Today is our last day in the Namakkal clinics. We went to the vaccination clinic and got a refreser on vaccines and their time periods. Afterwards we got to check out the infectious ward and watch some parvo treatments.
We finished early at the clinics and went to check out the poultry farm. Namakkal is the second largest poultry city in India. We went to a layer farm. While there the little kids were so excited to have their pictures taken. They were cute. I let some of them take some of their own pictures and it seemed to make their day. We also got to help collect the eggs from the layers. In general, there was much more air circulation in the cages than facilities in the US, but there was also way too many animals per cage. In the afternoon we visited KVK, a research facility associated with the school that they were very proud of. We also got to view their radio station which was neat. Afterwards we were able to palpate the school's herd for pregnancy diagnosis. We got to feel everything from not pregnant to 60 days pregnant where we could feel the caruncles, and cows only a few days from calving. I was able to palpate the calf's leg and it kicked me from inside the mother's uterus :). We returned back to the hostel and played volleyball again with some students.
We're a little sad to be packing and leaving Namakkal. As far as weather, its slightly cooler here than in Chennai, and less humid. Every night it looked and felt like it was going to rain, with strong winds and angry skies, but it never did the whole week. Also I feel like we will miss their delicious food. I think we are all excited for Ooty though!
-8/1/15
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Namakkal Day 7 : Clinics + Poultry + KVK + Preg Checks
Namakkal Day 6 : Free Clinic + Waterfall
Today we participated in a free clinic! We went to a small village in the mountains nearby called Kolli Hills. First we had to climb the most obnoxious mountain side ever. There were signs on the way up counting, ' 27/70 Hairpin Bends... 28/70 Hairpin Bends... '. It was awful. I think everyone felt sick by the end. There were monkeys on the side of the road as we climbed the mountain, so that made the climb slightly more enjoyable. We finally arrived in a small village. As we arrived villagers started appearing with their cows and goats and before long it was crowded. We palpated cows for pregnancy diagnosis, gave phosphorus for pregnancy prevention (IM), and gave dewormer to the cattle. It was a neat experience and the villagers were happy to have their animals treated. Afterwards we had tea and passed jackfruit and bananas around.
We left and sightsaw the rest of the day. We stopped at a tea stand on the side of road and had delicious, if hot, ginger tea. Then we made our way to a huge waterfall, Agaya Gangai, where locals came and submerged themselves in the water. Some were even lathering up with soap and rinsing off. Michael went right in and submerged himself while the rest of us watched. The locals were so excited and posed for all sorts of pictures with him. Finally Heidi and I decided to jump in as well. It was a lot of fun and the water was refreshing (a little uncomfortable on the ride home though). We ate a late lunch and headed back to the hostel (2 hr drive). Speaking of lunch, I have started not really enjoying the meat as it has a lot of bones in it. We asked the students how they eat around the bones and they told us that they just eat them. Like crunch them in their mouth and swallow them. I can't even really fathom that. Anyways we returned and had the rest of the evening off. But the internet had cut off again so we were unable to get anything done online.
-7/31/15
Namakkal Day 5 : Clinics + Free Afternoon
Today I was scheduled for LA OG (obstetrics and gynecology) ward, but no one was there, even the doctors. It turns out today was a holiday, due to the former president of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, passing away a couple days ago. Many vets we spoke to were very complementarity of his work and it was truly a memorial day for the people of India. Even president Obama was said to be in Tamil Nadu today. I went to surgery ward instead, but they were also rather slow. It ended up just being a group of the VMRCVM students talking and waiting for our 12p bus.
I am starting to miss home a lot. I think its because of spotty and lack of internet to keep me grounded. I miss my dog, my family, my friends. I'm upset about this crazy assignment. I just really would like to go home. I'm happy to know its just under 3 weeks to return. Don't get me long, I love this trip, but it is difficult being away from home for so long, and realizing that I have to be back in school half a week after I return.
Because of the holiday, our afternoon lab was canceled, so we had the day off. The internet was still off so I took a nap. I don't think I'm sleeping well, even though I'm getting over 8hrs every night, I still wake up exhausted. This afternoon I slept for 2 wonderful hours until we woke up and there was internet!! It definitely put me in a much better mood.
At 6p Julie, Michael, Caitlin and I went to meet up with some Indian students and play some volleyball. I'm not very good, but it was a lot of fun being out and playing around with some of the other students.
