1 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,560 Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Vet Files today. 2 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,360 Today we are joined by Lauren Cabrera, a veterinary student at 3 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,480 Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,200 with unique and inspiring path to the field. 5 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,160 She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of 6 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,920 Vermont, worked previously as a nurse practitioner and even 7 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:30,520 founded the Humane Society of Siphon Island. 8 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,960 She is a mom of two and a previous yoga instructor. 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,200 She also runs Future Island vet Instagram page. 10 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:38,880 Thank you so much, Lauren, for joining us. 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:42,080 Thanks for having me. We'd love to start off with just 12 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,720 hearing a bit more about your background and your path to 13 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,120 veterinary medicine. What were some important 14 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:49,440 milestones that you went through? 15 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:52,800 Sure. Well I'll start off with I am a 16 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:57,640 non traditional student. So I'm 36 years old and had been 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,040 away from school for a while. Like you mentioned, I went to 18 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,200 University of Vermont. I got my nursing degree and then 19 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:07,240 eventually I became a nurse practitioner. 20 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:09,560 I did a fellowship in New York City for a year. 21 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:14,440 I moved around and eventually was on Guam and worked in the 22 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,960 hospital there and got into animal rescue, which kind of 23 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:20,880 like morphed into me being at vet school. 24 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:24,960 So I guess that I always wanted to be a veterinarian like many 25 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:28,080 of us, but I just took a totally different path. 26 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:33,040 My mom had suggested I get a job where I can just pay for animals 27 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,760 and have them as a hobby instead of making it my whole life. 28 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,560 But I guess that didn't happen because here I am now at that 29 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,320 school. So what was the final decision 30 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:45,080 that you said, OK, I'm going to apply to that school because you 31 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,120 had another job, I'm assuming, and then you started the shelter 32 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,640 and then what? What made you bridge? 33 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,520 Yeah, so I guess, well, what happened? 34 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,200 I was living on Guam. I had my first child, it was the 35 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,120 pandemic. I couldn't find daycare. 36 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,040 So I was like, I will start fostering dogs. 37 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,880 I love fostering dogs. But then I realized nobody 38 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:08,160 wanted the dogs. And so I'm like, am I going to 39 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,160 keep these three puppies for the rest of their life because I 40 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,720 already have dogs? I don't need more. 41 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,320 So I met somebody who was who had flown a dog off island to 42 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,680 somebody stateside. I guess some background I forget 43 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,760 that people aren't like really familiar with Guam and Saipan. 44 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:29,280 Guam is AUS territory, there's about like 150 or 60,000 people 45 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:34,440 and around 60,000 free roaming dogs and one animal shelter, a 46 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,640 couple of private vets and there's a military presence. 47 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,280 It's also very far away, you should look it up on a map if 48 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,320 you haven't. And then Saipan, where I live 49 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,760 now, is part of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is also 50 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,680 part of the US, but very, very far away. 51 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,000 And we have no veterinarian at all. 52 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:57,920 We also have a lot of stray dogs and cats because we have no vet. 53 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,520 So there's been no access to Spay Neater for a long time. 54 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,400 And there's one government shelter there and that's it. 55 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,080 So knowing that, I can kind of tell the story a little better. 56 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,800 Backtracking, I was fostering dogs and didn't know what to do 57 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,280 with them. The option was either like bring 58 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,840 them to the shelter and they would get put down or keep them 59 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,600 forever. But I ended up flying them off 60 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,000 island and founded a rescue called Boonie Flight Project 61 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,080 with my friend. And since then we've flown over 62 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:29,920 700 dogs from Guam and Saipan to the mainland US, which is a lot. 63 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,160 And it's crazy amount of money and work and it we never got 64 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:38,640 paid for it. It was like just kind of our way 65 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:40,600 of getting into animal welfare I guess. 66 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,920 But eventually you're kind of like, cool, I can help like 700 67 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,720 dogs, but there's like 60,000 on Guam and 20,000 on Saipan. 68 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,640 What do I, this isn't actually like doing anything. 69 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,160 So that's when I got involved with the shelter on Guam. 70 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,440 I became their board president and I helped restart a low cost 71 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:01,640 spay neuter clinic that had kind of died there. 72 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,040 And then when I moved to Saipan and I realized there was no vet 73 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,200 and my own dog got sick and died, I was like, this is crazy. 74 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:15,440 And so I kind of was, I got involved with a rescue there, 75 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,959 Boonie Babies, who was doing a spay neuter clinic. 76 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:22,520 And then I just started my own organization, Saipan Humane 77 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,640 Society, which sounds like a shelter, but it's actually a 78 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:27,720 clinic. And our goal was just to support 79 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,600 the government shelter, like help them with euthanasia, help 80 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:32,840 them with adoptions and do spay neuter. 81 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:35,720 But it became quickly apparent that people really wanted care 82 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,240 for their pets. And so now I guess last year we 83 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,440 provided care to over 6000 animals and that's with visiting 84 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:47,120 vets who are volunteering and virtual vets who help us and 85 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,680 protocols we have written up. So I guess at some point I was 86 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,120 just like, do I keep spending all this effort bringing vets 87 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,160 out or do I just become a vet? Because I was already doing a 88 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:06,000 lot of like clinical stuff. And it is frustrating because as 89 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,240 a nurse practitioner, I can prescribe and diagnose and do 90 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:10,800 all this stuff. And I really wanted to learn how 91 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,440 to do spay, neuter and learn a lot more. 92 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:17,000 So I tortured like my mentors and my husband asking them if I 93 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,000 should do it a lot. And finally, I just was like, 94 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,400 I'll apply and see what happens. And now I'm in fed school. 95 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,160 That is my story. That's absolutely incredible. 96 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,760 I. Completely relate, I worked a 97 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,800 lot in animal sanctuary and welfare is one of my biggest 98 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:34,320 things. You should compete in the 99 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,760 welfare judging contest also. Yeah, yes. 100 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:43,200 It's so much fun, you learn so much about other species. 101 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:47,560 But I get it because when you're put in a position and no one can 102 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,560 do anything and you're like, fine, I will. 103 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,000 I will let it be me. Whatever I have to do to let it 104 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,720 be me. But it's also a lot of pressure. 105 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,280 How do you feel like knowing that when you go fresh out of 106 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:03,640 school, you're going to have to go and take this over? 107 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,120 What does mentorship look like for you for this? 108 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:12,200 So I guess already like I was serving in a pretty like 109 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:16,600 interesting role where I will do like wound repairs and like 110 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,600 basic procedures and handle a lot of sick patients and 111 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,000 euthanize pets. So I'm very comfortable with 112 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,280 that and with client communication and we have very 113 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:29,800 limited diagnostics, but I want to get really, really good at 114 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,520 surgery because I will be out there alone doing it. 115 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:36,480 And people seem to have the impression that like when I'm a 116 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,960 vet, they're like, I can't wait till we have a vet so that like 117 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,040 XYZ doesn't happen. And I'm like, you know, that 118 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,240 stuff like actually requires like an X-ray machine and like 119 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:48,160 stuff that we just don't have, right? 120 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,920 Not everything is going to change, but I'll at least be 121 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,120 able to like, do the basic surgeries we need, which is spay 122 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:58,760 neuter, amputations and nucleations and mass removals, 123 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,840 pretty much. So this summer, we have vets 124 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:04,800 coming pretty much the entire summer. 125 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,800 And my goal is to get as much surgery experience as I can with 126 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,880 them and then, you know, chase whatever opportunities I can 127 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,040 during school. And I'm hoping when I graduate 128 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,080 that I will just like be able to bring mentors out to help me 129 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,680 until I'm comfortable enough. It is hard being far away. 130 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,760 But I guess the good thing is we always have a vet on our 131 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,120 schedule there back home at the clinic. 