Nicaragua Spay/Neuter Blog

Eeeeeek! Going to Dracula's castle!

2010-05-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Next spay/neuter event on my list:
Romania!
Dr. Steele and I will go for the European spay/neuter experience in October.
I'll post more details later. Woohoo!

Thanks to the practice we had in Nicaragua...

2010-03-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

We just finished a very successful spay/neuter clinic, in which Dr. Steele "fixed" 34 dogs & cats. We started checkin patients in at 6am, and the last one left at 4:30 (besides the one I got voluntold to babysit). All our patients got surgery, vaccines, and flea treatment. Since we had a bevy of fabulous volunteers, several of the pets got some grooming in too, while they were holding still. We still had plenty of donated flea and pain meds from our last round of clinics, and Schering Plough stepped up with some vaccines (thanks, Brian!). Just before the clinic, an Easter Bunny in civilian clothing stopped by and surprised our volunteers with easter baskets! We tried to catch the bunny for surgery, but it escaped.

It's not over yet!

2010-03-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Wait, wait blogworld! We've still got to do the slideshow! I don't know when, but you're invited anyway. Keep checking, I'll post when I have details. We want to show our community a little gratitude for all the support, and, of course, laugh at the "bloopers". So now if anyone would like to donate a facility, some snacks, and a projector screen...

Saturday: leaving Nicaragua

2010-03-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our flight arrangements didn't all coincide, but the majority of our flights were scheduled to take off early Saturday morning, so we asked Felix to pick us up at 2am. The original plan was to party all night so we'd leave all pumped up. That fizzled when everyone got tired and passed out. i lasted until almost 1, but i think only Brave Dave stayed awake the whole time. Felix showed up right at 2, loaded up all our stuff, and our tired selves, and took us on our way. We left behind Morgan and Kelly, whose flights were later enough they got to sleep in before their trek.
After about 2 1/2 hours on the bus (during which I napped, and may have drooled on Colleen) we arrived at the airport. Those of us flying to Houston checked in, and then discovered that the security checkpoint was not yet open. So we hung out by the gates until they showed up to stamp our passports and go through our luggage. I had some filthy sandy, still wet from the ocean socks at the top, so they didn't check mine too closely.

Speaking of the filthy socks, my post about Friday left out the part about after Larry the yoga guy took some of us into town, he showed us around a bit and introduced us to real Nicaraguan chocolate. Then he went to teach a yoga class and we wandered around and shopped for a while. Then we walked along the beach to begin a hike back up to the villa. It was a beautiful sunset, and we got a great photo of Wolfy, after which, since we were paying attention to other things than the waves, we got our ankles soaked. After that, I just walked along in the surf. It was a grand finale, but my socks got soaked and filthy. Between the sandy beach and our stairs up the hill, in the growing darkness, we chanced upon gravel - that MOVED!! Hundreds upon hundreds of hermit crabs clickety-clicked their way around and under our feet and grossed us out to the point that we turned back to find a road. Once we found a road, we found a different kind of crab, but there was only one of him, and we were able to avoid stepping on him. It was pretty dark by this time - thank goodness Natalie and Erin had thought to bring their headlamps, so we were making our way along quite well in our plod up the steep hill, when an SUV pulled up and a former US Marine Corpsman asked if he could drive us the rest of the way up the hill. So the plod ended with a nice ride, just in time for dinner. I already miss the beans and rice.

So, back to Saturday: First plane ride was essentially a nap. During the nap, the flight staff neglected to give me my customs form, despite giving one to everyone else on the airplane. When I woke up to disembark, nobody said anything about it. although I vaguely wondered why I hadn't gotten one. So I get up to the table full of forms in Houston, and the form for US Citizens to fill out, is ONLY AVAILABLE IN SPANISH!!! I was a little bit bummed about that, but after a customs person from their booth told me to talk to one of the airport personnel, and I chased them down, they were able to find a form in English for me that was only a little bit wrinkled.