I think all of us agree we have like the food way better here in Namakkal than in Chennai. The food is more flavorful with a little more spice and lots of fruit and veggies. I never realized how much I love cauliflower until I had it cooked here. Also they cook parata here every night. Its my favorite type of tortilla thing with thick doughy bread that is absolutely delicious.
-7/30/15
Namakkal Day 4 : Clinics + Necropsy Lab
* Please excuse the lack of photos. Internet is so spotty here. I'll have to add them when I have a better connection*
This morning a mouse came out of Michael's sink faucet and bit him while he tried to release it outside. As odd as that was it got me thinking about our faucet, so I checked it out, and there was HAIR COMING OUT OF OUR FAUCETS. Like tufts of mouse hair caught on the inside of the aerator. I pretty much almost threw up. That means that there are DEAD MICE IN THE WATER WHERE I WASHED MY FACE, BRUSHED MY TEETH, AND CLEANED MY CLOTHES. It was disgusting we had been living with that all week and never even noticed. We let the head professor know and he had the faucets "dusted" but I still can't get the image of mice hair coming out of the faucet out of my head.
Today we were stationed in the surgery ward. It was okay but I felt the case load was a lot less than Med and so there was a lot of standing around. Mostly it was wound cleaning and suture rechecks and fluids for cows that had surgery recently. They schedule most of their cutting for the afternoon, so we didn't see anything too exciting.
The afternoon lab today was on pathology. Namakkal is the second largest chicken town in India, so if there is an outbreak in disease, it is important to identify it quickly and do the best to stop transmission, and keep production high. We had a short talk on common poultry diseases in India and then got to observe necropsy done on several chickens. In this particular case, the chickens had died due to heat stroke. To help combat, the farmer was educated in management protocols in order to keep the chicken more comfortable and lose less to heat. The internet went out so we were unable to work on much and I attempted to write some SOAPs.
-7/29/15
Namakkal Day 3 : Clinics + Feed Analysis
We had another day scheduled in the Med ward in Namakkal. Today was a lot better than yesterday, I found a couple of nice students and doctors that were willing to explain what was going on with each case. I saw a few cases of rumenal acidosis and learned a lot about its etiology and treatment. I also got to IM inject a water buffalo, which was crazy with how thick their skin is. you basically have to punch the syringe in. Over the lunch break we were able to visit the computer lab were we were able to connect to the internet. We got our second exam for this class- a 10 question assignment due Aug 14th, with a minimum of 3 pages for each question. Oh and it's all on topics we have not reviewed in class and would need to research with our spotty and sometimes As a group I think we are all a bit upset. Last year had very minimal assignments and we were even told earlier this trip that it would be only a couple of questions. We plan on talking to Dr. Subbiah when we meet him again in Ooty.
Our afternoon lab consisted of viewing the feed analysis lab on campus. They primarily tested for microtoxins by utilizing chromatography and other tests. We were able to go back to the hostel a little early to rest. We had a long series of days and it was nice to have a little time off.
-7/28/15
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Namakkal Day 2 : Clinics + Research Farm + Bar
Today was our first day of clinics in Namakkal. It was also Julie's birthday. The head of the clinics in Namakkal was very inviting and welcomed us with coffees in his office. He was also very philosophical. He had heard that some in our group were purchasing yoga mats. He then told us that he does yoga everyday while treating animals. 'It is a practice of mind, body, and spirit,' he said. We were paired up for clinics and Julie and I were sent to the LA Med. It was a little hard to get an idea of what each case was presenting with and being treated for. I think the students were a little nervous talking to us. I did get to stick with a doctor and watch a couple of ultrasounds and other procedures. They treat water buffalo here, which is really cool, but they are scary at times as they are big and not nearly as tamed as the cows. When they are stuck with an injection many thrash around in their stalls.
Later during the morning they surprised Julie with a cake. While introducing us, it turned out that it was also another student's birthday. Julie and the Indian student cut the cake together. We joked about it being her Indian wedding, and said she should feed him cake. I guess some overheard us, and apparently the Indians have a tradition where a mother feeds a child cake on their birthday. Another Indian student volunteered to feed her cake as a surrogate mother. It was bizarre to say the least.
