Last night’s dream featured a multiple choice test, along with people interrupting me every ten seconds to make comments under their breath or to ask a question. Consequently, I couldn’t ever fully read through a question, and had to keep starting each question over. I had about twenty questions left in the last five minutes…grr!

Unfortunately, this scenario isn’t too far from reality. I discovered something very interesting about myself at the beginning of last school year, when I was taking my first Mammalian Physiology exam. There were so many people in the room, and my grasp on the material was fairly tenuous, and I was really nervous… Every. Little. Thing. Distracted me. A person moving their leg, a pencil hitting the table, the clock–any of these would fully remove my attention from the test, and then I would have to start reading through the question all over again.

Here’s a sampling of my thought process:

“Sodium channel blockers inclu… oh god, look at the time. Sodium channel blockers include which… would you shut up? Stop tapping your pencil. Sodium channel… oh, crap, I only have a half hour left. Sodium channel blockers include which… PLEASE stop shaking your leg!”

I remember one question where I knew that both answers B & C were correct, but I couldn’t figure out which one the professor would think was “more” correct. I must have read through that question, literally, 50 times. After I got the test back, I saw, for the first time, that answer E said “Both B & C.”

I went to talk to the professor afterward about my miserable experience, and he was awesome. I mean, really, the guy could not have been more helpful and I will be forever indebted to him for listening to me and nudging me in the right direction.

It turns out that I probably have ADD. I never in a million years would have guessed that about myself, because we (or I, at least) associate ADD with the kids who are “bad” in elementary school–they never sit still, they always get into trouble for talking, that kind of thing. I was just the opposite as a kid. It also turns out that I am also not the first person to discover this about themselves as an adult. And I have to tell you, it explains a lot.

I think about my first miserable college experience, my bazillions of little unfinished projects, my foot shaking habit, my ability to hyperfocus when I’m really interested in something–the pieces start to add up. I decided it wasn’t worth the $400 to get someone to officially label me as having ADD, and instead I am just aware that it’s an issue for me. And when I catch myself doing certain things, I just make a note of it and redirect my attention.

Am I worried that it’s going to get in my way in vet school? Not really. I’ve gotten this far just fine. That is, I’m not consciously worried. Apparently, my subconscious keeps wanting to bring it up when I’m asleep. Pipe down, subconscious, I’m trying to sleep!

Last night I had my first, and hopefully last, of these lovely dreams.

Mine went something like this:

My anatomy lab partner and I went into the lab late one night to work on our dog dissection. For some reason, our dog had been cryogenically frozen while still alive, so when we took her out to dissect her, she started to wake up as she thawed!

Thinking quickly, my lab partner decided to cut her jugular vein, which proceeded to flop around, cartoon-style, like a garden hose on full blast when no one’s holding it. We were both covered in blood. Lovely. But we had a lot to do, so we ignored the blood and worked late into the night.

Lo and behold, our first anatomy exam was the next day. Because I’d been in the lab so late, I didn’t manage to look at the study guide until right before the test. The study guide included an entire year’s worth of material, and I recognized about three words on it. Great.

When I went in to take the test, there were various stations set up, each of which had a note card with a question on it. Instead of writing my answers on my answer sheet, I managed to write all my answers on the cards, for everyone else to see. Really, this dream was not going well.

Fortunately, I was spared further humiliation because I woke up at that point.

Egads. Let’s hope there are no more of these…

Instead, I am in freak out mode. I’m not freaking out about starting vet school, though–I’m freaking out about how much crap I have to do between now and then. Vet school is the furthest thing from my mind.

Here’s a sampling of the list:

• get the house re-roofed
• paint a bedroom, a bathroom, and three pieces of furniture
• attempt to finish off four continuing ed classes (not gonna happen, but I can dream)
• schedule 6 different social outings with people I won’t be seeing much the next four years
• design two websites
• design a headstone for my grandmother’s grave
• buy a baby shower gift
• mend three pairs of the other half’s pants that have been languishing for months
• clean the house, before it gathers four years’ worth of dust
• buy cat food
• and so on and so on…

Even if I weren’t working full time, I don’t think I’d be able to finish it all. As it is, well… *sigh*

Where did my summer go? Can’t we postpone this vet school thing another month?

Just managed to burn through an hour reading old posts.

I laughed, cried, and thought deep thoughts.

Good stuff.

I have very very very mixed feelings about Hill’s. On the one hand, they pour a lot of money into things that genuinely benefit vet students…not to mention the goodies they offer, like the sportin’ Hill’s backpacks and the student lunches and the pens. I love pens.

On the other hand, I don’t like the unholy alliance they seem to have with the nation’s vet schools–teaching nutrition classes, providing free nutrition textbooks authored by Hill’s scientists, etc.

Take this excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article** (note that Hill’s is owned by Colgate-Palmolive):

“I was struck by the similarity of our world-wide toothpaste business, with the endorsement of the dentists being so important,” Mr. Mark says. “I knew if we did the same thing with Hill’s, it could be an enormous global brand.”