After making my way through customs, I had my bag searched. The security guy really got a kick out of my Sahale Pecans (from Costco) which I had brought on the trip and not eaten. They're awesome - with cranberries and orange zest and black pepper on the glazed pecans. The guy said he was going to have to go get some. Then he said I was cool. I responded, "that's great, but how's my bag?" So I got to go through and find out that our connecting flight had been delayed an hour. That was great, because we got to have one more lunch with Colleen, who had a later flight to Albequerque. So we had airport food, and then said goodbye. The plane was about an hour and a half late taking off. This flight I slept some, but also read the SkyMall magazine. That was wildly entertaining...
Then at SeaTac, we called for our shuttle to the hotel where we'd left the cars. After that ride, we split again, and said goodbye to Jackie and Brave Dave. Then after about an hour's drive, we dropped Judy off at her friend's house, and it was back to just me and Dr. Steele. At which point, we made straight for the nearest Taco Bell. When we left Taco Bell, for some reason, we both walked the wrong direction, and had to circle the building to get back to the car. So we waved at the drive thru people and giggled our way to the car. Also on the way home, we stopped at our nearest Trader Joes (only an hour and a half from home) to reload, as I had run out of avocadoes and Powerberries. So then we drove the rest of the way home, and I got my doggie back, and whoof - hit the sack!

Backtracking - to Friday!

2010-03-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this photo was taken on Thursday, but I didn't get it until now. This is our "official" group shot in front of the clinic. I think my eyes are closed, but in my defense, it was really, really bright out.

Friday morning was horsey ride time. It ruled!

Natalie, our resident horse person, was first up, got the rest of us all put together, reminded us to keep our heels down, and took care of the less-horse oriented during our ride. We pretty much didn't need a guide, and it's always nice to have someone who really knows what they're doing along for pretty much any adventure. She got a pretty horse too.

Getting mounted up. They made us wear helmets. Our heads got hot and sweaty, but it was nice to know that the guides care about our safety.

My horse's head.

Not quite the 3 Musketeers, but hey...

Erin's horse was awesome! Cute, responsive, and a great ride!

Morgan's horse was loaded with gear: lassos, straps, even a machete!

I'm not in the photo, but my horse was just to the left of Erin's - The cowboy's dog (and his shouts) started the cows moving. Then they kept moving, pretty much by themselves, but my horse got pretty antsy. I get the feeling he used to herd the cows, and might be bored lugging gringas around on tourist rides. So I sped him up and pretended we were herding the cows. Then he stopped giving me attitude, and we had a pretty good ride after that.

This guy with his pony and cart passed us after we sent the cows towards their field.

Our guide (in the orange shirt) led Laurie's horse most of the way - after it spooked near the beginning of the ride. Morgan and her horse got along pretty well - even cantered a tad.

My dude and I rounded up this colt so the vaquero could rope him. It was super awesome! I think if/when I ever get a horse, I want a cow pony (and a burro, and a Fresian).

Isn't my horse a handsome dude? Note the lack of bit - his "bridle" is made of twisted twine.

Whoops! I got caught carving a petroglyph into this rock...

This howler monkey told us off for riding too close to him.

The boss and I pose with our fabulous food cooking housekeepers. They can cook up beans'n'rice like nobody's business!

After lunch, we went into town to buy souveniers, and hang out. Two separate groups went, and I lucked out enough to tag along with both. First our regular driver Felix took Laurie, Lisa, Colleen Kristina, and me. We got a bunch of cheap jewelry and I got an awesome hat. Then we headed to the Iguana Bar/Restaurant to hang out - not that we needed food after the awesome lunch we'd had! So they had some beer, and I had some fruity stuff. Then we shopped a little bit more and went back to the villa - just in time for me to catch a ride back to town with Larry.

This is how "No Shirt Larry" the yoga guy gets around - Stoli the Rhodesian Ridgeback gets first dibs at seating, even though she stood the whole time. The springs are old enough that if everyone sits inside, there will be problems. Also, there are no brakes. It was awesome.

Wolfy says goodnight, and goodbye to San Juan Del Sur.

The unpacking saga

2010-03-21T19:09:00.001-07:00

This story has to do with the neighbors monopolizing our shared laundry room and me painting my house some more, also me cooking myslef food. And playing with my doggie!

Back Home

2010-03-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Looooooong bus ride-flight-flight-car ride with some layovers in between...
High points include stopping at Trader Joes on the way home and TACO BELL!!
Low points include an extra long layover in Houston due to a delayed flight. The silver lining to that was that I had time to hit Auntie Anne's for a pretzel before boarding.
I am, however, about to fall over while typing, so should get some sleep.
Don't worry though- tomorrow is dedictated (at least partly) to getting the rest of this trip documented, photos uploaded, and hopefully some laundry.

Grrrr - internet issues

2010-03-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Short post, since internet is spazzing out on us:
Horseback riding = awesome!
Shopping in town = lots of souveniers
Lunch + Dinner = awesome again
Staying up late + stupid internet = short post
sorry.
Let's see if I can't update at an airport or something.

