Polly's health issues & school

My dog, Polly, has autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA). She needs a miracle to survive longer than a week. Miracles do happen. If you want details from the PCV & CBC or what the disease is, just ask.


This quarter has been really hard. I went from aiming to get at least a 3. GPA this quarter to aiming to at least pass my classes. I've had to study less for urinalysis so that I can study more for Clinical Applications 2. In class, we do different procedures in a rotation format. I was really concerned a few weeks ago because I had the dental rotation practical approaching. Dr. Olive, the hardest, but best professor, teaches it. I wasn't ready for it. I can't miss more than 5 points on the practicals. So far, I'm doing better than I expected, but I still have to study a ton to keep it up. I know what I have to do in order to do that. 


Dad still needs a better job & I still need a working car. 


Here's a link to an album on facebook of some of the procedures that I've done in school. In it are the pictures that I promised of the x-rays. As you look for them, you may not want to see some of the other pictures. They're not horrible, but some people may not want to see them. I'm not sure if this link will work. 


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=495285&id=506470458&l=c1aecbb4d0

photo contest

I just found out that if you vote for my cat, you'll have to give ur phone # & will get calls from them. Sry about that. I was going to delete the blog post, but i don't think that's possible.

photo contest

http://www.greatamericanphotocontests.com/voterindex3.aspx?referid=kobe_d1y&p=192288

I entered a pic of 1 of my cats, Cuddles. If I get enough votes, I'll win $1,000. The pic is named, Can't Wait.

NIV v. NASB

I wasn't going to update this until later in the month, if not next month, but an interesting & disturbing topic came up in discussion between my dad & I. I want you to read Psalm 77:1-15 in both the NIV & NASB. I'll put both translations here.

NIV

"I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; At night, I stretched out my untiring hands & my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered you, O God, & I groaned; I mused & my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused & my spirit inquired: 'Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?' Then I thought, 'To this I will appeal: The years of the right hand of the Most High.' I will remember the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works & consider all your mighty deeds.Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; You display your power among the peoples. With your mighty hand, you redeemed the descendants of Jacob & Joseph."

NASB
"My voice rises to God and I will cry aloud; My voice rises to God & He will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord; In the night, my hand was stretched out without weariness; My soul refused to be comforted. When I remember God, then I am disturbed; When I sigh, then my spirit grows faint. You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, and my spirit ponders: Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Then I said, 'It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed.' I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph."


I 1st read the NIV. Dad and I were talking about it. He referred to verse 10 in the NASB, which is his study Bible. I had no idea what he was talking about. We got out both translations and realized that the missing verse is crucial to the context of the this part of the chapter. Dad and I decided that, ideally, I should have a 4 translation Bible so that I can read the NIV, for comprehension, and the NASB, for things the NIV might leave out. 

I have no idea how this happened. Translators are suppose to know the importance of translating correctly, the importance of looking at context to understand the Bible. This just really bugs me.

fall/halloween decor

I forgot to mention that we have over 100 corn stalks. If you want/need any for fall/halloween decor, let me know!

Want a free urinalysis for your pet?

It took me 2 days (not consecutive) to write this. Perhaps I should start this post from my break between summer & fall quarters. Over break, I read, How to Stay Christian in College, and finally finished reading Joyce Meyer's book, Never Give Up. It took me sooo long to read (listen to on book on CD) that I almost gave up finishing it! I didn't listen to it everyday, so that's why it took a while. I'm about to start listening to Joyce's book on CD about prayer.

Also, while on break, I finally mastered driving a manual car in the city. I'm not great at it, but I don't stall hardly at all & don't screech the tires much when starting. I'm not ready to drive in the country yet, where the hills are steeper. This is a little bit of an issue since my best friend/sister, her hubby/my bro, & their daughter/my niece live in union county.

I taught sunday school at Linworth last month for the 2nd time. It went much better than the 1st time. I found some music and was much more prepared.

My fish died the last week or so of last quarter. I've only had fish for a year, so I'm new at it and learning from mistakes. If you want to know why they died, ask me. It's kinda gross. I got a male beta, named Principe, which is Spanish for prince. I also got a few bloodfin tetras. 1 of those died.

In school, I'm taking 2 classes. 1 in which I do procedures w/a group of classmates under the supervision and instruction of professors and TA's. So far, I've placed an endotracheal tube in a dog and cat. I placed a urinary catheter in a male dog and cat. On the cat, I also placed an IV catheter, which was much harder. I finally got it in on the 4th or 5th try. That day, I also set up the IV bag. I worked together with my classmates to do physical exams on the dog and cat before putting them under anesthesia. I worked w/my classmates to monitor those patients under anesthesia. We worked w/the dog 1 day and the cat the next. I got to listen to the cat's heart w/the esophageal stethoscope. When a classmate was listening to the dog's heart w/it, Dr. J accidentally pounded on the dog's abdomen, which was very loud in the stethoscope. I was also able to listen to the cat's heart using the doppler. Cat heart rates are really high, meaning they naturally have a fast heart rate. Using the doppler to listen to the heart was the only way I could count the beats. Today (Tues), even though I felt horrible (very weak and tired), I went to class. God surprised me by helping me remember things that I'd reviewed over the weekend that I'd learned over a year ago. My group of classmates took x-rays on a dog today. We did a barium study, where the dog is given barium orally. This test is used out in practice if a pet has a possible foreign body (the pet ingested something it wasn't suppose to). We also took pictures of the dog's knees and shoulder. Both kneecaps (patellas) were luxating (popping in and out of their groove). I was able to feel that and see it on x-ray. I'll put pix on fb of those. I passed an orogastric tube. The school now has an automatic x-ray processor. When I took radiology and clinical applications 1 (I'm now in clinical applications 2) over a year ago, we were taught in lecture about manual and automatic processing, but we practiced manual processing. The school didn't have an automatic processor.

