Islay

The obvious reason to go to Islay is for the scotch.  Well I'm not much of a Scotch drinker (as in I don't drink it at all - tastes too much like swallowing fire) but my dad enjoys it.  So the trip was going to work out pretty well.  I could drive him around from distillery to distillery getting to see all the scenery on the way and he could taste as much scotch as he would like.  

There are 8 distilleries on Islay and they are building a new one.  Over the course of our 4 days on Islay we managed to visit them all!  We visited Bunnahabhain the first day because it was about a 15 minute drive from where the ferry dropped us off.  Fun fact:  The distilleries all painted their names on the shore side so that in the olden days when boats were delivering their goods, they would deliver it to the right distillery.

Over the next days we visited Kilchoman (it uses barley actually grown on site), Laphroaig (which we toured and they are the only whiskey to carry the Royal Warrant of the Prince of Wales), Lagavulin, Ardbeg (which was my favourite purely from a cosmetic point of view), Bruichladdich (pronouced brook-la-dee for those who are confused like we were), Bowmore, Coal Ila (produces the most scotch on Islay - 6 500 000L per year!).  And we even visited a distillery that isn't open yet, Ardnahoe opening in 2018.

Barrel Signed and corked by Prince Charles - It will be sold for charity

Ardbeg's Scotch Display

  We did do some non-scotch related activities as well.  We visited the Kildalton Cross which is considered the best surviving celtic cross in Scotland carved around 800 AD.

We also did some hiking.  We hiked through a field of sheep to get to Machir Bay.  The weather wasn't in our favour but it was still a lovely walk.

To most countries this would be a weed - But to Scotland it's their national flower!

Baby Blackface

Machir Bay

We also hiked around the Mull of OA which was a stunning hike.  When we got to the coast we could actually see Northern Ireland.  The hike was made even better by a very large herd of highland cows who were very obliging for my paparazzi style photography.

Striking the model pose

Our last and definitely most wet hike was to the square lighthouse and Singing Sands beach.  I was trying to take a photograph of Lagavulin from the beach when a wave came up around a rock and soaked me from behind.  My pants were wet up to about mid shin... Not my finest moment!  And the picture I got was definitely not worth being that wet.

Carraig Fhada Lighthouse

On our way home we took a ferry from Islay to Oban (my dad loves boats and this was a longer boat ride than the normal ferry).  We finished the trip with a nice drive home from Oban and a pitstop to visit Kilchurn castle, because no trip in Scotland is complete without visiting at least one castle!

And I think I will leave it there.  Amazingly I am in my fourth week of rotations since this trip.  The next post will include some information about those rotations and my many many firework photo attempts!

Summer is over already

Well summer flew by and now I am back on rotations already!

Over the summer break I spent 3 weeks back home in Canada.  I spent a fair amount of time at my dad's veterinary clinic gaining as much experience as I could.  I got to place quite a few catheters draw blood and do a little bit of surgery.  They use a surgical laser (a laser beam is used to cut in place of a scalpel blade) which I had never used before.  To practice I tried burning some lines into a tongue depressor.  Unfortunately the surgery where I was going to be allowed to use the laser cancelled but I will be ready for the next time!

My straight(ish) lines to mimic incisions and writing my name to practice accuracy

The rest of the time was spent catching up on life in Canada and spending time at the lake.

Sunset by the lake

Mars in his "natural habitat"

I also had some fun with the dogs.  When I graduate and get into my working life I would love to set up a side pet photography business.  It would combine my love of animals and my love of photography.  So I decided to try some fun action photos with my dogs using some bubbles.  I got some mixed results!

Mars loved the bubbles

Jenny not so much...

After three weeks at home I flew back to Edinburgh.  My dad came with me and we went on a nice vacation.

We started out trip with a ferry to the Isle of Arran.  Arran is described as Scotland in Miniature.  It in many ways mimics the landscape of Scotland but just in a very small scale.  The day we arrived we headed over to our B&B which had an incredible ocean view.  We then toured a little bit and headed back to Brodick (the main town) and picked up take away fish and chips and sat on a picnic bench overlooking the water.

Our dinner view

Nice sand beach near our B&B

The next day was our hiking day.  We started with a hike to King's caves.  The hike started through a forrest and then the ocean came into view.  The weather was incredible.  Luckily I had bought some sunscreen before (I have never ever applied sunscreen my entire time in Scotland since it is pretty much never needed) or we would have been badly burnt!

Our next hike was to see Glenashdale Falls.  In the hot weather we were feeling the climbs but it was definitely worth the views.

After all our hiking we decided to have dinner in Brodick on the picnic benches again.  I had deep fried sausage.  The Scots will deep fry anything!  Hopefully all the hiking counteracted all the fat in my dinner, regardless it did taste amazing.  After dinner we headed back to our B&B and went for a walk along the beach.