132 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:33,640 And like every day our our staff are seeing sick pets and running 133 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,360 them by the vet virtually. So there is somebody always 134 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,000 there who's happy to video chat and walk you through something 135 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,960 if it's something you've never done or like, you can bounce 136 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:45,560 cases off them. And at the end of the day, with 137 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,920 limited diagnostics, there's only like, you can't, you can't 138 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,120 do everything, you know, There's only so much you can do. 139 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,840 So yeah, that's what mentorship will look like, I guess. 140 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:57,000 Yeah, I think it sounds like all, I don't want to say fun and 141 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,280 games, but it's like, oh, yay, dogs and cats on an island. 142 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:04,040 I want to go live on the island. What are kind of the harder 143 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:04,840 parts of it? I'm sure. 144 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,000 I mean, I if you even have looked at your Instagram page 145 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:09,960 that it gets hard. So do you want to talk a little 146 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,600 bit about that? Sure, there's a lot. 147 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,800 Part of why I didn't go into vet Med originally was I didn't want 148 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,880 to do euthanasia. And so then I ended up helping 149 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,080 out the government shelter and realizing that once there, there 150 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:29,240 was a government vet on the island and he retired and there 151 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,800 was no way to euthanize animals. So they were just like 152 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,480 languishing and dying. So I figured out how to 153 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:39,200 euthanize them without controlled drugs because we 154 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:40,919 could not get controlled drugs at the time. 155 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:43,520 And I taught the staff to euthanize and I've euthanized 156 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,520 like over 1000 dogs and cats, puppies, moms, everything. 157 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:49,840 So that's definitely hard obviously. 158 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:54,720 And also, you know, when people bring a pet in, like say we get 159 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,800 a pyometra, which we can, you know, it's, it's either open or 160 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,160 you can see it because we do have a handheld ultrasound. 161 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,200 And so say we have that and there's a vet coming next week, 162 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:08,360 but the dog has pyometra now. And you're like, well, we can 163 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,720 give you some antibiotics and hope for the best, but your 164 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:13,200 dog's maybe going to die before the vet gets here. 165 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,680 And then the vet gets there and the dog's either dead or too 166 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:17,480 sick for surgery, that kind of stuff. 167 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,280 You know, there's so many things that we could fix if a vet was 168 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,200 there and you just can't doing health certificates. 169 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,080 Most people hate those for travel, but it's really 170 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,080 important where we are. And a vet has to sign those. 171 00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:34,040 So a lot of pets get left behind because there's nobody to do the 172 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,880 health certificate. And then another hard part is 173 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,760 boundaries because it it is a small island. 174 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:44,880 Just my favorite example is on Christmas, I was home for a 175 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:46,800 break and I took my kids to the pool. 176 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,200 My husband was working at the hospital and he got a call from 177 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,000 the emergency room, somebody working in the ER and they were 178 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,200 like, Hey, can you, can you hear wife come look at this Drake 179 00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,560 cat. And he was like, what's wrong 180 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:01,480 with you? It's Christmas, like, goodbye. 181 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,760 And that kind of thing has happened quite a few times on 182 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,400 holidays. And then just like any day over 183 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:10,560 winter break, it was like, oh, Laurens home. 184 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:14,440 Like, let's start bothering her personal number and husband and 185 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,720 everything to see if she can come help our pet at midnight. 186 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:20,840 So that is hard. And I think the other hard thing 187 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,000 is, and another reason I didn't want to go into vet Med 188 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,920 originally is cost of care and denying access to care because 189 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:30,360 somebody couldn't afford it. That just didn't sit well with 190 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,160 me. And one of my one of the 191 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,560 volunteers at clinic shared a story the other day where the 192 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:40,280 clinic, we were charging like $10.00 for like vaccines and 193 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:44,240 flea and tick meds or something and they only had $5 and 194 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,640 somebody in the waiting room paid the other $5. 195 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:53,240 And it's like the fact that people cannot afford $10 is 196 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,200 challenging because in reality, things cost the clinic a lot 197 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,160 more than $10 to provide. And the community doesn't always 198 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,800 see that just keeping the clinic alone is hard. 199 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,720 Open is hard. And so like, how do you fund a 200 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,760 clinic in an area that doesn't have much money to keep it 201 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:12,040 going? And how do you elevate the, 202 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:16,160 like, quality of care? Some people, maybe like a 203 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:18,480 handful of people want an X-ray machine. 204 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:20,400 How do you pay for that? That kind of thing. 205 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,680 So there's a lot of challenges. It's also very far. 206 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,840 What are your like main challenges because I have a big 207 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:29,640 interest in practice, ownership and the business side of it all. 208 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,200 Where is your main funding coming from? 209 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,160 Is it all donation based? And how do you get those 210 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,320 donations? Is it just social media at this 211 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,040 point and saying, hey, here's my what I'm doing, here's our 212 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:42,560 mission, here's how you can help. 213 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:46,200 I don't know what else to do. Yeah, pretty much as a as a 214 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,800 nonprofit do well when we first started scrounged around looking 215 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,640 for people to help us a lot. And there are a lot of grant 216 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,120 making organizations across the country. 217 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,560 The challenge is pretty much none of them want to help the 218 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,640 territory or Commonwealth of the US And so I would see these 219 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:07,840 organizations doing really great things and just get denied by 220 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,160 them. I used to e-mail like some very 221 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,560 popular ones every month, like on a schedule and they're the 222 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:17,600 one of them was like, oh, sorry, we don't help territories. 223 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,160 And I was like, but you're in Puerto Rico. 224 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,080 So and they're like, oh, but that's invite only. 225 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,320 And then I'm like, how do you get invited? 226 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,480 And then they would just not answer. 227 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:29,240 And then the next month I would do the same thing. 228 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,520 And eventually, thank God, Banfield Foundation ended up 229 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,760 being the organization that's like saved us all. 230 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,240 Without them, we probably wouldn't exist. 231 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,600 Still, honestly, it was just way too difficult to make it make 232 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:44,680 sense. So they provide us with a lot of 233 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:48,400 in kind supplies and they helped us actually get our clinic space 234 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,520 because when we first opened and like accidentally became your 235 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:56,400 neighborhood pet clinic, we were basically in a closet at the 236 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,600 government shelter and our waiting room was outside on a 237 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,120 porch. And there'd be like 20-30 people 238 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:06,160 out there with their animals in the heat and humidity for hours. 239 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,040 And we would run out of space in our closet. 240 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,280 I have like 2 sedated dogs on the floor in the hallway. 241 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,520 And like, it was just very chaotic. 242 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:18,040 So now we have a space. But yeah, most of our funding, a 243 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,920 lot of in kind stuff from Banfield Foundation. 244 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,560 And then yeah, social media. I'm lucky enough to have a big 245 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:27,840 social media presence on Boonie Flight Project and I used to 246 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:31,680 fundraise hard to ship dogs off island and I've kind of shifted 247 00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:35,280 that to clinic. But it's harder to fundraise for 248 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,600 the clinic because people get really invested in stories of 249 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,440 individual dogs that we're like saving from the shelter and 250 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,400 flying somewhere and being like, hey, can you help? 251 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:48,080 Our clinic is not as interesting to donate to, so that's been a 252 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,640 challenge. But yeah, really hard because I 253 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:56,400 feel like in vet Med there are a lot of things that we cannot 254 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,800 share. Like if it's a complaint, we 255 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,280 cannot share. McCann and I talk about this all 256 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,200 the time because we would love to show more on our social 257 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,680 media, but as you know, we're all first year veterinary 258 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:09,760 students. We really cannot show them what 259 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:11,280 we're doing the majority of the time. 260 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,520 Besides, you can watch me study for a million hours. 