In the afternoon we went on a tour of their research farm. We have been on a lot of these same tours but its okay because its fun to play with the animals. They raise rabbits here in Namakkal, mainly for meat. We also saw their goats, cows, and pigs. Later we went to the Milk Co-Op,where farmers brought milk from their cows to add to a larger collection in order to get pasteurized in bulk and then sold. One young boy was there and said he came with his father that day because his dad said the Americans would be there. He said he had then been working on his English all day. Its a neat dynamic the people have with their cattle here. Instead of hundreds to thousands of cows on one farm, one person will have 2-4 cows and they are treated much more like pets than they are dollar signs like in America.
Afterwards, Julie convinced the lead professor to let us go out to a bar for her birthday. We went to a hotel bar for safety and we were more or less the only people there. It was fun though, just being able to relax with everyone.
-7/27/15
Namakkal Day 1 : Fort
I did not sleep very well on the train (surprise). In addition to not going to sleep until late, I also woke up about every hour. Our stop in Salem was scheduled at 4:45a, so we were up by 4:20a. We got off and found our escorts pretty quickly. We took an hour bus ride to reach Namakaal and went straight to our hostel rooms for a little more rest until breakfast at 9a. We ate and explored around the hostel. The roof was beautiful, as was the whole building. We were told that we were the first to stay in the newly erected hostel. The only issue I had- we didn't have showers. Or washing machines. So we were to take bucket baths and wash our clothes by hand. The buckets weren't horrible once you got used to it but it is difficult to wash your hair fully. And hand washing wasn't too bad, but I feel like my clothes did not get as clean as they would have in a 20min wash cycle.
We had off until 4 when we went to the Namakkal Fort on top of a small mountain in the middle of Namakkal. There was set of stairs to the top of the mountain. The fort was really neat to explore around. If the people in Chennai had never seen a white person, these people REALLY had never seen a white person. I now know what it is like to be followed by paparazzi. While walking I could hear the camera phones clicking. I walked into a shelter and they stopped. Walked back out and they started again. Its kind of annoying being taken photos of only because of your skin color, it almost makes you feel like a zoo animal or something. I started taking pictures back of them but they just posed haha. When we gathered to take a group photo, there must have been 10-15 others that swarmed to take a picture of all of us together. We went shopping at a few places to get some items that people wanted (like yoga mats). Then Dr. Ravikumar (one of the professors taking care of us here) bought us all ice cream. The people here are very caring and in general very welcoming. They even told us when we arrived that we were to be treated as their own sons and daughters. We finished up at the hostel for dinner. The meal area we ate at was a beautiful patio area. Also Namakkal is in the country and much less population than Chennai. Also the air. It was so much nicer to not breathe in sewage and exhaust the entire time.
-7/26/15
Racecourse + Packing + Train
Today we leave for Namakkal! But first we visited the race track and attached veterinary clinic. We got to see (and pet!) some of Indian's top race horses. We also saw the track and where they preform physical therapy such as their water pool and treadmill. They apparently were unaware that we were coming however and had little planned, so they took us to the nearby riding school. It was one of the rider's birthdays and they had a buffet set up for everyone to enjoy. We felt a bit awkward being there as we knew no one, but they seemed to like talking to us-- we're good entertainment though I guess. We played with some of the horses and took some photos. The native horses here have very curled ears. They are super cute. After a while, Heidi, Michael and I decided to try to get to the treehouse perched in one of the trees. None of us could reach over to the landing though. Michael posed for a picture at the top of the ladder...and the rung broke. Luckily there was a giant pad beneath the treehouse that caught him.
We made it back to the hostel and had a late lunch. Afterwards we went to Spencer's to get some snacks and the pharmacy for some medication to make the train ride more enjoyable. We met with Dr. Subbiah (now deemed 'Papa Elan'-see below) and Ruby, his wife, to hear the rundown of getting to Namakkal, and later Ooty. Ruby also took Julie, Heidi and I to get our eyebrows threaded. It was a whole 35rs (50c) so I thought why not. We had the rest of the evening to finish packing. Packing was difficult. We will not be returning to Chennai before we go to the Taj Mahal. That means everything we have will have to go on the plane with us. The plane only lets each person have a 15kg (~35lb) bag and a 7kg (~15lb) carry on. I brought a 50lb bag with me to India and many brought 2 bags, so getting a months worth of clothing and supplies into 22kg was a bit challenging. Plus you have to consider the weight that will not be there in a month, like my and Heidi's rum, and shampoo and body wash. We got everything together and were ready to leave by 9:30p.
