2007, which was a good year for me, is now over. Some on my highlights of the last 12 months include; my 16th birthday, passing my GCSE’s, holidaying in Ecuador, starting my A-Levels at a new college and meeting a new group of great friends. Monday night (New Year’s Eve), while my sister and Mum went out to parties, I stayed at home with my Dad, doing not very much and looking forward to the prospect of being able to sleep in the next morning (something I have not had the luxury of for a few weeks). After seeing the new year in I was soon heading off to bed, waking up the next morning refreshed from the extra sleep. New Year’s Day was almost as uneventful as the night before, apart from doing revision for my up and coming AS exams which start on the 9th.
Wednesday morning, I got a phone call from Guy (the vet from where I do work experience) who had heard about Ruby’s death, who confirmed our thoughts that she may have had a brain tumor and assured me that we had done everything possible for her (since brain surgery on a rat wouldn’t have been possible!). He also asked if I wanted to go in for the afternoon and evening to get some more work experience.
Amongst the day’s patients where; a bulldog with eczema, a cat which needed vaccinations and another cat which needed its claws trimmed. There was also a dog in which had had an abscess which had been drained and was recovering from his anaesthetic. The day was not very busy so when I was not in the consulting room I helped out soaking, scrubbing and packing up the surgical instruments into kits, ready to be put into the autoclave to be sterilized. The last appointment of the day was a dog which had been bitten by a neighbor’s dog. The wound was large and deep, but luckily, despite having torn though the skin and fat underneath, had only scratched the surface of the muscle of the chest. There was, therefore, no lasting damage done, but the dog had to be stitched up the next day.
Today was my first day back at college after the Christmas holiday and the luxury of sleeping in is now over (except for on weekends) and it’s back to being woken by my alarm clock every morning (a necessary but unpleasant way to start the day). Hopefully my exams will go well and this term won’t be too stressful…
