#dogtoremilytobe

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Due to the changes made to our schedules because of the coronavirus, I just had my last patient in the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital....unless I get called in again between now and 8pm... I belong to the anesthesia service until 8pm when my on call shift ends. I had just thrown in a load of laundry when I got a call from one of the interns on ER telling me that there was a ferret that we needed to do an exploratory surgery on. We suspected maybe some kind of obstruction/foreign body. It was my first time anesthetizing a ferret, first time (successfully) intubating a ferret, and my last time working on a live patient in this hospital. Unfortunately due to the poor prognosis once they got inside the abdomen we had to euthanize the ferret. As much as I would have loved for her to make it and I could have my last case be a success, it was in her best interest. It’s been a wild ride so far and even more wild recently. My last 6 weeks (starting two weeks from now) are still up in the air so stay tuned for that. . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetstudent #vetmed #almostdoctor #61days #lastcase #emilyout #uiucvetmed (at University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9w_mQQlKPL/?igshid=1epf65z0nt7q2

[dr-sweetnlowe]

In a job field where many people think we just snuggle puppies and kittens all the time, but really it’s mostly not puppies and kittens, you really need to cherish the times when you actually get to snuggle puppies and kittens. This little kiddo is a SIX DAY OLD Great Dane who came to us for suspect aspiration. After tons of snuggles and a set of the tiniest radiographs, we sent her home with some antibiotics and think she will do well since we caught it so early. Shoutout to Storm’s humans for giving us permission to take and post photos of her since she was just too cute not to share! . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetstudent #puppysnuggles #greatdanepuppy #ERnightshift https://www.instagram.com/p/B9V1Z5Mls0t/?igshid=1ia44ac5hpe0w

[dr-sweetnlowe]

I’m not sure how this happened, but I had my literal first time being called in while I was on call last night. Yeah, somehow I made it all the way to halfway through U block (my 21st block) without being called in. I figured it would happen eventually and it did. Earlier in the day my classmate who was 1st on call (I was backup) alerted me that there were two down dogs in our ER that would likely go to surgery tonight. A few hours later, I get a phone call saying we have the second back dog and a foreign body. Since they needed to wait until the first one finished to start the second back, I helped with the foreign body gastrotomy. Turned out to be a load of carpet, houseplants, and some rice??? Here’s to another week of anesthesia and hoping that it won’t be as crazy as we expect it to be 😬 . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetstudent #anesthesia #oncall #emergencysurgery #guessmyluckranout #wearfigs @wearfigs #uiucvetmed https://www.instagram.com/p/B6-xe-cli6P/?igshid=bxllexdp9ris

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Apparently we just recently hit 100 days until graduation. 100 days until myself and many (so many #classzilla) of my classmates become doctors. Hours of studying, hours of paperwork, hours of being one of 90,000 people doing 8am treatments in the ICU, hours of not seeing the outside world with the sun up, hours of feeling not smart enough when clinicians ask us questions and we don’t have all of the answers right away, and hours of doing our best. We may still have days when we don’t have all the answers, but think about how many days we had no answers a few years ago? Today my patient had a gastrosplenic entrapment with about a foot of necrotic bowel. If you asked me to even give you a general idea of what that was 4 years ago I prob would’ve panicked. It’s been such a wild ride so far, and honestly it’ll only get more wild from here. What’s another 100ish days when I’ve been in school for over 20 years? . . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetstudent #vetmed #soclose #100days #almostthere #uiucvetmed @wearfigs #wearfigs #iknowallofmyselfieslookthesame #theresonlyonespotinmyapartmentthathasgoodlighting https://www.instagram.com/p/B8P5oZ5FXJv/?igshid=10xxf9d1tl9pk

[dr-sweetnlowe]

As I go into my last off block of my clinical year, here’s a look back at my #topnine Instagram posts of 2019! I wore a lot of @wearfigs , I played with my camera, I enjoyed fall, I got the chance to watch two of my close friends get married, and I spent a lot of time in the clinic and with animals, learning a lot every day. It’s crazy to think that in just a few weeks we will be in 2020 - the year I finally become a dogtor 👩🏻‍⚕️ . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #topnine2019 #2019 #almostadoctor #vetstudent #vetmed https://www.instagram.com/p/B6JL5njlAYd/?igshid=jobfxx2tbi3z

