Hazel

Entry, Creative Corner
Andrew Chao, UC Davis

Entry, Life As A Vet Student
Kyra Berg, University of Illinois

I just recently found a tumor on my cat Shadow that was really suspicious of a vaccine-associated sarc, so he had a punch biopsy on Monday. He's never used an e-collar, so he's been struggling to get used to it these past couple days. Here is what happens when you're too nice of a mum…

"I took Shadow's e-collar off for the couple hours I was home, and while I was reading the biopsy histopathology results from the doctor, my lovely let's-make-mum-look-like-a-non -compliant-owner cat decided to rip out his staples. 

so now, my cat is totally livid and moving like a slug across my flat because I've gauzed, taped, t-shirt-wrapped, and e-collared the crap out of him. 

Life: 12, Kyra: -4

#youvegottobeabsolutelykiddingme

Here is a picture of my pouting cat.

When it hit me: I’m a first year vet student

Entry, Foot in Mouth Disease
Terra Berardi, Ross

It hit me when formaldehyde,

began to smell like home.

It hit me while my brother was eating chicken,

and I proceeded to tell them about the muscles and bones.

It hit me when I acquired a million pets,

that I meant to only foster.

It hit me when I used words like “distal” and “proximal,”

to give driving directions to my father.

It hit me when I forgot,

what having a social life means.

It hit me when every study break involved,

the consumption of caffeine.

But it hit the most when I sat down,

to write this submission,

because it was a way of feeling productive,

while procrastinating on my study of nutrition. 

Entry, Creative Corner
Rachael Kearns, North Carolina State University

Liza and Gladys

Untiltled

Adventures through the Anatomy Jungle

Entry, Creative Corner
Sarah Bye & Laura Whitelaw, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine

First year explorers assemble,

Scalpels and forceps in hand

Fearing the worst, we tremble

In the jungle of Anatomy land.

Embarking upon our expedition

The atlas ahead towards the dens,

On our way to becoming clinicians,

We travel with our new friends.

Machetes sculpting a trail

Through muscle, tendon and limb.

Uncharted territory, we unveil,

Where nerves and blood vessels swim

Splenius, scalenus, trapezius, “oh, my!”

New muscles feed curiosity.

Descending pecs and lattissimus dorsi.

Insertion at which tuberosity?

Paddling down the vertebral canal,

And along the spinal cord,

It’s all we can do to keep up morale,

Through foramen unexplored.

Drifting ahead to the thorax,

Lumbar region and beyond,

We stumble upon the Lorax,

And ask him to respond.

“How will we pay off our loans?

It seems like a surmountable hurdle.

And master each of the bones,

From the thoracic to pectoral girdle?”

“Dorsal, ventral, cranial, caudal

Forget your mountain of debt

Learn directions on the skeleton model

And you will become a vet.”

In four short years, the dense forest clears

Revealing new responsibility,

We begin our hard-earned veterinary careers

In a world of possibility.