Last Surgery Day

2010-03-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

Today saw our final surgeries in Nicaragua - this time!
Business was a little slower than the other two days, which was great because the students got all kinds of experience and coaching they wouldn't have had if we were slammed. The slowness also gave me a chance to photograph some of our "neighbors" over the last few days:

The horse, along with three others, was wandering the streets, snatching snacks from yards.

The pig was kenneled (styed?) right next to where we were working.

The fowl were a ways down the street, mostly inside their own yard.

They told us this was a school for disabled children:

Lisa sutures while Dr. Winnie supervises.

Morgan sits with Randy while he wakes up:

Natalie sutures while Dr. Steele supervises.

Kristina sutures while Dr. Colleen supervises.

Dr. Karen monitors a cat recovery while Laurie preps meds.

Again, Natalie does her thing.

One group of kids asked us if we could clip their dog's shaggy, matted fur. We said of course - as long as we get to spay her too! I got to do the honors (thank goodness we'd brought more than one size of blade, and an extra clipper battery!)

Laurie and I chat with the chief of police - whose house, it turns out, we've been using as our surgery clinic! He and one of his officers brought in a working K-9 to be spayed - a mixed breed, tan dog named Blacky.

And this time... ha ha! I've got my influencing others bit down all right!

Did I mention that there are geckos running around the villa, protecting us from mosquitoes and the like?

Reasons to not check work email in Nicaragua

2010-03-18T18:01:00.001-07:00

1) a stupid depressing email can make one not feel much like blogging.
2) see above.
I'm gonna go do something fun, and come back later.

Photos from day 2

2010-03-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

Laurie sorting through her "stash". She monitored the intake of pretty much all the animals, who got what meds, etc. She places the most amazingly stable catheters, and is an awesome coach.

Kelly is basically our recovery queen. She spent almost all the time in our recovery room, removing catheters, placing belly bandages, and generally encouraging everyone to wake up as quickly as possible.

Here's Erin prepping for surgery. She's one of our vet students who is super motivated to get in there and operate. She's gotten into (literally) several surgeries.

Dr. Colleen gives Wolfy an exam. Colleen and Dr. Steele competed to call "dibs" on spays as they came in - nobody wanted to sit around for very long.

Expressing a bladder - when a bladder is full, surgery is a little more difficult. We emptied urine into trash bags that were hung at the end of our surgery tables.

Drs. Dave and Winnie, with vet student Natalie prep a spay. Several of our dogs bled heavily (probably due to tick-bourne erlichiosis) and required two vets to close them up quickly.

Vet student Lisa practices her suture technique, as Dr. Colleen supervises.

One of our few cat patients arrives in his homemade cat carrier:

Fabulous Lori and her daugher (& son) brought us lunch daily. It was so awesome of them! Good food, too.

Morgan places an IV catheter, while Laurie supervises.

Dr. Steele does her thing: SPAY!

Dr. Winnie with two of our local volunteers who helped translate.

Group shot - winding down at the end of the day.

We saw monkeys on the way back to the villa:

As I said, I wasn't the only one in the pool with my clothes on yesterday!

And, this morning, we had a visitor:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

The other post neglected to mention a few things, so here's an update:
We were challenged by the WorldVets team in Honduras to beat their score for surgeries. We said "bring it on!" and other such nonsense. In reality, they're in a much more established location, and I believe they've got one more vet than we do (?). We are, however, confident that we'll at least tie their percentage of surgeries performed for the number of (healthy-enough) animals presented. Today was a little slower than yesterday. Less animals showed up, less local volunteers showed up, but it gave us some great practice/training opportunities. Our four vet students are getting hands-on (even hands-in) surgery experience, our vet tech is coaching those IV catheter placements like crazy (3 people trained so far), and our assistants are just rocking at their posts too. Not to mention the 5 veterinarians who are just amazing! We've got an awesome team here, and I'll be sad to let 'em all go their separate ways in a few days. Thank goodness for Facebook!

Since embarrassing photos will circulate (I'm sure) I should mention that I had horrible allergies during most of the clinic today. I had hoped that I'd be fine since yesterday was no problem, but ah well. Tomorrow shall be the day of generic Zyrtec.

In honor of St. Pat's (and because I was out of other clean socks) I elected to sport some green & white toe socks, which ought to be featured in a photo later...

