Dr. Engholdt

Dr. Engholdt

Inner Strength Will Get You Thru Anything

"If there's something you know you can do....but your mind keeps throwing up road blocks...just drive right through them!"

My Life As An ER Intern...

This is the story of my life as an Emergency & Critical Care Intern at the Animal Emergency Center. I wanted to start this page as a way for my family and friends to keep in touch with me. I have discovered that for the next year of my life, I will be a slave to this internship...you won't see me and possibly won't hear from me. I apologize already...and that is why I want to give something back to each and every one of you for standing by my side through what may be the toughest year of my life. I don't want to lose any of you...I want you to know what I am going through...I want you to experience it with me...so I have decided to place it all here within these pages. Please let me know what you are all up to...this will help to keep me sane...and it will give me a reason to smile on those days when I find myself locked inside the clinic bathroom cyring!! (yes it does happen...in fact the clinic bathroom is fast becoming my place of calm in the middle of what I like to refer to as Hurricane AEC)

I think about you all and I wonder what you are up to...I wish I could talk to each of you every day...especially on those days when I just need to hear a friendly voice. I want you all to know that without your support I will not make it through this year...so stick with me through the rough times because I think I see some clear skies ahead.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

I'm Back

Well, I know I haven't written in a while because I have been really busy. Let's see, in the past week I have flown to California and drove up to Minneapolis for interviews. Both places were nice...if I had to choose...I can't right now. Today was my first day back, I am still on the 4am to 4pm shifts..I love them...they are more about medicine and taking care of the patients after the stabilization has happened. Today however, I had some interesting outpatient cases that came in on ER...I had two pregnancies walk in within 30minutes of each other...so I had two rooms full of puppies being born!! It was pretty cool...one room was a black lab and the other was a golden retriever. The black lab was actually having a normal birth...it was her second, the owner just got nervous..I took some radiographs and saw about 8 puppies..she delivered 4 in the room and then the owner left to deliver the rest at home. The golden retriever it was her first time so I took radiographs and saw 5 puppies. On my vaginal exam the cervix was open and I could feel a tail of a pup. Checked her calcium levels - normal. So adminsitered oxytocin and she delivered 3 pups. Then stopped and was pushing hard...vaginal exam felt nothing. Administered another unit of oxytocin. Still no pup. Could feel a tail on vaginal exam. Administered another oxytocin injection. Heavy pushing but no pup. Discussed C-section, had estimate all ready, left the room, and she delivered a dead pup and then another live. Took radiographs to confirm all pups were out and they were. So she went home. So, it was a day of life for me instead of killing...although I started the day out with a euthanasia...GI disease dog who had went to surgery...about $5000 dollars later they left with his collar and that was it...sad! What else? Taking care of the pneumothorax that I admitted on Sunday (this means air between the lungs and chest wall - not normal!!) I did thoracocentesis (tapped the air off) and got 2 Liters off!!! Owners are not sure what happens but the dog is a "fly ball" player so this could have caused a spontaneous pneumothorax. Other causes are lung disease, infections, trauma. A CT scan was performed and there may be a bulla (pocket in teh lung that can burst)...recommended surgery or at least chest tube, owners declined and want to try medical management for a while....this is only successful in about 20% of the cases so I am skeptical, but I talked with the rDVM and set up a management plan so we will see. Tomorrow we will see what I have to take care of. I am sorr that my notes are so short, I am scared about the rank for my residency choices...my final rank is due in 1 day!! and I am torn about what to rank...I really don't care, I just want a residency, but if I had the option to care....there may be a certain place I would put first...hmmmm....stay posted. Smiles ;o)
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The Story of the Five Balls

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you are keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls - family, health, friends, integrity - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered...either way, it will never be the same and may be lost forever. Be careful when life starts to get rough...juggle carefully. And, once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls...you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.