Colleague and criticism

Over one lunchtime, me and two of my clinical lab groupmates, E and Z, had an interesting albeit short conservation about criticism. As we know that we all will be working together, and seeing each other almost 24/7 next year. We will really get to know each other through and through, and it will be similar to having intensive orgies relationships with an expiry date as of Dec 2012. There are bound to be some degree of interpersonal conflicts, if we don't communicate properly. Our group consisted of six people, equal number of guys and girls, but only one straight guy, lol. L is my lab partner, and we often have cafe hunts together. She is also my philosophy conversee. Z is the poor straight guy, who frequently answers a lot of my questions regarding treatment. Before I digress any further, how can we provide criticisms due to good intentions, without upsetting someone?

Halitosis (bad breath)

Me: Let's start with bad breath. If you start talking to someone and notice the smell, how would you deal with it?
E: Hmm.. that's hard. But if I know that person well enough, I would tell that person outright though not out loud. Otherwise, I will hand out some chewy or mints.
Z: What if you don't have any of those with you? What if that person is a lecturer/teaching clinician, whom we will be spending a lot of time with?
Me: I guess for that case the prognosis is hopeless. Well... better start training holding your breath then?
E: Oh.... for your information, please let me know if I have a bad breath. I don't wanna be talking to clients while they try not to breath. Hey... GVP, you're quite lucky then. Don't you get use to all the bad smell, since you spend so much time in the PM room?
Me: You're right. So far I can even put my face near rotten horse guts, and it seems that I have instinctively learnt to shut off my nose, but I can still smell farts and bad breaths somehow. Another thing, this year I have morped into a little grumpy beeping bomb. I know that I swear too much, but I can't help for now.
Z: That's alright. We are quite stressed right now, so everyone swears and used to it. Remember the surgery lectures, how many times did we hear vagina, penis, testes?
E: There were so many vaginas, penises and testes. That was more than enough.
Me: One thing that we won't have enough of next year rotations will be sleep. I will definitely get moody, and swear a tad more than usually. So tell me to f!@# off and get some coffee, if I'm acting like a dick.
Z: Only if you promise, you won't treat me as your PM customer after I tell you so.

In the end, we also talked about dandruff, dress code, low jeans exposing ass crack, etc.  We all agree that we prefer honesty, and don't mind being told off if there is something odd. Feeling upset is inevitable at first, but as long as there is a good motive behind, everything will be alright. One point that we took, before rushing to our prac class was that all of us are not perfect, but at the very least we strive to improve. Being optimistic as I am, I often think that if someone criticise me, it's only because they care about me. What is your approach to this?

A long macchiato

When I started this blog, food was definitely on the topic list. So this shall be the first post about my eating habit!

Several of my vet friends and I have been locking myself up in the college libraly, trying hard to stay focused on studies. It is not uncommon to be hearing us swear and scream for no reason, as our sanity is certainly questionable. One thing, that stops me from crossing over to the other side completely, is unarguably having gourmand moments and getting decent coffees.

Smiley alien :)

Over the weekend, I had my usual cafe hunt/ritual, and found a nice little cafe, called Fix espresso. After having been caffeinating here and there over a few years, I seem to have developed invisible antennas, which somewhat detect decent-caffeine outlets. The smell, ambience, sound of milk foaming, and barista (wearing a classic grey vest) ticked the boxes. So I proceeded to settle down with study notes, and called for a long macchiato as well as their big breakfast. I couldn't help but smiling when my coffee was served. The latte art was just so adorable, in addition to strong coffee as I expected. The breakie was an average Joe, on the other hand, but the coffee won the merit.

My habit has me wondering what is going to happen when I move to another city with less renown coffee culture. I already have a little stovetop, which is used daily if not twice, but the experience is not the same. And before long I will start craving and showing withdrawal symptoms. One thing that I have promised to do over this Christmas holiday is stop having coffee for a month. It will be interesting to see how I deal with my addiction, in the near future.

Veterinary consult

As always life has been busy, but it got out of control recently in my case. The uni workload has increased as we approached to the end of the year. I seemed have hit my mental burnout, and felt quite depressed, but it appeared to be a common and "normal" thing among students in my year. After rejuvenating over one weekend with decent coffees and food, I felt much better once more. I really live on good food mentally and physiologically, ain't I? Hopefully, I will have more time for social life and this blog after my exams in late November.