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Ok NOW I’m out of the clinic until January. Shoutout to internal med for welcoming me back for two days with a PU/PD beagle ✌️now bai . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #whenyouhavetomakedaysup #vetmed #vetstudent #offblocks @wearfigs #wearfigs https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_YY7-lUnW/?igshid=107z01xeuf29p

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Not exactly what I expected my last day of school to look like after preschool, kindergarten, grades 1-12, 4 years of college, and 4 years of veterinary school. Kinda weird, but I guess I can’t complain when I have this nugget as a TA. 8 more days until my last graduation ever 👩🏻‍⚕️ . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #lastdayofschool #dogsasteachers #vetmed #vetstudent #schoolfromhome https://www.instagram.com/p/B_7pUfbFwgR/?igshid=8barhqyyukfd

[dr-sweetnlowe]

And today’s #throwbackthursday to when I was just a tired but generally happy vet student on my way to the clinic. Doing work online has been weird especially since I haven’t been in normal classes in over year, but hopefully it all helps for when I’m responsible for real patients soonish! . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #tbt #throwback #vetstudent #vetmed #animalsarebetterthanpeople @wearfigs #wearfigs @thenorthface #lowkeymissit https://www.instagram.com/p/B_40DgJlsdA/?igshid=ry8cz0em61bw

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Thank you @drandyroark and all of those involved (including my girl @dogtor_shiloh /@shiloh.landskov.haugen ) for making today’s national online graduation happen. Lila seemed like she was proud of me during the ceremony (between barking at strangers walking by). The Class of 2020 may have ended our long journey in a very non-conventional way, but at least it’s memorable 🤷🏻‍♀️ I am lucky to call all of these veterinarians graduating with me colleagues and I can’t wait to consult, discuss, vent, and run into you guys at future CE/conventions! Two more weeks until I can officially call myself a dogtor after the Illinois online graduation . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetgrad2020 #veterinarymedicine #vetstudent #classof2020 #onlinegraduation #pandemicgraduation https://www.instagram.com/p/B_vh3AVlQ-j/?igshid=1dvjauvtudev3

[dr-sweetnlowe]

The original plan was to post this on my last day in the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Plans have changed, and ClassZilla had their last day in the clinic without knowing it at the end of the first week of our three week last block. So I figured I would still post this on my would-be last day of Z block....and then I had no concept of time and forgot so I’m posting it today - the would be first day of my last 6 weeks of being a student forever. I’ll still be doing various things to learn (required to graduate) for this period of time, just at home. Although our graduation ceremony to celebrate this damn long journey to become doctors has been cancelled/postponed, regardless we will still be graduating as DVMs. Even though I won’t get the chance to be hooded by a very special intern, I’d like to give her a shoutout for always making me feel loved, special, and like I’m doing a good job. Every “can I just take you with me to every rotation?” And “you’re the BEST” meant so much to me (@chelseyyyy26 dat you, at least I’ll always have the memory of asking you during one of our many ER shifts together ❤️) Although on the bright side, I won’t be tortured with pomp and circumstance again and I won’t be sweating an enormous amount in these very heavy and thiccccc gown. The past four years have been kind of a wild ride for us so it’s not a big surprise that our last few weeks get tossed around and changed last minute. A huge thank you to the doctors and technicians who I’ve been lucky to work with both inside and outside of the VTH. I appreciate all of the support and the sass over the past year(s) while I was working alongside all of you! Every little word of encouragement, even if it was just complimenting my paperwork or letting me do things on my own, it all helped make the difficulty of fourth year easier. I wish I could be in there helping you all now! “Every day when I came in to work all I wanted to do was leave. So why in the world does it feel so hard to leave right now?” - Darryl Philbin (The Office, S9 E25) . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetstudent #uiucvetmed #dvm #dogtor #8yearslater #coronaviruscantstopus #Classzilla https://www.instagram.com/p/B-XEnW2FlxI/?igshid=yogrov32w1oc

[dr-sweetnlowe]

And thus ends my last normal block of ER. It may have been my favorite one of the three? We had a great group of doctors working with us and the students got along. With the guidance of the doctors I did a couple of chest taps, learned the starting dose for insulin on a newly diagnosed diabetic (because for some reason I never knew this off the top of my head until now??, got to have a chihuahua patient, got to help some second years learn and see things, and more. I didn’t have a great photo to celebrate the end of the block but I do have this selfie of me helping @dr.denverjco get into pharmacy for the millionth time in the middle of the night because he struggled to use the key card swipe 😂 ER, I’ll see you again on PD in a few weeks! Until then, just a three week long split anesthesia/internal medicine block 🙃 . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetstudent #er #nightshiftlife #68days #socloseicantasteit https://www.instagram.com/p/B9f2vR3lkY8/?igshid=1ppfashiensks

