I can always call home and talk to friends or family about it, try to get some perspective that way, but it's so hard to get a real sense of what's going on without being there. I guess I'm just feeling very isolated, and very much like I wish I were back home for this.
On a happier note, I had my last breed ID today. I got all the breeds right and only lost 2 points on the short answer (Flemish Giant rabbits are upwards of 13lbs, not 12lbs, and Tennessee, as in Tennessee Walker, has two e's on the end....ugh). We had a review session in place of lab and got a bit of prep on what we should be focusing on for the final. I stayed after class to talk with her about my grade, just to see where I'm at and found out I'm sitting at a 92.16%. Rock on! I thought I was holding a high B, so to know that I'm actually just scraping an A is good news. If I do well on the final I may even get to keep it.
As of today I am done with quizzes! I have 2 homework assignments left though. One is an easy extra credit for medical terminology that I've already finished, and the other is an as yet unknown homework assignment from A&P that she refused to give us yesterday, saying we could have it Friday. Great, thanks.
Yesterday's A&P lab was BRAAAAAIIIINS. Alona, Arisa and I did a fantastic job of lobotomizing our sheep's brain and we had a good time too. Did you know that preserved brains bounce quite well? And that the dura mater looks like a little like a hat, and the cerebellum like cauliflower?
In this photo, you can clearly see the cerebrum, 1st ventricle, rostral and caudal colliculi, thalamus, hypothalamus, cerebellum, pons, medulla oblongata, and the 3rd ventricle. The pituitary is missing (it got ripped off when the adipose pads behind the eyes were removed) and the pineal gland is too small to see clearly.
Now I just need to remember all of that by Wednesday.
School life has been uh...interesting lately as well. Over thanksgiving, one of the second year students let 3 dogs out in the play yard together. We normally only let out two at a time to prevent dogs ganging up on eachother, but it might have been ok had two of those dogs not been unneutered. I don't know what this student was thinking. As far as I was aware, we all knew better than that, especially since those particular dogs growl and bark at the mere sight of eachother.
Chester took the worst of it and he looks like a mess. His ears, head, and throat are pretty badly torn up and in all honesty he's lucky to be alive. Still, he's been up to his own mischief as well since a rumour that had been floating around was finally confirmed this week. One of our unspayed females went into heat a few weeks ago and Chester managed to climb the chain link part of his run and get into her run. We're still waiting for Bryn to get far enough into term that we can confirm pregnancy, but it seems likely.
The last incident was Monday evening. One of the girls who works at a local clinic came into school Tuesday morning with the news that Hero, a 9 month old shepherd cross, was in serious condition at her hospital. One of the PCC staff (not one of the tech program staff) had been taking him home in the evenings to give him a break from kennel life. She'd made the unfortunate decision of keeping his food stored under her sink, right next to the draino. Hero, being the puppy that he is, got into the cabinet and ate a large quantity of draino.
We got word today that he's going to be ok, despite a horribly burned mouth and a badly damaged esophageal sphincter. I saw him briefly today and he looks terrible, but at least he's alive. He's on a liquid diet until he can heal and there's been a temporary suspension of any off-campus activities for the dogs. Several students had planned to take dogs home for the Christmas holidays so we're waiting for an announcement to tell us if that is still on.
So....as Mom said, I think we've had our three. No more bad stuff for a while, please and thank you.
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