Right, back to the topic. Veterinary consultation - hmm, I have little experiences with consults to be frank. The whole thing isn't very appealing for me personally, though some owners are quite sweet and lovely to chat to. Much like any other jobs dealing with people, servicepersons are bound have something to gossip about behind scene at the end of the day. In our case, it is behind the consult door and far away from the ears and eyes teaching staff/clinicians. Certainly, doing such deed is un-professional, and it is a breach of confidentiality, but we can't help being humans. Of course, no name or anything specific that may identify the clients is mentioned.

Anything in there?

How often you know that people aren't be honest outright. Well, that occurs frequently in veterinary consults. Owners sometimes tell us what they think we want to hear, but not the truth. Figuring out what is wrong with our little furry mates is much like doing jigsaw puzzles and detective work - integrating relevant information to make some sense or list differential diagnoses ie. likely causes/underlying pathology. When the truth is not given, our life is much harder and it's our friend who suffers consequently - well, our friend will then have an increaesd chance of becoming my customer on a PM table as a wrong diagnose can be proven fatal.

We were told of a case of a Labrador, responsible by the ER/critical care head vet. The dog was presented with pollakiuria (increased frequency of urination), hypersensitive sound (very hysterical even to being called its name) and hallucinated (it seemed to be chasing invisible flies in the consult). As usual, interesting and exciting things happen on Friday night. There was a little wine party at the owner's, and the dog became like so after the party.  She sedated the dog, did a thorough physical exmaination, checked the mouth and found bits of chocolate brownies. First thing cholcolate is toxic to animals, but they don't show neurological signs like these (chocolate toxicity will be posted at a later time).  Second thing is the brownies were no mere baked goods in this case. With her experience, common thing occurs commonly. She had seen way too many marijuana toxicities, and she believed that the dog munched on hash/weed brownies. She asked the owner explicitly to confirm if there is anything special in the brownies, and the owner did not say anything about the recreation drug. She then proceeded to explain the clinical picture and most appropriate treatments. The dog was induced to vomit, and she found some grass like materials with partially digested brownies. Thinking about probability the dog could have been poisoned from other source, but given the clincial signs and history of party, ingestion of brownies, it is most likely that special brownies were made for the gathering, and the dog (being a Labrador) managed to get some bites. I would say that vets with less experience and knowledge in critical care and toxicology, would not have figured that out right, and the patient's health could have been compromised as appropriate treatment was not provided promptly.

Like I said before, veterinarians are not in the consult to judge. We just want to do our jobs quickly and finish the session within the time limit (usually, 15 minutes). But, some owners just love talking on and on about their life, sometimes including private detail that we don't want to know. Consult charge is per 15 minutes, and some do not realise that they pay for us to listen to them talking. I guess it's better if they see a psychologist for this purpose.

An ideal consult would be a client come in with a calm and relaxed patient, facts provided, quick exmination, diagnostic process/work-up/tests, confirm the diagnosis, advise about the disease, management and treatment options. Fitting all of these in 15 minutes is challenging. Even though this is what majority of the profession are doing, sometimes it is not ideal since proper discussion of the disease and management are often left out. Many vets just reach for treatments eg. corticosteriods, antibiotics or NSAID, and tell owners to give the drug(s) to their pet without telling why. Consults are pretty much the balance between medicine and business. With the skills and experience I have right now, I would take ages to do a proper consult. Practice makes perfection, I guess.

Horse racing industry and horse vets

I have to admit I have never had a good impression of the Victoria racing horse industry. The industry is no doubt lucrative, and there is a lot of money talk involved as well as liability issues.

In the past weeks, a racehorse unexpectedly died on the racing track. There was a lot of public concern in term of animal welfare and jockey's safety. The field pre-emptive diagnosis for the cause of death was heart attack, which left me puzzled because I had never heard horse vets mentioning the condition before. So it left me to think that the racing industry must be trying to avoid negative public response, since there has been a fair number of accidents on race tracks. Animal welfare and right groups have been grilling and putting the racing industry on a hot seat.