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Just here to say I’m halfway through my third small animal ER rotation and even though I have a cold and slept for maybe 4.5 hours last night I’m still not regretting my choices to get an ER job 🙌 Shout out to my dog who decided to leave a piece of her fur in my hair, too #chihuahuaglitter . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetstudent #75days #emergencymedicine #er #veterinaryemergency #ecc @wearfigs #wearfigs https://www.instagram.com/p/B9M6-arFIf3/?igshid=23u8o6fw0p15

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Four years ago this nugget didn’t know the other nugget, but we were nervously interviewing to become vet students. Now these two nuggets are 88 days from being veterinarians and helped interview potential vet students! Today we spent about 9 hours at the U of I for Interview Day. We sat in a group consisting of one faculty member, one alumni clinician, and one senior student (that’s us!). I like to think we helped these future students feel comfortable here, and gave them hope that graduating is possible 👩🏻‍⚕️ . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #almostvets #almostdoctors #uiucvetmed #interviewday2020 #lookhowfarwevecome (at University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8r86DDl3ge/?igshid=deriee6naiew

[dr-sweetnlowe]

We are so thrilled, and our eyes are so full of pride, that we are able to officially announce that this very soon to be doctor and her well accessorized little dogtor have signed a contract to be an emergency veterinarian at Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital in South Deerfield, MA! Not only am I excited to begin my career as an ER doctor, as I have wanted to for years, but I am truly lucky that it means I get to move back to western mass. I get to show my chihuahua child around UMass, and we’ll get to live near some very important friends. But most importantly, after 26.5 years, I’ll finally get to do what I have always dreamt of at a wonderful hospital. Massachusetts, we’ll see you in May! PS thank you @ell.and.dil for helping us make this Hello Kitty patterned bandana that appropriately says “dogtor” so nobody can forget that Lila obviously will earn a dogtorate when I graduate as well. . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #dogtoremily #dogtor #emergencymedicine #emergencyveterinarian #vetmed #veterinarymedicine #vetstudent #jobannouncement #massachusettsyoursandmine #umassalumni #er #wearfigs @wearfigs #lillylashes @lillylashes #morphe @morphebrushes #ellanddil #dreamsdocometrue https://www.instagram.com/p/B8lx972Fi7t/?igshid=c8bqik8mx0kz

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Uhh I don’t actually have any pictures with patients so please enjoy this horrifying horse head model that is 9000x scarier than any real horse is. But I’m here to say I have officially finished my last ever large animal rotation, ending it with equine medicine. I was lucky to have a fun and supportive group with me this week to help me cope with not being in small animal world. While I love and appreciate horses, practicing medicine with them is just not my thing. But this week we had a brand new foal born, and sadly we said goodbye to a couple horses, including one of my patients. Each case we learn and gain something from no matter the outcome. It’s kind of wild to think I may never lay hands on a large animal (medically) again but I’m sure it won’t be the last time I lovingly pet one. 13 weeks to go! . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetstudent #equinemed #horses #fakehorselyfe #soclose https://www.instagram.com/p/B8XQbRdFRIN/?igshid=o5myvjajesvu

[dr-sweetnlowe]

Block V was cardiology! We had endless chronic valve disease (CVD) dogs, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), heart failure, rechecks, new appointment, an arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) or “boxer cardiomyopathy”, a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) surgery, some pacemakers, and more. We worked on ECGs, talked about congenital heart problems, and various heart meds. It was easily the SAS-iest group I have ever had the pleasure to spend 2 weeks with, but we all worked together and helped each other out and learned a lot. And bonus, I even remembered some things I learned on my off campus cardiology rotation from July 😱 And of course on top of this we had to suffer through waiting for loan money, NAVLE scores, and job opportunities. Now onto my last ever large animal rotation! (We had 6 students on our rotation, but 3 had to take personal days to leave us on our last day, so we had to send this to them to make sure they still saw our faces today) . . . . . . . . . . #dogtoremilytobe #vetmed #vetstudent #veterinarycardiology #cardiology #uiucvetmed #hearts #vetmedjokes #SASstandsforSubAorticStenosis https://www.instagram.com/p/B7uUZKnliHJ/?igshid=12djqis5gz62z