So, similar to Colgate’s spadework in dental schools, Hill’s now funds a nutrition professorship in nearly half of the nation’s vet schools. Hill’s employees wrote a widely-used textbook on small-animal nutrition that is distributed for free to students. Hill’s also sends practicing veterinarians to seminars on wringing more profit from clinics and offers the only formal nutrition-certification program for clinic technicians. In a savvy marketing coup now being copied by other pet-food companies, Hill’s each year donates tons of free food for the pets of cash-strapped veterinary students.

There’s just something about that approach that ruffles my feathers. Perhaps, as a non-trad student, I’m just more of a skeptic than my peers, but I don’t like the idea of being bought.

My mistrust of Hill’s goes even further, however. Here I present “Ten Things I Hate About Hill’s,” in no particular order:

1. Subscribing to the idea that kibble = food. Kibble is convenient, to be sure, but it’s not remotely close to natural.

2. Suggesting that eating the same food day in and day out is healthy. If your doctor told you to feed your child the same baked crackers for every meal of his/her entire life, you would think your doctor was nuts. For some reason, not everyone carries over such logic to our pets.

3. Advertising their foods are “complete and balanced.” BS. We learn new things about the body every day, and we will probably never know what constitutes complete and balanced. Not to mention that it’s highly unlikely that any one foodstuff can contain every nutrient the body needs to thrive. Survive, maybe, but not thrive.

4. Claiming their food is high quality. If I can’t eat it myself, I don’t think it’s high quality. Is it organic? Humanely raised? Who knows?

5. Charging a premium (that is, ridiculously high) price for their food, even when it isn’t of the highest quality.

6. Asserting that corn is a good protein. Meat is a good protein. Corn is a cheap substitute. When that approach fails, they sometimes use the “Real meat is the #1 ingredient!” approach. Never mind that ingredients 2 through 7 may be corn derivatives.

7. The previously mentioned unholy alliance with vet schools.

8. Being unable (or unwilling) to source their meat/corn/etc. I like to know exactly where my food comes from. Can they follow their ingredients all the way from the farm to the dinner bowl? I doubt it.

9. Suggesting that a prescription be required for some of their foods. Does a dog with kidney disease really need a prescription for a kidney diet? Would a pet owner really opt to feed Fluffy a urinary food if Fluffy didn’t need it? Seems like a clever marketing idea to me.

10. Who likes carcinogenic preservatives? Ethoxyquin, BHA, BHT… Sure, Monsanto, the very folks who make Ethoxyquin, did a study and found that it’s A-OK to use in pet food. But if it’s not allowed at the same level in human food, it gives me pause…

11. (*Bonus Reason*) This one may no longer be valid, but Colgate-Palmolive has a history of animal testing. How ironic.

Granted, none of these issues is unique to Hill’s. Take #3, for example…making a food “complete and balanced” is something the Ivory Tower teaches us vet students how to do. I just think it’s a misguided notion, because it suggests that feeding a single foodstuff is perfectly healthy.

Also, I should point out that I don’t think Hill’s is the worst thing you can feed your pet by any means. But I certainly don’t believe it’s the best, either. So why do people come out of vet school recommending Hill’s if it isn’t the best? Am I just wrong? Should I really be less concerned about what I feed my pets? Or is something horribly amiss with the way vet schools teach nutrition?

The thing that really eats me is that some classmates who once sided with me in being Hill’s-wary have since rescinded their positions, so as not to rock the boat! Unfathomable! If we don’t question Hill’s involvement with vet schools, who will?

**By Tara Parker-Pope. (1997, November 3). For You, My Pet: Why the Veterinarian Really Recommends That `Designer’ Chow — Colgate Gives Doctors Treats For Plugging Its Brands, And Sees Sales Surge — Offering a Fat-Cat Bounty. Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), p. A1. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from Wall Street Journal. (Document ID: 21688558).

http://www.facebook.com/centerpetpharmacy

The good news, though, is…HOLY COW! THEY LET ME IN!

I’ll be starting at Colorado State in Fall 2010, and then you really will be reading a “vet school blog.”

One of these days , I’ll write a few posts about the application process this go-round.

Until then, however, I invite you to visit the project I am doing in honor of being admitted. I am profoundly grateful for the chance to go to vet school, and this is my way of showing my gratitude:

www.HolyCowProject.org

Nope, it’s about the two different animal encounters I had today in which I felt as though this whole vet school thing was a good choice for me. During which I found myself thinking, “You like me!”

The first occurred while the handsome boyfriend and I were out hiking and came across some Forest Service volunteers with a couple of pack llamas. We got to pet the llamas, and one of the llamas kept leaning his head in toward me to nuzzle. His handler said, “Wow! He really likes you!” That always makes me feel good, when animals like me.

The second occurred when I stopped in at one of the art galleries in town, where one of our clients works. She always brings her two beautiful Afghan hounds to work with her, and I knew one of them was recuperating from a dental and pulled teeth.

Both of the dogs are somewhat reserved at the vet’s office, but here, they were pushing their long noses into my hands and resting their heads on me. Our client remarked, “You just HAVE to be a vet. Look at how much they like you.”

I can only hope she’s right. (And I can only hope they don’t change their tune after I come at them with a stethoscope or syringe…)

If that were the case, then I wouldn’t have to spend the next 36 hours studying biochemistry. Just the next 18.

If only. . .

Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose

Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose

Panda hippo gnu deer!