Having confirmed the cause of death with the pathologist who performed the necropsy, the diagnosis was severe acute pulmonary (lung) haemorrhage, which was EIPH (exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage). This condition is well known in racing horses doing strenous exercises though the severity of the condition is variable. The degree of bleeding the horse suffered was so severe that its chest was filled with blood. Oh poor horse! If this was to be known, there is no doubt the industry would suffer.


Anyway, there was case in pathology weekly round, which was likely to involve a lawsuit. We were looking down a histology slide of a horse's vein and told that the horse received IV (intravenous ie. into a vein) jugular (neck) injection of phenylbutazone, commonly used NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug eg. paracetamol) amoung horse vets. And apparently the horse got sick then progressively deteriorated over a period of 6 weeks before it died despite appropriate treatments. At the request of the owner, a necropsy was performed and samples of several tissues were collected for histology. Histopathology - evidence of endothelial (cell lining the vessel) damage, necrosis (cell death),  adhered thrombi (blood clots) and recanalisation of the vessel. There was septic thromboembolism (spreading of blood clots) due right vegetative (growing) endocarditis (inflammation of the heart valve) and embolic suppurative pneumonia (pus-sy inflammation of the lungs). In a nutshell, the injection led to sick neck vein, heart valve and lungs. It appeared that the vet mistakenly and injected the drug into the mural (wall) component of the vessel.

Why do we bother describe all those tissue changes (what I put up above is summarised version, by the way). During the round, there was an empathic row of laughters among us when the finanical value of the horse was known. The horse was worth AUD$3millions, for god's sake! And the legitation is now therefore worth the same amount, for the defendant's sake ie. veterinarian's! I do hope that the vet has some sort of work insurance otherwise he/she is screwed.

What a pity! They don't continue to make the calendar.

In general, horse vets are somewhat intimidating. They are quite uptight and strict but perhaps this is due to the nature of industry they work in. Of course, this is with a few exceptions. There is a male resident horse vet who was the topic of conservation among the girls (about of 80% the course are female, by the way) for a while when we first had a prac class with him - smiley, green eyes, hunk (albeit he is shorter than me) and sarcastic sense of humour.  In many movies, people working with horses and the work environment are depicted as macho and masculine. This often leaves a train of lecherous thought in one's mind; how much one fancy about doing XXX and enjoy having YYY in a horse barn!

Desensitised to the dead

A while back, I used to watch all those medical shows and wondered how doctors perform surgeries without feeling disgust. And now I understand since I has become desensitised, and I am able to perform necropsies while talking about lunch. It feeks like yesterday when a group of us vet students got excited for our first anatomy prac with dog bodies. But, we were warned that if we feel funny, just exit the prac room and get some fresh air. A fair amount of students, including me, felt light-headed and almost faint. It was the smell, sight and texture of cold muscles that almost made me puke. Well, I turned into a vegan and didn't touch any meat for a week. Then we had more anatomy classes, seeing images in lectures and touching the real stuff in pracs every fortnight. We gradually accustomised to the extent that we felt hungry during the prac, and talked about having steaks and beers after cutting a dog open. This is so wrong I know.

That only leaves one thing that a lof of people complain about while dealing with the deads - Smell! Well, some ex-patients are not so fresh and presented to us at a temperature lower than ideal ie. from a fridge. I think I'm somewhat more lucky than my peers that I have learnt to shut off my sense of smell while perfoming necropsies. One of the pathologists I know mentions about pathologists just get used to the smell, and our nose just doesn't smell anything malodouraous after a necropsy. Once she and her colleague had to do a necropsy of a baby hippo who disappeared for a few day during a period of warm Melbourne weather, and then appeared to float atop of the enclosure pond. The body was so emphysematous (bubbly like balloons) and the odour was ranked 10/10 in the degree of intolerability. After several hours their job was done, they returned back to the faculty, sitting in a staff tea room completely oblivious that they both had this obnoxious un-holy aura, which could be sensed several blocks away. The whole faculty became alert of the smell, and believed there was a gas leak hence commenced buidling evacuation unbeknownst to the offenders still in the tea room enjoying the sun and English afternoon tea.

Obviously, I have to be more careful from now, and take cautions about the scent. It would be horrid to others around me if I pop into a cafe for coffees after my heavy duties.

