abigail414's diaryland diary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Things Great and Small
Last week I started the day with malice. Meaning, a pit bull named �Malice� who looked at me with said emotion, plus was growling, and wearing studded collar and harness. Her owner had long gray hair tied back, was wearing biker leathers, tattoos and silver rings on each finger, and had studs under his lower lip. I've seen him before and he requested me. This was a routine vaccination appointment. Through some miracle of moving slowly and using a muzzle, Malice got her shots and exam, and we left unscathed.
My last appointment that day was with 10 beagle/basset puppies. They were in for their first vaccines and puppy worming. Also a routine vaccination appointment, but it looked more like an assembly line of weigh, temp, exam, vaccinate, deworm - next? All within an hour. (And, no, I didn�t bring one home, even though sorely tempted).
And this week, we had some dogs come in that I think were involved in the explosion of a meth lab, or some other chemical incident. The owner's history of the event was sketchy, and she was too. The dogs both had serious burns, especially around their face, and some burns seemed to be older than others (we reported abuse to animal control). I treated this one, but she probably had internal damage from drinking the stuff and was put down the next day.
So, in summary, I see scary, cute, and gross things on a regular basis.
For those of you not accessing my Facebook profile, here is the treatment area where I do much of my work, when not in an exam room. We have a pretty good team of people and I get along well with them (now that I'm on medication). Their joke is that if they didn't know me better, they'd think I knew what I was doing. And, I get it - I'm still working on my confidence level.
Business has slowed down since the season is over but my schedule is usually full, just not as crazy full. Staying busy is a concern because I am paid by how much work I do. If no one comes in, I get a base salary that I have to make up for with next month's earnings. It is a complex formula, but in essence I'm on commission - like most vets.
My therapist helped me realize that I have been dealing with post-traumatic stress since the untimely death of Gummy Bear (last entry). Most deaths I see are of the planned kind, or happen due to events beyond my control. Gummy Bear's death really shook me up and I�ve been depressed, grumpy, and on edge. I feel better now that I can put a name on it. I'm off today, but no longer dread going in tomorrow. Who knows what I'll see?
8:42 p.m. - 2008-06-09
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
other diaries: |