261 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,880 Exactly. I think that's one of the things 262 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:19,960 we're really lucky with back home. 263 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,440 We have like incorporated into our release when people come 264 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,120 into clinic that like you, your pet might end up on social 265 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:28,800 media. And that's just part of the 266 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,760 deal. And nobody seems to have problem 267 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,640 with it because in reality, it's like their pet on social media 268 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,040 that is making their pet scare possible. 269 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,640 It's a free for all when I'm home and adapting to it not 270 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,240 being a free for all here has been weird because I'm just used 271 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,680 to like walking around and showing everything. 272 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,920 Like you're look at this shelter full of sad puppies and look at 273 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,120 this clinic and look at this dog with its leg hanging off and 274 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,080 this is my life. So here it's there's nothing to 275 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,720 show, just my dog. And I know it's going to find 276 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:04,160 one of the hardest things about running a social media account 277 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:08,040 when you can't take pictures or when we did national PVMA and 278 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,120 you don't really have like a meeting space, what is there to 279 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:12,760 take pictures of where? Asynchronous. 280 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,800 It's a national organization and there's one meeting a year. 281 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,200 How am I going to make content and get people interested 282 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:21,000 without just putting blocks of text? 283 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,880 And I think about it a lot and I'm not like funny. 284 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,600 I can make a quick little joke and make a little tick tock and 285 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,440 go viral. I don't have clients to put on 286 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:31,360 there. It's just been interesting. 287 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,320 I do a lot of externships. LSU incorporated them into their 288 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,640 semesters, so we do 2 weeks every semester and even on my 289 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,080 Christmas break, on my spring break, I'm doing externships 290 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,760 because I've said it before, but all my experiences in necropsy 291 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,000 and production animal. So I'm trying to play catch up 292 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,240 here. Anyway, it's always interesting 293 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,320 to me the different ways of going about it. 294 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:53,160 For the most part, I just can't take pictures. 295 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,080 Or if I take a picture they say don't post it or da da da. 296 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:58,600 I don't know. I feel like when I'm in bed, I'm 297 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,080 like, I'm taking pictures. Like I want to be able to share 298 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:04,760 our profession and I think the schools, it's harder because 299 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:06,720 they're bigger entities and I talk about it all the time. 300 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,600 It's just interesting to me because the general public 301 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,560 doesn't understand And they say, well, we don't put anything out 302 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:14,280 because the public doesn't understand. 303 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:15,720 And they get upset. Well, how are they ever going to 304 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,560 understand if we don't educate? How else are they going to learn 305 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,200 this? That's the way I look at it. 306 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,480 And so they, I'm on an externship right now and the 307 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:24,640 doctors like take a picture of this. 308 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,360 And I said like. Here and then. 309 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,960 Life being able I'm the only person in that Med, I'm not the 310 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:35,600 only person with animals in my life, but being able to share it 311 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,760 even once after it's happened, regardless of social media, just 312 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,160 taking the picture and saying look at this like this is what 313 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,040 I'm doing. This is what this means because 314 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,720 people will sit and ask and they're confused or I mean, how, 315 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:49,600 how do they know if they don't see it? 316 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,640 And so I think it's really good to talk about it and raise 317 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:54,520 awareness for the shelters the way that you do. 318 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,000 Or not shelters, but shelter medicine, if you will, and stray 319 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,080 dogs. And why do we spay and neuter? 320 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,000 Why do we euthanize so many shelter animals? 321 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:04,960 People don't get it. How are they going to get it if 322 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,839 they don't see it? So I love to see the education 323 00:17:08,839 --> 00:17:10,760 part of what you do. Definitely. 324 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,800 And it's become like over the years of like throwing stuff on 325 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:18,240 social media by like thing has always been, I'm just going to 326 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,760 tell it like it is and you can get mad at me and go off like it 327 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:23,280 just boosts the algorithm. That's fine. 328 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:28,600 So people get mad a lot. But over the years, the things 329 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,920 that I have been preaching have locally like improved things a 330 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:33,880 lot. Like one thing I was preaching 331 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,240 spay abortions. Why are we having more puppies 332 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,120 when we're putting down puppies at the shelter? 333 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,120 Get an abortion if you can, or feeding stray dogs. 334 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,000 Don't feed them. It gives them resources to 335 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:45,840 procreate. And then we have more puppies 336 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:47,400 and guess what? They're all going to die on the 337 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,600 street and nobody likes dead puppies. 338 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,880 So, and now like on Facebook, I'll see rescue groups that are 339 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,840 like, you know, some random person will be like, can you 340 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,960 help me feed this dog? And all the rescue groups will 341 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,600 go in and be like, no, only feed it if you're bringing it to get 342 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,560 spayed. And it's really cool to see that 343 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:09,160 like culture change over time because there was there was a 344 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,720 pack of dogs of like 50 dogs on Guam because they were on a 345 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,600 feeding schedule for two years and it did not start with 50 346 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,720 dogs. So yeah, that's interesting. 347 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:19,960 It's interesting to figure out what to post though, cuz I am 348 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,560 also not that in real life. I'm like kind of maybe a little 349 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:28,040 funny, but mostly because I just am in a funny, I guess. 350 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:31,200 Like the way I exist in life. It's not like I'm trying to be. 351 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:35,720 I just do dumb things a lot, but I can't like become a witty 352 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:39,800 person and make like silly things on on social media well. 353 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,800 Well, I really like your niche, though. 354 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,080 I don't think you need to be going out and doing what 355 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,680 everyone else is doing. Like a lot of the times. 356 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,760 I think it's important for people to have a space where 357 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,800 they learn because whether or not they like it, people are 358 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,720 going to be making decisions that affect our profession. 359 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,080 And so I think the more you're able to talk about this in a 360 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,640 comfortable way. Like the other day we had a 361 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:10,520 lecture on slaughter and some people had never heard about the 362 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,720 process before at all. And I had a welfare judging 363 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:18,920 contest and we had to judge slaughterhouses. 364 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,240 And it is. It's hard to stomach the first 365 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,800 time you hear about it, but then the more you inform yourself, 366 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:29,320 you're like, OK, I understand the repercussions. 367 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:34,320 It's like Keating keeping a breeding population around when 368 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:37,760 that same amount of effort could go into trapping them. 369 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,160 And guess what? You save so many resources. 370 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:42,280 That's how I like to think of it. 371 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,160 There are only so many resources in the world and there's only so 372 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,960 much time. Like we need to be using it 373 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:50,440 efficiently. And that's what your whole page 374 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,520 is trying to do. And I think it's doing an 375 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:55,600 amazing job. At least I know a lot of people 376 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,320 who have learned a lot from you. That's always good to hear. 377 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,680 And sometimes I wonder, like, what do I put out in it? 378 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,280 I just kind of like wake up one day and I'm like, OK, I guess 379 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:06,400 I'm going to write about this because I'm thinking about it. 380 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,120 But it is interesting to like hear and see that it has 381 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,160 impacted people or made them interested in like if we have a 382 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,560 few people coming to Saipan who like heard of it through social 383 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:19,120 media and just like kind of inspires people to work in more 384 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:22,760 underserved areas, help change perspectives on euthanasia and 385 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,280 all that stuff. I'd love to hear more about. 