Goodbye Australia!

So my time in Australia is officially over! Today has just been packing and last minute things. Now tonight we are all sitting around and its so bittersweet! We are talking about what we are excited to get back too, what we are going to miss the most, and just reflecting on how much this summer has meant to all of us.

My favorite sayings have been:
Give it a go: give it a try
Your shout: buy the next drink
good on ya: good for you
hey?: repeat yourself please
you keen?: wanna go?
how you goin?: how are you
G'day: good day
Cheers: thank you
you reckon?: what do you think
bloke: a guy
a piss up: getting drunk
brissie: brisbane
and so so so many more!!

So, America, see you in 24 hours (or something like that!)

ME IN SURGERY!! WOOO!!

Bye Bye Bulimba

Today was my last day of work!

Quick background: One of my daily jobs is to take a picture of each dog that has stayed the day at Bulimba Vet Surgery. Then I print the photos and put them in these little booklet things that say "My Day at the Vet".

Well, today I did surgery!!!!

It was a neuter (called a castrate here) on a big 4 year old Boxer/Rottweiler mix. And I got to do everything from premed to recover! After given the pre-med the doctor and I take him in and she holds while I induce and then intibate (put them to sleep and then put the tube down their throat) I've done all this before but things got so strange and backward feeling when the doctor starts shaving and scrubbing the dog, and I go to scrub in! It was so weird telling the doctor what to do as if she was my nurse! haha instead of asking for the blade, I would be like "do you think I need the blade now" hahaha.

Neutering takes strength!! haha I won't be too graphic but I was just not expecting to have to use that much errr force? haha After castrating I did the subcutaneous sutures and the skin sutures then we were done! We carry him to his kennel and I sit with my first surgery patient while he wakes up!

After going back to the main room all the staff is standing there and they bring out cheesecake and a picture of me doing surgery in one of those "My Day at the Vets" packets! With more pictures during surgery inside and they had all written nice notes to me! Of course I get all teary but then we all eat cake and sit around for a minute until I head off and say goodbye to Bulimba Vet Surgery for good!

Bulimba Vet Surgery taught me so much! And I learned by doing which is the best way! Of course in the mornings I was always like "I dont wanna go to work!!" and if we were slow I'd be itching to leave early but when I look back on the summer I could not have asked for a better internship. The doctors would quiz me on surgical techniques while I was monitoring anesthesia or during consultations with clients would make me suggest diagnosis and treatment options, which would be sooo frustrating but I'm glad they did it!

Now all that is left is packing, shopping and traveling!

Two Kidneys are better than one

Work on Friday was my last full day! We were really slow and since they had just gotten a new ultrasound machine we decide to test it out! We didn't have any dogs that we could shave for an ultrasound so I became the patient! I laid there while the doctor ultrasounded me! Woo! I got to see my spleen, liver, intestines and right kidney! She couldn't find my left kidney though, so while she went to do an appointment she left me to look for it, no luck there either! So she came back with the other doctor and she couldn't find my kidney either! We looked for this kidney for at least an hour laying in all sorts of positions. I decided my parents must have sold it when I was young. We'll take an xray though just to prove that I do have two kidneys on Monday!

The other Americans I live with are out of town this weekend and I have really liked being alone this weekend! I really do enjoy doing things by myself so Saturday I walked to the markets. Its a little over a mile and I just listened to my music and meandered around the shops for the most of the morning getting fresh fruit and veggies and people watching! It was such a great morning! Then I spent the rest of the day baking for my work dinner party!

We had a work dinner party where everyone brought their own dish and I took s'mores and dessert pizza! yumm! Our staff is only of about 8 people so the staff is all really close and I loved sitting around the table hearing them all tell stories about past christmas parties, going on trips together, etc. It was tons of fun and nothing like any work party I had been to at home! I absolutely love my work at home but its a huge staff with a lot of turnover so you only get close to a few people really. And what happened next would never happen at a CPH function! We got on the topic of tequila, and I said in America you drink tequila shots with salt and lime. Wellllll here they take it with lemon. So then the entire staff does tequila shots, even the vets! Haha I really hope you are reading this Dr's at CPH! Just picturing all the doctors that I work for at home sitting around taking shots makes me laugh out loud every single time!

