Odd day. Odd.

So, there are some days when my job is not so much fun. We all have those days.... days when nothing seems to go quite right. Days when you are so busy you don't even have time to pee or eat or take care of patients and clients the way you'd like or have the time to really think about cases before deciding what to do to help them. Ok, I guess not EVERYONE has days like that. But I do. And then there are some days that I just exclaim that I have THE best job on the planet. Something happens that lets me peek into another part of this big world we live in and experience some real, true.... joy. Usually I have one of these days or the other - or something in between - but today was both extremes in one.

:)

I woke up tired. I woke up grumpy. But, I tried to put my best foot forward despite these setbacks. But I was not perky. I had some surgeries this morning to tend to, no real hassle there. But Dr. Nice is out of the office (his baby daughter was born yesterday!!!) and Dr. B was out doing a herd check so it was just me in the office. This is not a new situation for me - it is no cause for panic. But it just seemed like everything broke loose all at once. I had a litter of 7 Boxer pups to remove tails on, I had a cat that I needed to extract 3 NOT LOOSE teeth on (this is very difficult, people!) and I had a scheduled 11:30 'appointment', a scheduled 'work in' 11:30 appointment, AND a 'walk in' 11:30 - they all showed up at the same time. I had to stop working on the puppies to pull the teeth and I just had to keep people waiting cause I could only be in one place at a time. Sigh.

My 'appointment' was routine vaccines - quick and easy, nice and breezy. My 'walk in' was a cat that was coughing - and I was told before I entered the room that the owner had said that the cat 'thought he {the cat!} was a doctor' because her finger had been hurting and the cat bit her right where it was hurting. I shook my head and smiled and in we went.... our visit was pleasant enough and we fixed things up (I hope!) but it just made me realize that it takes all kinds to make the world go round. My 'work in' was a 22 year old cat with owners who were struggling with the decision to put her to sleep. I never try to appear rushed with these clients. It's one of the hardest times for owners - they love their pet, but they don't want them to suffer. It's my job to help them come the right decision for them and their specific pet and then guide them through the process. It's actually something I think I'm quite good at.... but it always makes me a little sad.

But I am not allowed to dwell in the sad place - there are too many things to do. I had a dog that had been in labor all night with one puppy still inside of her to try and help. I had given her injections to help with her contractions and she passed out a lot of NASTY fluid - NASTY, GROSS, STUNK UP MY HOSPITAL fluid - but no puppy. There was only one option left, and that was to do a c-section. The owners didn't want to for financial reasons, so they came to take her home so she could die (they'll probably shoot her once she gets sick enough.) But that is very frustrating. I can FIX her - but I am not allowed to try. :( There are so many things I CAN'T fix that it is excrutiating when I'm not allowed to fix the things I am able to. Rargh.

I have back to back appointments and in the middle of them I am met with a jewel of a man who helped me to laugh through the rest of my day. He is an older man, and he has a young cat that has bumps and hair loss on its ears. Looks like sunburn to me - so I ask him if the cat spends much time outdoors? He replied that the cat goes in and out but always watches TV with him in the afternoon. I playfully asked him what the cat's favorite show is and he replies with no hesitation "Beverly Hills." I ask "The Beverly Hillbillies?" He says, "No. Beverly Hills 90210 - comes on every afternoon from 5-7 on the Soap channel." WHAT?!? This guy is in his 80's and he watches the Soap channel? :) He proceeds to then fill us in on the actual ages of the actors on the show when it was filmed because they talk about them now in STAR magazine and it tells how old they are now and the show was filmed in 1992 (or whatever) and if "you do the math" you know that they were not teenagers but actually in their 20's during the show. :) He proceeded to tell us all kinds of things - he likes numbers - for I now know that from his house to somewhere in Alabama it is 651 miles and his old cat rode in the back of truck the whole way. Not 650 miles. I asked him to clarify. 651. :) Such a precious man.

Now we are getting to the good stuff. I got a call that there was a cow having trouble calving in a town about 45 minutes away and that I would need to bring my dart gun for they had no way of catching the cow. I load up with Sarah (4th year vet student who's here with us for 3 weeks) and Becky (a receptionist at our clinic who wants to go to vet school) the dart gun, and my lunch (2:30pm) and head out. We get to the house - and no one is there. We wait 30 minutes and the owners finally show up. (We had called to say that we were on our way....) No apologies for being late. We drive to a pasture where she was last seen - we drive around - she is not to be found. We then drive to another pasture and we see her. I load up the dart gun (after a brief phone instruction conversation with Dr. B on how to change the CO2 cartridge) and walk towards her. She bolts. She bolts into the previous pasture. The owner tells us to drive back around there and they will bring the rest of the herd and some food and try to get her to stand still so I can shoot her with the dart. We drive over to the other field - I already have a dart in the gun - so I get the bright idea.....

I'll shoot her from the truck!!!!

And I did. :)

I felt like.... oh, I don't know..... some kind of illegal hunter shooting a deer from a vehicle. But I had different prey - I was hunting.... COW!!!!

I drove up to her with my window down and my dart gun rifle across my legs (the end of the barrel hanging out the window.) She's not as scared of the truck as she was me on foot. This was good. I drove slowly and stealthly near her, slowed to a stop, then POW!!! A perfect shot to her hind quarters. One problem: the dart popped out. She got a little sedation, but not enough. Sigh. I loaded another dart and shot her - but I aimed a little too high and it sailed over her back. 3rd dart - direct hit. :) She got sleepy. She layed down. We tried to rope her to tie her to the truck but she got up and took off (adrenaline is a powerful thing.) I darted her again - beautiful shot. Perfection. She layed down. She got up and ran. She layed down - I put the chains of the calf's feet that were hanging out of her. She got up and ran again. I'm not liking this cow. She layed down - we got her roped - and we pulled the calf. The whole time this was going on, we could see the calf's tongue hanging out (which usually indicates a dead calf.) We pulled the calf quite quickly and the little bugger started breathing! His head and tongue were very swollen, but he was alive! It just made our day. Granted, it would have been more enjoyable if it hadn't taken 3 hours to get to this point... but it was great. It was a great experience for a soon to be doctor (never give up!) and a want to be vet (what could be better than this?!?)

Amongst the frustrations of this outing, we had to hold our laughter over one thing: the owner of the cow kept calling to her "Hannah! Come here Hannah!" She called even when the cow was so drunk she was tripping over herself, calling, quite expectantly, I believe, for the cow to come to her. "Hannah!" What was she going to do with her if she DID come to her?!? Hug her neck and make her stand still? We laugh. :) It takes all kinds.

Odd day. I love my job. :)

ps - next day update: the calf is alive and doing well. 'Hannah' won't have anything to do with this new baby, but the owner is bottle feeding it and he is nursing well. :)