386 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,240 So my friend is a medical student and I told Mikaelin 387 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,720 about this the other day. She had never heard of One 388 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,200 Health before and that was shocking to me. 389 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:40,280 Could you go more into that with your life as a nurse 390 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,440 practitioner and why you left and maybe how One Health 391 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,120 compares to what you're doing now? 392 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:48,760 I liked my life as a nurse practitioner. 393 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,520 Honestly, it was like a cushy job. 394 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,000 I mean, I would work two weeks straight, but then I would get 2 395 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,440 weeks off. At my, my like last NP job, I 396 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,240 was a hospitalist. So basically I was just like the 397 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,680 primary provider for patients who were admitted to the 398 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,440 hospital. You'd get admitted. 399 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,720 You'd either be assigned to a physician or to one of the NPS. 400 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:12,040 Usually they were like lower acuity patients, but sometimes 401 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:14,800 the lower acuity patients become high acuity patients. 402 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,880 And you always, I always, always had a physician to back me up 403 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,720 and bounce things off of. But it was pretty autonomous, 404 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,840 which was nice. And it was all internal Med, 405 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:27,320 which I love. It's just detective work and 406 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,720 trying to rope in all the specialists and get everyone on 407 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,520 the same page. But my real specialty before I 408 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:37,600 was a hospitalist was palliative care, end of life care, pain 409 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:41,360 management for cancer patients. And that was hard work and a lot 410 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:44,400 of like difficult conversations with people, but also very 411 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:46,400 rewarding. And I would have just dated a 412 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:50,200 nurse practitioner forever, except for kind of when I went 413 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:51,840 into maternity on maternity leave. 414 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,960 Everything just changed. And I was going to, I had a job 415 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,480 lined up at the hospital on Saipan when we were moving 416 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,200 there. And I was like, hey, husband, 417 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:05,480 what if I just, like, enjoy the kids and, you know, volunteer a 418 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:08,160 little and just enjoy my life for a minute? 419 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:09,640 And he was like, yeah, that's fine. 420 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,760 And so that just kind of like, snowballed, obviously. 421 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,000 But yeah, during my time as a nurse practitioner, one house 422 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,440 did not come up much and definitely not in palliative 423 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,200 care. But you know, now in my my 424 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,520 actual job where I work now, I work for the government back 425 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:32,080 home, we don't have a vet, you know, like state vet type of 426 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,240 thing. So I fill that role with a vet 427 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,400 on Guam who mentors me. And so I am in charge of the 428 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,680 regulatory stuff. So that's like, you know, 429 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,560 zoonotic disease prevention and management detection, 430 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,160 surveillance with with nothing because we don't have things to 431 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,200 do stuff with. And then, you know, like 432 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,760 elaborating with public health, like when avian influenza before 433 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,480 I left, we had like a big, what's it called, like tabletop 434 00:22:56,480 --> 00:23:00,640 exercise with public health and at the epidemiologist and my 435 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,680 animal health team and all the players who would be involved. 436 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,760 It's interesting that I feel like one health is definitely 437 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:13,840 not as talked about in human Med and I don't know why that is, 438 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:18,560 but as like from the vet Med side, you can clearly see where 439 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:22,000 like animal disease impacts humans, but you just don't see 440 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,400 it as clearly from the human Med side. 441 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,160 Or maybe you're like so narrow in your specialty that you're 442 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,560 like, yeah, other people deal with that comparing. 443 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,520 Vet Med and human medicine, it's so similar but so different. 444 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,600 Like when you look at school and that's all different 445 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,600 conversation. But I think it's interesting at 446 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:42,320 a conversation today about why do we feel as vets that we're 447 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:46,960 responsible to save every single animal that we can or should or 448 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:49,840 blah, blah, blah. People will private practice 449 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:54,080 that business owners will go broke trying to provide and save 450 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,160 and save and save and save for people who don't or aren't able 451 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,360 to pay their own bills. And why are we the bank? 452 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:03,200 Why are we, I think there's been a little bit of a shift here 453 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,280 recently to that's kind of standing up for themselves and 454 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,840 saying we're not a bank. You need to pay before we do 455 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:12,280 anything or before you leave. But point is, there's people who 456 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,920 still do. Why are we expected to not 457 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:16,960 charge anybody? I know insurance gets involved 458 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,400 and that's the whole conversation. 459 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,600 But when you talk to anybody about human medicine, nobody's 460 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,280 expected. We're not expecting MD's to go 461 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,640 work at the homeless shelters and volunteer their days off to 462 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:31,640 do low cost blah blah blah blah. Why are events expected to do 463 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,720 that? And I can't imagine being the 464 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:38,920 only vet and getting all of those, the different things 465 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,360 you're expected to save every single animal, to do every 466 00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:45,320 single job on the entire island. There's not somebody you can 467 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,240 refer to. It's just crazy. 468 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,400 I mean, what do you think we could do either as a profession 469 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,080 or general public to kind of shift the narrative to like, 470 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,320 because I feel like you're good with boundaries or at least 471 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,200 better than I am and a lot of other people are. 472 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,240 How do we start shifting it to say we are not responsible? 473 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,200 We we should have the knowledge and the know how to fix any 474 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,280 animal that comes in the door and do what we can do, but we 475 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,320 are not personally responsible for saving every single animal's 476 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,200 life on the planet, if that makes sense. 477 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:17,640 Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. 478 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,640 And that's something I definitely deal with every day. 479 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,360 When you work in the hospital, someone else handles staffing, 480 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:26,200 someone else handles billing. That was part of why I went into 481 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,320 human Med too. I was like, oh, I can go to work 482 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,000 and then leave and I'm off for a few days or weeks or whatever, 483 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,040 you know, and somebody else will come in and they take care of 484 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,520 the patient. So it's like much less burden, 485 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:43,440 but in Vetmed, especially where I am, it's just me. 486 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:48,160 So boundaries are really hard, I think kind of a way to what I've 487 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,760 been trying to do. And for recent, I mean, it feels 488 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,080 like we don't get anywhere in setting boundaries a lot of the 489 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:56,320 time. They're constantly crossed. 490 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,000 But recently I was talking to a professor here who is like, just 491 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:03,080 keep doing it and eventually it will make a bigger impact. 492 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,040 I promise. You just have to you feel like 493 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,880 you're saying the same thing over and over. 494 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:11,240 But trying to humanize us is what I've done a lot. 495 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:14,920 I'm like, hey, clinic is closed because we don't have staff. 496 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,120 Or like, hey, clinic is closed because our staff just worked 80 497 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:22,960 hours doing a spay neuter clinic and they need to recover and, 498 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,880 you know, breakdown everything and set up everything and we 499 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:32,280 can't be available 24/7. Or hey, don't bother me and my 500 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:37,120 personal number because I'm also a mom and Saipan Humane Society 501 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:38,840 isn't even my job. I just like help. 502 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,960 So I don't know, talking about what you do. 503 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:46,760 I think that I think the public kind of thinks sometimes that 504 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,080 like a vet is just a vet and you can't be like anything else. 505 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,360 But you can be a vet and a mom and have other jobs and have 506 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:56,560 other responsibilities and want to have a life and that should 507 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:59,880 be OK. So trying to humanize it more 508 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:02,960 and, you know, sharing that on social media too, because that's 509 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,880 where a lot of people get their information now I think helps. 