone. This week was fantastic, time was spent taking radiographs, watching ultrasound and eating copious quantities of cake (for some reason on imaging it is compulsory to bring in food, so on the Friday my rotation went a little over the top and brought in a banoffee pie, marble cake, mars bar cake, mince pies and I found a mass of reduced pork pies in Budgens which went down a treat). Assessment on imaging however isn’t by quality of cake provided, you have to take numerous assessed radiographs and comment on them, plus every morning we each get a radiograph to assess with a different theme each day i.e. thorax, head/spine, abdomen etc.
Current level of achievement in my surgery rotation stands at pass/merit in orth and merit in imaging, so potential merit is at stake depending on quality of work in soft tissue surgery.
Following this week the next rotation commences and so I start Monday over in farm with my first week on veterinary public health, obviously this is a vitally important topic and so I look forward to the famous slightly slack week that it entails.

Think that covers most current work related issues so vital social type stuff for inclusion includes one big night out in Bristol, a chav party, some tekken, star wars and the cinema.
Big night out Bristol was Halloween night, it was only me, Dave, John and Amy but the night was incredible. We started at the Tap for special exhibition cider drinking games, then made it onto the epi, mbargo and finally the lizard lounge. Don’t think there’s anything to crazy to remark about it was just a fantastic night, Sarah joined us all in mbargo, though I’m sure my level of drunkenness failed to impress… Worth mentioning stuff: Lost John for good while as he took strangers for tequilas, Dave+Amy got thrown out lounge for falling over, I got thrown out mbargo for dancing on tables and also out of lounge for the same thing, John broke Sarah’s shoe by energetic dancing and John managed to achieve great levels of drunkenness by supplying anyone who would except them tequila slammers. Imaging day after was interesting, Dave used 65mA.
Other massive night was Friday just gone…our 2nd Chav Party, this year’s theme Chav Rave. Modesty aside our party was incredible, things to note for the night…
- Jim’s old chip fat wagon had been supped up by most of the house. Modifications included a spoiler made of shelves, air-intake made from the side of a bin, shiny new tin-foil alloys, Kenwood logo, blacked out painted inside windows, blue underneath neon light, black flames down the sides and a new coat of white emulsion all over (it was blue), the end result was as you can imaging completely awesome!
- Rave was achieved; I got a PA from the union which provided ridiculous volumes for the party. Also miniMat brought 100s of glow sticks and these plus an industrial strength strobe managed to turn what was our lounge into a full blown rave.
- Many illnesses occurred though; I think John emptying dirty Greek spirits into the punch didn’t help.
- White chairs got burnt, flames interesing.
- Next day house utter mess, cleaning took large task force most of the day/aft.
Other social stuff included playing some tekken at Dave’s, watching much star wars with Sarah (secretly she loves it!), and paying visits to the cinema (new Borat film utterly incredible, don’t think either me or Sarah stopped laughing through the whole thing).

Upcoming stuff includes… open mic organisation, band practices for the Soiree (which are currently going really well) and learning my lines for the panto.

Tonight I’m cooking for Sarah and then it’s episode I to look forward to.

xx