Human vs veterinary pathology

The topics of conversations, that my medico friend, P and I talk about, can be quite taboo in the ears of general public. The topic may involve saying vagina and penis out load, as we talk about reproductive medicine. Other includes how to open the skull, amputate a limb etc, and cases that we have. During one of our Sunday cuppa ritual, we ended up talking about two distraught cases she just had.


NOTE: This synopsis may be very distressing since it mentions an abused baby and body parts after an automobile accident.

GVP: Guess what, I got accepted as an extern in veterinary pathology to a few uni in US and UK !
P: Awesome, I know you love path, and for sure you're gonna enjoy it. The subject is quite interesting, but sometimes the pracs and work can be very depressing for us, as a lot of human pathology cases is related to forensic.
GVP: Hmm, like what?
P: Err, human pathologists deals with too many murders and accidents. I tell you about a case that we had the other day in our tute. There was a baby came through with oedema and congestion (basically, the head looks swollen and purple-red) from the neck upwards, and there were two faint lines around the neck. We were asked what is the cause of death, and no one got it right despite being told that it was very obvious. The tutor told us that the an electric cord fits rather too well with the lines on the neck, and make the exact impression if you try wrapping one around your neck, in which she/he demonstrated so. At this point, there was an ominious cloud floating in the room, and you could tell what everyone was like what the F!@#$~~~~~~!

P: Then, a  few people started hyperventilating (breathing fast) and you could tell people were having tears in their eyes, and my eyes were watery.

Then she told me about a gruesome case of a car accident. In essence, the body came in several pieces, and the forensic officers had difficulties collecting all the parts at the scene: brain materials, eyes, visceral organs here and there. I had an impression that the body trunk got crushed like a garlic in a press. The impact was so sever that the garlic was sent flying and splattered - also not to mention obvious mutilple opened bone fractures (fractures with bones poking out of the skin for us to see)
Lesson learnt, especially to male audiences out there: stick to the speed limit, drive slower won't kill yah!

At the end, we both usually thought that we're not desentisied about this sort of things in general, but that whole thing was just sickening. There is too many funny people on this world.

After exam resolutions

Shhhh... a customer coming.

I have been working my ass off this year, and my brain may has become macerated with all the studies cram in. Since February we have been doing your-ass-rooted-to-the-seat 9AM-5PM lecture-day 3 three times a week, and cram-it-in-your-head 10AM-5PM practical day about 2 times a week. What a hideous routine, only to halt momentarily due to a month winter break between semesters. Oh, dear I'm mentally exhausted, but the light at the end of a long abysmally dark tunnel is shining through. There are several things that I look forwards and resolute to do when this nightmarish journey is over.

- Go camping for 5 days and complete the latter half of 104km Great Ocean Hike with other vet kids
- Go surfing and enjoy the sun for a week
- Try a hand cooking quails, perfect crispy skin pork, lobsters and making macarons - black seasame and passionfruit
- Leisurely read Pathologic Basis of Veterinary Disease, The Beginner's Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: Advice for Young Scientists by Prof Doherty whom I have seen in real life, and those long overdue books which are supposed to be read by all veterinarians, written by James Herriot
- Watch movies and go to art galleries
- Bike around the city and hunt down decent caffeine outlets
- Pamper at Daylesford
- Last but not least, enjoy mind wondering, have epistemological moments, and do more blogging

Without having anything to look forward to, I would have gone nutbag and adopted Dexter's hobbies as ways of coping. I can't wait any longer for this summer break, rejuvenate and get ready for a lecture-free clinical year starting early January next year.

A necropsy and animal welfare breach

I poked into the pathology department at the other day, to see if there was anything interesting ex-animal coming in, so that I could excuse myself from studying and get some action. Fortunately for me, there was a 9 yo female dog with maxillary mass extending towards the level of the eye and ventral (towards the abdomen ie. lower) aspect of the maxilla, infiltrating the gum and extending caudally two third of the oral maxilla. The mass height was 10cm, so basically, the head just looked grossly abnormal that even kids can tell.

Let's see what is there.

History: the animal was seized by an animal welfare organisation, and was euthanised on humane ground. A full post-mortem/PM (after death) examination is requested.