Then the neighbors house catches on fire. The back porch just goes up in flames! Crazy! So we all run over right as one of the girls who lives there is running out of the house. She calls the firemen and of course she has an entire vet staff asking "are there any pets inside?!" Yeah we asked if pets were inside before inquiring about people. We push one of the cars out from the carport since it was fairly close to the fire. And wait with her while the firemen show up and start putting the fire out! I have never seen a house on fire and the firemen doing their job so close before! It was crazy. But they got everyone out and the fire put out fairly quickly so thats good!

So over all my last weekend in Australia was a good one! I am sooooo so sad to be leaving but sooo excited to be home all at the same time! Talk about emotion overload! Now that my summer is almost over I can admit to how terrified I was before coming here! Oh my goodness I was so scared, I was excited too though. On the way to the airport my dad said that that was the quietest he had ever seen me be! Its weird looking back and thinking how nervous I was because the entire summer just went so smoothly!

I leave Australia before my carton of milk expires

true fact. how crazy is that?

also, there is a season in Australia when birds start swooping out of their trees to attack the nearest human. another fun fact, that season started today! I now stare at the trees and jump anytime I hear a bird!

This past weekend I went up to the sunshine coast with Ian and his family. It was such an amazing time!! We drove on coastal roads up there and anytime we saw a starbucks we stopped! haha I went to dinner with their family that night at this beautiful restaurant that overlooked the mountains. This family lives on a mountain right off of the coast so the view from their veranda was just tons of rolling hills with the beach on the other side! They have three little kids ages 6,7, and 8. The 6 year old girl and I became best friends immediately while the boys just called me "the american" and laughed anytime I said anything with an american accent.

Saturday morning we woke up early and went to one of the boys rugby game then shopping at some markets. Afterwards me and the parents sat on some of their land and just watched the cattle, horses, and chickens running around while drinking a beer and talking about the differences of life in American verse Australia. We all turned in pretty early Saturday night then Sunday we had a breakfast of pancakes and ice cream while sitting on the veranda! Then a bit more shopping before it was time for me to return to Brisbane!

I had a big bed that I couldn't feel all the springs poking me, and big fluffy towels, and a real heater!!! I was so spoiled this weekend and it was wonderful!

I am thinking about when I get home a lot more often now! Its almost here! I think the very first thing I want to do when I get home is lay flat on my back and just lay there for at least ten minutes to try to wrap my mind around this summer. I should probably not do that at the Memphis airport, so it will just have to wait a while! Then I want to eat my dad's chicken and drink a margarita :)

Sydney Weekend!

Sydney was this past weekend! We stayed in Kings Cross, the wonderful red light district of Sydney. So walking around at night sure was interesting! It was really rainy and reallllyy cold most of the weekend but luckily it cleared up right as we did the bridge climb!

The bridge climb is where you climb this big bridge in Sydney Harbour and at the top is a beautiful view, including the Sydney Opera House right behind you! I will include a picture! SO that was amazing! Sydney is a huge city though and its nice being back in Brisbane!

We also went to an Australia vs. South Africa rugby game, which we won! So that was fun! It was really bittersweet seeing all the other interns again. Of course we had fun going out with them but at the same time we said bye for the last time too. The Cairns, Brisbane, and Sydney people aren't all getting back together and most of us don't live even relatively close to each other in the states so there were some sad faces when those goodbyes happened!

The last night we had to be at the airport at 5 am for our flight. So me and three others decided not to go out but it was still an awesome time! We walked around the cross and got some kebabs and McDonald's flurries around 1 am. Then we sat in the hallways of our apartment complex and ate and just talked and were so tired that we found the silliest things to be outrageously hilarious. Taylor and I wore our matching "The future is wild" tshirts that we got at the aquarium and danced around to some Justin Bieber. Around 2:30 we made the trek to the airport thinking we should just sleep at our gate. Welllll problem. The airport was closed! Please keep in mind it is still cold and rainy! We finally get a maintenance man to let us in and we sleep on some lovely wooden benches until 4 am when the airport officially opened. We went through security to our gate and hung out until we boarded and headed back to Brisbane!

This summer is almost over, wow!

Ralph

So I take the same bus to work every week and the same bus home in the evening. Four days a week. You would think that I would notice patterns. Like the same people waiting at the stop with me, or certain people on the bus. Well I haven't! And this bothers me!! I am always expecting it, so far all I have noticed is one woman running in the park every evening who is having a tough time with it.

