Do I really Want to do this?

Since becoming a veterinarian there are two questions that are always posed to me when meeting someone new. They are “How long have you wanted to be a veterinarian?” and “What made you decide to be an equine veterinarian?” The first one is quite easy to answer. I have wanted to be a veterinarian since as long as I can remember. The second question is a little more difficult to address. When you sit back and think about what is involved with being an equine veterinarian, the cold barns in the winter time, the middle of the night colic calls, the dangers involved with working with animals that weigh 900-1100lbs more than you do, the immediate answer may be difficult to see. However, I would have to say that my first day on fourth year rotations is what made me certain that I wanted to be an equine veterinarian.

At the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, third year students finished up their final examinations, were given one week to visit with family and take care of necessary affairs, and were then due back at school for our white coat ceremony and the start of our fourth year rotations through clinics. It was the beginning of May 2005 and my first rotation was equine surgery. Our orientation to clinics and equine rotation was scheduled to start at 8:00am in the equine ward. Somehow, I had managed to draw the short straw in scheduling and was the sole student responsible for the equine ICU (intensive care unit) starting at 6am and going until 12pm. It was the heart of foal season at the university and the equine ward, isolation, and ward 4 (overflow ward) were packed with patients, the majority of them on hourly ICU treatments. I arrived at the equine ward at 4:30am in the morning in order to meet with the previous ICU students (now graduating fourth years) and learn the treatments that would be provided to the patients. At my arrival the graduating fourth years were in a stall with a septic and recumbent neonatal foal and were in the process of tube feeding the foal his milk. Mind you up until this point in time the majority of my experience has been with adult horses and healthy foals. Any knowledge I might have on a septic neonate was derived straight from the neonatal care chapters of the veterinary books I had read during Companion Animal Medicine the previous semester. On being asked if I knew how to milk a mare and tube feed a foal I had to say that I hadn’t a clue. The seniors spent the next 2 minutes breezing through the instructions (“collect x amount of milk, filter it like so, hold the foal in sternal recumbency, open this valve, check for reflux, attach the bag of milk, etc…”) and then proceeded to hand me a measuring cup, pointed to a mare and foal in the next stall and informed me that if I had any questions to come find them. The next few minutes were terrifying as I recalled every step and detail, wrestled with the sick (but horrifically strong) foal in attempt to hold him in a sternal position while attaching all the necessary bags and lines, and keep the milk from spilling as the foal was letting it be known just how hungry he was by nuzzling me persistently. After a few rough spots, a good portion of the milk spilled down the front of my coveralls, and some minor muttered curses the foal was sitting happily as his stomach was filled with warm fresh milk.
The remainder of the morning was a complete whirlwind of activity. I was left on my own at 6:30am when the seniors had to leave for a class meeting in preparation for graduation. I was running from stall to stall, isolation gown to isolation gown, in a desperate attempt to keep up with the 20+ horses on ICU. At 8am, one of my friends arrived for orientation and seeing my harried appearance immediately jumped in with both feet to help. We ran at full speed from one horse to the next, wrangling weanlings to bolus them fluids every 2 hours, feeding foals that were recumbent and unable to nurse, unkinking and checking IV fluid lines and medications, as well as the occasional TPR and oral meds to the less sickly. At noon, when my shift was ended and my friend’s shift was starting (from 12pm to 6pm) I stayed on to help her as she did for me.
My day did not end until 10:30 that night, but I looked back on that day with the greatest sense of satisfaction and achievement. I started the morning off not knowing how to do much of anything and ended the day knowing that I was capable of more than I knew. That is when I knew I wanted to be an equine veterinarian. I would be participating in a field of medicine that posed extreme challenges, had great opportunities available for growth and advancement, but provided you with a sense of achievement and an understanding of all that you can accomplish when you put your mind forth. As an equine veterinarian I am a part of a small, but tight group of people that can provide me with support and knowledge when a particular case has me stumped, as well as the opportunity to be able to make a difference in the equine industry. My friend and I never forgot our first day together on equine surgery rotation and what we were able to achieve with the support of each other and the drive to do our best.