The Edinburgh Experience: I can't believe it's over

It is hard to believe the summer is over and it's already the start of the third week of classes. So much has happened since my last post, I will probably fit things into a couple posts.

Over the summer I completed 6 weeks of small animal clinical placements. My first placement was with a board certified cardiologist. The week consisted of grading heart murmurs, looking at ECGs and echocardiograms. The cardiologist invited me back for a day a couple weeks later to watch and help with a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) closure. A PDA is a vessel remnant from when the animal is still getting its oxygen from mom. It should close just after birth but in some cases it doesn't. If it doesn't close after birth, there ends up being a mixing of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood. A catheter is inserted through an artery in the leg and then fed through to the heart with the help of ultrasound and x-ray imaging. Once the catheter gets to the opening a balloon is blown up and closes the vessel permanently. It's not a common procedure and is very specialized so I was super lucky to get to see and participate in the PDA closure!

My second placement was with a veterinary ophthalmologist. Ophthalmology terrified me so I decided to tackle it head on. At the end of my week, it was slightly less scary but it also made it pretty clear to me that I do not want to be a specialized ophthalmologist.

My last four weeks were spent with two different general practices. The one practice worked with a kitten rescue so I got to perform lots of paediatric neuters and help with the paediatric spays. It's also where I got to complete my first dog neuter.

Other than placements I spent the rest of the summer hanging out at home and the lake, working for my dad and seeing friends.

The obligatory dog photos

Mars waiting to play fetch

One of the few moments where Jenny was stationary on the standup paddle board

My parents flew to Edinburgh with me. My mom was a little jealous of the photo tour I did last year so we decided to do a private photo tour with Iconic Tours. Our tour guide Will was fantastic. I cannot give him enough praise. He managed to make the tour relevant to all of us, even though two of us were using DSLR cameras and my dad was using his iPhone. I think some of the coolest tricks I learned were actually on my iPhone! He took us around the Royal Mile area and told us lots of really interesting stories and showed us lots of little details I have never noticed before. I have already put my birthday present request in with my parents, for a night time photo tour with Iconic Tours!