A digression...on vet school and animal welfare

Okay, so this isn't about Egypt and it's not happening in Egypt, but it's important, so I'm going to get it off my chest. This morning before I left for class, I hopped on Facebook and saw that my best friend had posted a note in response to an article in the OSU campus newspaper (for which I used to be a columnist, in the interest of full disclosure). Since then, I have read the article, and I can understand why my friend and her classmates are so upset. Here is the link to the article: O'Colly. Now, I understand that the O'Colly needs its one scandal a year just to keep things interesting, but at least make it somewhat factual, guys.

A brief disclaimer: I am not a vet student, nor do I play one on TV. I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. I am, however, someone who once thought vet school was it for me. I worked for two OSU educated vets while in high school and continue to take my cat to OSU educated vets. I'm also related to an OSU educated vet. So, yes, I do have a horse in this race, one I freely acknowledge. That being said...

There are alternatives to live animal surgery. This is beyond dispute. However, those alternatives are not without their downsides. For example, there are now very sophisticated computer programs available that simulate surgery, and they are used both in human and veterinary medicine. These are great tools and should be utilized. But, they cannot take the place of hands-on training. Why? Because touch is so incredibly important in surgery. A diseased liver feels different than a healthy liver, even if it looks basically the same. How can a computer program teach you about such important differences?

Then there are cadaver animals. You can feel a diseased liver there, so no problem, right? Not really. The art of anasthesia is an important one in human and veterinary medicine. How does too much anasthesia affect geriatric animals? How does too little anasthesia complicate a surgery? These questions cannot be addressed in cadaver dogs/cats/etc. because anasthesia is unnecessary in an animal that's already dead.

Is live animal surgery the greatest thing in the world? No. Is it something vet students relish? Not really, no. It is truly one of the more unpleasant realities of vet school, but a necessary one. It has been argued...and argued...and argued that doctors don't think about cutting open live patients only to euthanize them, and this is certainly true, but doctors and veterinarians don't train for their professions in the same way. Doctors NEVER graduate from med school and immediately expect to head their own surgical team. They have internships and residencies to complete before they are allowed to do anything that looks like being in charge in an OR. Vets don't get that seven year luxury. They can get thrown from the frying pan into the fire very quickly out of vet school, so you tell me--do you really want Fido to be your vet's first go-around at removing bladder stones the size of river rocks?

Furthermore, doctors almost always have a whole team of folks with them in the OR. The vets I worked for in high school had one vet tech, a receptionist, and me--and that was only in the afternoon. Many, many times, they would perform surgery with only one other person in the room with them. That's something no doctor will ever do except in the most extenuating of circumstances. So the comparisons between doctors and veterinarians are really quite unfair to vets. They often take work home with them--literally. The vets I worked for had a makeshift ICU in their garage. Their clients may bite and snap and snarl, and the dogs and cats might do the same thing. The patients can't tell you what's wrong with them, and most owners are truly and horrifically unobservant. "What's wrong with Fido?" "Dunno. He just don't seem right." Thanks, man. That's a lot of help. Dogs can't tell you where it hurts. Cats can't tell you that urinating feels like someone's setting fire to their asses. You have to figure those things out for yourself. So, yes, vets do face things that doctors do not. Vets must be ready to be vets on a timetable different from doctors. And that timetable necessitates that vets operate on live animals, even if euthanasia is their final fate.

I'm disappointed in the O'Colly, Mrs. Pickens, and OSU for the mealy mouthed response to this story. While I truly appreciate all that Boone and Madeleine Pickens have done for our university, I can't help but wonder if the university's official statement might have been more forcefully behind Dr. Lorenz and the vet school if the benefactor's last name was something other than Pickens. Friends are honest with each other, and Mrs. Pickens was dead wrong in this story and should be told as much. The O'Colly smelled a scandal and jumped at the chance to make waves, even if all of the facts and all of the relevant parties hadn't been contacted. And Gary Shutt's "we evaluate blah blah blah on a yearly basis" was as chickenshit a response as could have possibly been drafted. Here's what it should have said: "We leave the veterinary medicine to the veterinarians. We understand that they care about animals and that there are multiple factors at work in determining the best way to complete the junior surgery class. We appreciate the concerns of Mrs. Pickens and we invite her to address those concerns with vet school faculty, staff, and students in an open and honest dialogue. However, final decisions about vet school policy rest with the vet school administration, and we have the utmost faith in their judgement."

It has been said many times that one cannot judge another without having walked a mile in their shoes. I have walked at least part of that journey, and I have an incredibly amount of respect for the hard work and dedication required of vet students and veterinarians. Are there issues at play here which are distressing? There are, and no one denies the existence of them. However, outrageous allegations and slander are no way to address such issues.

The Best Year of my Life

A year ago today (give or take a few hours for the time change between Waco and Cairo), I was anxiously awaiting my first introduction to my "little sister." I had submitted my application to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas almost six months earlier and was told I had to wait until the perfect match was found. So I waited, and then I got a phone call from the BBBS office saying they thought they had found a good match for me. So on February 12, 2008 I met my second family for the first time. Kaitlynn's parents thought it would be a good idea for her to have a Big Sister because she'd been having a little trouble dealing with some of the stuff life was throwing at her. So this 14 year old girl who seemed so quiet and shy at first (ha!) and I embarked on what may be the most rewarding journey I have ever been on.

For those of you not familiar with Big Brothers Big Sisters, "bigs" are volunteers who want to make a difference in a child's life, and they are matched with "littles" who have similar interests and could use someone like a big in their lives. Kaitlynn and I are not just a good match. I think we may be the closest thing to a perfect match BBBS has ever come up with. Her parents have told me that I was just what Kaitlynn needed. Kaitlynn has told me that she thinks God picked me out just for her, and I think she may be right.

