Discovering the Donkey

Amanda started her final year of veterinary school last week, and her experiences on her current rotation has brought to mind a patient I hadn't thought of in a while. She is currently on the equine orthopedic surgery rotation, which is a two week session that all small animal focused students simply love (not really). Many of the rotations in vet school can be very taxing, and when it is a subject that you will likely never use as a vet down the road, it becomes that much more tedious to make it through. When I was on a similar rotation back in 2002, I ended up having a very wild experience.

The day I started my equine internal medicine rotation, I was assigned an infant donkey named Discovery. His mother had passed on not too long after giving birth to him, and he did not have much going in his favor. He was quickly confined to the isolation ward because of his problems involved some infectious disease issues. Taking care of an extremely young animal is enough work as it is, but the protocols we go through when a patient is in a proper isolation ward make things take MUCH longer. I would check in on him every few hours, and in order to do so, I would first have to put on a ridiculous protective outfit that includes full body disposable coveralls, thick plastic boots, gloves, hair bonnet, and mask. This usually took at least 7 minutes to do. By the time you have finally done this, you better hope that you have everything you need, because if you have to go get anything, you are required to take it all off before leaving and then put on a fresh outfit upon re-entry. I frequently forgot at least one item that I needed. While my classmates were sleeping at 4:40 am, I was in the isolation ward...when they were eating lunch, I was in the isolation ward - for TWO WEEKS, I felt like I lived in the isolation ward. Once I got excited that we were going to take some radiographs, thinking we would get to leave the isolation ward for a change... Nope! They brought the equipment to the isolation ward.

So what sort of person spends thousands of dollars to try and save their infant donkey? The same person who likes to talk to said donkey over the cell phone. Yes, one of the things I had to remember to bring was a cell phone for the donkey. The first time I had to do this, I figured it wouldn't be a huge deal, but she liked to talk - I would hold the phone a few minutes to his ear, check and find that she was still talking, shrug my shoulders and keep waiting. Some of these one-sided conversations lasted 10 minutes! In the beginning, when it was over, I would quickly move on to my other tasks. After a few times though, I would talk with her a little bit - she would ask if the donkey was responding to her voice, and I would reveal how he blinked his eyes or flicked his ear. Maybe it was just a normal body movement (the opinion I kept to myself), or maybe it was him communicating back (of this she was sure).

So was my rotation a ton of work? Oh yeah. I was exhausted. I didn't mind because I was the one Discovery loved to see (I had the coveted milk bottle). I wish the story had a happy ending, but despite all our efforts, Discovery never left the facility. On the final day of my rotation, yet another problem arose and we figured it wasn't meant to be. I'm sure his owner has found a new friend to talk to by now, but for me, Discovery is likely the only donkey that I'll care for. Could it be that you never forget your first donkey?