Both my dad and I were looking at a rock thinking it was a really odd shape.  As we got closer we realized it wasn't a rock at all.  It was a seal.  There have been a few places in Scotland I have visited that are known for seal sightings and every time I have gone I have never seen one, so I was pleasantly surprised to come across this one on our walk.

Basking in the Evening Sun

The next day was our last on Arran.  We toured the north of the island which is known for its mountains.  Unfortunately it was misty so we didn't quite get the full benefit!  On our way to the north part we passed the ferry terminal and noticed that the ferry wasn't running.  There was some sort of technical error but it was supposed to be fixed by noon.  We figured no big deal since we weren't planning to catch a ferry until 5pm.  While we continued on (including a stop to the Arran cheese shop) I kept checking the ferry.  And every time I checked another ferry crossing was cancelled.  Eventually it said that they were sending in a replacement ferry and the first crossing would be 2:30.  So my dad and I decided to head back to the terminal a bit early because we figured there would be quite a line up.  And we were right.  When we arrived just before 3 we found the first crossing for the day was going to be 3:45.  Oh and also the replacement ferry only held 12 cars instead of 25 like the normal one.  I did some counting and it looked like we were going to be there a while.  Almost 5 hours later we headed across to Kintyre on a ferry that had seen better days. Something was wrong with the steering and the captain couldn't keep the boat in any sort of straight line! Luckily it was a nice calm crossing.

Our non-functional ferry

Leaving Arran

Arran

We arrived to our hotel on Kintyre just after 9pm.  And I think I will leave it there.  The next post will be about our time on Islay.

Companion Animal Surgery Rotation Block Complete

It's hard to believe that I have finished four weeks of rotations already!  Time is flying by.

After my orthopaedic rotation I started my soft tissue rotation.  Both my cases for the week were oncology surgery cases.  In the surgery rotation two students get to scrub into the surgeries.  Whichever student is managing the case gets first shot at scrubbing in and then a second person can join in.  When you scrub in you don't get to do too much because these are surgeries that have been referred to the surgeons because they are difficult or complicated.  Not exactly the surgeries for the vet students to be tackling!  Well during my first surgery there was a second surgery going on at the same time that everyone else thought was more interesting so I ended up being the only student scrubbed in.  It was slightly intimidating because when the surgeon was asking questions there was no one to back me up if I didn't know the answer but it was also a great learning experience.  And I got to know the surgeon pretty well.

It turned out being scrubbed in on my own would pay off later in the week.  On the last day of the rotation during my second surgery, which was with the same surgeon, she handed me the instruments and told me to continue closing the incision while she placed an infusion catheter (an infusion catheter can be placed in a painful wound or surgery site to allow local anesthetic to be infused into the site after surgery).  I worked away on closing the fat layer while she placed the catheter.  When I finished I got ready to hand the instruments back as I figured she would close the skin layer but she told me to start the skin closure.  While I had done some suturing during EMS placements it was a little more intimidating doing it in front of a specialist surgeon.  When I finished she pulled on the incision to see if it was well apposed and then told me it looked really nice.  Definitely a good way to finish up the rotation.

The weekend after soft tissue a friend and I went back into the Pentland Hills for a nice hike.  We really lucked out with the weather, which was good because we were hiking for almost four hours.  No rain, limited wind (it's always windy in the Pentlands) and the sun even came out.  To top it off we got to hike through a herd of cows and some cute ewes with lambs.

You can just make out the new Forth Bridge in the background

Next rotation was diagnostic imaging.  It was a little slower a pace.  The week was spent with a tutorial each morning and then the afternoon we would position x-rays or watch ultrasounds.  We also got a tutorial where we got to ultrasound a staff pet.  While the days were a little calmer the evenings were not.  When you are on your diagnostic imaging rotation your group is responsible for covering out of hours ICU and get to sleep at the school the nights you are working.  So that means 5pm-12am (or later depending how busy you are...) and 6:30am-8am as well as the weekend days.  Everyone had to cover two nights and one weekend day.  Myself with two other students were covering Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday day.  Friday night was calm until 11:30pm when a couple of the ICU patients were looking more sick than they had been and needed some attention.  Saturday we had 3 emergencies arrive in the span of half an hour which kept us very occupied.  Sunday was relatively calm.  The highlight of Sunday was when I successfully put a naso-esophageal tube (feeding tube through the nose into the esophagus) in a dog that wasn't eating.  When Sunday at 5pm rolled around we were all pretty tired and ready to go home to our own beds.

