Sunday 24 February 2013

Why I Love My Job

Good Afternoon

Alright, I have been meaning to get to this post for the longest time! Its a blog about my job, and I've been told I should write about it more. So here is the first one, Ill try to write about my work more often. 


I am going to start with a successful happy ending story :) This little guy needed to have a surgery for a foreign body removal. He ate some carpet. Once we got inside we found that the carpet was strung and coiled from the stomach to the large intestine and was created an accordion appearance to the intestines (not good). A large portion of the intestines were necrotic/dead and had to be removed. That is the dangerous part as recovery can go both ways.


Sadly, this little guys recovery didn't go so well. He was in surgery for about 4 hours which is really long in the animal world, not sure about human standards? There was so much carpet fibres and damaged intestines that it took forever. The longer the pet is under anaesthetic the harder the recovery. After surgery he was extremely painful and the Drs couldn't seem to find a protocol that helped, they believed he was in "wind up" which basically means before pain mediation was started his body reached pain threshold and can't come back down. Its sort of confusing but had to do with synapses firing in the body constantly like a skipping record but thats all confusing physiology.  Point behind, he was very painful and it took forever to get him feeling better.

Poor guy was so uncomfortable for his first 2 days out of surgery he couldn't sleep. I gave him this pillow to help get his belly off the cage. You could see him fighting sleep as his head would fall and his eyes would shut but a second later he would jolt awake. After introducing the pillow he actually fell asleep! After he got some sleep, and started producing good amounts of urine (we had to urinary catheterize as he could not get up to use the washroom) we tried to get him to eat to see how his intestines were doing. Of course, he wanted nothing to do with his food. I don't blame him. At this point its been 3 days post op and we need to get some nutrition into his system or he will never heal.

First we placed a large naso-gastric tube into his stomach to decompress all the air he has swallowed from panting so aggressively (in pain) in the past few days. This was very beneficial, as soon as we did that he breathing normalized. Then we placed a more permanent naso tube that we will be using to feed him. Thats the green one coming from his nose. We started giving him some liquid diet but he would just regurg. 30 minutes later. Things did not look so well for him.

Then the miracle happened. RANDOMLY, in the middle of the night, I put down some fresh food in the cage just in case and he gobbled it down! I was so proud of the little guy! Such a giant step in the right direction. I think the best thing a tech can do is get a sick patient to eat. He still regurged a little bit after each meal but the fact that he ate on his own is enough.

Two days later he went home to his family with his tube still in place in case he stopped eating. Everyone was so shocked and pleased to see that he made it through as there was multiple times were things didn't look good for him. Not too long ago, the owners called in to have his stomach staples removed and I couldn't believe how happy and energetic the little guy was! Success stories like this is why I love my job.


Sample of the carpet, we like to keep pieces to show the owner what we find, especially if they are unsure what the dog ate. Thats the fun part!

I feel like I threw a lot of information out there at once, and sort of like my thoughts were all over the place but I didn't want to miss anything.  Thanks to the great owners who didn't give up! 

D

Sunday 17 February 2013

4 Great Recipes

I have been saving up these photo's for a couple weeks. These are four homemade recipes we have put together.

Slow cooked beef, potatoes and carrots
This needs a better more creative name, what do you call this sort of meal? This recipe was super easy and I loved it because I got to use my crock pot. We just chopped up some stewing beef, potatoes, onions, and carrots and put them in the pot covering with water. Anthony added some spices while it was cooking, I am not positive what he used but I think he used vegetable seasoning, and steak spice. After four hours of cooking on high I drained the water from the pot, but reserved 1 cup of liquid to make gravy. I just used packaged powder gravy but instead of adding plain water, I added the 1 cup of broth from the crock pot. It turned out great. This meal was amazing. Closest thing to a "home cooked" meal for me. Felt just like something my mom would make. 

Dorito Taco Salad
This one was my favourite of course. I love food of this genre. Taco, burrito, quesedilla, etc. I guess it falls under Mexican food. Doesn't hurt that I made it with Doritos which are to die for! So again, this is really easy. All my recipes are easy because I am a beginner cook and need easy directions to cook by myself. sometimes I am still asking my mom questions/tips. So I browned 2lb of ground beef and drained all the fat. Then added a package of taco seasoning and 1/2 cup water, simmer for 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare all toppings. I used typical lettuce, tomato and cheese. I don't have set quantities, as I really just used what I had left in the fridge so nothing would go bad. I filled a decent sized bowl so just crushed some Doritos to equally fit the bowl. Once meat is done, stir all ingredients together. I topped mine off with some salsa and sour cream. So good :) 

 Anthony's homemade burgers
Now... I don't have the secret recipe to his burgers, but I know it involved a bunch of different seasonings and spices, as I've seen him prepare this but I don't know which ones. He also uses bread crumbs when making his burgers. I just thought they looked so colourful and perfect I needed to share them. Burgers are 
generally pretty easy to make so I am sure you don't need a recipe. How do you like your burgers?

