Y2S1 Week 17: Oncology, Cats Tale Opening, and a Yee-Haw Holiday Party!
This week we started our final block of the semester, oncology! This is a quick two-week block packed full of interesting concepts that are clinically relevant. The first few lectures were used as an overview of neoplasia and how tumor cell-types influence how they are named. It was nice to review some cell biology and learn about how cancer can develop when the cell cycle goes awry. I took a cancer biology course at Cal Poly but as a second-year undergraduate most of the information was a little elaborate so learning about it again in a clinical setting is great! After the intro lectures, we were given some time to work through a journal article on mast cell tumors.
The rest of the afternoon consisted of a chiropractor appointment and some quality time walking Churro before instructing the undergraduate class. This week we had a clinical skills lab and the students got to learn how to perform subcutaneous and intramuscular injections along with venipuncture and sharps handling. This was a great way to end their quarter and have them apply many of the concepts and skills that they have been learning throughout the quarter!
Tuesday morning started out with a nice run with Churro followed by recovery myofascial release yoga session. We then had a lecture on oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Oncogenes genes can be thought of as the “accelerators” while tumor suppressor genes are the “breaks” for cancer development. When oncogenes are mutated, they promote uncontrolled cell growth that can lead to cancer. While tumor suppressor genes normally act as breaks on cell division, when they are mutated, they lose their ability to control cell growth and can also contribute to cancer formation. We then had a lecture on tumor progression, invasion, and metastasis followed by two lectures on cancer pharmacology. These lectures were super interesting, and it was fun to explore different ways that cancers are being treated.
The rest of the afternoon consisted of a nice hot yoga session followed by some quality time with Churro.
Wednesday started out with a quick run with churro followed by a histopathology and cytology lab. During this lab we had the opportunity to look at multiple samples and try to identify the cell type and link that to a patient’s clinical presentation. I then had a quick break and had the opportunity to grab Churro’s buddy, Clover, for an afternoon playdate. The pups had a blast running around the park and going on a nice long walk!
That afternoon we had two lectures on nutritional management of the oncology patient, and adjunctive diagnostics in veterinary oncology. As someone who is interested in the holistic aspect of veterinary medicine, it is always interesting to hear the latest nutrition recommendations and then look at it from different perspectives.
Wednesday evening, I had the opportunity to do two interview preparation sessions with Cal Poly SLO undergraduates followed by a meeting with the Standard Process student rep team. This was the first meeting with other student representatives, and it was awesome to get to know a little bit about them and hear what they have been doing at their schools!
Thursday started out with an awesome hot yoga session followed by a lecture on cancer epidemiology and statistics. We then learned about cancer etiology and carcinogenesis. This lecture emphasized the role that the environment plays in cancer development and things that we can do to help decrease the risk of cancer in our patients. The morning finished up with a lecture on imagining in oncology which was a nice way to prepare for the afternoon’s radiology discussion. In this discussion we were presented with a multitude of cases and as a class we worked through pattern identification and understanding how neoplasia may appear on radiographs or ultrasonography.
The rest of the afternoon consisted of a journal club discussion on the article that we were given on Monday regarding mast cell tumors. This discussion was a great way to clear up any confusion from the article and understand how to better navigate heavy scientific papers. I then had some time to take Churro for a walk before doing my final interview prep session of the application cycle! This was for another wonderful Cal Poly student and coincidentally I had met her dad while checking in for a triathlon during my third year of undergrad. At that time, I was the vet clinic student manager, and he was telling me that his daughter was an incoming freshman. I met up with her that fall, and we stayed in contact. Flash forward a few years and she became a vet clinic student manager and also received an interview for UC Davis. It was a full circle moment, and I couldn’t have been happier to help her prepare for her big day! Over the past four months I have been so privileged to have had the opportunity to work with such amazing students and I am so proud of each one of them. Regardless of what school they get into, they are going to do incredible things!
Friday morning started off with a nice run with Churro followed by a swim. It was beautiful watching the sunrise while swimming and a perfect way to start the day! Our class schedule was slightly lighter so I had some time to get some things done before heading to campus for a curriculum meeting for the undergraduate class. We discussed the upcoming quarters and got to reflect on what went well this past quarter and how we could improve things even more this upcoming year!
The afternoon consisted of two case discussions, one was on a dog with osteosarcoma and the other was a dog with lymphoma. Both are super common cancers so it was interesting to walk through these cases together with the help of oncologists and gain a deeper understanding of the disease.
That evening Madeline and I went to check out the new feline-only hospital. It was fun to do a hospital walkthrough and talk to some of the veterinarians. Cat Tales Feline Health Center seems like it is going to be a great addition to Davis and will hopefully help decrease the stress associated with veterinary care for feline patients. They are officially opening in about a week and it will be fun to watch them grow and help the local community!
Saturday started off with a hot Pilates session followed by a little run with Churro! I then went to the farmers market and was able to get a head start on some Christmas shopping. Since oncology is a slightly more relaxed block, it has been nice to enjoy some extra time doing things I wouldn’t usually do. Saturday night I was invited to Pete’s holiday party. Pete is a cattle rancher that I met at hot yoga (definitely not who you would expect to find in yoga at 6am) and over the past few months I have gotten to know him and his son, who also went to Cal Poly. This holiday party had about 100 local ranchers and community members, a band, and the mascot donkey, Flint. During the party I ran into a lot of former Cal Poly grads which was totally unexpected and an absolute blast! It is crazy how small the world is and how interconnected everything is!
Sunday started out with a long walk with Churro and Luna. I then had some time to get some things done around the house and prep for the upcoming week!
Quote of the week: “You have a plastic water bottle, ahhhhh” – Dr. LeJeune after talking about carcinogenesis and BPAs.
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