And our trapped cat turned out to be a female, but we transferred her to a cage to wait until a surgery table is available tomorrow. Then we set the trap again and caught her brother or son or something. Fingers crossed we get another one caught tonight!

Surgery - Day Two!

2010-03-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today was dog spay day. Lots more surgeries, lots more care, and once again the tired, hot, sweaty, grimy people considered jumping in the pool with their clothes on. This time I corrupted a few more people, and at least 4 of us got in the pool fully clothed. Word on the street is that we've just caught one of the villa's resident kitties in our live trap. Hooray!
In other news, we were told that our power and water will both be non-existent tomorrow, so we filled up every container we could find at the clinic before we left, and as soon as people got out of the pool here we started showering. I was second in line for my shower, and just as soon as I had rinsed off the chlorine, the nice shower stream turned into a tiny trickle for a few seconds, then disappeared. I don't know how long the power will last. Adventures, adventures!

Surgeries - Day One

2010-03-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

This morning, we went to our "clinic", a mostly empty building that was not being used for anything else this week. Since our day was scheduled to begin at 8am, we started out with an early breakfast and van ride.
We lost no time setting up our 4 surgery tables, using bricks underneath to raise/level them.

and began checking in patients as soon as they started showing up. Most of the girl dogs were named either Princessa or Lazy (pronounced "Lassie"). There were several Bobbies and Robbies among the male dogs, and a few Diegos. This photo shows me checking in one Diego, to the backdrop of our "lobby" and several other patients/owners.

Since we had 5 vets available, 4 performed surgeries, while the fifth saw appointments. Many of the locals refused to spay/neuter (especially neuter) their pets, but wanted parasite control or other care. We blame the macho machismo culture for the lack of neutering. Most of our patients were dogs, but (crazy cat lady alert!) I got to handle all 4 cats we "fixed" today - including our smallest patient, a 1.3# kitten spay!
In addition to spays and neuters, we also did an ear hematoma repair surgery (way to go Dr. Steele!). The ear had filled with blood and fluid and was very uncomfortable for the poor dog. Dr. Steele drained it out and sewed it back together all in the right order. Our other non-sterilization surgery was an eye removal. A poor poochie had injured itself and the eye was infected. Li'l guy's going to be fine now though, just with a constant wink.
Speaking of sterilization, our surgical instruments had to be chemically sterilized, as we did not have an autoclave (or modified pressure cooker) to steam them. Each "pack" was scrubbed out, and then bathed in fun chemicals, before being handed to another surgeon. Cute baskets, huh?

After surgery, the animals were brought to the Recovery area, where a few hardcore volunteers sweltered it out in a muggy, dark room, with very little foot space, monitoring the patients, counting out meds, documenting additional medical issues, etc. I was surprised at how calm this area was, especially since the dogs often clambered over each other in a drug-induced stupor.

As the dogs and cats came to, they were brought out to the light of day, where most of their families had waited for them in our "lobby" of folding chairs out in the yard. Owners got their pet back, care instructions, any needed medications, and in several cases, brand new collars and leashes, as we'd had some donated and didn't like to see the critters walk out on a rusty chain.

Word on the street is that we did 41 surgeries and saw 18 appointments today! We met some great people too - including one owner who did our grocery shopping for us, since we couldn't leave the clinic before the Mercado would be closed. She got us some great vegetables, which we brought back to the villa for dinner. While that was getting prepared, and since everyone was hot, sweaty, dirty, and covered in grime, and other people got to the showers before I did, well...

Backtracking a bit...

2010-03-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

So I discovered that my camera's connection cable also fits Dr. Steele's camera - which rules, since she naturally takes way more pictures than I do. Plus, this way, I'm in the pictures, instead of random people you folks out in blog world may not know.
So this was our first night at the hotel in SeaTac.

I made barf bag puppets on both planes. This one is "el Burro"

The wind here is super strong. When we went sailing my hat nearly flew off.

I tried to take Wolfy for a swim...

Here's me, getting LOST... can't you just see Jack 'n' Kate off in the distance?

This part was fun - someone found a snorkel, and we took turns using it.

Monkeys!

Our sailboat, as seen from the beach:

Getting on the motorboat to head back:

Geronimo and another guide-boat-sailor-guy (with Wolfy)

Wolfy with our fried plantains and cheese:

Wolfy tries to get into the sangria

Pictures!

2010-03-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

The horses:

A guy tries to stuff a chin strap in my mouth:

Cows that got in the way on the road:

The boss 'n' me, ready to go!

