It has been a while!

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't written in a while. Things haven't been extremely busy but I haven't had a chance to get to the internet cafe. I just want to say thank you for all of your e-mails and comments -- it feels really nice to get to the cafe and have messages. My blog is being featured on UNC's Center for Global Initiatives website. How cool! If you found this blog on that site, thanks for reading!

Last week we worked with an nyala with a hernia, captured kudu, gemsbok, blesbok, impala, and sable, and tracked buffalo. Not an extremely medically oriented week but exciting. While we were waiting for the helicpoter to come back Faye and I actually sunbathed on top of the lorry. I took a nap over belsbok -- oh how I love Africa. Oh and Africa time! Everything here is so much SLOWER than back home. For instance, if someone says they will be back in half an hour they mean an hour and a half. It took me a while to get used to it, but now I really appreciate enjoying the moment and not worrying about getting anywhere at a specific time. I have decided that one of my favorite things to do in the entire world is to sit in the bed of a pick up and drive through the bush. Luckily for me, I do this practically every day.

Yesterday we treated a sable with a huge lump on its neck. Turns out it was a tapeworm cyst -- one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Niel made an incision where the worm was and pulled it out with the fluid pouring everywhere. It was like a large clear sack with little white balls all around it (actaully heads). I gave it an injection in its bum, just some vitamins to help it recover.

This morning Angela and Niel castrated a horse because, no joke, the horse was going after the sheep. The setting was making me laugh so much. We were in this small run down stable with sheep all around, a sheep dog biting the tail of the horse, chickens running everywhere, and cattle calves trying to get a piece of the action. And the horse was so stubborn! It would not go down with the anaesthetic, but giving a horse an anaesthetic is a tricky thing because one doesn't exist solely for horses. Niel had to make a conncoction of four different anaesthetics. While I didn't get to be very ahdns on with the operation, I was the time keeper! Hey, you have to start somewhere.

I am having a small crisis with my camera. There is dust in the lens gears so it was stuck parcially open. The camera shops told me the only place to get it fixed was in Joberg -- 3 hours away. Hopefully though, the nice gentleman who works fixing computers at the internet cafe is trying to see what he can do -- he used to fix cameras. He actaully just brought it over and showed me the lens fully extended. Oh I hope he fixes it because I have to take pictures my last two weeks.

Well, we are about to capture a rogue giraffe. But I will finish with a funny, disgusting story. The week before last was the buffalo crisis -- in the end we had to dart 12 buffalo at one time in a pen to give them penicillin and vaccines. Can you say nerve racking? One refused to go down and actually was chasing Kathryn. I hid behind a tree. Going back to the story, we had to do a third post mortem because a third buffalo had died. To do this you must cut the front and back legs out of the way, peel back the skin, then the muscles, then carefully pop the rumen to let the bloated air out. Well, the farmhand cutting the muscles popped the rumen a little too soon, and it sprayed like an almost empty can of whip cream all over Faye's and my face. And in our mouth. Let's just say I will never make the mistake of standing in that spot ever again.

Thermometer crisis

I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did Monday. I hope this story is as funny to read as it was to see:

We were called out to a sick sable, darted it, blindfolded it, brought it into the pen, and everything was just dandy until Niel decided to check its temperature. He stuck the thermometer in the anus, was waiting for it, and SCHLUuP. The thermometer was gone. Just disappeared inside the antelope. Oh did I laugh. And laugh. But what made it even funnier was that Niel couldn't get it back. Everytime he stuck his hand inside he just brought out some more chocolate covered raisins (exactly what most antelope feces look like). I had to leave the holding pen because I couldn't contain myself and had tears streaming down my face. After a good 5-6 minutes of searching for the thermometer he found it and said "No one takes my thermometer." I just kept laughing. I asked Niel if that had ever happneed before and he said no, had only heard about. A lecturer in school said that one day he came upon his students holding a sheep by its front legs, trying to get a thermometer out. Needless to say, that method doesn't work.

This week has been full of dead buffalo. Sadly a farm is having a slight crisis and their buffalo are dying from an infection in their heart. So we did 3 post mortems on buffalo this week. If you ever want to gag, smell a dead buffalo. We spent this morning vaccinating the others against the infection.

Yesterday I injected several goats with heartwater...like the nguni cows from last week. It was so much fun trying to find the vein. Similar to last week, everytime Kate hit the vein, blood sprayed all over her.

Tomorrow we are going to a game auction, should be interesting. And since it is a long weekend we will be camping out on the farm Sunday night. Monday is youth day. I suggest that everyone worldwide embrace this day and celebrate their youth!

Thank you America!!!!

Across the ocean, in SA, I would like to thank the people of the US for voting Barack Obama as the democratic candidate for president. Now if the rest of the country will just vote for him in November.....

I had a lovely birthday at the Axsel household. Geraldine made me a gorgeous chocolate cake with golden chocolate faires and a boquet of flowers on top -- wow. New friends, Kate, Kathryn, and Faye, as well as Stephen, Niel, Angela, and the whole Axsel family minus Alfie Jr. were there to celebrate. It was wonderful. And Niel gave me Big 5 shot glasses to celebrate my legailty in the US....well overdue.