A couple of cultural things I feel like I should mention at some point and didn't know where to throw them in. Indian names are weird. Our professor's name is Elankumaran Subbiah. Elankumaran is his given name. Subbiah is his father's given name. They do have a family name, but it is not commonly referred to. It would be like Billy being called 'William Ernest'. Or my dad being called 'Ernest Ernest' :P. So when we call him Dr. Subbiah we are calling him by his father's name. Elan is his shortened name, and he is very much like a father figure- very protective, does a lot of the planning, worried about our health, and never wanting us to take any chances like with vegetables or outings. Other cultural things? Well you probably know they do more of a head bob rather than a nod for things like yes or agreeing. Its very fluid and kinda fun to do, but it is difficult for us to distinguish from a head shake for 'no' and a head bob for 'yes'. Also when we first arrived we weren't sure if they were shaking their head in a sort of 'maybe' fashion. Finally, there are a lot of noises all the time here. During the day there are cars honking almost constantly. They use it as a way of saying they want to pass, want to move, want to say hi, or for anything really. Then there are backup music that all of the cars play when they are headed in reverse. The mosque nearby plays a call to prayer 5 times a day. At night there are all sorts of bugs and birds making noises. Sometimes we have nights where it is just like a wall of noise and the birds keep us up. The birds around the hostel are mostly Jungle Crows and Giant Parakeet. The Giant Parakeet almost sound like monkeys the way they whistle. I'll try to take a soundclip. But then some nights its eerily quiet. Like silence. And then, once and a while (maybe every hour or so?), the bugs will erupt in an explosion of noise for about a minute, and then it will stop again. Its weird.
We made it to the train station and found our train that left at 10:50p. Heidi and I were placed in a separate car from the rest of the group, one car down. Dr. Palinsamy, a professor helping us with boarding tried to find 2 that would be willing to switch with us to no avail. But it wasn't bad. We talked with the people sharing our compartment and Dr. Palinsamy spoke with them to make sure we would get off at the right stop. It was a sleeper train so there were 8 of us to a compartment. Two stacks of 3 and a stack of 2. As we pulled off to leave the station, Mutu waved goodbye and ran after the train :).
We spoke for a bit with our compartment mates- one was a computer scientist and offered to let me watch 'Friends' on her phone, she was very sweet. I went to visit the group in the other car. It is slightly terrifying crossing cars on these trains with open air connectors. I returned and climbed up to the 2nd bunk to try and sleep. Heidi was directly above me in the 3rd bunk.
Snake Park + Turtle Rescue + Croc Bank + Ancient Temples
After yesterday's day of warm blooded animals, we spent today visiting some cold blooded ones. We started at Chennai Snake Park where we saw both venomous and non venomous snakes including a Spectacled Cobra, the common krait, and a couple vipers. They also had a small collection of crocodilians and lizards. While we were viewing the reptiles, monkeys came down from the trees and watched us and jumped around. We were warned that they would steal our bags if we left them unattended. As excited as we were to see monkeys, the workers were not. They said they are more of a nuisance, like squirrels out rats in the US. It must have been funny watching us all go nuts taking photos of them.
Next we went to the Tree Foundation, a rehabilitation center for turtles, specifically the Olive Ridley. There have been huge problems recently (2014) where hundreds to over one thousand turtles at a time have washed up on India's coast line dead from deaths due to fishing and other industries. There we got to see some of their current rehab turtles and help to feed them. Some would be released shortly while others will stay at the center indefinitely, depending on the state of their injuries.
Then we traveled to the Crocodile Bank where we saw many, many types of crocodilians. I personally like the gharial the best. It was neat to see so many different species from all across the world and learn about some of their unique behaviors.
Afterwards we traveled for lunch. We made it to a touristy part of town and found a resort on the beach where we had our lunch. It was beautiful. We ordered several entrees and shared them around the table. We went to the beach and a few of us put our feet in the water. This beach was almost empty, as opposed to Marina Beach and was very pretty. There were even stray cows there.
We traveled next to Mahabalipuram, these ancient temples by the sea. They were neat to climb around on and explore. I bought a cheap bag/purse to carry instead of my backpack everywhere (<$2) and Michael got a cowboy hat? I'm not sure why he traveled across the world to get an American cowboy hat, but he keeps wearing it and talking in a fake southern accent.
