Veterinarian, MD?

“To create man was a quaint and original idea, but to add the sheep was tautology”
~ Mark Twain

Life at the ranch . . . I mean, lab . . .

Works been interesting. I'm learning to work with lab animals - my project specifically will be using mice. I will be breeding them and once pregnant, I will be killing them to look at the genes of the mice pup's fetal organs. Not so appetizing is it? But we're looking at some cutting edge "stuff" in the field of fetal genetics which will very likely be eventually translated into human medicine and therefore better treatment of human babies, especially neonates and NICU medicine.

I'm also an animal surgeon now. Ok, that's a bit of a stretch, but I did a few minor operations on some sheep today for another project associated with the lab, creating a tracheotomy through which a we placed a tube into the trachea, running the free end subQ up around the neck coming out through the scruff of the neck (I know it sounds barbaric, and it is a little, but we use this to maintain the "natural" partial pressure of oxygen in these mountain sheep so they do not acclimate to the lower elevations). I held the scalpel, I made the cuts, I cleaned up the blood, and I closed the wound with suture. All that medical school and my first surgical procedures are on a species I'm not. Isn't life fucking strange?

I'm not so sure how I feel completely about this animal research thing yet. I think PETA is for retards, unless you are a HOT chick, then you get a pass (HOT chicks get away with a lot), but it's a more than a little unsettling. The first animal on the table today was a sacrifice animal with many different labs harvesting organs. I did not know this at first and when the first person started hacking away at this animal - opening the chest in seconds - I was more than a little shocked. It - was - FUCKING - disturbing, and I'm not sure I'm "cool with it" on an emotional level, but pragmatically . . . we need these sheep for research and if it saves a single human child's life, I'm sorry noble sheep, but you're going to have to take this one for the team . . . my team.

The sheep we operated on were treated very humanely, given phenobarb to sleep, and then isoflurane for anesthesia - not too different from humans. The animals are scared, but no one goes out of their way to make it more scary by being abusive or shouting or hitting the animal. The animals are well taken care of and pain is controlled with meds and antibiotics are given to prevent infection.

I guess when you get right down to it, the whole "thing" makes me long for a better place . . . reminds me I'm not home yet, merely passing through, and someday the lion will lay down with the sheep and if they'll have me . . . I'll kick-it there in the grass with them too.

Peace.