'
Our location:

I start off:

Dr. Steele and Wolfy survived!

We tried this trick too, but didn't get a good photo...

More later - it's dinner time!

"Too many donations"

2010-03-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Regina (Webster) and Cody (MWI)!!! We've just been informed that our trip is the most-donated-to World Vets trip supplies-wise - and our office brought nearly half the stuff! Way to go us and our awesome vendor reps!
The morning adventure of zip-line fun will have to be documented in full later because the camera that went along is currently on a hike, but it was awesome to begin the morning by leaping into the common room in my batman shirt singing "dananananana dananananananana - ZIP-LINE!" Things went uphill from there (literally) since we had to truck our way up to the top of a ridge to start the zip line rides. On the way, we checked out some trail-riding horses we plan to get a little more friendly with on Friday morning. Sadly enough, I was too busy hanging upside down and making ridiculous super-hero poses on the zip line to actually see any of the monkeys that other folks saw.
Silly me.

First Dinner

2010-03-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

We asked both Geronimo from the boat and some random gringos we met on the street where we should eat dinner. Both times, we were told that we should go to both Timon and Colibri. Timon won out tonight - turns out it's an open-air seafood place right on the beach. Three daring members of our crew had octopus, and one had an entire fish, face and all. The rest of us opted for less exciting fare and went with foods like steak and spaghetti. The waitstaff must have heard we were on our way because they were out in force to greet us, seat us, and ply our table with pitchers of sangria. I tried their fruit punch - very thick, pulpy, sweet, and yum! The food was mostly pretty good. I heard something about the shrimp tasting funny, but no bad news yet. Tomorrow there's a zip-line trip lined up, followed by setting up the clinic to start hardcore with the spays and neuters on Tuesday. Also, we have word that we'll get to repair an ear hematoma on a dog as well. Should be fun, since we don't have hematoma supplies. Time to get creative!!
After we sleep.

Sailing

2010-03-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today, our group had a "rest day" - meaning that we slept until 9ish, a bunch of us hiked into town looking for a market that turned out to be really, really far away, so we got a couple of taxis back to our villa. Then we all went out on a sailboat run by the Pelican Eyes tourism company - the boat guys were very friendly and helpful, plying sailors with guacamole and beverages while we sailed about an hour north to a sandy swimming beach. When we dropped anchor, the little motorboat pulled up to our sailboat to take us to shore. Someone said something about swimming in. Well, if anyone here knows me, they know what happened next. Yep, off the boat, into the blue-green awesomeness, and off for a swim that ended up much longer than it looked from the boat. I was starting to feel a little LOST when i waded up on to the sandy palm-beach shore to wait for the motorboat (yes, i beat them) and the other people who followed my lead and swam in - including our fearless Dr. Steele. After a little relaxing, we followed hermit crabs, saw monkeys, and someone found a snorkel in the water. So then there was snorkeling - and it was awesome! I saw spiny urchins, limpets, fish, fish, those electric blue fish, some stripey sucker fish, big fish, tiny fish. Sorry, I don't know my fish names.

After the beach, it was back out to the sailboat for a sunset ride back to San Juan Del Sur, and now we're waiting for our ride out to eat.

In the meantime, let's see if this batch of photos loads properly:

The Villa:

The boat trip/beach:

We're here!

2010-03-14T00:56:00.001-08:00

The first leg of our trip was the flight to Houston. Not so bad, as airlines go. I made barf bag puppets and did a puppet show for the folks seated behind us. They were not as amused as I had hoped they would be. I left the puppets behind, hoping they would brighten the day of some unsuspecting puppet-finder. Then we discovered that Judy had left her glucometer and insulin at the hotel in SeaTac. Fortunately, as she was telling us and others in our group, random strangers overheard, happened to be diabetic, and happened to have enough supplies to fix her up. They refused payment, and went on their separate ways. We don't know who they are, but thank goodness that they exist - we love you guys!
Our layover in Houston was over 3 hours long - plenty of time to hike from one end of the world to the other (all within the same concourse!) and then find out that they were switching gates around and we'd have to go more than halfway back. So I got some power-walking in today. Lunch consisted of various airport food court foods - mine were mostly Italian, but I snuck in an Auntie Anne's pretzel too. Yum! Although the flight info we were given said we'd only be served a snack on our next leg of the trip, the flight staff handed out salads and cheeseburgers on the next plane. This time, the barf bag puppet I made was a burro. He did not present a show to the folks behind us as someone's water bottle decided to empty part of itself on my seat, and I took a nap on a pile of napkins. By the time we landed, got through customs, and got out to meet the rest of our WorldVets team, it was about 10pm Nicaragua time. We loaded up onto our bus and headed south for about 2 and a half hours. Then we drove around San Juan Del Sur for another HOUR because the driver didn't know where we were headed, and none of the locals he asked could explain it to him. Eventually someone got ahold of someone who sent a moped delivery guy to meet us and show us the way. It was a great adventure, and now I'm pretty sure I could find my way to just about any night spot in downtown. There's an Irish pub, a karaoke bar, a bunch of hotels, and of course the "Crazy Crab Beach Club" which I can still hear up at our villa, despite our being eons away at the top of a cliff. There is a swimming pool right at the edge of the cliff, and the villa is the most open, airy, awesome house I've ever seen. Photos will follow, but it is way too dark and way too late to mess with that right now.
Happy Daylight Savings Time!