We had a 2 hour drive home and saw a few amusement parks on the way like Universal Kingdom and Diznee World.
Also today I learned that my rat died at home. He was active yesterday apparently and passed on his own overnight. Its sad, but he lived 3.5+ years which is absolutely amazing for a rat. RIP Basil <3.
-7/24/15
Zoo + School Farm
Today we went to the zoo and the school farm! We started at the zoo where we had an electric tram take us for a ride around the park. They took us behind the scenes in a few areas and we were able to see the holding areas for the Bengal tigers. Some of the orange Bengals were wild caught and not nearly as friendly as the ones I've seen in the past. They were growling as soon as we entered the room. I took a picture and left as soon as I could ( I was last in line) and as soon as I turned my back the tiger lunged at the gate and roared. Scared me a little but I was fine. The white tigers on the other hand were hand raised and rubbed against the cage wall like a house cat. We were allowed to view the lions from the roof of their enclosure and then we did a deer safari to see some of their native deer, sambar. We saw the vet clinic and they showed us some of their equipment. They then took us to see the elephants. We were expecting an exhibit, maybe see their holding area, but we were surprised when handlers came up with 2 elephant calves!! They were adorable and even got more adorable when one decided to untie my shoelaces. We took so many pictures of them, Dr. Subbiah had trouble pulling is away when we had to go.
It was time to leave the zoo, and we traveled to the vet school farm where they bred different animals for research and production. Lunch again was great. We even had ostrich and quail meat. After lunch we were given a fruit plate. I'm not sure how they eat so much here. We saw their sheep and goat stock including the Madras Red Sheep. Then we went to see the cattle from cows to water buffalo.
We also got to see the ostrich hatching facility where they incubated eggs. We also saw products they made from then like decorated egg shells and leather products like jackets, shoes, and bags. Then they took us to look at babies!! They ranged from 1-4 weeks and were absolutely adorable. Next we went on to the ~4 month old juveniles. They liked to peck at our clothes and arms and watches but, I mean when else will I get to be pecked by an ostrich? We didn't get near the adults because they can kick, and hard.
We finished up by see the pigs and found a banyan tree. They grow roots from the branches. Dr. Subbiah said they were strong enough to swing on earlier in the day. As everyone went on to see the pigs, Heidi and I tested it. Heidi swung just fine and I jumped on... and immediately fell flat on my ass. We looked around to see if anyone had saw but we were good. We caught up with the group and was waiting for someone so we headed back with Michael, found a better set of roots and successfully swung from the tree. We saw the pig facilities and headed home. Everyone was tired at the hostel and many jumped in the shower when we got back. Which was unfortunate when the power went out 10 minutes after getting back. It came back on shortly and everyone finished and we ate dinner and went to bed for another packed day tomorrow.
-7/23/15
MMC Lab + Movie Night
We started our day trips from the hostel today. We left on a bus in the morning and went to the Milk Colony to tour more of their facilities. We saw the Madras satellite clinic and saw a few cases they had in today. Then we went to their fertilization lab. We saw how they extracted oocytes from ovaries for research. I got to extract some myself! Then we got to see how they artificially inseminated eggs. Each of us got to try it out. It was really cool and almost like a video game with the joy sticks and knobs. We went to a small farm to fill some time. Then we had a great lunch at the Milk Colony and got to enjoy an ice cream from the cows here. We then went to a couple of other labs - virology and toxicology. Finally we were able to head back. It's monsoon season here and just about every afternoon it pours, making driving even more interesting. Though as crazy as the driving is here you don't see many wrecked or even dented cars at all. I guess it's because add max speed we maybe go 50kmh.
We finally scheduled a movie outing tonight! We saw Baahubali, which was actually a pretty good movie. It was in Tamil but had English subtitles. If you watch the preview, it looks like an Indian 300. But then you have dancing and singing throughout. It was interesting. It was also very long. The runtime was 2 hours 40 minutes and we had an intermission in the middle. So that made for a long day and a late night.