Well today my Australian bus journeys came full circle. My first day on the bus I had no idea when to push the 'stop' button so I asked this nice old man who looks just like my UHON Theatre class teacher! He helped me figure out when to stop and even told me which bus to take home. Today on my bus ride home, who gets on other than my theatre class teacher twin! The bus was packed and one of the only open seats left was next to me! So he sits down, and my awkwardness comes out! I have my headphones on so conversation was out of the question. But I kept wondering "does he recognize me?" "does he realize I am taking a different bus than he told me to?" "should I say something?!" So I clearly decide the best thing to do is to not make eye contact but rather awkwardly look away the whole time! But I still found it neat that he ended up sitting next to me.

Now onto Ralph.

At work yesterday I come in and see that we have a blood transfusion and a spleen removal on the board. It was an adorable Jack Russell Terrier named Ralph! The doctor didn't think he would even be able to undergo surgery but that we would try keeping him on oxygen all morning and the blood transfusion. At this point the dog's body temperature is so low that the thermometer won't even read that he has a temperature! So I made Ralph my project. I held his oxygen mask all morning, all the employees worked through lunch to keep him warm and do the blood transfusion from the donor dog to ralph. Well in the afternoon the vet decided he was strong enough so we begin the operation! The tumor in this dog's abdomen was massive! The dog weighed 12 pounds and the tumor weighed 2 of those 12 pounds! But the dog was doing well during surgery and everyone was happy with the way it was going! Both surgeons were scrubbed in and I was assigned to take pictures because it was the biggest tumor either of them had seen on a dog this small. They had trouble figuring out where the tumor was attached. And because of the massive internal bleeding we had to do a lot of suctioning and literally just tipping the dog sideways to let all the blood out. We originally thought spleen but we pulled the spleen through the drape and saw that it was tumor free so then they just had to cut around the tumor until they found an attachment. Turn out it was intestinal but easy enough to remove. Things are still going fine and now just the one surgeon is beginning the stitches.

Suddenly Ralph starts gasping and seizing. The doctor described them as "agonal breaths" so I ask, "what do you mean by agonal breaths?" Her response: He's dying.

All of a sudden this operating room kicks into high gear! I am so glad they made me learn what to do in a dog dying in operation situation because I would have had no idea! I get the adrenaline ready while the other nurse starts manually ventilating Ralph. I start injecting doses of adrenaline through the IV drip while listening to the heart beat. I have never seen a surgeon stitch up an entire abdomen this fast! She flew through those stitches and gets all the surgical drapes off in a matter of a few minutes. She flips Ralph on his side, we give him another dose of blood, but it was too late and Ralph died. The other nurse was really upset and refused to cut off his oxygen for a few moments. Now this is a clinic of all girls, and all the nurses and vets are crying as the doctor was informing the owner. This is one of those moments when I wished I cried at normal times. haha. But in all seriousness, Ralph was an adorable dog and it was a tough day with a not so happy ending. But I got to be involved in my first blood transfusion, and see an amazing surgery! And if it helps, Ralph was 14 years old (that is very old in dog years), and the tumor we later found out had metastasized to his entire body. It was good to see a tough day and an intense surgery, good to know that even after a day like that there is still nothing I would rather be that a veterinarian!

Now I head to Sydney! Should be a stupendous weekend! :)

Where I'm From.

Our first intern left to head back home today! How crazy is that? He was on the 6 week program and after he left the rest of us ten weekers were sitting around the table and it was so weird! We all started to try to figure out how its gonna feel when it is us leaving. I only have three more weekends in Australia! Its definitely time to buckle down and make sure I do every single thing that I want to before time is up!

Tomorrow morning a housemate and I are doing a yoga class on the river. If you know me and my lack of coordination, balance, and general serenity then you know this will undoubtedly be entertaining!

Nothing too exciting happened this week in good ole Brissie. I had some good conversations with coworkers about prejudices/races/and socioeconomic views in the states. It was so interesting to try to explain such a vast topic and answer their questions like "is racism really bad in America". I mean that is just so different person to person. They were shocked that I went to a predominately black high school, and that gangs actually do exist. And they were genuinely surprised that blacks/whites/indians/etc. all hang out together and its completely normal. UHON this is your shout out: They absolutely did not believe me when I told them that it is very normal for me as a white person to be the minority in a group of my UHON friends. They didn't grasp that your skin color doesn't define you. Because here, you are either white, asian, a refugee, or an aboriginal. (aboriginal sort of being the equivalent of native american). I don't know where I am going with all this, it was just interesting! (Ronald Nelson, I told them about you eating scrambled eggs with my dad, at my house, during a tornado, and I wasn't even there. Haha good times!)

Next two weekends I am traveling so hopefully more action packed blogs to come! Cheers!