510 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,200 But you'll always have angry people about it. 511 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:09,880 I love. That you're talking about 512 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,400 humanizing it. I think for you especially, I'm 513 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,960 so glad that you share that more personal part of your life 514 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,240 because not only are you so dedicated to be the only 515 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:25,640 veterinarian on the island one day, you're also, what, 20 hours 516 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,080 away from your family? Yeah. 517 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:33,560 And that significant, it's far, it's like 2626 now. 518 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,880 Wow. It's crazy. 519 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:41,160 Do you ever get comments about you being a mother who's away? 520 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,640 Because I feel people would attack that. 521 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,200 And that's not fair because if you showed a man doing the same 522 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,080 thing, I doubt he would receive the same kind of comments. 523 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,960 Yeah. I did get so so back home. 524 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,120 It's like pretty, it's not abnormal for somebody to go away 525 00:27:56,120 --> 00:27:59,320 and go to school, even if it's a mom or whatever. 526 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,240 Like if you want an advanced degree, you have to leave. 527 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:06,520 And I was pretty well supported judge and, you know, guilt 528 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,080 myself more than anybody else has except for one person. 529 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,640 I don't even know who it is. But there was one person who was 530 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,920 like really hunting me down on social media, telling me how 531 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,040 horrible I was of a mother and stuff. 532 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:22,600 And I was just like, whatever, loser get with the times. 533 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,040 But the other interesting thing is we've never had a female vet. 534 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:31,440 We did have a private vet once. He retired a while ago and then 535 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:33,160 the government vet on both were men. 536 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:37,600 So being the first female vet is kind of cool too. 537 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,640 But yeah, I'm surprised, honestly, that I haven't gotten 538 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,760 more hate for leaving my kids. But they have. 539 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,120 I mean, if I brought them here, their life would not be as fun. 540 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,360 I've gotten so many videos of them in the yard the last two 541 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,000 days, like jumping on this huge bouncy house and running down 542 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,520 the slide and jumping into a little kiddie pool and then 543 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,920 running up the slide. And I mean, they have a pretty 544 00:28:57,920 --> 00:28:59,680 good life. Childcare is much more 545 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,680 affordable back home. I don't, I don't doubt that at 546 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:06,800 all. I would think even even when I 547 00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,720 am like around my family, I should say, just so the public 548 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,360 knows, when you're a vet student, it's hard to be present 549 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,920 no matter where you are. It's incredibly hard to be 550 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:21,240 present even when I'm at an event and I do try to like turn 551 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,280 it on and turn it back off like, oh, this is my time to actually 552 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,520 enjoy and take a break. But there's always more you 553 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,000 could be doing. So being able to separate that. 554 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,960 So I think people with families we were talking about, we're 555 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,880 like, we don't know how anyone does it if they have a million 556 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,760 responsibilities sitting in front of them, because those 557 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:39,760 thoughts are always at the back of. 558 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:41,800 Your mind, unfortunately. Definitely. 559 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,640 I don't know how people do it, but like, major kudos to them. 560 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,520 I maybe not have made it through my first semester if my family 561 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,880 was here. But the kind of beautiful thing 562 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,600 is because before I left for vet school, I was doing my prereqs 563 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,720 online. I did a shelter Med master's 564 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,880 degree online and I was, you know, working and helping at the 565 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,040 clinic and I had my kids. So I was just like spread thin 566 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,000 all the time. And then like when I went home 567 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,360 over a winter break, I was like, I'm not doing anything. 568 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,920 I'm just hanging out with my kids and my family and is kind 569 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:19,320 of nice to like, I, I, I'm hard on myself and want to like, be 570 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:21,040 always doing something productive, right. 571 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,520 But after working so hard all semester, I'm like, I'm taking a 572 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:26,120 break. And it's the first break I 573 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,120 realized that I've had. I don't even know, like it's 574 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,040 been years and years and years. So you kind of earn that. 575 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,240 And then you get like more quality time with your kids 576 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,800 instead of quantity. So that makes me feel better 577 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:38,600 too. But yeah, yeah. 578 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,760 Definitely, Yeah. I feel people don't talk about 579 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:43,840 that enough. That's a good point, Gretel. 580 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,800 I was trying to explain this to somebody the other day because 581 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,920 they said, Oh my goodness, you feel like, or you're acting like 582 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,200 yourself again because I'm on this externship and I'm not 583 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:55,040 worried about. I mean, school's still there. 584 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,040 I still have classes, don't get me wrong, but there's not a big 585 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,440 exam coming up. It's like clinical skills and 586 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,160 whatnot, things that are hard to study for. 587 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,320 So I mean, they told me, they said, wow, you're back to 588 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,080 yourself, at least better than you were. 589 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,880 I thought maybe that's going to change to you and you're just 590 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,320 boring now. And I was like, no, I'm not 591 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,440 boring. I'm just always, even when I'm 592 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,400 with somebody and I'm doing something like doing something 593 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,440 fun and I'm out, I don't purposely do it. 594 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:21,840 It's just in the back. And it First off, you're 595 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,480 drained. You're drained from school and 596 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,040 you try to go have fun and say I'm taking some me time. 597 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,440 I'm not going to think about school and you go there, but 598 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:31,200 you're so drained. And then in the back of your 599 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,360 head, you don't realize it, but it's like that invisible, like 600 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:36,680 there's something I can be doing right now. 601 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:41,280 It isn't ever, ever, ever done. I'd never take a day off from 602 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,160 studying. I take hours off of studying. 603 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,840 But if I took days off from studying, me personally, I'm not 604 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,360 saying it's impossible. Me personally, happy family 605 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,880 because weekends are my study time and weekdays I've got like 606 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:58,040 extracurriculars and parts off job and like and so yeah, people 607 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:02,320 will talk about that. And what have you found, what 608 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,160 have you learned about yourself during that school that has kind 609 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,720 of surprised you? Well, I've learned that I'm very 610 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,880 disorganized and I did not realize that before because so 611 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,640 many people I think helped me stay organized or they would 612 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,920 just be like, oh, Lauren, like and also I was so productive. 613 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:20,960 Like I was very disorganized, but I would get a lot done. 614 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,520 Like I forgot this and that, but I wrote a lot today, like here, 615 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:29,080 look at this like so it was kind of like I could function. 616 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:35,000 I had a lot of help. Here is just me and so I have 617 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,360 struggled to stay organized for sure. 618 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,600 And also like, I don't know, when I first came to vet school, 619 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,560 I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm like I'm state side. 620 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:45,760 I haven't been here for a while. I want to go like work with 621 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:47,440 horses again and do this and that. 622 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,360 I learned that I can't do that during vet school. 623 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:55,160 I have to just study and, you know, I really need to just 624 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,560 study and I work online and it's flexible, but I'm not the 625 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,320 strongest student. So I have to try like, very, 626 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,240 very hard. And I have some amazing friends 627 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:07,920 who help keep me organized and also like, teach me things when 628 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:09,600 I'm lost. But yeah, they'll, they'll 629 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:13,080 remind me like multiple times, like don't forget this quiz 630 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,120 that's due or don't forget this or. 631 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:17,880 And that helps a lot. I think that was the biggest 632 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,040 thing I learned was that I'm a mess. 633 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,760 Yeah. Yeah, I don't think you're a 634 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:24,960 mess. I don't think. 635 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:31,160 I don't know, I get by for sure, but it's it's a little chaotic. 636 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:35,600 I'm very type BI also learned that I'm not like I am 36. 