-7/22/15
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Madras Day 13 : Surgery Ward + Biotech Lab
In the afternoon we got help from some of the Madras students in wrapping our sarees! It took a lot of work. I had no idea they are so complicated. It took around an hour and a half and 4 students to get 8 people dressed. I'm hoping we'll catch on and it won't take near as long. We had fancy dinner all donned in our sarees and then took some group photos.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Madras Day 12 : Surgery Ward and Biotech Lab
Back to the grind today. We started our last 2 days of clinics at the vet school today. Since we were assigned to LA surgery, but they don't get started until around lunchtime, most of my group decided to go where ever they liked most. I went to surgery ward. That was slow to start out with though so I went to opthal and found a dog with periocular alopecia. We completed a skin scraping to look for the presence of mites but saw none. The vet took a sample and expected fungal origin. I headed back to surgery and found a dog with urinary blockage and followed it to radiology. While there I saw a crazy dog with carpal hyperextension. He was 6m old and had a nutritional deficiency with Ca:P. Usually this is correctable if it is treated early but this did had this condition for 3 months and the owners just brought the dog in. They will try to correct but there is no guarantee. Luckily the dog didn't seem to be in pain and was jumping around and acting like a normal puppy. The blockage dog showed no stones and an enlarged prostate. However, some stones are radiolucent and are hard to catch on X-ray. We tried to catheterize it but was unsuccessful. I had to leave before a cystocentesis was performed, but we were told the dog would come back the next day for an ultrasound.
The afternoon lab... Oh my. The PhD student didn't know we were coming and instead of just giving us an overview of a procedure he used to extract RNA from a tissue, he performed it all. A two hour procedure. Caitlin recognized the protocol as the same she used for her PhD, and was able to explain the steps to us but otherwise he just kinda mumbled through the procedure. It was the worst lab. We went back to the hostel and took some trips out to the pharmacy and a street bakery. That night we worked on our SOAPs.
-7/20/15
Relaxing + Shopping
Today we had a free morning. We could go to clinics if we wanted or we could just hang out at the hostel. I decided that I would not set an alarm and see if I got up on time. I ended up walking up at 8:30a so I guess I needed the sleep. The beds here are stiff. Even if I get 7-8 hours of sleep (what I'm typically getting) I am still tired because of not sleeping well. So I didn't go to clinics. Instead I read and thought about doing course work. Then Dr. Subbiah arranged for us to go shopping again. I'm not sure why we are shopping so much but at least it's something to do. The Madras students that came to VT said he was obsessed with shopping with them too. He took them to Walmart and Sam's Club as outtings. We aren't allowed to go on trips without a chaperone so we go on what's arranged. We did get to wear our new outfits! At the mall we mainly just walked through some shops like a bookstore and a liquor store. I think we were all sick of clothes. Heidi and I bought a bottle of rum to share for around $6 each. We also finally got our saree under skirts, so note we have everything to complete our ensemble. We just need help putting it all together. We got home a little late and had dinner. At dinner, Mutu asked about my nails and said he wanted some. Michael said he would so it too so I painted 2 nailed on each of them. I'm still not sure why.
-7/19/15
Friday, July 24, 2015
Dakshina Chitra + Shopping
It's the weekend! We were ready to go by 9a to travel about an hour and a half by bus to Dakshina Chitra, an area kind of like Jamestown for those who have been there. It had traditional Tamil Nadu houses and mannequins showing daily life. Eden and Heidi had their fortune told by a bird. All good things. They would become successful and famous, etc. They also had craft sellers that were making pottery, blowing glass, weaving silk, etc. Towards the end they had some street shops where they sold jewelry and other items. Caitlin bought a glass figurine and I asked which one she got. She exclaimed "Oh, I got the little elephant! " The looks on everyone's faces was priceless as someone whispered to us "That's our god!"
We had another hour and a half drive back to the hostel and had a late lunch. Then we went out to shop and get more Indian clothing (a churidar and leggings). We went back for the night and celebrated Amber's birthday by drinking the rest of our beers and playing cards.
-7/18/15
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Madras Day 11 : SA Obgyn + Rabies talk
Today was another day in SA Obgyn. The doctor that was there yesterday was unable to make it today so no more awesome lessons. We did see a dog with a vaginal prolapse. Afterwards we went to see the spay and neuter clinic. I found it funny that compared to the OT (the place with all the major surgeries) this spay and neuter clinic was way more strict in regards to taking out my notepad during surgery or even having my stethoscope draped across my neck. They also made us switch out of not only our shoes, but out of our socks, in exchange for flip flops. I didn't like the fact that my feet were exposed to what ever they last person may have had on their bare feet. I much preferred general surgery. Amber, Kelly, and I watched for a bit and then joined the rest of our class to watch hemodialysis on a dog. The dog had severe leptospirosis which attacks the kidneys. The hemodialysis takes the place of the kidneys to clean and filter the blood and remove the lepto bacterial organism. We watched for a while as it ran. After a while I went up to watch another surgery. When I came in I saw a wound laceration repair and a parrot that had recently lost most of its wing to a cat.
