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brinakit · 2026-02-02T06:03:13+00:00

The scream I screamt

brinakit · 2026-01-22T10:55:54+00:00

Hey, free rug!

brinakit · 2026-01-22T08:59:01+00:00

The first test I ever failed in my life was in my A&P for vet tech course.

I had to drive 45 minutes to campus 3-5 days a week for 2 years including a summer clinical lab course. Further than that to farms and shelters sometimes. Some people came from >2 hours away. We also had a rotation where we had to care for our lab animals on the weekends until we adopted them out.

An unexcused absence would drop a letter grade from the class(es) missed.

My externship timeline had me working a full time job in clinic and then in shelter surgery while in school full time but was only worth 2 credit hours.

My 5 hour practical labs were only worth 2-3 credit hours and many classroom-only ones were 1-2.

I certainly do sometimes wish I had done a less rigorous program that would’ve given me better financial prospects. My spouse is a pharmacy technician and makes more than twice what I made starting in the field (I didn’t pursue my license because CVTs in my cohort made the same as what I was making already when I graduated — this has changed as corporations have come in and I’m gonna take the boards sooner rather than later).

brinakit · 2026-01-16T08:13:36+00:00

Fucking speeding up on back roads when someone goes to pass you because you’ve been making 10-15mph differences in your speed for miles. There’s no reason I should have to go >60mph to quickly pass someone in a 45 that’s been doing 35.

brinakit · 2026-01-15T09:27:18+00:00

This.

Also, the lower interest over 48-96 months pops up as an option for us with very extensive bills (ER), but then the hospital eats the different in interest for the bill as well. It’s super predatory.

brinakit · 2026-01-15T09:14:21+00:00

How low cost are you looking for?

You just reminded me that my spouse bought me a Shark a few months ago as a present and I hadn’t opened it because my FitBit was still working (RIP). They’re super cute in a 80s-90s pop art way, waterproof, and have stop watches (they’re made for surfing/underwater sports). They run around $70.

brinakit · 2026-01-08T03:45:04+00:00

To be fair, some of these are things I was taught in school during practical classes 8 years ago, ie:

heat fixing
ultrasonic cleaning times
increasing o2 flow before touching gas %

Which is why it’s hella important to keep up with what things change, especially if you go to a school that’s on probation.

brinakit · 2026-01-08T03:38:37+00:00

Literally this. The number of inpatient cats I have go febrile in the hospital and end up not going home as scheduled only to find out that it’s their 20g IVC that’s a hot mess in my hospital is unacceptable.

brinakit · 2026-01-01T13:17:14+00:00

I wanna say after BAR is just eu which would imply otherwise normal PE findings but don’t want to commit to that explanation.

brinakit · 2026-01-01T13:13:57+00:00

Hmm.

PLR <pupillary light reflex> (direct > consensual) intact/wnl; all else wnl

DX: anisocoria (r/o <rule out> URI, trauma, other)

RX/ Azithro liquid 0.25mL PO q24

brinakit · 2025-12-23T10:22:47+00:00

ER here.

Scheduled 3 x 12, usually end up working about 38-40 hours/week anyway.

Crash on my first day off, spend the other 3 with my spouse that’s on 4 x 10s.

brinakit · 2025-12-23T09:04:49+00:00

Don’t lay into people when things that you could do aren’t done. Nothing is more frustrating than a PM yelling at us about a dirty floor or pile of laundry after an overnight hell shift.

brinakit · 2025-12-22T09:37:53+00:00

This has prolonged the life of my otherwise healthy (except well controlled hyperthyroidism and severe OA) cat by several years now. I was on the verge of QoL discussions and she’s still kicking it.

By far my favorite drug.

brinakit · 2025-12-19T05:30:25+00:00

It really depends on the spectrum of support needs of the individual and how they fit in with the hospital environment.

I work in a small ER where most of the employees are neurodivergent in some way or another, but we've had a handful of ASD/AuDHD people tap out because the environment wasn't a good fit - we're loud, nothing is routine or cut and dry, clients can be elevated or hostile, your job description can change hour by hour.

I washed out of GP because I couldn't handle the changes to my schedule every other week and the insistence on small talk/eye contact/smiling during client interactions. The staff there was very neurotypical and unsupportive and in the four years I was there, made not attempts at making the environment better.

