WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS

I got the call from from the doctor on duty at the Animal Emergency Clinic before I had even left the parking lot after work. 

The puppy we had sent over for stabilization and surgery was gone.

She had been treated for cancer, and had been in complete remission for three months. We had all hoped she had been cured. It was such an unusual cancer, none of us knew for sure.

She was six months old when she passed away. I texted the team as they left the parking lot, emailed the other doctor who had helped her and the doctor who had referred her to us, and sat in my car and cried.

AMANDA AND ABBY SHADOWING

On Wednesday March 9, 2015, Amanda and Abby came to shadow at my work. Hannah, Kristen and Erin were so welcoming!

I asked Dr. Bashara in the morning if they could come for the day. "Of course!" he said. He even stopped by and said hi, which was super nice. As he walked into the office, I said, "OhYeah!TheirHairDoesn'tFollowTheRulesStrictlySpeaking!" because I had forgotten that part when I invited them to come.

One day a while back, Rae showed up to work with beautiful rainbow-colored hair, and the next thing I knew, we had a "natural hair color only" rule. It doesn't have to be YOUR natural color, just A natural color. Thanks a lot Rae. You couldn't keep your awesome just a little more to yourself? No, probably not.

Anyways, Pete was very accommodating about the crazy (awesome) hair. As were clients. In fact, it seemed like all our most wonderful clients with the best pets were there that day. I had great day with my kids. I've been able to say it to every shadower from the kindergarten scout groups to the college pre-vet students, and I am so proud to say it to my own kids now..."We had a great day with you! Come back any time!"

This is one of the few pictures on the blog I am leaving in "human vision" colors, because...how great is their hair?? They had to convince me this was appropriate for the school year. I could not think of a good reason it wasn't, and it has been very fun to see their changing creations! The bottom picture is in dog and cat vision.

WHY NOAH?

Vet tech Becky after way too many flea and flea infestation and flea allergy dermatitis cases, "WHY didn’t Noah put Frontline on all the animals??"

BLOOD AND GUTS CLASS

"Blood and Guts Class" sounds way more exciting than continuing education (class) about anemia and icterus (blood) and pancreatic, renal and hepatic disease (guts).

Unless you are a NERD like me, and LOVE learning this stuff. And unless you already know you like Dr. Clemans because you met her at a doctor meeting, and you know she is nice. And unless your friend vet tech Erin is going to be there, so you know it will be a fun afternoon. THEN you will be the first one to show up at a continuing education class (like a NERD), even after staying up late the night before celebrating your new nephew's arrival into the world (and then watching Avengers into the wee hours of the morning because you are too excited to sleep). And you will have a very good day.

Last Sunday, Erin and I attended a continuing education event hosted by Nebraska Academy of Veterinary Medicine, sponsored by Kohll's pharmacy. The speaker was Dr. Jessica Clemans, an internal medicine specialist at VCA MidWest Vet. The information she presented was excellent.

This is neither here nor there, but I LOVE Dr. Clemans's hair.

Dr. Clemans almost convinced me to start using IRIS kidney disease staging again. She did help me understand kidney disease and pancreatitis better.

We met at Scott Conference Center in Aksarben. I always feel so spoiled when the venue goes out of their way to make the tables fancy. More importantly, lunch was barbecue, and it was amazing!

Someone had this very cute shirt.

These are my notes from the part of the talk about determining prognosis in kidney disease.

Thank you Dr. Clemans, MidWest Vet, Nebraska Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Kohll's Pharmacy! I had a great afternoon with you and Erin and the other veterinary team members of Omaha.