Embracing the Zen Moments of My Internship by Kelly Lin, DVM

First Year Veterinarian

Embracing the Zen Moments of My Internship by Kelly Lin, DVM

Dr. Lin, a 2012 UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine graduate, is sharing her experiences during her first year as a veterinarian.

Although I am only a few months into my internship, I feel significantly more confident with case management and client communication, thanks to my many mentors and the clients who entrusted me with their pet's care. Although I didn't previously have a strong interest in Emergency Medicine, I truly enjoy the inherent surprise and variety of never knowing what will walk in the door, not to mention the opportunity for primary case management.

to squeezing a slippery water balloon through a hole half its size and hoping it wouldn't pop.

After huffing and puffing to squeeze out seven puppies in a contracting uterus, I almost felt as if I had given birth myself! Next, we proceeded to ligate the ovarian pedicle, a gigantic throbbing vessel hiding in a ball of fat in the most inaccessible location. Somehow I was able to painstakingly place two ligatures, which immediately proceeded to slip off as soon as I transected, leaving us to find a pumping blood vessel in the depths of the abdomen. With suction assistance, we were able to isolate and re-ligate the pedicle and remove the other ovary and uterine body with no complications. Within an hour post-op, the mom was nursing her pups and I couldn't have been more ecstatic. Although the surgery was challenging, I've learned how to improve my technique and am thankful to the staff and my "internmates" for their support and assistance. There's no better way to end a late night than with a successful surgery and a litter of cute puppies!

While I've become comfortable with the workup for common cases such as allergic reactions and gastrointestinal distress, many of the most memorable and unusual cases have been seen on emergency. From masticatory muscle myositis in a one-year old pug to bilateral hyphema in a tenyear old Eskimo, each case keeps me on my toes and pushes me to be the best clinician possible.

One of my favorite aspects of the ER rotation is the opportunity to be primary surgeon for common surgical emergencies such as pyometras, cystotomies, and foreign body removals. Although these procedures seem to inevitably occur in the early morning after an exhausting day of receiving, I've learned to embrace the Zen moments of suturing up linea at 3 a.m. with the buzz of monitoring equipment to keep me company.

I've never been happier to have the oversight of a mentor clinician and the assistance of a fellow "internmate" than during a recent C-section spay on an obese five-year old boxer in dystocia. With the technicians jokingly betting on how long the surgery would take, I knew it was going to be a challenge upon entering the abdomen and seeing a gigantic, friable, and incredibly vascularized uterine horn pop through the incision. After much effort spent on exteriorizing the monstrosity, we took measures to pack off the abdomen and incised into the uterine body. With the uterine wall bleeding like a stuck pig, we began to milk out each puppy and placenta as fast as we could. The process was similar

January/February 2013 | 11

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