Every now and then, there is a case related to animal cruelty comes through the department. A full necropsy (exmination of corpse, in particular non-human bodies: I tend to use PM and necropsy interchangeably, while refer an autopsy to human bodies) is required for the purpose of lawsuit against the suspected offender, therefore professional opinion and comments from a veterinary pathologist is sought in regard to the nature, manner of lesions (abnormal tissue, change of tissue) and/or death.

In general sense, a mass lesion could be anything ranging from a cyst, abscess, naevus to neoplasm (abonormal growth eg tumour). However, some sort of a tumour was very likely given the extension and distribution of the mass. Soft tissue sarcoma (cancer of connective tissue) came to my head as I palpated the structure, so the differentials goes a long way as there are several types, but I had fibrosarcoma (malignant tumour of collagen-producing cell) on the top of differentials.

We did a fine needle aspirate/FNA which is sticking a needle into the mass and retrieving a sample for microscopic examinations. When the sample staining was done a few hours later, I was quite content that I am right. The cells on the slide looked crazy, which is a typical appearance of neoplastic (abnormal and out of control) fibrocytes. It is now likely that the dog was neglected, and left to suffer from the tumour. A necropsy report is written to be provided to court as evidence and a source of expert opinion.

And I was left thinking: how and why on earth people can be be so retarded and ignorant, and leave animals to suffer? The cost of euthania is definitely not a valid excuse, since it will only cost like AUD$20 in animal welfare hospitals and some even put animals down without cost. Or even just surrender them to any animal shelter.

Let's have a look at some art

At the moment I'm digging through my overworked little laptop, searching for notes on tumours, for the purpose of exam preparation. These are interesting images from lecture materials that I come across. During high school, I did IB Fine Arts HL, and learnt to critic artworks. Guess what, that is what I like to do while looking down a microscope.

This is why we Ozzies carry sunscreens around - malignant melanoma (nasty melanin-pigment producing tumour).

 

Malignant osteoblastic osteosarcoma (nasty bone producing tumour of a bone cell lineage)

Plasma cell myeloma aka. Multiple myeloma (nasty antibody-producing white blood cell tumour)

Mast cell tumour (nasty tumour of white blood cells with histamine granules)

The purpose of microscopic examinations is to determine the type of tumour, which we are fighting against, and to grade whether the tumour so that we can decide what is the best treatment option. Some of you may have realised that I put nasty in all of the description. Yes, we usually say "O'oh" when we see this since they are likely to have seeded to several body system, hence the prognosis is usually poor.

Personality test

I don't think I ever mention here that GB's blog is actually the aspiration for this blog, and I have been reading his blog for ages. There is a post about a persionaliy test; these sort of tests are quite interesting as it can give another perspective of looking at myself. A few years ago, there was a personal development workshop, and everyone got to take a similar test at uni. The whole point was to raise an awareness that each of us has strengths and weaknesses, we need to work together as a team to bring out all the strengths. Advanced Global Personality Test can assessed here if you want to take it.

My result is as followed:

Extraversion	||||||||||||||	56%
Stability	||||||||||||||||||	76%
Orderliness	||||||||||||||||||	76%
Accommodation	||||	16%
Intellectual	||||||||||||||||	70%
Interdependence	||||||||||||||||||||	90%
Mystical	||||	20%
Materialism	||||||||||||||||	70%
Narcissism	||||||||||	40%
Adventurousness	||||||||||||||||||	80%
Work ethic	||||||||||||||	60%
Conflict seeking	||	10%
Need to dominate	||||||||||||||	60%
Romantic	||||||||||||||	60%
Avoidant	||||	20%
Anti-authority	||||||||||	40%

Wealth	||||||||||||||||||	80%
Dependency	||||||||||	40%
Change averse	||	10%
Cautiousness	||||||||||||||||||||	90%
Individuality	||||||||||||||||	70%
Sexuality	||||||||||||||||||||	90%
Peter pan complex	||	10%
Histrionic	||	10%
Vanity	||||||||||||||	60%
Artistic	||||||||||||||||	70%
Hedonism	||||||||||	40%
Physical fitness	||||||||||||||||||||	90%
Religious	||	10%
Paranoia	||	10%
Hypersensitivity	||||||||||||||||||	76%
Indie	||||||||||||	50%

Stability results were high which suggests you are very relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.

Orderliness results were high which suggests you are overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun. 

Extraversion results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity. 

