S2 Week 5: Anatomic Pathology Rotation, EBITDA, and CVM Conference!
Week 5 is officially in the books and we are now down to our final week of the musculoskeletal block!
This week started off with a review session to recap the past week of lectures and then dove into some muscle physiology. We then transitioned into a problem-based learning session that was focused on a horse’s preliminary lameness work-up. We were given a brief history, some videos to analyze the gait and a few radiographs. From there we were instructed to analyze the given information and formulate a few ideas regarding any additional diagnostics, treatment, and prognosis of this patient. This upcoming week we will receive more information and build off of the first session! The day ended with some quality time with our cadaver dissecting the muscles of the hind limb.
Tuesday started off with two lectures on muscle pathology! These were packed full of information on how toxins, genetics, and inflammation can affect muscle and what that would look like in a clinical setting. The afternoon continued with some more time dissecting our cadaver and exploring the muscles of the crural region (leg). The day finished up with a sheep venipuncture lab!
Wednesday began with an early morning yoga session followed by a swim and then some preparation for the palpation labs that were schedule for Friday. We then continued with a lecture on comparative myology! It was super interesting to learn about some of the key differences between the species regarding their muscular makeup!
During lunch we had the opportunity to learn about EBITDA from Dr. DeLano. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization and is simply an alternate measure of a company’s profitability to net income. Since depreciation, amortization as well as taxes and debt payment costs are included in this calculation, EBITDA attempts to represent the cash profit generated by a company’s operations. EBITDA can be used by potential investors to analyze how efficiently a company operates and roughly how much of their earnings are attributed to operations.
That afternoon we were able to solidify our knowledge of the muscular differences that were discussed in the morning lectures, in lab with specimens from different species (feline, equine, bovine)!
Thursday was a mini-rotation day! Throughout our first and second year of vet school we get 2 mini-rotation days/semester. We are randomly assigned a rotation and get to shadow a fourth-year student and help out with different tasks throughout the day. It’s a fun way to get a preview of what we will be doing in a few short years! I was assigned to the anatomic pathology rotation and had the opportunity to learn some key points on sample collection as well as help with multiple necropsies. There were three horses, a cat, dog, and goat that all needed to be necropsied meaning that all of the students were able to assist in the process and examine anatomy from multiple species! This was a fantastic way to put the knowledge from the musculoskeletal block to the test and apply some of the things that we have learned over the past few weeks!
Friday started off with three awesome palpation labs! We worked on a dog, calf, and horse and practiced feeling different parts of the musculoskeletal system. This is an important skill to have so that you can understand what “normal” is and be able to identify when something is wrong. This lab was also important for understanding where to administer injections and the different anatomical structures that you want to make sure to avoid! This was also a fun way to feel and understand how everything comes together to form the whole animal. Over the course of 6 weeks, we have slowly been putting all the pieces together. We started with the bones a few weeks ago to set a firm foundation, then worked through the muscles and finally added the skin and put it all together on a live animal!
Friday night kicked off the CVM Real Life Real Impact conference! This is a conference where Christian veterinary professionals, students, and supporters come together to share and learn with and from each other. The theme of the weekend was “The Light” and was based upon John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The evening began with dinner followed by a great intro talk by Bliss Steele on “light” which was a perfect way to set the stage for the weekend.
Saturday began with a fun run with Churro and the rest of the day was spent at the CVM conference. The morning was filled with some incredible speakers sharing about short and long-term missions as well as how to share your testimony and talk to people about Jesus. We had some activities that allowed us to reflect on those talks and hear some of the speaker’s testimonies. After a nice lunch break, our wonderful faculty advisor and boarded radiologist, Dr. Ehren McLarty kicked off the afternoon session! She gave a talk on Christ being the light of our lives and how we can rely on God during difficult situations. She also touched on how our identity as Christians should impact how we interact with those around us, even when we are placed in difficult situations. We then heard an awesome talk from Dr. Tami Waterman and her husband on mobile veterinary medicine and her transition to becoming a mobile practitioner. Dr. Waterman shared how being a Christian has influenced the way she interacts with her clients and the ways that she has been able to be a witness to those she interacts with.
After a quick break we continued with a fun session from Dr. Mary McDonald on the lessons she learned from her Scottish Highland cow. Dr. McDonald’s talk was primarily focused on identifying areas in our life that are causing us distress and the importance of leaving a margin for things that fill us up and relying on Christ as our anchor. She obviously knew her audience and pulled from her experience of dealing with heat stress in her Scottish Highland cow and related it to us as professionals. Animals and humans all have ways of internalizing stress and sometimes it reaches a point where it has been slowly brewing for far too long and it just needs to come out. While it is not rocket science that a cow open-mouth breathing and frothing at the mouth is in distress, it’s important to be able to recognize the signs and know when to back off. This can be said for humans but hopefully the stress is recognized far before those specific symptoms appear. Stress can accumulate in our lives in ways that we are unaware of and as a result we may sometimes turn to unhealthy behaviors to try to cope. Having a strong relationship with God and understanding that He is never far away is a great reminder, especially during the times when life seems almost unbearable.
We then transitioned into a session on the power of significance by Bliss Steele. Bliss went over the ways that humans often evaluate our self-worth and the common traps that trip people up. These traps are listed below:
The Performance Trap: “I must accomplish certain standards to feel good about myself”
The Approval Addict: “I must be approved by certain others to feel good about myself”
The Blame Game: “Those who fail (including myself) are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished”
Shame: “I am what I am. I cannot change. I am hopeless.”
Speaking from experience, most people in the veterinary profession are “Type A” and have fallen into one of these traps at some point in their life. Even if you do not consider yourself part of this perfectionist group, you have likely been affected by these traps to some degree. I know that I have definitely fallen into the performance trap as well as the approval addict so this talk was a nice little reminder on where I need to be placing my worth and focus.
We all want to be successful and have been trained to understand that success often looks like a certain grade on an exam, a certain amount of money in the bank, a certain number of likes on a post etc. While striving for these things may not inherently be bad, when they become the things that we place our worth and identity in, it becomes a slippery slope. The road to this type of success is likely going to be filled with pain and even when the goal is achieved it may not produce true satisfaction.
Learning to place our identity in Christ and not the World’s idea of success is crucial to finding true joy in this life. The pursuit of perfection is exhausting and unattainable so just remember that you are never defined by a number, letter, or status symbol and it’s OK to be Type A- or even Type B ;)
The conference finished up with some worship time followed by a great recap from Curtiss. Curtiss highlighted the main points of the day and then dove into some questions that allowed us to analyze our lives and how we wanted to continue on after this conference. It was a great way to reflect on the ways God has been moving in my life and how I want to continue to further my relationship with Him. It was also coincidental that exactly one year ago the class of 2027 had their admitted student’s day and got to tour the school. The changes during this past year and transition into vet school have consistently led me to lean on God and trust in His plan for my life. That being said, I am super grateful to be a part of CVF and have the ability to step out of the chaos of vet school and meet/learn from such incredible people who understand that we are all truly part of a bigger purpose on this earth.
Sunday began with a run with Churro and the rest of the day was spent studying and prepping for the upcoming week along with a little Super Bowl fun with friends.
Quote of the week: “It’s a flat worm... those things that live in a dog’s intestines... they are flat and release segments, and you will sometimes see them in the butt hole of dogs. They look like little sesame seeds...um yep very cute... – Dr. Natalia Vapniarsky Arzi
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