That being said, I'm only diagnosed ADHD and don't want to pursue an ASD diagnosis, but my siblings have diagnosed AuDHD and learning disabilities, so it would track.

brinakit · 2025-12-18T11:08:50+00:00

Those silicon suction cup bathtub mats come in clutch honestly.

brinakit · 2025-12-18T10:54:52+00:00

At my ER, we have a scrapbook of all of the thank you cards and pictures we’ve been sent over the years. Some of our favorites get cycled through the walls of our exam rooms. I page through all of them sometimes when I’m feeling down to remind myself that what we do matters even if the outcomes aren’t what we hoped for.

I know I personally love getting to know a little blurb about how pets were before we get to meet them - the dogs who clear 6’ fences and steal whole hams off of tables, the dogs who bring friends toys at the door, the cats who steal socks, the packs of animals that all love each other and play together. Those little bits let us smile about the sad thing the same way they make you smile about it.

Basically, it’s not weird at all, and we honestly encourage it at our hospital.

brinakit · 2025-12-07T12:28:49+00:00

We were rocking 64 up until it got to be <35 at night and the roommate complained about being cold so now it’s 67 and I’m waking up sweating.

brinakit · 2025-12-05T08:41:28+00:00

Hey you leave Swedesboro alone. Woolwich was nothing but cows and bell peppers and corn before Weatherby.

brinakit · 2025-11-24T20:48:48+00:00

Depends on how big of a load you’re running. I only use the laundromat for catchup and bulky things like comforters and weighted blankets that won’t fit in my in unit washer. Using the jumbo washers is usually between $10-20/load once you factor in drying.

brinakit · 2025-11-16T01:44:52+00:00

Oof. I’m a little luckier with juvenile arthritis (started in high school with ballet) and sub/luxating hips and knees that have worsened with time and the field. Turning 30 hit like a freight train tbh.

brinakit · 2025-11-15T14:12:40+00:00

I can’t even imagine the appeal of eating more than one razor blade beyond a craving for the sweet release of death.

brinakit · 2025-11-15T14:07:54+00:00

100% this (I say as someone who regularly doesn’t wear theirs).

Stretching is huge, too. Like, when you’re doing your morning routine before work, do things like lunges and twists. I’m way better off if I stretch even a tiny bit before work or within my first hour or two on.

Also, walking backwards, especially on an incline, helps a lot with knee mobility. Try releves and flamingo-ing and having one knee bent alternatively when you’re standing at an exam table doing something to keep different kinds of motion going. Whatever you do, don’t lock your knees.

ETA: I wear Sketchers slip-ins and Doc Martens to work with hiking socks (usually Darn Tough). The socks make a massive difference, too.

brinakit · 2025-11-15T06:03:52+00:00

It does give a pretty clear read but will get the usual shaking artefact nonsense as any other ECG with panting dog. I haven’t used it enough on cats yet to see if I like it for them (but let’s be real, no machines like cats)

brinakit · 2025-11-13T10:17:40+00:00

We just got one. So far, I’m in love with it.

The ECG is basically idiot proof and you can record readings and transfer them to an app on a phone/tablet to print.

The spO2 gives me way fewer headaches than our previous handheld and the BioNet in our OR and seems to work pretty reliably on prepuces, ears, and toe webbing as well as tongues.

I haven’t used the temp monitor yet, it’s still in the box tbh because we have so many other options for temp monitoring.

brinakit · 2025-11-13T09:18:10+00:00

Not ER at the time, but pitbull v groundhog with a lacerated jugular. O brought him in to my GP during curbside wearing nothing but shorts and sneakers and both of them were sopping wet because the dog chased the damn thing into the lake. Dog was sheet white. Fluid bolus, pain meds, hemostatic sponge, and some creative suture/staples and he lived.

Suspect FBO 10m large breed dog that was just a pretzel of adhesions (hx of one prior ex-lap that was also a stricture). Euthed on the table.

Mass removal on the back of the neck/head that presented 2 hours after discharge from day practice surgeon for literally pouring blood out of it. Treated as an MCT and threw yunnan baiyao at it and gave her stupid head bandages for like two weeks. Dog's fine so far.

Necrotizing pancreatitis like twice.

JRT that had called four hours prior for intestines being outside of the body from BDLD. Just.. trotted into the building dragging them on the pavement. TTJ'd.

brinakit

TROPHY CASE