So behind

This week was crazy busy and I just haven't had the energy to write much down.

We visited a bull at a farm that works with "organic" principles; for example, they feed organic food to the entire herd and will not treat any of the animals going to market with antibiotics.  However, the bull that had a case of pinkeye was able to be treated with antibiotics injected into the scelera of the eye.  Do to the location of the bull, we had to bring the chute to it for restrain.  I am amazed every time one of the doctors here maneuvers their truck into each of the farms.  This time we had the chute attached to the back of the truck going through rained out fields.  It was a MUD pit.

I snared my first hog last Friday to treat erysipelas in a 4-H hog.  The hog presented with large red welts on his back along with a nasty fever.  The biggest worry for treating this guy was the fact that the fair is coming up and that any treatments we give had to be out of his system by fair.  Luckily, the treatment plan that was chosen gave him a few extra weeks between treatment and the fair.

Natalie and I tag teamed a visit to an alpaca farm and learned more information about alpacas then I will ever need to know.  The owners were amazing at answering all of our ignorant questions including: what is a male alpaca called? (male)  What is cushing? (showing mating behavior) What's the difference between a llama and an alpaca (llamas are bigger and have banana shaped ears).  We helped geld four the the males and restrained a few females to check for pregnancy by ultrasound.

Today, I was volunteered to help float teeth on two horses.  By help float teeth, I held the head of two horses for about an hour each while Dr. Amity floated their teeth.  Floating teeth is the only way to maintain good dental health in horses due to their ever growing hypsodont teeth.  Basically, we file away the sharp points that are produced by the grinding motion of eating grass.

Also one of the highlights of this past week included seeing a Scottish Highland cow in real life because they are the cutest damn cows I have ever seen (even though this one had pinkeye and was feisty as hell.)

Rolled & Toggled

So far every farm call I go on becomes a marathon.  Today's started out as a sick cow visit with Dr. Miranda.  Her owner thought she was mildly ketotic after having milk fever after calving.  When we got there it was she definitely looked sick and there was definitely some metritis going on.  As we did our exam, Miranda hear the "ping" on the left flank of a displaced abdomen and let me try to find it myself. AND I DID IT!!! (there have been so many moments so far in the first two days where I have actually been able to apply what I have learned in class and finally understand the noises that professors make)  So after hearing the ping, the options to treat her would be to either 1-open her up and perform surgery, omentopexy or abomasopexy, or 2-roll & toggle.  Due to logistics the owner elected to try and roll & toggle.  This procedure involves rolling the cow onto her back and allowing the abomasum (full of air) to rise up to the abdominal wall back to where it should be.  After the abomasum has returned to its proper location, the veterinarian inserts toggles that will "keep" it in place and it hopefully wont flip again.  Easier said then done since you are turning a fully grown holstein on her back for the entire procedure.  After watching it being done, I am amazed at how strong the farmers and their families are along with learning different methods of restraining the animal that can make it go a whole lot smoother.  For examping casting the cow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWPn0QuJ1ok#t=16s) to have them lay down on the correct side.  It uses pressure points to make the animal want to lay down.
Once she got up from the procedure, she no longer had pings on the left side and hopefully it will heal with time.  We also gave her fluids to help increase her appetite, to reduce the chance of her flipping again.

Sorry no photos :-( I really need to get in the habit of taking out my phone.

Side Note: I placed my first Endotracheal tube in a dog being neutered!! :-)

First Day at East Holmes

I have survived my first day at a mobile clinic.  I am completely tired (mind and body) but I loved every minute of it.  I saw a lot of first today: first herd check, first jerry-rigged cow restraint, sadly my first horse euthanasia and my first visit to a commercial dog breeder.

To bring you back a day... Natalie and I left Columbus around 1pm and began the drive to Holmes County. My phone decided to spaz out so we were down one cell phone and left with a phone that went from roaming to not a single bar.  So of course we made a couple wrong turns.  Traveled through some original towns of Ohio and slowly made our way through back country roads to find US-62.  We also found Ohio's Longest Covered Bridge.  Soon after we noticed an increase in horse manure on the side of the road and we were finally in Amish Country and close to our final destination.  Upon arriving and unpacking, we realized that we passed civilization and the source of food about 20 minutes ago on the road; hopped back into the car and headed to Wally World.  We spent the night at the "Intern" house next to the clinic with Amanda, one of the employees at the clinic.