637 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:39,600 I don't feel 36 like my my best friends at school are all like 638 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,520 21 to 26 I think. And then there's one other old 639 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:49,000 person who's 36 also. But like it does, I don't think 640 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,280 age matters in vet school. I've had a lot of fun just with 641 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:54,440 my friends of all ages. And I was kind of worried about 642 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,640 that before I started. Like I, I envisioned me at vet 643 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:02,840 school being like me alone, studying and like not talking to 644 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,800 anybody. And it's very much not that, but 645 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,880 I do study a lot. I'm not alone a lot. 646 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:12,080 Yeah, the age thing came up two episodes ago. 647 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:15,600 We put something out about cap years and people get really 648 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:17,639 scared going in. I see it all the time in the 649 00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:19,760 PPMA group chat. I don't know, like it. 650 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,159 Should I switch careers or from vet tech? 651 00:34:22,159 --> 00:34:23,639 I've been a vet tech for X number of years. 652 00:34:23,639 --> 00:34:27,719 I want to go into it and from a 21 year old's point of view, I 653 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,040 don't care. I have not personally met 654 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,000 somebody who's ever cared or we don't even know. 655 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,920 We talked about it on the last episode, but somebody tells me 656 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,199 their age. I'm like, really, everybody here 657 00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:40,120 is not my age and they do the same thing. 658 00:34:40,159 --> 00:34:44,080 Everybody here is not my age. And so when you're older or, you 659 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,360 know, not a traditional student, there's so many of us. 660 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:51,560 I just, it really is not anything to be ashamed of, 661 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,040 scared of socially even. I mean, my best friend is 10 662 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,080 years older than me. It doesn't make a difference to 663 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:00,160 anybody that I've ever talked to. 664 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:02,920 It's so true. Yeah. 665 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:06,800 I could literally be like some of my best friend's moms, but 666 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:08,720 I'm not, obviously. They're just my best friends. 667 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,360 And I remember like when I first started that school, you know, 668 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,760 you're like making small talk with everybody, trying to like, 669 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,480 find friends. And the most common question was 670 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:17,840 like, oh, where did you go to undergrad? 671 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,160 I'm like undergrad, that was like a million years ago. 672 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:26,120 I don't remember, like I went to University of Vermont 15 years 673 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:30,440 ago and they're like, what? But yeah, gap years, Gap years 674 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:33,160 are a blessing in disguise. I know people are like so afraid 675 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,600 of them, but I had a lot of them, obviously. 676 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:40,200 And, and I think younger people also feel like maybe they have 677 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,720 put themselves on this timeline and they need to like get into 678 00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:45,840 vet school, become a vet and do the thing. 679 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:49,040 But if you have a gap, you're like, go do something crazy. 680 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,800 It's really cheap to once you get into like a different 681 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,240 country in Southeast Asia or somewhere, it's really cheap to 682 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:58,400 exist for a long time. So just like go live your life 683 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,360 because once you graduate, you're gonna have loans and jobs 684 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,480 and it becomes a lot harder to do crazy things once you have a 685 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,680 job and loans, bills. So use those gap years to your 686 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,320 advantage for sure. I completely agree. 687 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,760 There's really no timeline. Like once we think about the 688 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:18,320 real world, some of my classmates like lived in 689 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,600 Switzerland for a few years before and then met their 690 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,760 partner in London and traveled the world. 691 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:30,080 And I'm like, that's such a better start before sitting down 692 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,640 and really figuring it out because Michaela and I both went 693 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,720 straight into school. We know nothing else. 694 00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:39,200 And I look at my friends traveling around the world. 695 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,240 I'm like here's my view of the library. 696 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:46,960 Yeah, it's definitely a different life. 697 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,080 A. Different life, that's for sure. 698 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:56,520 And I have the realization recently that I've never had a 699 00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,880 full time job. I've had tons of part time jobs, 700 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:03,360 but that kind of came to my realization in the past few 701 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,360 months and I said it must be so nice. 702 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,600 Of course you have family and you have other responsibilities, 703 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,800 but as far as work itself, it's not like school where you get 704 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,920 home and there is so much to do depending on your job. 705 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,360 You get home and yeah, there's always something to do and you 706 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,760 can work on your business and do all of these things at home, but 707 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,680 for the most part you get home and you can be done that day. 708 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,760 You can do it tomorrow for school. 709 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:30,400 I feel like it's never ending from the time I wake up to the 710 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,520 time I go to bed. I can take breaks but like it is 711 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,560 not done. I said I haven't had a full time 712 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:36,640 job. I don't know what that feels 713 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:38,680 like. That must feel crazy to go to 714 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:43,000 work, come home, focus on family or do something else and then 715 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:44,840 start again tomorrow. Hey, it can wait till tomorrow. 716 00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:46,480 Nothing. It feels like nothing in that 717 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,200 school can wait till tomorrow. Because if you wait till 718 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:50,600 tomorrow then you're behind. You're already behind. 719 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,440 I don't want to say nobody. I'm so jealous of the people who 720 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:57,160 can go into class and just absorb and then go home and do 721 00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:59,640 active recall only. I have to like review active 722 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,840 recall and then memorize. Memorize to me is a whole 723 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:04,280 different ball game than just reviewing. 724 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:07,520 I can review, but by the amount of time it takes me to review, 725 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:10,080 then the exams coming up and I have to start memorizing and 726 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:14,520 then I have no energy or mental capacity left to memorized. 727 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:18,200 And another thing, I saw a video recently and I said, Oh my gosh, 728 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,200 I thought I was the only person memory loss. 729 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:21,640 Is anybody else talking about this? 730 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:24,080 Like I don't remember anything anymore. 731 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,280 And you always used to be the person in my family. 732 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:28,920 Hey, Michaela, what happened in, you know, 2015? 733 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:30,640 What was that one little thing? I always knew it. 734 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,480 I have such a good memory but your brain, it's like trying to 735 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,240 over stuff a suitcase like it's so full and you're stopping 736 00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:40,200 something something and something's got to pop out like 737 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,800 something's got to be let go. And so I found myself kind of 738 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,200 falling behind more on like I talked to my friends and they're 739 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,200 like you don't remember when we did this last year and I'm like 740 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,400 that didn't happen and you got me. 741 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,880 And also I don't believe you but it's just been crazy. 742 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:55,840 I don't know if y'all gotten that either. 743 00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:58,160 Big time. I forget everything, Yeah. 744 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,440 I don't remember. Sometimes it's like certain 745 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:05,640 words for basic things. It's like, or it'll be like a 746 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,560 trip we took years ago and I'm like, oh gosh, I really don't 747 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:12,360 remember that and that wasn't that long ago. 748 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:14,840 It feels a little concerning sometimes, but I. 749 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:17,440 Just. Overload it. 750 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,800 I like the suitcase analogy. Yeah that is a great one. 751 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,840 I'm currently like trying to sit on the suitcase and squish it 752 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:28,000 all together is how I feel. Lane's broken. 753 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,320 The suitcase is broken and it's. Not suitcase is broken, yeah. 754 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,400 I'm bouncing on the suitcase trying to get it to close. 755 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,240 Yes. Yeah, I feel like that's a good 756 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:39,520 analogy. That's the way that I think 757 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:40,440 about it. You know, you stuff the 758 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:42,520 suitcase, full information, information, information. 759 00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:45,400 Something's got to come out. And then memorizing it feels 760 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:48,120 like you're like pressing it down and trying to compress it 761 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,760 and like take out only and leave only the important stuff that 762 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,360 you don't remember. Try to zip it. 763 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:54,280 The zipping never happens for me in vet school. 764 00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:58,800 That's I am never like fully prepared for an exam ever. 765 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:00,920 Just. You can't be. 766 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,480 I just go in and I say, I hope I can clinically reason my way out 767 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:06,840 of this, but my clinical reason doesn't seem to be that good. 768 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,040 We have a class that there's not really, I don't want to say 769 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,360 there's no memorizing, but it's, you know, evidence based 770 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,120 veterinary medicine and it's essentially they'll say, here's 771 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:16,840 a case and they'll ask a question. 