Trait snapshot:
clean, organized, regular, self reliant, tough, positive, high self control, very good at saving money, dislikes chaos, resolute, realist, trusting, hard working, dislikes unpredictability, prefers a technical specialized career, not worrying, respects authority, enjoys leadership, finisher, normal, optimistic, controlling, prudent, modest, adventurous, does not like to be alone, intellectual, likes the unknown, very practical, high self esteem, assertive, perfectionist, busy, altruistic

Bold = some traits that are quite true
But there is one more trait to add - like to procrastinate studies towards exams. That's why I'm blogging right now!

Dream = goal with deadline

While I was having my weekend jog this morning, my mind seemed to drift and think about where I stand in my life, where I want to go and what are my current goals. When this happened, I usually just kept jogging until my train of though comes to a conclusion, which in this case took 2 hours of light-pace jogging. I have a habit of putting things boxes since there are often too many things happening in my head all the time. There seems to be three boxes so far, and the number in blanket is the deadline from now.

Intellectual
Pass all of my 13 exams: 7 in a few weeks and 6 at the end of this year
Acquire a residency post and sit a board exam, and proudly call myself a veterinary pathologist (5 years)
Try a hand on teaching and tutoring at uni (5 years)
Publish articles in respected journals and present at international conferences (6 years)
Decide whether to pursue my career in academic, private practice, or government sector etc. (6 years)
Complete a MPhil and PhD (10 years) - possibly they will be something related to tumours, ocular diseases, and/or tissue graft rejection
Have a peek at the Nobel award ceremony (15 years)

Self
Get abs like this (2 months)
Try a hand on rugby (1 year)
Complete an advanced course in scuba diving (2 years)
Compete in a marathon (3 years)
Take a basic cooking course here (5 years)
Take on a spiritual journey and spend time meditate for a month (5 years)
Decide where to settle down and have a family (6 years)
Learn German and French,  and hold a basic conversation (6 years)
Snowboard in Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand, and Canada (15 years)
Travel to Bhutan and Dubai (not set)

Interpersonal
Come out to my family (2 years)
Maintain to stay out in workplace (2 years)
Have fun with a British guy (not set)


Of course, there are several goals that appear quite impossible, but I never know unless I try. For me, it's ok to take a bit of detours, extend the deadline further, and change them. I'm looking forwards to one year from now, reflect back, and review what will be crossed off and what will be added :)

Pathologists' dark sense of humour

A lot of my mates perceive veterinary pathologists as being laid back in general, which I think it's quite true after having spent some time with many. But, I have to add our humour is rather odd and morbid as well. It may be due having to deal with cardinal humours on a day basis, perhaps? There is a few examples (of many) that I have in my head:

You all must have heard people saying "Do as I said, not as I do", and many veterinary pathologists are like that (I'm included even though not a pathologist just yet). We preach veterinary students not to use food to describe lesions. But then, we describe a suppurative (pus-sy) lesion as cottage cheese or compare chylothorax (white fluid in the chest) to a thick milkshake. Worse than that, with a bit of blood contamination, the milkshake is said to have a strawberry flavour. Ewwwwww~

I was helping out a pathologist and a lab technician with a necropsy then we started chatting about cold Melbourne weather and somehow animal body cremation - turning 20kg mass into less than half a kg ash. The pathologist mentioned how her partner is having a holiday, and enjoying summer overseas while she is working and suffering this cold miserable weather. The technician asked if her partner was being naughty and she needs to use the cremation facility. She responded laughingly that she will let him know if her partner is planning to travel without her again. I can see a perfect crime there, nah?

Once we were looking at a tissue slide of a feline kidney during one of the weekly histopathology round. After looking down a microscope, I proceeded to ask about these big bubbles in the tissue, and I was told that they were fat. "Well, you are what you eat, isn't it?" quickly added someone in the room.

This last one really got me laughing; there was a dog skull transceted in halves. One of the senior pathologists looked the skull and said "Hmm, I'm amused that the cranial cavity (hole in the skull that the brain sits in) is tiny. Look at the dog, it's massive! The brain is also tiny. I really to see the owner of this dog". Comparing people and their pet for similarities is always a good fun, don't you think?

Laughter is always good, isn't it?

What is veterinary pathology and who are veterinary pathologists?

