Week 4: Survey Struggles
Joseph g -
We have now distributed the survey flyers (well we did it a couple of weeks ago but I’m now done with putting it everywhere.) Now that the surveys are distributed, I hope to get more responses, but it isn’t looking too good. I only have 8 individual’s pets from Flagstaff and three from Phoenix. So far though 25% of the individual’s pets in Flagstaff, 2/8, have some sort of cardiac disease, while none of the individual’s pets in Phoenix do. Of course, we need many more data points to prove any difference caused by elevation, but it’s a start.
This brings me to my next topic. I need to spread the survey more online. I had my mom post it on Facebook (Thanks Mom, you’re the best) and that is where most of the responses have come from so I think that is the best course of action. So if anyone has some ideas of online Flagstaff or Phoenix groups I can post it to that would be very helpful. I might be able to post it somewhere on Reddit but then I’d have to use Reddit and that sounds terrible.
In other news, my internship has kept going and I have had terrible luck with what days I come in. The doctor I’m working with has told me that usually it is a lot busier than when I come in but one day it was snowing so almost every appointment was canceled, and the next day it was just very slow. This means that so far it has been boring but it has allowed me to spend time asking the vet questions and learning more about various random topics.
The few appointments that we did have, though, were very interesting, but also sad. An older dog was visiting and there was talk of euthanasia. Another dog visited because of lymphoma. These were harder appointments to sit through and I felt so bad being in the room but if I choose to become a veterinarian that will be something I have to deal with often.
Let’s end this post on a happier note, though. I got to sit through my first surgery and I handled it better than I thought I would. It was a quick procedure just spaying a cat but I was doing it with a different doctor than I am usually with. Most importantly, I didn’t pass out. I didn’t know how I’d be able to handle surgeries, but this one wasn’t bloody so I did fine.
That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with hopefully better news.
-Joey
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