Wanderlust Wednesday

American Fork Canyon, Utah

Saturday at the Pond

Tucker and I ventured outside of the apartment today and headed to one of our favorite swimming spots. When we first got there, I threw his tennis ball into a nearby clearing. All of a sudden I turn around and see another large red dog by the water with a bunch of people. I thought Tuck had made himself at home and I had to go save the people from my overly friendly dog! As I make my way over, Tucker comes bounding over the hill and I think to myself, "two Tuckers?!"

We made some new friends including the 2 year old Golden, "Duke". They look and act so similarly it was uncanny! From far away I couldn't tell them apart! We had a blast wearing the dog out.

That sweet face! So determined!

Happy Saturday! We're on our way to the Brad Paisley concert tonight. Hopefully some pictures of that tonight!

A Much Needed Change

The jury is in! I am officially moving to Timpanogos Animal Hospital. I have been hired there as a full time CVT (vet tech). I am looking forward to this fresh start!

Why I moved hospitals:

1. Location: my last place I was driving 60 miles round trip per day, which translates into about 40 minutes one way. When I worked a 12 hour work day, I added 1 hour and 20 minutes to that work day making it so LONG. I wouldn't do anything when I got home. I basically striped my smelly, hairy scrubs and vegged until bedtime. My new workplace is 8 miles away, about 15 minutes one way. Much more reasonable and I'm planning on getting more things done, like cooking for Josh!

2. Management: The old place and I had our differences. One tech was recently promoted and while she was still learning, she made mistakes at my expense that were unprofessional and inappropriate. When I stood up for myself and tried to communicate how I was feeling, they did not handle it well in my opinion. While I don't know anything really about management at the new place, they have been very involved, asking appropriate questions and even calling me in for a working interview to make sure both parties would enjoy this possible new change. No red flags there yet!

3. Accreditation: TAH is AAHA-accredited, which basically means it is held to a high standard of safety operations. Only about 12% of vet hospitals hold this accreditation while 100% of human hospitals hold the equivalent. This is important to me as I continue in my career. This will look great on a resume and learning how these standards work in the workplace will help me in future practices.

4. Experience and Skills: TAH has their techs do EVERYTHING. I would be learning new skills that I may have addressed in school but never actually got to practice including epidurals, cystocentesis, calculating dosages, etc. While I did a lot at my previous workplace, opportunities were limited and I felt like I reached that limit in the year I was there.

5. Certification: In the state of Utah, there are no laws in regulating the certification/licensing/registration of veterinary technicians. It would be like your nurse at your local hospital wasn't a RN. You know they have hit this standard of care.  I am certified through the state of Oregon. My certification for teching will actually be recognized and mean something, which didn't happen at my last place.

When it's down on paper, there is no comparison. While I am grateful for what I learned at my previous employer, I am grateful to be moving on to bigger and better things. I start next week; wish me luck!

Compassion Fatigue as a Vet Tech

As I'm filling out paperwork for a client about to have her beloved pet euthanized, she looks at me and says, "you must have the hardest job. How do you do it?"

I've heard this more than once. Unfortunately, we see a lot of pets come in to be humanly euthanized due to disease, age, behavior, etc. One thing I love about my current clinic is that none of the five doctors there will perform a "convenience euthanasia". But that doesn't make it any easier.

To be honest, I completely disconnect myself from whatever situation is going on. I don't allow myself to connect with the pet; hear the story. I do allow myself to show sympathy to the owners and know that the pet will not suffer anymore.

This same situation applies to pets in bad condition. As one doctor said just a few weeks ago, "it's not summer unless a good maggot case comes in". He got that this week, the last weeks of summer. A client found 2 kittens, three to four weeks old, in the field near their home. Both kittens had wounds on their legs and paws that were infested with maggots and possibly a cuterebra (a nasty little worm larvae thing). The client was unable to care for them. We started pulling out parasites from the kittens and it was obviously starving, cold, and injured. I have seen some bad cases, even worse than this, but this hurts my heart.

Compassion fatigue is a real thing, especially in veterinary medicine. I just keep telling myself I have helped hundreds of animals and I have a dog at home that depends on me. I have made a difference in my dog's life, and I can continue to help other animals.

"Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man"

-S. Chopenhauer