But our rest was short lived.  Monday morning we started our daytime ICU rotation.  All the patients in ICU are really sick and require a lot of attention.  It was so busy in ICU that they had to roll in more kennels for all the patients.  Normally during each rotation they try and have a tutorial or two but we didn't have time for any.   My two cases were two of the sickest patients.  My first patient was the dog I placed the feeding tube in on Sunday.  It was really gratifying to watch him recover over the course of the week and see him get sent home.  My other patient for the week was very very sick.  In ICU when a patient needs to be monitored closely they bring in a baby cot and put the animal in it.  It's then really easy for anyone walking by to see the animal and see how it's doing.  Well my dog got put in the baby cot.  The first day I spent the entire day pretty much by his side either taking him for diagnostics, administering treatments or monitoring his transfusions.  I also got to place a feeding tube which went really smoothly.  He was still in hospital when I left at the end of the rotation but things were looking up.

Saturday after ICU I flew back to Canada for my summer break.  It's going to be a short one, only three weeks so I will have to make the most of it!

Finished my First Week as a Final Year Student

I know in my last post I said I would put up pictures from my Harry Potter tour adventures.  I still plan to do that, but I think I will put them on hold for a little bit until the summer break when I have more time.  Posts with lots of pictures take a ton of time and I want to do it well so I will come back to it I promise!

This week was my first week as a final year student.  Monday morning everyone arrived quite early in anticipation for their first day in clinics.  My group was starting on small animal orthopaedic surgery (surgery of bones).  In terms of small animal stuff, this is probably quite a bit lower on my interests so I was a little disappointed to be starting with it.  But very quickly I realized that the clinician, resident, intern and the nurse were going to make it a great week.

I got the first consult of the week and it was just a recheck appointment and x-ray for a fracture.  I went and got the history from the client brought it back and presented it to the intern and it went quite well.  She then asked for my plan.  I wasn't prepared for thinking quite so early on the first day!  But with a little prodding I came up with an accepted plan which we then executed.  Orthopaedics was a little less busy than some other rotations will be so it was my only case for the week, but I got involved in lots of others.

The highlights of the week were being able to scrub into a tibial plateau levelling osteotomy surgery.  It is how they repair cruciate (knee ligament) injuries in dogs.  The equivalent injury in humans would be an ACL tear.  We also got to watch spinal surgery which was quite interesting.  We filled the down time with lots of tutorials on things like arthritis, hip problems and back problems and looking at fractures and devising management plans.

The clinician did a great job of asking us lots of questions to get us thinking but also not being intimidating.  Throughout my education career because I am shy I have only really ever answered questions when I am 100% confident in the answer.  Well this year there are going to be lots of times where I'm not 100% sure on the answer and will have to give it a go.  He was a great person to work with first to get over that fear of being wrong.  If anyone said anything particularly silly he would make a joke about it and we would all have a laugh.  It was such a nice environment to be in and because of it my whole group felt like we learned a lot.

At the end of the week the clinician gave us individual feedback on things we did well and how we can improve.  He gave me really complimentary feedback which was a really nice way to start my rotations.  While I still don't have any plans to become an orthopaedic specialist, this week has made me a lot more interested in it.  Next up is Soft Tissue Surgery!

Got my stuff all ready to go for day one

My group has started a buster collar (aka the cone of shame) building competition.
I am currently in the lead with a time of 27 seconds.
Admittedly only one other person has tried to build one and they gave up...
 but hey got to take pride in being in the lead for at least a bit!

Final Year Prep

The Sunday after my friend left, I went to an Ed Sheeran concert in Glasgow.  In February I saw that Ed Sheeran was coming to Glasgow and I figured I would try for pre-sale tickets with basically zero expectation of getting any.  I was in an equine neurology lecture doing my very best to pay attention (horses and neurology is a rough combination for me) and had my computer refreshing beside me.  About halfway through the lecture I noticed my screen change and I had actually got tickets.  They weren't fantastic seats, but hey I was going to be able to go!  The tickets were fairly expensive but after going to the concert I definitely felt like I got my money's worth.

The concert started with two opening acts, one of which I had actually heard of so that was a good start.  Then Ed Sheeran came on.  He played all but two songs without any accompaniment.  At the beginning of each song he would record his own back up vocals and instrumentals and then play them on loops throughout the song.  It showed what an incredible musician he is.  I would go to another one of his concerts again without a doubt.

These past 6 weeks I have been in a part of the year called final year prep.  It has been basically some review lectures and some lectures providing information about how final year will work.  The schedule has been a little bit lighter which has been nice.  At the end of April I went out and took some pictures of the Cherry Blossoms on one of my lighter days.

