I woke up this morning a pretty strong migraine. I slugged
down some Excedrin migraine, dry heaved a bunch of times, and then went to
work. After a few hours it finally went away. (Stress? Lack of sleep? The
McFlurry I had last night?)
My first case of the day ended up being my first euthanasia.
I’ve assisted with dozens of euthanasias before – emphasis on assisted – but
I’ve never been the one to give that final injection. Although the patient was
gravely ill and it was definitely (in my opinion) the best an acceptable
choice for them, it was still a pretty heavy responsibility.
One of my last cases of the day involved a dental cleaning
and extracting retained deciduous teeth in a dog. Up until now all my
extractions have been for diseased teeth that were practically falling out of
the patient anyway. Extracting well-seated teeth is a whole different kettle of
fish, my friends.
Another interesting aspect of today was this:
Even though I saw nearly as many patients as yesterday, and
even though the euthanasia presented as an emergency to be worked in, I was
MUCH less stressed than yesterday. I think it was because some of the staff was
different today. Overall they were a much more calm and organized crew. When
others run around like chickens with their heads cut off it tends to stress me
out.
Today is my Friday! Can’t wait to sleep in.
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