This past month has been so exciting for me! Junior surgery has
been my favorite third-year class all semester-but lately it's
gotten even better. We recently graduated from goat and rabbit
surgeries to cat and dog spays. Whoop! We are divided into groups
of three for the semester and rotate though being the surgeon,
assistant surgeon, and anesthetist for the procedures. This past
month, every Friday afternoon cats and dogs from local animal
shelters were transported to the vet school. The student scheduled
to be surgeon that week took care of their assigned animal every
morning and night.
I was the assistant surgeon for our first shelter dog. Though we
were nervous and the surgery took a little longer than what an
experienced vet could do, everything went well, and our new spayed
friend could go back into the world to be adopted. Several of my
classmates got so attached to their surgery dogs that they ended up
taking them home themselves. I was a little nervous when my week to
be the surgeon came around because I already knew I didn't have
room for another dog at my house. The Friday that I was supposed to
meet my shelter animal came, but unfortunately there was a bomb
threat and the campus was shut down. One of my very best friends
that had been my roommate at OU came to stay with me that night,
and since my car was in the shop she had to take me to the school
on Saturday morning to meet my animal. My friend had just graduated
from physical therapy school and was starting her first job in a
new city. She had always wanted her own dog, but due to the expense
and her small yard, she had decided to wait until next year to
start looking. We got to the ward where the animals were staying
and found our group's dog-she was so adorable! She's a white hound
mix puppy with one brown ear. She was happy but very polite and
couldn't wait to greet everyone we passed. My friend immediately
fell in love! She talked about the puppy all weekend and eventually
decided adopt her the following Saturday. It couldn't have worked
out more perfectly! I could get as attached as I wanted even though
I couldn't adopt her myself.
Now I just had to make sure the surgery went perfectly. Monday
came along, and I went to check on the little hound. She was
coughing, and not just every now and then, continuously! I called
our supervising surgeon who told me it would be okay to proceed
after we gave her some cough medicine to make her feel better.
Fortunately, she quieted down and everything went as planned. She
recovered nicely and was able to go back to the shelter without any
difficulties. My friend came to the shelter on Saturday to pick her
up take her to her new home where she's been spoiled with
attention. I got so lucky that my first surgery dog found a home!
Now I get to visit whenever I want.