As an only child, I never got to hang out with an older sibling or talk to someone other than my parents about the stuff kids go through growing up. And that's what we do. We hang out, we talk, we cook, we eat, we go to concerts (those connections are pretty cool, aren't they kiddo?), and we're planning a trip to see the touring show of Wicked this summer in San Antonio. In the final major musical number of Wicked, the two main characters sing "Who can say if I've been changed for the better? I do believe that I've been changed for the better. But, because I knew you, I have been changed for good." I think the same can be said of Kaitlynn and I. We have changed each other for the better. I was never so proud as this summer when Kaitlynn told me that she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to college, but since she met me, now she's sure she does. It's a profoundly humbling thing to know that someone thinks so highly of you.

Kaitlynn--you are a treasure. You are smart and compassionate and goofy and silly and thoughtful and opinionated and unique, and you should cherish all of those things about yourself. The road hasn't been easy, but I promise you this--things will get better and I'll be there every step of the way. The past year has been more fun than I ever thought it could be, and I've learned a lot about you, but even more about myself. You have enriched my life in ways I can't even begin to explain, but always know that I love you and you will always be a part of my family. I miss you, kiddo.

*****

I know the rest of you were expecting an update on all things Cairo, but some things are more important. Stay tuned.

Set fire to the Gucci corner and other observations from the week that was

Egyptians like to congregate. Anywhere they can. And Egyptian college students at AUC all like to congregate in what is really the main walkway through the AUC campus and show off all of their designer label American clothes. Thus, the Gucci Corner. And it's annoying because it's next to impossible to get through without bumping in to about 4 dozen people on the way. So I decided quite quickly that setting fire to the Gucci Corner seemed a good idea. I just don't know that the Egyptian college students at AUC who congregate at the Gucci Corner would agree.

As for class, there is but one word: Humbling. I've forgotten so much. Some of it has come back to me. Some of it, not so much. And some I don't think I ever knew at all. Things got a little easier toward the end of the week, but this isn't going to be any walk in the park. However, the good folks at the Arabic Language Institute are phenomenal. It's difficult to be in a bad mood when Miss Jehan (the director) walks by and says hello with a huge smile on her face. Luckily, all of us are more or less in the same boat. And we have our own little place to congregate. The Egyptians can have their Gucci Corner. We've got the ALI Walkway....

Yesterday I went to the pyramids. Okay, actually, a group of us went to the pyramids. ALI sponsors these trips, takes care of transportation, and all we have to do is show up. It's fantastic. First thing, the pyramids complex is not what most people probably expect. For one thing--it's up on a decent sized hill. Secondly--it's huge. All of the pictures Europeans took or drew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries present this image of all three pyramids kind of close together. Not so, my friends. I'm glad we had the bus, because it would have been quite the workout to walk the whole complex. The Great Pyramid and Khafre's pyramid are pretty close to each other. But Menkaure--the smallest of the three is way the heck away from the other two. And the Sphinx--also not so close to the pyramids. That would have been another hike. Second thing, while I'm sure the pyramid complex was once considered the boonies, it's not now. The outer gates of the lower portion of the complex (where the Sphinx is) buts right up against a busy street where, incidentally, the imam of a nearby mosque was giving a fairly fiery khutba (the Friday sermon). I couldn't understand what he was saying, but by golly he was saying it in a tone that would make the most fire and brimstone Southern Baptist preacher proud.

The most annoying thing about the pyramids is the presense of the baksheesheen. These are guys who try to wheedle their way into tourists' wallets by offering to take pictures of them next to the camels--better yet, ON the camels, at which time you will have fallen hook, line, and sinker for their trick and get to take a camel ride whether you wanted to or not. Then, once that's over, they demand MONEY! Part of me understands the urge. Egypt is not a rich country, and even professionals have trouble making a decent living. So, I understand the desire to, you know, eat, but the harassment of the baksheesheen can be a little disconcerting. I managed to dodge them with a firm "la, shukrun," (no, thank you), but others in the group were not so lucky and ended up on camel joy rides they had not intended to go on. By the way, camels...mean, mean creatures. They spit and snarl. Evil things.

Finally, one very entertaining story from this week. From Zamalek, we must catch a bus that takes us to the AUC campus in New Cairo. The trip takes anywhere from 45 minutes in the morning to an hour and a half if not more late in the afternoon. So Thursday morning, I was sitting in the bus, waiting for it to fill up so we could leave for campus, when I noticed this old blue VW Beetle driving down the street, then backing up, then circling the block and so on. My first thought was "what the heck is this guy doing?" My second thought was "this could get entertaining." It soon became apparent that the guy was looking for a parking space, something in short supply in Zamalek. By this time, several guys behind me had spotted our intrepid friend and were supplying the commentary for the comedic wonder that was the crazy Egyptian dude in the old blue Bug. Our guy spotted a space near the end of the block between a little silver car of some sort, and a Mercedes, so he tried to back in, but didn't have enough room.

Not deterred, he hopped out of his car and tried to push the silver car backwards to make room. After several attempts, he gave up with that method and got back in his car, which he proceeded to back, very gently, into the front bumper of the silver car. Sure enough, little silver car starts moving backwards. By this point, everyone on the bus who has been watching this is just cracking up. This guy made enough space to wedge his Bug into this parallel parking space. When we got back Thursday afternoon, the Bug was gone, but the Mercedes and the little silver car were still parked there. I can't help but wonder if the reverse of the process was as funny as the parking itself.

Check out the pyramid pictures and stay tuned for more adventures.