Today this blog comes to you from a colorful hammock on the porch of our dorm. The rain is adding some nice background music as well.
Nicole and I decided to get up early this morning to have our quiet time. We came out to sit on the rocking chairs on the porch and found one of the vets, Dr. Dan, doing the same thing. We all sat and read our bibles for a while and then started to talk to him about his past experiences here and what we've already learned and loved so far. Then after that, got some coffee and food in me and we were off again.
I normally would just say, we packed up, drove to the village, and started setting up shop, but today, a large part of the adventure took place on the drive to Ocatol Numero dos. The road to the village was muddy and hilly, a great combination. We're in a land cruiser with two benches facing each other in the back. Every bump and hole we're being thrown into each other, there was serious risk of us getting stuck and having to jump out to push, but overall, it was just pretty fun. Even the driver was laughing. Oh! And at one point we crossed a river about 3 feet deep! Quite the experience.
Said river with the other car about to cross ahead of us.
Finally, we get to this large soccer field and small building, which we later found out was a school. Set up shop and the dogs started showing up, including some adorable puppies.
I took that photo when things were slow after I had dewormed a few dogs and horses and my teammates were helping with the spays. I was sitting with a few of the children along with Jacob (the first year from KState who speak very good spanish), talking with them and looking at their drawings. One girl, told me "My name is Stephanie" in really good english, so then she and I both taught each other words for a while; she wouldn't let me leave either. I mean she told me I was "muy bonita", how could I not love her. All the kids were darling.
A few cows showed up, so I went with a couple of the guys to deworm them. They would rope them around a tree and we would inject the medication into their neck. I got to do one! It was exciting and kinda terrifying all at once.
Jacob deworming a cow before my turn.
Then! It was time for another spay! This time I worked with Dr. T who let me do most of the surgery. So cool. I'm already going to be a pro by the time I get to surgery next semester. Just kidding... I need much much more practice, but I have the rest of my life to get better! It was a little stressful surgery because one of the ligatures didn't hold and we had a bleeder, but Dr. T found it and fixed it up right quick! and then I got to close her up as well. Here are some pictures!
My classmate Emily with her first spay dog.
Nicole with her first uterus! A pyometra! (Infected uterus, with pus- yuck)
We were just about to leave and we found out a bull with an infected prepuce was coming to get looked at. A few minutes later a massive bull comes down the hill and two men on horses are trying to rope it! It was nuts for a while.
Finally, they got it roped around a tree, sedated a little, and Dr. T went to work. Unfortunately it was too unhappy to let her do anything, but she confirmed an infected prepuce. They gave the owner some antibiotics and hopefully that will work. But at the end of all this, the bull snapped the rope and we all had to run away super fast. And then all the men laughed at us. We forgot it was sedated, but better safe than sorry!
After trekking back through the muddy hills (just as much, if not more, fun than the first time), we arrived back at the ranch and had to wash some towels for tomorrow. We used the wash boards and water system here at the ranch and that made me EXTREMELY thankful for my washing machine.
And now I'm sitting in the hammock trying to decide if I'm going to take a nap or read my book before dinner. It'll probably turn into a little bit of both.
Dios le bendiga.
God bless.
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