The other class I'm in is urinalysis, where we look at urine under microscopes. We have to provide our own urine. We have to either get some urine from our pets, an animal in the kennel on campus, or get ours. If you would like a free urinalysis, let me know. We examine the urine, then a TA or prof confirms our findings.

Today, (Thurs), I drew blood from dogs & cats. I learned to draw blood from the paw. I should mention that I successfully drew blood on the 1st try from the cephalic vein (front leg) of a cat. That's the same vein that I took forever to place an IV catheter in the other day.I was pleased w/that. I saw some really cool ways to restrain cats. We get graded on specific things that add up to our participation points for the day. I got discouraged earlier when I saw that I didn't do as well as I thought I did in class. This is the 4th lab, I think, & on most of the labs, I didn't do as well as I wanted. Today, God reminded me of something He told me a few days ago. I was overwhelmed w/everything there was to do at home w/dad working a different shift and school. God told me to just do my best & be content w/it. I've been having to remind myself of this the past couple days. My challenge in urinalysis today was learning what glitter cells look like. They're a white blood cell, in which the granules move in such a way that they look like they glitter. I also learned more of differentiating similar looking white blood cells from red blood cells. Of course, Carolyn Parmelee (my tech friend) was right. rbcs are a little smaller than wbcs.

I've been taking the COTA bus to campus some days this qtr. I finally have it figured out!

Things I've learned about God in the past couple weeks

Sermon from church 9/26 Pastor Chris Martin
Mark 12:13-17

• It's the 3rd day of Passion Week (the wk of the crucifixion). In a few days, Jesus will die. The day before Jesus cleared out the temple (Mark 11:12-19).
• If the pharisees could get the Romans mad at Jesus, they'd get rid of Him. This way, the Romans wouldn't be mad at the pharisees. The nationalists, a political party, refused to pay taxes because only God was their King.
• A Revolutionary Question: The pharisees asked Jesus if it was right to pay taxes. They expected Him to say no. If He did, He'd be trapped.
• A Remarkable Answer: Jesus answer reflected the political tension.
  
• Political Simplicity: verse 14 Don't vote by political party, alone. Don't get so wrapped up in political parties that you let go of your political values.
• Political Complacency: Give Caesar some of what he wants, but not all of it.
  
• Political Primacy: People, in general, voted for Obama because he promised that the government would do so much (more than it's suppose to). Regardless of political party, we need to vote for a limited government.
  
• verse 15 a denarius was the day's pay for a blue-collar job. Jesus didn't even have that! He didn't own anything! Would you rather a poor man or a rich man rule?
• Luke 6:20-26 Jesus promotes what the world doesn't want & condemns what the world wants. Luke 6:27 We have so much love from God, that we're able to do this. That's not of the world.

Something I learned from a friend: My friend Sheri, wrote a note on facebook about something she'd learned while reading the Bible. I'm going to summarize it here. To read the note, I posted a link on my facebook profile page. This is from Genesis 3. Before Adam & Eve sinned, they had perfect fellowship w/God. When they sinned, God was so disappointed because He knew that He would no longer have that perfect fellowship with them. He clothed them in leather before sending them out into the world. They had no idea what the world was like. They only knew the perfect world that they'd lived in. God knew what they were going to experience. He didn't want to send them out. It's kind of like when parents send their kids off to school for the 1st time. God would've been very sad that He'd lost that perfect fellowship w/Adam & Eve. How far would He go to get them back? Read John 3:16 for the answer.

Notes from church 10/3 Pastor Mike Faler

• Mark 3:7-19
• Jesus prayed before every major decision. He spent all night praying before appointing the apostles.
• (tangent) John 10:17-18 Jesus willingly died.
• Jesus chose the 12 out of others who followed Him because they sacrificed everything for Him. Those are the ones He gave His authorities to. Matt 10:1
• When we sacrifice for God, we get it back 100x. They may not be in the same way or on earth. Mark 10:30
• Mark 1:35-37, Luke 5:15-16 Jesus was very busy & in demand. Huge crowds w/diseases waited for Him. Most of us don't have dying people waiting for us to heal them. Why do we find it so hard to find time to spend w/God when we're so busy?
  
• My dad has a new job that he works 4 nights/wk. It's really different & hard on all of us. I value my time w/him more now. I'm sacrificing small things to spend time w/him. Why isn't my attitude the same w/God? I pray it will be.
  
• We sang "Arms Open Wide." Some of the lyrics are I am yours. You are mine. It reminds me of how some of us are our daddy's or momma's girl/boy. We're also God's girl/boy.