The Meadows

Edinburgh Castle

During the end of my second week of final year prep I found out that a relative had passed away.  When I was doing my first degree I came to the conclusion that I needed some large animal experience because I had none.  My mom approached her cousin because she and her husband Allan owned a dairy farm in Eastern Ontario.  And they were willing to take me.  When I arrived I think Allan was a little skeptical how I, very much a city girl on first appearance, would cope on a dairy farm.  But he put those reservations aside and flooded me with tons and tons of information about taking care of cows, how to run a dairy farm and the Canadian dairy industry in general.  He took me around to different dairy farms and introduced me to many other farmers in the area.  When I went to my placement in Jersey after first year in Edinburgh the farmers complimented me on my comfort around cows and my ability to handle them.  On my cattle handling exams in first year and my clinical exam this year I did incredibly well.   I know it was the experience that he and his family provided that has allowed me to be as comfortable as I am around cows and I am incredibly grateful for it. 

When I found out Allan had passed away I decided that I wanted to go home for the funeral to pay my respects.  I was able to reorganize my schedule to allow me to go home.  While Allan was never able to convince me to be a cow vet, I can definitely attribute my love of cows to his passion, which rubbed off on me when I was with him.  

On my third day on the farm, I got to calve this little girl with Allan's help

My favourite picture of a couple cute girls in the old calf barn

After the funeral I headed back home and visited some family and friends for a few days.  And of course the dogs.  And you guessed it, I took some pictures of them!  

Can we play fetch?

After my few days at home I came back to Edinburgh.  My schedule was a little busier when I got back because I had to make up all the practicals I missed while I was at home.  My two favourite sessions were an exotics cadaver practical where we got to perform a spay on a cadaver rabbit and a dental practical where we got to use the dental drill on cadaver heads to practice extractions.

The weekend after I got back I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London.  I think I will leave that to the next post because there will be lots of pictures!

The Best Tea I Have Ever Had

The day after we got home from Skye we spent the day walking around Edinburgh.  It was the best weather day Edinburgh had all year, 17 and sunny.  We both managed to get sunburns in Scotland!  We started our day by climbing the Scott Monument.  The Scott Monument is in the Princes Street Gardens and is for Sir Walter Scott who was a Scottish playwright, novelist and poet.  It is the largest monument to a writer in the world and it is 287 steps to the top.  From the top there were some pretty incredible views of the city.

Down Princes Street toward the Balmoral and Calton Hill

Edinburgh Castle

Princes Street

Back at the bottom of the Monument

After the Scott Monument we continued down to Dean Village and walked along the water of Leith.  After walking for a while we came back to George Street and had some fantastic burgers.

Sun's out in Dean Village

After our late lunch we walked up and down the Royal Mile.  We went into all the touristy shops and found some pretty hilarious "Scottish Gifts".  We finished our day out with hiking up Arthur's Seat to watch the sunset.

The next day we took a little bit easier.  The weather wasn't as nice so we decided to do more indoors.  We decided to visit some museums.  We started with the Scottish National Museum which I have been to quite a few times.  We focused mainly on the Scottish history section and the kids section.  After the Scottish National Museum we went to the Scottish National Gallery.  We finished that day with a movie.

The following day we started with Edinburgh Castle.  It was school holidays so there were so many people there.  I don't have any pictures but I plan to go back and visit again.  I decided to purchase an annual Historic Scotland membership because I have a couple trips planned that I am hoping to visit some Historic Scotland locations.  So hopefully the next time I go back to the castle it will be a little less busy!

After the castle we went to the Signet Library for afternoon tea.  I had seen pictures of the inside of the building which looked beautiful and the reviews of the food were fantastic so I always wanted to try it.  And we were far from disappointed.  We started our meal with an amuse bouche of butternut squash soup.  Then it was onto the savouries.  There were various different pastries and sandwiches to try.  After we were satisfied with our savouries our sweet tray arrived.  It had scones, pastries and other desserts.  Our meal finished off with a palate cleanser of a lemon sorbet.  Throughout the meal we were given unlimited tea so both my friend and I had two pots of tea each.  It was such a fun experience.  I definitely plan to take my friends and family there when they visit.

Savouries Tray

Sweet Tray

Lemon Sorbet

On the last day of my friend's trip we went to North Berwick, a cute little coastal town.  We started by walking along the beaches.  Even in the middle of the week there were quite a few people walking along the beaches with children and dogs.  When we were walking along the beach we noticed there was quite a lot of sea glass.  So we both collected some sea glass for some future crafts.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon strolling down the streets looking at shops and stopped at a cafe for some lunch.

North Berwick Beach

We finished up my friends trip with an evening tour at Mary King's Close back in Edinburgh.  Mary King's Close was a narrow street that had tenement buildings up to seven stories tall on both sides of the street.  The close is now covered because the City Chambers were built on top of the close.  But you can still tour the lower levels of the close and since it was covered it has been incredibly well preserved.  It gives an interesting insight to what life was like in Edinburgh from the 16th century onwards.

The next day I took her back to the Glasgow Airport.  I think she got a pretty good taste of Scotland in her short trip.