 Cheesy Mushroom Chicken & Pasta
This meal was fun to create. We had a bunch of ingredients in the fridge that were very close to expiring so we pulled them all out and created something. We had chicken, mushrooms, and pasta sauce that really needed to be used up. So obviously enough, I made some quick pasta with sauce and left Anthony to deal with the rest. He came up with this. A chicken breast with cheez whiz and mushrooms in the middle. OMG this was so good. The cheez whiz baked comes out so creamy and the mushrooms give a good boost of flavor. For a meal that was thrown together with expiring foods, I'd say it turned out pretty awesome. 

D

Friday 15 February 2013

Valentines Date Night

Good Evening! 

We have just returned from our late dinner in celebration of Valentines day. As promised I will show you my outfit of the night, and our meals. 

We went to Montana's cookhouse. I ordered the Cookhouse meatloaf that came with mashed garlic potatoes and gravy with some veggies. Anthony ordered the Chipotle Firecracker burger with a Caesar salad. 
 mine
Anthony's
I ordered a Big Mama's Late Afternoon Lemonade, and Anthony got an over sized beer. My drink was amazing! I got a copy of the recipe, I plan to remake it in the summer and am going to get the cute mason jar glasses to boot. Anthony's beer was massive, and cannot believe it was only $8.99.

The meals were delicious, as always. And very well priced!

Below is my outfit of the night. I had originally planned to wear a cream lace, and black peplum dress but it was freezing tonight and started snowing, so I went with a Valentines Day themed outfit with pants instead. Its probably better that I did because the restaurant we went to is a cookhouse, so I might have been a bit overdressed.

I went with a pair of red skinny jeans for occasion. A white frilly top, and white skinny belt. And of course some sky high black strap heels.  I am wearing my rose gold watch, and had planned on wearing a statement necklace in rose gold as well but me and Anthony agreed it was too much with the frilly shirt. Instead I wore some gold and black earrings that were a gift from Anthony's Nana. My nails are painted red and white as well but can't tell in the image.

 earrings
curls

I used my curling wand again tonight to style my hair, and the more I use it the more I love it. The bottom picture I took after dinner and you can see my curls are starting to fall and I love it!!! I'm going to do my hair 2-3 hours before going out just so that the curls fall because it gives bigger soft curls. 

How was your Valentines Day ?

D


Thursday 14 February 2013

Happy Valentines Day


^^^
What an absolutely adorable holiday! 
A great way to show the ones you love that you really appreciate them.


 Including your furry loved ones, but remember, no chocolate for them. Just stuffed hearts to chew on!

Today me and Anthony are just doing a casual dinner together as we both have to work the overnight and will be in bed by 5. Tomorrow we will go out for dinner. Tonight we just ordered some Chinese food and had a bottle of Winter berry wine. For dessert, a few cupcakes from the bakery. 

Tomorrow I will post my date night outfit and of course our dinner choices. 

Love you


D




Saturday 9 February 2013

Vet Nurses in the Wild

Good Afternoon

There is this incredible company that I learnt about from going to many conferences for continuing education that I am obsessed with. It is called Vet Nurses in the Wild.  It is pretty self-explanatory. The organize trips to locations where animal health care is not provided. They take volunteers to go assist in the projects. Sometimes you don't even need to be in the veterinary profession to go! They are willing to train anyone. It is volunteer only, they provide accommodation and meals, you just need to pay for the flight.  They have projects all over the world. From Canada to the States, to overseas in Africa, and Costa Rica. 


I want to go on one of these trips! SO BAD.  The only issue I have is that they are usually longer than 1 week and I have to work. I am only allotted 1 week of vacation so booking time off for a long period of time will be extremely difficult. Plus since its volunteer i wouldn't be making money to pay for my bills back home. BUT one day down the road I will go. Eventually I will have enough seniority at work to take off a large amount of time without getting fired, and by then should be financially stable to go without work for a few weeks. 