I developed a cold the next day, and no it wasn't from partying too hard. Dr. Geraldine gave me plenty of vitamins and cold medicine to make me feel better. Yesterday I slept in 'til 10 because I felt awful. Poor Faye had a bad reaction to her Malaria tablets and was home ALL day.

I gave intravaneous injections in cattle yesterday!! Oh the things you can do where they aren't regulated by the government. We were "infecting and treating" for heartwater, a parasitc disease transmitted by ticks. Basically we injected the cattle with a mild dose of the disease, and then when their temp goes up, about 12 days later, they are treated with tetracyclines, although they may have already developed an immunity.

This morning Angela darted two sable on one farm. One to be sold and the other with a broken leg. The break was too far up though so not much could be done but give it injections..vitamins, pain killer, antibiotic.... I had to sit on it so it wouldn't get up. Its horns got me in my arm. Hurts just a little.

Other than those two activities things have been pretty slow. Not much has come into clinic either. We did however go on several game drives in the past two days. Lots of antelope. And giraffe!

Not much planned for the weekend. Hopefully going out with Angela tomorrow night and maybe I will get my tour of Eskom...(the MASSIVE power plant here in Ellisras) (actually the largest cool dry coal plant in the world). Alfie works there.

Once again, thank you America and thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! Love you all!

So many first lines I could start with....

Last Wednesday I was given the following options:

1. Go on a mass game capture in a helicopter

2. Help release a wild leopard

So, I picked the leopard, but it occured to me, "Who gets these options?" In the end I didn't even have to worry about making the right choice -- when I returned to my flat after the leopard release, Neil called me and told me I could go on mass game capture the very next day! I am so blessed to be here and pinch myself everyday, wondering if I really am going to wake up.

The wild leopard release was defintely one of the coolest activities thus far (but then everything the past week has seemed like that). The leopard, who had been caught on a farm by a game farmer, was being released in a reserve (with a 5 star lodge and lots of tourists....really a good idea?) with a new radio collar. We arrived at the reserve at 3, but ended up waiting for two hours for the owner to show up, which was extremely frsutrating because it gets dark at 6 and there was a storm threatening. When he finally did get there it started storming right over our heads. Angela injected him with a tranquilizer through the cage (so brave, he was feroucious and they are lightening fast). I helped her collected blood samples while Steven helped Luke (the cheetah guy, more about him another day) measure the leopard. I think our favorite part of the day was weighing him. Angela was standing on this really-for-a-bathroom scale and asked for some one to hand her the leopard. Here Steven and I were, amidst professional game rangers, just looking at each other because no one was moving. So we said, ok, we'll do it, and picked it up. Maybe not exciting for some, but I was pretty thrilled that I was lifting a wild leopard in the middle of a thunderstorm. We ended up having to leave the leopard under a blanket because it was so cold. The game reserve manager left a dead warthog for when it woke up, but as Angela said, who comes out of anesthesia craving pork? Leopard with his duvet:

The next day was my first helicopter ride! I went with Herard to capture kudo and waterbuck and met the nicest people, who fed me delicious meet and invited me to come visit their own farms. SA people are really nice. Herard uses the helicopter to scare the antelope into a fenced off area and eventually into a truck. Once there, I ran around with Ted making sure the antelope went in the truck and stood for a while on top watching the guys get them into their compartments. Lots of fun.

Later that day I helped Angela stitch up a horse! The horse had a huge gash in it's leg from who knows where. I used the forceps and heled the intital suture in place while she would make the second one. Again, one of the most amazing activities.

The next day I scrubbed in as the vet nurse during a dog castration (the actaul vet nurse, Filimon, was out sick). Again, too cool. I blotted up blood, held the testicles in my hands...lots of fun. Here is a pic, oh and if you are wondering, yes, no gloves. Too expensive for a small clinic in SA. But don't worry Mommy, I am washing my hands all of the time!

Saturday, after watching Neil's neice dance at the church bazaar we went out for a sable dystocia, which turned into a c-section in the middle of the bush. Neil is incredible at what he does. This particular sable cow took two darts before she actaully went down -- I think she knew she had a calf to protect. He quickly opened her up and he, Steven and the farmer pullled out the calf, who was fortunately still alive. After pulling her out, Neil says to me, hold this, and hands me the uterus. I literally held the uterus in my hands while he attended to the calf and while he sewed it up. If only I had gotten a picture. Unfortunately, I don't often get pictures of the cool things I do. But when you are holding an antelope uterus in your hands, how do you get a picture??? Here is one of me with the calf afterwards:

Tomorrow is my birthday! Neil's sister-in-law, Geraldine is making me a cake -- she is a professional cake maker! Stephen leaves Wednesday and some new girls are coming....sad. People are here for just a few weeks, I make friends and then they leave (Bizzie come back!). I hope everyone is well! Send me an e-mail, I would love to hear from you!