I headed back to the hostel for lunch. In the afternoon we had a talk on rabies. I feel like the labs and talks in general have gotten kind of thrown together last minute. We toured their rabies lab, but our guide didn't even work in in the lab. We did see what a postive Fluorescent Antibody Test appears like under the microscope. We headed back to the hostel and Heidi, Caitlin, Julie, and I went out to Spencer's, the nearby grocery store. While out it started pouring and we had to walk back in the rain. I did get the Indian Magic Masala chips to try. They are kinda like a spicy barbeque. The rest of the evening was relaxing and hanging out inside because of the rain.
-7/17/15
Monday, July 20, 2015
Madras Day 10 : SA ObGyn + MMC Lab
This morning we were scheduled for SA Obgyn. There was not a lot on the schedule but the doctor there was an amazing teacher and has written her own text book. She went through an hour+ lesson on the dog heat cycle. While we have all completed therio in school, we skimped on dog and cat repro and focused more on LA as most of our SA in the US are spayed and neutered. Here, almost none of the dogs I have seen have been spayed or neutered. We had a couple of pregnancy checks that came in and we were able to tell the age of the fetuses by measuring the head diameter or gestational sac and applying it to a formula. We also saw a case of pregnancy termination, and a dog who has been unable to become pregnant in for evaluation. The lights went out halfway through the final dogs evaluation and we had to be home early so we headed out.
Today was another day at the Madras Milk Colony. We saw their zoonotic lab and got to watch leptospirosis spirochetes wiggle around underneath a DOT 3 microscope. We also went to the campus's breeding facility for lab animals. There they had tons of mouse, rat, and guinea pig litters that they produced in a sterilized environment to prevent outside infection that they can sell to companies and use at the university. Everything that came in was clean. We had to wear autoclaved shoes, gowns, caps, masks, and gloves and take a 20 second air shower before viewing the litters. Even things like bedding is autoclaved and food is air-showered. We went back to the hostel- on the way we saw a coconut truck with people sitting way up on top of the stack. I would have ben terrified to sit up there. We returned and read/ did case notes as some were still not feeling okay. Michael went to the doctor and was prescribed some antibiotics to start (Norflox). It is funny though that things like antibiotics, and even codeine cough syrup are readily available over the counter at the pharmacy down the street.
-7/16/15
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Madras Day 9 : LA Ward/Sx + Public Health Lecture
Today I was scheduled for another day of LA. I saw a cow with a rumenal collapse. The vet allowed me to complete a rectal exam and feel for the rumen. You could actually place your hand over the dorsal sac of the rumen (usually cannot do) and feel the motility. They were able to help the cow be prescribing Magnesium sulfate which soaks up the liquid in the rumen and solidifies the contents to help with the collapse. I also saw a cow with mastitis treated with several antibiotics. At this point I had been in LA for 2 hours and had seen 2 cases... I decided to head up to SA Operating Theatre again. Today I saw a mammary growth removed and a mouth growth that was inoperable get rescheduled for a rostral mandibulectomy. I also saw the set up for a dog which was getting several tumors removed and then using excess skin from the dorsum to replace removed skin. Unfortunately I had to run to lunch. On the way back I saw lots of goats including 5 squeezed into the rickshaw. I also saw a beautiful Indian breed of sheep.
After lunch we had a lesson on public health and zoonotic diseases. It was more interesting than a lot of the more recent talks, but still a lecture. We stopped in as they were closing on a cow surgery. If you check out the photo, they were using a phone camera as a light. We returned back to our hostel. Things have been a little slow this week as far as evenings. Four of us (including our professor, Dr. Subbiah) got food poisoning from the wedding and have been resting from that. Luckily I'm still in the clear. The tailor returned tonight with our sarees. My blouse fit, but some didn't. However we don't really know how to put on the sarees so some students are coming over later in the week to show us.
-7/15/15