This morning started at 7:45 with a speed tour and introduction at the clinic before Natalie and I split up to go with different vets on farm calls.  It was one blur of a farm call after another.  We saw a couple cows with teat injuries, a cow with a fever of unknown origin along with checking cows for pregnancy.  One of the interesting checks was at an organic dairy farm.  The farmer had a couple of cows with hoof problems that couldn't be treated with conventional antibiotics so a different treatment plan had to be created. Also at this farm there wasn't a tilt table or squeeze shoot.  We worked with the cow in a head lock and the foot elevated by a rope looped over a rafter and around a pole (I feel  like physics was involved in how I could hold up this animals foot, but I have blocked the physics out of my mind). During this visit, Dr. Aaron used an ultrasound to help determine if the cow was pregnant and I was able to see the screen.  I feel like I kinda new what I was looking out (OSU radiology professors would be proud) but I wasn't sure.  He pointed me to look at the drostproject.org to help me understand what I was seeing and it was amazing.

I forgot to take my phone out to take pictures, but I will try again tomorrow, but now it's 8:55pm and storming outside and I will try to brave the 20 feet from work to home.

A Week in Review

The past week was crazy and I was unable to find the time (or energy) to sit down and write this post.

At CAU, we were able to apply the information we gained from Dr. Liu during the first week and actually insert needles into a demonstration donkey and dog.  Veterinary acupuncture was first developed to solve the illnesses found in horses.  Ancient China, horses were very important because they were used as both work animals on farms and as calvary in war. In recent years however the horse has been replaced by cattle for farm work.  To practice the equine acupuncture points, a donkey was used.  I actually enjoyed having a donkey as a stand-in because it was actually "my size".  I don't think I will be able to treat a horse with needles unless I have a step stool to give me the height I need ;-)  The donkey's skin was so tough to penetrate with the needles that it was frustrating that I wasn't sure if this was for me.  One of the professors traveling with us stated that horse skin isn't that hard.

The next day, we learned the acupuncture points of the dog and were able to practice with a medium sized dog.  It was interesting how the veterinary professors at CAU interacted with this dog.  The culture of caring for dogs in China is very different from the US.  They are just beginning to consider dogs as "part of the family".  Many of the dogs, we saw while walking around the city were "owned" but were free-roaming. Applying the needles to the dog was a lot easier than the donkey and it made me feel accomplished that I can go back home and apply what I have learned.

Last day of class we learned about the use of massage as a preventative medicine.  The presenting professor began massaging her own cat as a kitten and the cat lived to be 24.  Many of the locations of massage are over a region of acupuncture points and she stated that the exact location is not as important as being thorough with each session.  I think this could easily be added to the the discharge protocols for many patients and will help enhance the human animal bond.

Along with class I traveled all over Beijing during my last week.  We visited the Olympic Park from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  It was really cool to visit the site of Michael Phelps amazing medal run and see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube up close.  One of my favorite parts was the wall of Olympians; they had every medal winner's name carved into a wall including those in the Para-Olympics.  I was also able to finally have Beijing Duck.  Everyone in class had talked about the city's iconic food but every time I tried to find a restaurant I was thwarted with poor directions, terrible weather, or lack of time.  I was finally able to enjoy it at the Olympic Village Roast Duck Restaurant and it was worth the wait.


Our last weekend, we traveled to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors.  We traveled as a small group and took the slow overnight train to Xi'an.  The train ride was actually very comfortable.  The four of us had a small cabin and we were able to sleep as we traveled the 12 hours from Beijing to Xi'an.  When we arrived in Xi'an, our tour guide met us at the train station and we were off.  The warriors were amazing to see.  The site was discovered by a local farmer while he was digging a well on his property.  To stand at the front of the first Pit that was excavated was breath taking.  Only a small portion of the warriors have been fully excavated and restored and the rest are waiting to be removed by the archaeologists.  For me this was similar to when I visited Pompeii and the archaeologists were still in the process of finding new artifacts and learning new things about a site that is hundreds of years old.

