Dr. Robinson

One of my favorite mentor visits was when Dr. Robinson first described the blood flow in a dog's heart to me. At Mission Vet, a dog arrived in critical condition. He had an abundance of fluid surrounding his heart and lungs which was compressing his heart beats. Loose fluid is very dangerous since it can go unnoticed before they pass away within moments. Loose fluid also disrupts the flow of important elements and the releasing of toxic ones. After Dr. Robinson discussed her concerns with the owner and explained how she wanted to move forward, we returned to her office where she described the flow of a dog's heart with me. The dog's heart is separated into four sections, two of those being atriums and the other two being ventricles. In simple terms, the atriums are in a circle shape and the ventricles are in a triangle shape. Blood enters through the top right atrium and travels to the bottom right ventricle. They then go to the lungs and release oxygen. The blood continues to travel to the left atrium, where calcium is an important element, and to the bottom left ventricle, where sodium is important, to release oxygen again and carbon dioxide. Getting the opportunity to sit down with my mentor and discuss in depth about an aspect of veterinary medicine was amazing. With the natural chaotic environment of an emergency room, there is usually not much time to talk about these topics.

What was most memorable about this mentor meeting was getting the opportunity to talk about an ISM classroom assignment. Dr. Robinson assisted me on teach speech and helped me to form the "teach" part of the assignment. I was able to utilize her resources, such as a large stuffed dog and stethoscopes, so that I can teach my class how to find a dog's heartbeat. In order for me to teach others this procedure, she taught me how to listen to a dog's heartbeat. The heart is located where the elbow meets the body. Dr. Robinson then connected the information she taught me about the heart last week to listening to the dog's heartbeat. The valves inside of the heart are key to keep blood flowing in the right direction and not flow backwards. In order to do this, the valves open and close to ensure the heart does not fill the entire heart. The closing of valves is heard in the heart beat, "lub-dub." The "lub" is the closing of the tricuspid and mitral vlaves, while the "dub" is the closing of the pulmonary and aortic semilunar valves. Later, Dr. Robinson and I reviewed the x-rays of a dog in the clinic. These x-rays revealed to me how the dog's heart is supposed to lay in the chest. What I loved most about this mentor meeting was the hands-on training I received. I was able to practice listening to heartbeats on patients in the hospital and develop a baseline understanding of how a dog's heartbeat should sound. 

At my visit to Mission Vet, I got to observe a very unique case. A dog's eyeball was almost fully ripped out of its socket due to a dog fight. It was then Dr. Robinson's responsibility to put the eye back in place. First, I watched as they cleaned the surrounding area for bacteria. Then, a vet tech shaved the fur surrounding the eye so Dr. Robinson could sanitize the actual eyeball. Finally, the dog was ordered to be placed under anesthesia. During this process, the vet tech went over the process with me. She showed me how the ET tube is placed in the trachea to fill the lungs with ketamine. It is important to not place the tube into the esophagus as releasing ketamine into the stomach will shut down the animal's body. Watching this procedure created a deeper appreciation for the practice of veterinary medicine. It was amazing to that although I could not stay for the rest of the procedure, Dr. Robinson was able to save this dog's eye. The process on anesthesia is also a very delicate practice that requires patience and a meticulous mindset. 

The first thing that Dr. Robinson insisted on when I arrived to Mission Vet was that I got the chance to hold their cutest patient. A very small, 8 week old bulldog was bought off the street and came with many medical issues. The puppy was extremely sweet and it was devastating to watch struggle. Afterwards, Dr. Robinson, Dr. Leonard, and I discussed many ethical issues in the world of veterinary medicine. In some cases, veterinarians make a mistake on an animal and do not take responsibility for it. It then ends up being another hospital's or professional's responsibility to take over the case. This can create many conflicts between the vet and the owners. Aside from that, Mission Vet is also prone to animal abandonments. When pet owners find out how much a procedure is going to cost, they sometimes leave the animal at the hospital. This leaves the animal without any expense reliability and forces the doctors to take over with a difficult decision. Many times, they will end up paying for the procedure that they need and forcing them to have a financial burden. This meeting was very interesting because I got to discuss real life issues with professionals in the field that I plan on pursuing. It helped to prepare me for the things I might need to deal with in the future.