I’m working part time at my parents’ veterinary clinic while I’m home for the month, before I start back at school in September. Both my parents are veterinarians, and I had a brief veterinarian phase myself, followed by a neurologist phase and a little later by the longer lasting foreign language teacher phase that has coincided with my major at school. I have realized a taste for things medical has remained, though.
The other day my mom showed me how to intubate a dog--stick a tube down its trachea. The word “intubate” I learned from watching “ER” (which went with an emergency-room physician phase), but it turns out that’s really what it’s called. Anyway, once the intubated dog was out and my mom started doing the dental, I moved on to clipping its toenails. I cut one too close and it started to bleed. I stopped it by dipping it in some powder, as shown, then Stephanie asked me to go get a dog from the kennels that needed to be prepared for surgery--to be neutered.
“Its name is Cody,” Stephanie said. “It’s a 116-pound German shepherd, you’ll be able to find it no problem.”
“Isn’t he mean?” asked my mom.
“Yeah,” said Stephanie. “She can handle it. Can’t you, Carrie?”
“Yes,” I said. Automatically. Without thinking.
It was as I was walking out to the kennel to get Cody the 116-pound German shepherd that I realized what I was doing. Going out to find giant dog. A German shepherd, the kind of dog that rips the arms of criminals. He would probably smell the blood on my hands from the dental’s toenails, and then that would be it.
Cody was nice enough, though. A little overweight. Not an attack dog after all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Oh, how fun! Seriously, I mean. I have many fond memories of working at the pet hospital. Ask me sometime about the time I went to the kennel and found a dead dog...not a good start to a morning.
~A
I am not responsible enough to work at a veterinary clinic, therefore I am in awe of you for that.
I'm glad Cody was a gentle dog! I would hate to find that you had lost your limbs in a tragic veterinary accident!
Confession: I learn all my medical terms from ER, too. And some day the moment will come when someone will shout "Doctor! Is anyone here a Doctor!?" I'll then rush up and ramble off all the random medical phrases stored away in my head. And they'll just look at me like I'm off my rocker.
I am so happy to hear that you love all things medical, too, and that you have finally found the reason for that: growing up in a vet clinic.
I learned a few medical terms from ER, but many others from Scrubs and MASH. And I guess my time working at a hospital, but that's really secondary.
Post a Comment