My last day in Beijing was a day of accomplishment.  Kat and I were able to navigate the subway and bus
system to visit the Harley-Davidson Store and Central Perk.   The coffee was good and the continuous loop of Friends re-runs made me feel like I was back in the US.

With my trip over and safely back in the land where pedestrians have the right of way, I am glad that I was able to participate in this adventure.  My other trips abroad have been "easy" compared to this one.  My first travels were with my family and it was easy to allow them to figure it all out.  My first trip solo was to a country that spoke my first language and it was easy to ask directions and get help.  Traveling to China with a completely different language and alphabet made me expand my horizons and become a global citizen. (wow that sounds cheesy)

(Getting a nifty certificate at the end didn't hurt either)

China Update

I am having so much fun here.  We have been super busy so I haven't been able to update in a while.  Last week, we finished up the theory behind TCVM and over the weekend we had our sight-seeing tour of Beijing.

The first day we traveled through Beijing and learned the history of China's Dynasties.  We visited the World Heritage Site of the Summer Palace outside of Beijing.  This Palace was built as a gift to the emperor's mother and includes a 2.2 square kilometer man-made lake and the Long Corridor that is over 700 meters long.  We also visited the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.  Both of these sites are within the city of Beijing and are continuously being restored.  The amazing bard of the two sites is though Beijing has had earthquakes that have toppled the majority of the city's high-rises at some point, the Temple of Heaven have never been destroyed by an earthquake.  This is because the completely wooden structure "sits" on the surface of the earth and is not cemented in place.  When an earthquake occurs the building shakes like a table on each of its leg instead of breaking apart.  We finished the day at Tienanmen Square which is the location of Mao's speeches and the only public square in the world that can fit 600,000 people.

The second day I was able to check off another Wonder of the World off of my bucket list.  I climbed the Great wall of China.  It was not what I thought it would be.  The section that we traveled was mostly unrestored, so that means we were going up and down inclines without handrails, with the rocks sliding underfoot, crumbling stairs and an outstanding view of the mountain sides.  On top of the already perilous wall, Mother Nature decided to give us the extra challenge of rain.  It rained from beginning to end creating a now slick, surface to walk on.  he scariest part of the entire section was the stair leaving the "Flowers Tower".  This descent had an incline of 78 degrees and no hand railings.  In the end I would not have missed it for anything. 

This week we have been learning the specific acupoints of the horse and got to actually use this knowledge on our demonstration donkey.  The donkey did pretty well until the last couple of minutes when he had enough of us poking him.  

I will try to update a couple more times this week as I am able.

2556-Long Corridor

2758-Temple of Heaven

2813-Great Wall

Day 1 of Class

Day 1 of Class:
Chinese Agricultural University is a few stops down the road from our hotel.  It's a little too far to walk so we have to take the bus. Not an easy thing to do with 19 Americans during rush hour in Beijing.  From exploring the city I have found it is very inconsistent with whether the directional and stop names are given in both Chinese characters and English characters or just Chinese. The hardest part of moving us from point A to point B is making sure we get off at the right stop.

Our first day of class focused on the theory and history behind Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine.  The history goes back so far that is is incredible to think that it has continued till today with very little change. Dr. Liu gave us a tour of his teaching hospital and showed us over 2,000 different herbs that are used in common remedies. Herbal medicine in China can include plant, animal, or mineral; so along with ginseng root and lotus flower, there was also cicada shells, garter snake, stink bugs and gypsum stone.  This definitely gives a new perspective to the herbal remedies at the clinic.

Day 2:
Today we learned about Yin, Yang and the Five Elements that are the basis of Chinese Traditional Medicine.  The Chinese believe that everything belongs to either the yin (female, dark, static, cool) or the yang (male, light, dynamic, hot). By classifying the world this way, they would describe disease as either an excess or deficiency causing the body to shift out of balance.  So to treat a disease you would need to correct the imbalance and to do that they use the theory of the five elements.  They believe that the everything in the world is made of the native elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.  The elements are normally arranged in a circle where the preceding element supports the following in a mother-son relationship.  For example, water supports wood (plants growing) while wood supports fire.  Along those lines there is also a grandparent-child relationship that controls an element and decreases. For example, water controls fire (by putting it out) and fire controls metal (by melting it down). By supporting an element, the Chinese were able to treat diseases.