(surgery on a lion)

Anyways, you should check out all the cool trips/projects they have. A few of my favourite are the lion breeding programs, panda rehabilitation, and rain forest wildlife conservation. Some of these experiences are amazing. You can work with turtles, lions, cheetahs, pandas, monkeys, elephants, anything! I would prefer to be in a setting where I get to do surgeries and medical treatments on these exotic animals, but even general husbandry would be beyond my imagination. 

http://www.vetnursesinthewild.com/independant-options.html

There is the link to the independent options, basically anytime of the year sign up and go, they don't need to meet a quota and there isn't assigned dates. Plus there are plenty of options. Down side to the independent projects is that the itinerary is a bit random depending on time of the year and what they need help with. and usually your boarding is with a family who has offered up a room in their home (not bad but some people are shy, like me.) 

(collecting a blood sample)

They also have group projects which are once a year at a select location and the agenda is down to a T. Usually your accommodation is in a hotel and its all inclusive.  You also get a tour guide for your leisure days so you get to experience all they can offer. There is a fee but its including everything and seems to be discounted compared to the independent. BUT that is because they gather a group and it doesn't work unless the group is full. Likely more hard to get accepted for these as they are more in demand. But again, SO COOL.  They have a south Africa, Kenya and Costa Rica group right now. MY favourite is the Costa Rica - here is the link.

http://www.vetnursesinthewild.com/costa-rica---group.html

(another surgery) 

I also wouldn't mind a buddy to go along with, so I need to find someone who is also interested! Let me know what you think of this great company, and what your favourite trip would be! 

D

Dress Code Part 2

So here it is, finally. It took me almost a month to do this. I am such a procrastinator. These items I got the same time as my last dress code so I wanted to do them close together, but didn't want them in the same post as it would e too long and boring. I kinda pushed it to the side and here I am a month later doing it. I guess its a good thing though because I won't be getting new stuff for a while since I am not allowing myself to spend for a while. I need to save up some money and get my account in high standings and pay off some bills. 

so all the items in this post are from Gojane.com 

Polka dot tube top $21.95.  I am loving all things peplum style. Plus the navy and white is very nautical which as I have mentioned a million times - I love. This top is so adorable, can't wait to wear this. Sadly we have 3 ft of snow, so it looks like summer is a long ways away.

 Aztec print tank $5.95 - Aztec print is another pattern that is in my love book. This one is extra cute because the back has lace details. 
Ribbed henley tank $5.95 - Love the plain laid back look of a grey henley, I love even more that its tank style and not long sleeve. I don't wear too many long sleeves unless its a looser sweater, tight arm sleeves bother me.
Folded maxi skirt $18.95 - This year I am into maxi skirts/dresses. Gojane has this skirt in many many colours and you can also unfold it and wear it as a dress too. I chose the yellow colour as I love yellow. Sadly, when I got it home, it was see through, so I will need to get myself a slip for underneath or wear it only at the beach. 

Again, these are all mostly clothing for spring/summer as most winter items are getting taken off the shelves :(  Probably won't see another one of these for at least a month unless I get some good pay checks haha.

D

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Why I Love My Job...

Hey!

I am going to share a few of the reasons I love my job. This is no where near all the reasons, but lately a few great things have happened so I shall share them.

The first two images were my Christmas gift from NTVH (Vet Strategy company). This was by far the best gift I've gotten from the workplace. I received a personalized mug that says my clinic and my name on the other side. I love it! It makes me feel more like a part of something when you get personalized "swag" from work. Along with that came a $75.00 gift card for a restaurant of choice from the list on the card, and a $25.00 Cineplex gift card for the movies.

The card is awesome because its also personalized for our clinic. They somehow managed to put a dog on the front and have it say "Happy Holidays from Vet Strategy". Pretty impressive.
The next set of photo's I want to share was a thank you gift from a client. Sadly, we had to euthanize this families dog due to serious life threatening conditions out of the blue so it was really tough on the family. They were so nice as to send us a thank you card and some flowers a week later.
& the inside...
Hopefully you can read the card, I couldn't figure out how to rotate my image once it was on here. The card was addressed to myself and Dr. Brown, as we saw this dog on one of the overnight shifts. Some gorgeous purple and yellow flowers to follow. We have this on display at the front reception but the card is kept in the staff room because its more personal. 

More reasons Why I Love My Job to come because it keeps getting better everyday! 

D



Tuesday 5 February 2013

Healthy Snacks

Good afternoon! 

My internal clock is all messed up, it feels like dinner time and its only 2. These night shifts take their toll.  3 more shifts to go. So me and Anthony have been eating healthier lately and made two healthy snacks I wanted to share. Mostly because I haven't cooked anything in a while and this is as close as it gets. Usually we just have meat and a veggie - very boring stuff. 