These two are the questions some of you might be wondering since I have yet to proper explain.

pathos = suffering
logos = study

In a nutshell, veterinary pathology is a branch of science dedicates to the study of animal diseases. It is one of the many core subjects, taught in veterinary medicine. We learn about pathogenesis of diseases (how and why a disease occurs, and what are the consequences eg. how does a tumour occur) and lesions (what happened to the body eg. inflammation).
 

To be a veterinary pathologist, one needs to have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree or equivalent, spends at least three years in a post-grad training eg. residency, and then sits the American or European board exam becoming a diplomate of the college - total of 8 or 11 years in uni minimum. That sounds rather excruciating but I'm almost half way there, yeah! Furthermore, there are two branches in the field, namely clinical and and anatomical. Clinical pathologists basically read blood and biochemistry profiles, and deal with samples of live tissues while anatomical pathologists examine fixed tissued and perform necropsies. I have spent a quite considerable amount in both, but aim to speciliase and become the latter.

Now, what do veterinary pathologists do? They seek to gain understandings of pathogenesis and lesions. The roles of veterinary pathologists are thoroughly described in the following excerpt from American College of Veterinary Pathologists:


"....... Why Are Veterinary Pathologists Important?
Veterinary pathologists improve and protect human and animal health by:

• Diagnosing disease in companion and zoo animals, and wildlife. Veterinary pathologists examine animal tissue and body fluids to diagnose disease and predict outcomes.
• Diagnosing disease in food-producing animals. By determining causes of disease, veterinary pathologists help maintain herd health and establish if there is a risk to humans handling or consuming the meat or milk of food animals.
• Contributing to drug discovery and safety. Because of their broad-based biomedical training, veterinary pathologists serve as key members of pharmaceutical research and development teams.
• Conducting research. With experience in diseases of multiple species, veterinary pathologists are uniquely qualified to perform studies to advance our understanding of the cause and methods to prevent disease in animals and humans......."

Lastly, the reason for having an image of Contagion (2011) in the post. It has a lot to do with veterinary profession, and one of the Diplomates of ACVP was the scientific consultant during the production, here! I have got to see the film that some point :)

Roles and responsibilities of veterinarians

I'm sitting in my room, drinking a long macchiato, and wondering about what is beyond my to-come graduation and so on. But, there is usually one thing that I usually keep thinking when I have time for my mind drift philosophically: what are my roles and responsibilities as a veterinarian apart from the stuff that set up by the AVMA and AVA?

Hmmm... I can't hear my heart

The answer in response has always been changing through my yet-to-end veterinary training, and it will continue to be so. When I first entered the vet school, it was just simply treating the patients. Be it dogs, cats, horses, cattle, sheep, rats, mice snakes, spiders! etc. Over the years, I have added, tweaked and formulated a long response, which now becomes more like an equation and includes:

1. Consult with clients in regard to their concern with their pet, and provide up-to-date information so that a well informed decision can be made in the best interest of the patient.
2. Utilise the knowledge to approach the problem, on ethical and compassionate grounds.
3. Understand, value and endearvour to cherish the bond between human and animal.
4. Provide sound and well informed opinion to the general public in regard to issues related to the profession, in addition to educate pet owners.
5. Contribute, where possible, to the advancement of scientific knowledge and research, as well as the training of future veterinarians.
6. Participate in continued education and pursue one's interest in veterinary discipline and expertise.

With those said, I strongly view myself as a source of information for clients. However, clients facing with a dilemma frequently turns to veterinarians and ask this particular question that I'm really reluctant to answer in a consult, especially when dealing with a potential euthanasia: What would you do if he/she (the animal) is your pet?

"Damn, she/he is definitely not my pet. I'm not the one paying for the treatment bill. Can't you use your brain and make up your mind?" I say in my head before respond with a blurb I have for this situation in an auto-pilot mode.

"I'm afraid that it's not my responsibility to make a decision about Insert the animal's name. There is no right or wrong choice, so what you believe is the right decision is right, and I'm not here to judge." I say in a matter of fact tone but with sympathy, while looking at the client.

Nowsdays, pets are in general as part of the family in the western society. Many people consider their pet as their child. Therefore, I do not see myself morally and legally proper to be making such decision for someone else under the above circumstance.