After class, my roommate, Kat, and I decided to wander through the Houhai district of Beijing.  This area was originally a hung but has now been turned into a tourist area filled with coffee shops and restaurants.  There were a ton of outdoor venders that I did some (bad) bartering with but had a blast.  The Ada surrounds a lake and has a few bridges that span the water making it a beautiful place to visit. 

Day 3:
This morning we had class and began to learn the meridians and acupuncture points used in veterinary medicine.  It is great learning from Dr. Liu because we are not only learning the points but the history and the stories behind the points (and sometimes the funny stories of his classmates or fellow practitioners).  We also learned about the different types of acupuncture, some which I had never heard of before.  The main form of acupuncture in the United States is filliform acupuncture.  This forms uses is very thin needles to stimulate the points along the animal and can be left in for 10-30 minutes.  In China, this method is used along with, round-sharp needles, three-edged needles and wide needles for blood-letting, fire needles and hollow needles.  Each of the needle types have an indication of when to use them.  We also learned about the different methods of inserting needles.
After class, Kat, Kristen, Phillip and I traveled to the Qianmen Cultural District to explore the area.  We kinda played it by ear, so I have no idea what I actually saw there.  It seemed to be an older street that was recently renovated to look new-old.  Many of the shops there were western shops like H&M or Lacoste.  We found a small candy shop (or at least that is what we were assuming) and browsed through the many different candies.  Halfway through our browsing, one of the shop girls started to help us pick out the candies that she thought were good since we seemed be completely lost.  We started taste-testing each of the candies as we walked through the district and we realized, what we consider candy, is not what everyone in the world considers candy.  It was definitely an interesting trip trying to determine how to eat each of the candies and what they were supposed to taste like.  I tried all of the different types that were bought but I think I'm going to stick with my Snickers.

Day 1

My feet hurt is the understatement of the century.

We walked around Beijing today to sight see and help to get over jet lag.  We braved the subway system with our amazing host student Hu.  Each subway ticket is read by a RF reader on the way in and on the way out you place it into a slot to take it back.  This system is really cool since it recycles the card as you leave and it can then be used again by another patron.

Our first adventure was through Tanggong Hutong. A hutong is a narrow street or alleyway between homes.  They were initially spacious residences of officials that decorated the doors and roof tiles according to their rank but now they have become more run down due to years and the availability of modern living spaces.  Many have been torn down but many are now protected by the government to save the cultural heritage.  While we explored our guide explained how to tell the gender of the stone lions that littered throughout Beijing: Male lions have their paw crushing a ball, while Females have their paw on a cub and a ball in their mouth.  The ball has to be carved inside and shows the talent of the carver.

Our next stop was the drum and bell towers.  The towers were used to signal time throughout the city.  We were able to catch the end of a drum show and get a view of the Beijing skyline from the balcony (albeit there was a bit a smog).  The Bell Tower sits just North and houses an enormous bell that used to be rung throughout the day marking time, but is now only rung once a year during their Spring Festival.  The steps up to the bell and drums were STEEP.  The stairs were also uneven and this was to deter enemies from storming the top levels.  

We visited the Yong He Gong Lama Temple.  This temple was built within the a palace complex and each building had different Buddhas.  The statues were huge and gorgeous.  Each temple building had altars for gifts and there were practitioners offering incense at each altar.

Our last stop during our tour was Bei Hai Park, a large Chinese garden.  It was built to imitate multiple regions of China and has a large lake and yet more steep uneven stairs to the White Temple pagoda.  Each temple we visited was gorgeously made.  This is also the location of the Nine Dragon Wall.   Which is the only wall ever found with 9 dragons on each side and smaller dragons linking around the outside totaling over 600 dragons on this single wall.  

The food here is AMAZING!!  Our host students have been fantastic about helping us order food and all of our meals have been family style with a lazy susan in the center to share.  It has been a great trying new food and learning to become competent with chop sticks. 

Best part of the day: I spent about 200 Yuan or $32.58

~Katie