772 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,800 They're not asking us to diagnose this first years, but 773 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:20,760 they'll ask a question about the case. 774 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:24,320 What does this mean or what does this part indicate or things 775 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,840 that you talked about in class? But you have to do a lot of 776 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:28,840 clinical reasoning. It feels like I'm a vet and then 777 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:30,760 I suck at it and then I do battle on the test. 778 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:34,000 I'm like, I'm going to be such a bad get when I grow up. 779 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,680 It's just first year. First years, like kind of like 780 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:42,560 partly hazing, I feel like it's just a lot of like you're not 781 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:45,360 going to feel great about yourself, but that's just part 782 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:46,960 of the process. Get used to it. 783 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:51,640 So hang in there. The suitcase analogy reminded me 784 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:57,640 also that my suitcase did break recently and I need to get the 785 00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:02,640 airline to reimburse me for it. So thanks for that. 786 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:08,240 A good reminder, yeah. On a different note, still 787 00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:13,000 talking about vet school and it being overwhelming, what I 788 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,480 always thought. So I had a few options for 789 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,640 veterinary school and I really almost picked one that was going 790 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:21,680 to be way more money because it was so, so beautiful. 791 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:25,000 And then the vet I was working for talked to me and she's like, 792 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,120 hey, you know, in the real world, we don't have these 793 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,960 glitzy machines. We don't have these options. 794 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,400 You're going to have to be a doctor with next to nothing. 795 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:38,640 How do you feel learning all these things in veterinary 796 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:42,240 school and knowing what you have to go back home to versus the 797 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,440 rest of the class? I'm not sure because McAllen, 798 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,960 like you were saying, we've never had a full time job. 799 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:51,400 I'm not sure if they're aware of what spectrum of care they'll 800 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:53,240 really be able to have access to. 801 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:57,880 Yeah, that's a good question. I feel fortunate that I have 802 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:01,880 worked, you know, on Saipan and, and started the clinic and I 803 00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:06,520 know what it's like to work in a very, very under resourced area. 804 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:09,640 But I also know what it's like to work at a good like fancy 805 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:12,480 hospital, at least on the human Med side where I can be like, 806 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,960 OK, let's get a CAT scan and, and do labs and call a 807 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:18,560 specialist. So going to the teaching 808 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:22,160 hospital won't be like, hopefully super jarring to me 809 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:25,360 because I can at least remember what it was like to go to the 810 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:27,160 hospital as a nurse practitioner. 811 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:30,800 And it will be fun in some ways, because I do love to work up a 812 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,520 case and have access to everything and be able to do all 813 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:35,640 the cool stuff. Like that's that was part of 814 00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:37,320 what I really loved about my job. 815 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:43,320 But yeah, it'll be interesting. I'm some thing that we see a lot 816 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:46,720 when vets come out to visit is they go through like stages of 817 00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:51,120 grief, like with like, you know, this patient could have an X-ray 818 00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:54,120 and we could fix the leg instead of cutting it off. 819 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:58,080 But we just don't have one here. How do we get you guys on? 820 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,480 I'm like, you can't right now. Like just we're just trying to 821 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:03,800 survive here. Like and you know, seeing them 822 00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:07,160 kind of struggle without labs, struggle without specialists 823 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:10,360 especially and be like, oh, let me hit up my friend who's an 824 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:14,480 ophthalmologist and see do what they think You're doing all this 825 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:17,920 like extra work for somebody who can pay $5. 826 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:22,760 And so how do you balance it all out with like the clients 827 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:27,200 expectations and finances and what you can actually do with a 828 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,400 tiny, tiny team? I'm glad I'm coming from there 829 00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:31,360 and I'll have fun at the teaching hospital, I'm sure. 830 00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:35,240 But I do like the under resourced spectrum of care type 831 00:43:35,240 --> 00:43:37,120 of work. It's fun because you have to 832 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:39,280 really figure things out on your own. 833 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:41,720 I always bring this up, especially when I go on 834 00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:44,360 externships because the school and they'll acknowledge it. 835 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,640 They say, hey, we teach you gold standard or at least like upper 836 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,600 level standard of care. And then they'll sit there in a 837 00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:54,160 separate class and define this is scope of care, spectrum of 838 00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:56,080 care, whatever. And just be aware that it 839 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,000 exists. But we're we don't have time. 840 00:43:58,040 --> 00:43:59,680 They don't have time. I'm not hating on the schools, 841 00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:02,880 but they don't have time to teach us every single option for 842 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:06,320 every single disease, right? And so I always ask on 843 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:09,560 externships especially, what do you think about this thing that 844 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:11,640 they taught me in school? That just seems unreasonable to 845 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:16,440 me coming from a very poor area of the United States in like the 846 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,520 middle of nowhere, Texas, and working to that clinic there. 847 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:21,640 I didn't work there very long. I volunteered. 848 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:24,880 And even then I was like, wow, we are pretty limited. 849 00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:28,080 You know, the diagnostics are older, it's just smaller. 850 00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:29,720 And there's just not as much money where I live. 851 00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:35,400 And so for example, I had a veterinary dentist come in and 852 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:38,920 give a talk on dental care and they said you should never, 853 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:43,280 ever, ever almost said float. I'm been doing equine too much. 854 00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,240 They said you should never, ever, ever scale teeth without 855 00:44:46,240 --> 00:44:48,200 taking an X-ray. And I said, yeah, that sounds 856 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:49,840 great. That makes a lot of sense. 857 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:53,360 But X-rays are expensive. X-ray machine is really 858 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,920 expensive for the clinic so I didn't get the chance to ask 859 00:44:56,920 --> 00:44:58,200 because we're in a huge lecture hall. 860 00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:01,720 But every time I go to a small animal clinic and they do a lot 861 00:45:01,720 --> 00:45:03,120 of dentistry, I say what are you? 862 00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:05,560 What are your opinions on this? Like do you have clients that 863 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,320 say I can't do X-rays but you yourself as a clinic have a 864 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:10,200 policy? We don't do it dental or a 865 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:12,160 scaling, whatever you want to call it without an X-ray. 866 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:14,240 Just questions like that. It's always in the back of my 867 00:45:14,240 --> 00:45:16,280 mind coming from somewhere with no money. 868 00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:19,680 Not nearly the same situation as Saipan, but it's definitely a 869 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:23,320 consideration and I want to go back into a practice like that. 870 00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:25,400 What options do I have for my clients? 871 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:27,920 And nobody seems to know the answer because the answer is 872 00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:29,520 always money. It's all about money. 873 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:31,880 Unfortunately. People say money doesn't solve 874 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:33,080 problems. Money doesn't make you happy, 875 00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:35,280 sure, but money would get us a lot farther. 876 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:37,320 And allow us to do a lot more things. 877 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:39,840 Yeah. And like to your point, I feel 878 00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:43,400 like spectrum of care needs to be a lot more integrated into 879 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:47,440 fed school because we don't take new grads as volunteers anymore. 880 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:52,480 But it is challenging when we have because they struggle to 881 00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:57,080 not do gold standard and you can't and and a lot of places 882 00:45:57,080 --> 00:46:00,480 you really can't. So like, you know, if you go to 883 00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:02,360 a school with a teaching hospital and you're spending the 884 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:04,760 bulk of your clinical experience, they're doing like 885 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:08,360 the most fancy care ever. And then you go into the real 886 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,880 world and there's nothing, what do you do? 887 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,000 And you might feel you're going to feel uncomfy when you 888 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:15,720 graduate. You might feel a lot more 889 00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:18,880 uncomfy when you don't have the crutches of certain diagnostics 890 00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:22,040 and you and specialists and everything to lean back on, you 891 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:26,240 know, So I don't know, I wish, I wish there was a way to, I mean, 892 00:46:26,240 --> 00:46:28,080 I'm sure there's a way. I wish there was a lot more 893 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:31,360 integration of that into vegetables because some vets are 894 00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:35,880 real, real good at it. At Spectrum of Care, are we 895 00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,720 producing graduates who are prepared to do that? 896 00:46:39,720 --> 00:46:42,120 You know, I don't know. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. 897 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:45,760 Like they acknowledge it. For example, if they're teaching 898 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,440 us, this would be the gold standard for, I don't know, I'll 899 00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,920 just use dentistry again, just, you know, here's gold standard 900 00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:52,240 for dentistry. Cool, whatever. 901 00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:53,440 And we don't talk about anything else. 902 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:56,360 That's great. And then in a different class, 903 00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:59,280 they'll sit there and have a whole lecture on here is what 904 00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:02,200 Spectrum of care is. So there's no, there's no 905 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:04,760 solutions. Why don't we just at least give 906 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:09,360 one, even just one option to every treatment or procedure to 907 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,160 say, here's just another way to do it, Just one. 908 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:14,160 I feel like that would make a big difference. 909 00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:16,840 Just here's a lower budget option or here's what you should 910 00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,520 do if this is not an option, because sometimes there isn't a 911 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:23,200 lower budget option. And I mean, I just want people 912 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:27,840 to realize it's not just Cypan. It's not just Africa and I I see 913 00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:30,280 a lot of people, I don't know how to make this example, but 914 00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:34,640 they go to other countries and America sometimes use all other 915 00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:37,040 countries is lesser than and they're the people who need 916 00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:39,040 help. We need to use our resources to 917 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:42,280 go help other people. America itself, there are 918 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:45,880 thousands of clinics that could use extra money, extra help, 919 00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:49,040 extra hands and we outsource a lot of people and it's great. 920 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:52,960 I love, I personally like going to other countries, but it's not 921 00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,600 just other people. This effects Americans, this 922 00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:58,720 effects especially rural Americans and people just forget 923 00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:00,720 about it, especially once you get to bed school and it's just 924 00:48:00,720 --> 00:48:04,080 not talked about. It's not when you go to Saipan 925 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,200 and there is no diagnostics. It's also when you go to rural 926 00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:08,640 clinic and even if you have the X-ray machine, somebody can't 927 00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:12,320 afford that, you know, I don't know, it's a very long, 928 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:15,760 interesting topic in itself. And so to hear the extreme of it 929 00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:20,000 like Saipan or again, you go to other countries and extern, what 930 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:21,120 do you do? I don't know. 931 00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:23,800 I don't know the answers. Yeah, it's just like slaps you 932 00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:26,360 in the face on side pan, but it is everywhere. 933 00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:31,400 And even in well off lake cities where you do have like the 934 00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:34,720 fanciest clinics, there's still going to be lots of people who 935 00:48:34,720 --> 00:48:36,840 can't afford that. So what do you do? 936 00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:39,720 And that's, I feel like it's the big question in vet Med right 937 00:48:39,720 --> 00:48:42,120 now, I think. That's why we try to build 938 00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:46,720 communities like this and we have our pages and we talk about 939 00:48:46,720 --> 00:48:51,080 it because otherwise I've been stuck in like that grief process 940 00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:54,480 before, like when I went into large animal work in Belize and 941 00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:57,160 we didn't intubate. You just sedated them. 942 00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:00,680 Ivy worked as fast as you could and you prayed nothing went 943 00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:02,400 wrong. You monitored them with the 944 00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:04,200 stethoscope. And we didn't even have sterile 945 00:49:04,200 --> 00:49:07,520 gloves. And the shell shock in the room 946 00:49:08,240 --> 00:49:11,040 was was crazy. But at the same time, you're 947 00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:14,040 looking at it and you're like, OK, well, that doctor just 948 00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:19,720 spayed 50 dogs and cats. Like, the effect of that is way 949 00:49:19,720 --> 00:49:24,200 more important than my bias in that moment because we're still 950 00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:26,960 making an impact. Will they get an infection? 951 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:30,400 Hopefully not. Are animals pretty tough? 952 00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:32,280 Yes. Yeah. 953 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:36,360 I still in like a perfect world, I would have sterile gloves and 954 00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:40,040 pain medication, but they're getting spayed and neutered for 955 00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:43,320 free like this. This is to the public for free. 956 00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:47,080 So we're doing the best we can and I think that's all we really 957 00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:51,680 can do, definitely. Yeah, I think so. 958 00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:54,800 I kind of want to end off. Gretel has some of these little 959 00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,200 rapid fryer questions. It depends on the episode, but 960 00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:00,240 sometimes we do them, sometimes we don't, and I like these ones, 961 00:50:00,240 --> 00:50:03,440 so I want to do these ones. What's the most underestimated 962 00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:08,360 skill in Island that? Keith and Asia, yeah. 963 00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:11,000 Every day, yeah. That's definitely. 964 00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:12,720 Been boundaries? Is that a skill? 965 00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:14,440 Boundaries. Boundaries is definitely a 966 00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:16,440 skill. What has been the most rewarding 967 00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:18,920 moment? Just kind of like being at 968 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:22,160 school and seeing the clinic functioning without me there is 969 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:27,160 pretty awesome because in the beginning it really hung on me 970 00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:30,080 and my friend Ruby, and now I'm gone. 971 00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:31,960 She's there. We have staff, we have a 972 00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:34,600 director, like an executive director, Ruby's the clinic 973 00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:36,960 director. So being able to step away and 974 00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:40,480 have it like keep going just as strong is very rewarding. 975 00:50:40,560 --> 00:50:44,120 And then what's a word that describes island medicine? 976 00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:47,120 Messy. Messy. 977 00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:50,880 Yeah, messy and hard. Messy. 978 00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:53,240 Hard, emotionally, physically messy. 979 00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:55,760 And we're trying. To end off every episode by 980 00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:58,680 asking a question. So what's bringing you joy 981 00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:00,120 today? That's our question. 982 00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:04,720 Not leaving my house, sitting on the couch doing Quizlet with my 983 00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:07,960 heated blanket and my dog and I, my friends were going, like, 984 00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:09,840 drifting. And they were like, hey, come 985 00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:11,040 and then we're going to watch a movie. 986 00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:13,440 And I was like, I am just not going to leave my house today. 987 00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,400 I'm going to sit here in silence and Quizlet. 988 00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:20,320 Yeah, but also knowing that there's only 28 days till I go 989 00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:25,280 home, so that's good too. Yeah, Gretel, did you? 990 00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:27,400 I'm just saying I'm happy for you. 991 00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:30,080 I think what you're doing is amazing. 992 00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:33,120 We're so glad that you joined us today. 993 00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:35,320 Thank you again, Lauren for joining us today. 994 00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:39,080 We love talking to you and if you wanted to plug your socials, 995 00:51:39,080 --> 00:51:43,480 it's future dot island dot vet right on Instagram and ghost 996 00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:46,000 look her out. That page is awesome, like I 997 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:49,000 found it and I watch it. I watch all the content, all the 998 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:50,960 stories. I'm like, wow, people really 999 00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:53,880 live whole other lot people. You I like the quote, you know, 1000 00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:55,520 you never know what somebody's doing in their home. 1001 00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:58,760 You never know what somebody's doing it like on Saipan because 1002 00:51:58,760 --> 00:52:01,760 what's going on, you know? But yeah, it's definitely a 1003 00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:04,840 different world and it's so good to educate yourself on different 1004 00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:07,280 aspects of that Med, whether it's shelter medicine. 1005 00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:10,360 I know it's not technically a shelter, but working with stray 1006 00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:11,960 populations, they're served areas. 1007 00:52:12,040 --> 00:52:15,600 You're kind of a conglomerate of a couple of different things 1008 00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:19,480 that are so important to me. So in the same way they're 1009 00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:23,000 underserved, they're under nice. You know, people don't talk 1010 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:24,800 about it, people don't know about it. 1011 00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:28,160 And again, how are you going to know about it if you don't see 1012 00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:30,280 it? So I love when somebody takes 1013 00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:33,640 the time to get on social media and say, here's what I'm doing, 1014 00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:36,600 here's what we're doing, here's why vets do the things they do, 1015 00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:39,720 and here's why it costs this much to you and just general 1016 00:52:39,720 --> 00:52:42,280 education. I saw a quote or it's been going 1017 00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:44,960 around, you know, why are in or why are vets trying to be 1018 00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:46,480 influencers? Well, because influencers are 1019 00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:50,560 trying to be vets battling misinformation or just general 1020 00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:53,920 wives tales and things that have been here before social media. 1021 00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:57,640 So thank you for doing that. And listeners, go check her out 1022 00:52:57,880 --> 00:52:59,480 and thank you again for listening. 1023 00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:02,080 Thank you. Thanks for having me. 1024 00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:03,280 Of course.