The recipe is for protein cookies. These were more for Anthony's sake, as he drinks/eats a lot of protein, but also helped me with my sweet cravings. The recipe is super simple and easy. 


Ingredients:
4 scoops of protein (any flavour, we used chocolate peanut butter)
1 3/4 cup of oatmeal
1 cup of apple sauce
1/2 cup of egg whites

Mix all ingredients together, cook for 15 mins on 350. These are good post workout if you don't want to drink a whole protein shake.

The next recipe is for sweet potato chips.  We were getting bored of plain bland veggies so went for something new. I am usually not a huge fan of sweet potato's but Anthony insisted, and they are better than normal potatoes when it comes to healthy eating. 


Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato
Seasoning salt
smouldering smoked apple wood spice
olive oil

slice into small pieces, not too thick. lightly coat in oil and apply seasonings. Cook for 35 mins on 400. 

I actually enjoyed these, it was likely from the spices though. 

D



Saturday 2 February 2013

How To Save A Life


Woof Woof!

Today's post is all about how to save a life...A dog's to be specific. Two days ago me and Anthony adopted a dog from the HBSPCA. We saw a senior dog who had a one time history of biting a small child. Right away I gave the dog a 10% chance of being adopted. With experience from working at the shelter I know most people want puppy or close too. Our dog was already 8 - much less desirable. Mainly because of upcoming potential health concerns. Also because its not a tiny cute puppy, nor does it have tons and tons of energy. We were told she was surrendered because she bit a small child's face while the child was rough housing with her. That along sets her adoption rate back by 50%. Majority of the people who come in have children, or are around children. We don't have any, don't interact with any, and don't plan on having any for at least about 5-7 years and by that time she most likely won't be with us anymore - sad truth. So I thought....I have vet coverage so a senior dog doesn't scare me,  I can easily get her the best care during her senior years. It will also mean she won't be constantly bouncing around when I am trying to sleep for my overnights - Anthony the same. And as I explained the children thing isn't an issue. Keep in mind she is not aggressive what so ever! The child either frightened, hurt or couldn't read her warnings. A sad, unfortunate mistake. So in the end, we adopted her. Her name is Coco. 


This is a photo of Anthony and her when they first met at the shelter. Looks like she approves. We couldn't think of any clever name that sounded like Coco, so we kept her name. She is likely too old to learn a new one that sounds completely different. And there is not a lot of good choices that rhyme with Coco. I always picture a small foofoo dog when I hear the name Coco, but Ill get over it.


When she settled at home, she came to have the sweetest heart. She is constantly at your side looking for love and not mean at all. We introduced her to our friends dog Fox and they got along great! Plus, she didn't think twice about the cats. We are so happy about the adoption, we gave her a chance that she may not have got, at least for a long time. And thanks to us, she was only at the shelter for 2 days! Usually that's only the case for puppies and shih tzu's - people love shih tzu's. 

If you like the idea of helping out the animals in a shelter but can't necessarily adopt one, try contributing to the shelter. They hold a bunch of events annually and there are some really great ones. The next one is the National Cupcake Day. You can either contribute by baking, or by buying...or both ;). They set up cupcake decoration booths and displays of people's homemade recipes. The pets are also all on display for potential re-homing. And you can usually bring your own furry friend to most of their events! A few other events to mention: murder mystery dinner, wiggle waggle walk-a-thon, sock hop, and pictures with Santa. Those are just a few of my favourites. Check out your local shelters website for new events each month! 

D

Friday 1 February 2013

Resolutions?

Good EARLY Morning


So today it is Feb 1st. and its my third day at my meal/workout plan. I sort of slacked off for the whole first month of the year. Too hard to start a resolution Jan 1 with so many Christmas goodies, and gift cards for fancy restaurants. So me & Anthony finally got into gear and are doing well for our third day. Eating healthy and working out is not something that comes easily for me - I am really going to need some hard motivation. 

I have three main goals in all this:
1. Go to the gym at least 5X a week
2. Be able to run next to Anthony around the block by spring
3. Lose at least 15 pounds by June 1st.

I set practical goals, and some that will require some real effort. I know I can achieve at least 1 of the above, hopefully two and miraculously all three. My gym workout consists of 30 mins of cardio, and a butt&thigh workout that kills. Plus me and Anthony are doing the Fab Ab Feb. challenge.

While we are on the topic of fitness and health, I would like to direct you to my mothers blog which is all about her experience with weight loss. Its a great blog with lots of motivation, and great tips! 

D