Dr. Stephanie Vecino finished off an amazing week in Ithaca and has officially closed out the first incredibly successful Cornell Anesthesiology elective in Veterinary Anesthesiology!
Below, please read excerpts from her journal...
Tuesday 3/10/15
Today the residents took a mock written exam until noon so I hung out in the induction room all morning. I intubated my first cat and dog today! The dog was a chocolate labrador who needed ACL surgery. He also received a femoral and sciatic nerve block! I also had the opportunity to intubate a cat requiring urological surgery. The cat also received an epidural single shot block for post-op pain relief. It's nice to see the overlap in anesthetic management between the human and animal patients.
Wednesday 3/11/15
Today I participated in the care of a dachshund who jumped off the couch and herniated one of his lumbar discs. He could not walk on his hind legs and required a laminectomy, he did very well post-op. In the afternoon I took a tour of the Cornell undergraduate campus which was beautiful! I also picked up an ice cream at Cornell Dairy Bar which was great. One of the veterinary attendings and I climbed to the top of the bell tower to appreciate the campus and the Cayuga Lake. I also recovered some very cute puppies that needed some TLC after getting spayed.
Thursday 3/12/15
Today was a great day. This morning I gave the anesthesia faculty/residents a presentation on human anesthesia which they seemed to enjoy, everyone thought we were the ones with the cool job. Then I spent half the day in the wildlife/exotic procedure room where I observed quite possibly the cutest mask induction ever- they brought in two sugar gliders (apparently very popular pocket pets) for neutering, however they tend to make a loud screeching sound which was not so cute. I also observed a snake intubation and saw a turkey having surgery! In the afternoon I went over to the large animal area where I helped intubate a goat with a bougie! Who knew that goats were difficult airways?
We are excited that Dr. Vecino has completed the first elective rotation in Veterinary Anesthesia, and we look forward to more residents participating in the elective and learning from our Cornell Veterinary colleagues up in Ithaca.