The joy that is Sea-Tac

2010-03-13T07:04:00.001-08:00

It's almost like coming home - the airport air smells like airport air, the Starbucks every 50 feet smell like Starbucks, and, as per usual, I am sooooooo tired and wander the concourse in a zombie-like daze... I've spent more time in this airport than just about any other public place since the great "stranding of 98". That was a 2 1/2 day fiasco. This is just a few hours, but oh, the memories. We've got our snacks, books, and whatnot, and we found our gate, and so far (knock on wood) they haven't announced any delays or cancelled flights. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
We'll keep you posted.

And we're off!

2010-03-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

An emergency delayed our leaving the office (the li'l guy is going to be fine though) and Dr. Steele and I finally drove away just a few minutes before 7pm. After a few errands (the bank, the mailbox, getting gas) we made our way to the wonderful wonderfulness of Taco Bell! Hooray for 7-layer burritos and crispy potato soft tacos and caramel apple empanadas and mango strawberr fruitista freezes (yes i had them all, and they were oh so very good)! Then we drove for a long time. Then we went to McDonalds and I got ice cream and we picked up Judy. Then we drove for a long time. We've just checked in to the SeaTac Quality Inn, where the staff so far have been super nice. Also, they're setting us up with a nice, early morning shuttle ride to the airport (after our nice, early 5am wake-up call, which will get in the way of my nice, early nap). To bed! To sleep. To sleep: perchance to dream, and maybe even actually get some rest before the plane ride.
G'night world!

Countdown time!

2010-03-12T12:49:00.000-08:00

We've got a busy afternoon at the office, and then - a three hour(ish) drive to Seattle. Then a "restful" night at an airport hotel, and then Takeoff at 8:30am! Even though I've checked and double checked, I'm positive that I forgot something. I guess we'll find out soon enough just what that something was!

More supplies!

2010-03-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

A local ER nurse stopped in yesterday - with bagloads of rejected ER supplies that will work just fine on animals in Nicaragua. Woohoo! Also, we've discovered that each person on our flight can check one bag for free - so we don't have to pay to take all the supplies with us. Yeah!
Way to go ER!

the excitement of packing!

2010-03-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Whew - almost done packing! I've got the duffel of clothes, the suitcase of supplies, the laptop case of laptop... I've confirmed with the dogsitter(s), I've found the passport and had the vaccines. Am I forgetting anything? Let's hope not.
Last minute panic - aaahhhaaaahhhhhhhh!
Okay, now I'm ready to rock'n'roll!

box full of fun!

2010-03-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

Hooray! The box of medical supply donations from MWI has arrived! Thank you Cody, for the suture, vet wrap, syringes, artificial tears, and all the rest.

The puppies survived their night with a sleep deprived me, and are going back to their regular caregivers for the weekend. Rumor has it the other girls enjoyed their sleep, so I get to have a guilt-free weekend of frantic packing, painting, last minute shopping, and playing with my Teddy boy! And if I get the chance, I may also check out the Beachcombers Fun Fair at our Convention Center.

as if that weren't enough...

2010-03-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

We've gotten another pledge of suture and surgery supplies! Huge thanks to Cody from MWI - we are awaiting the package with baited breath and duffel bag space.

So now, in addition to the move, the new dog, the vaccines (shot and oral typhoid meds), the getting psyched to go to Nicaragua, I've also become a foster mom overnight for these four beauties!

They were left in a cardboard box at our nearest JC Penny's a few days ago, and the office gals have been taking turns. Well, since I am a sucker, I volunteered to give everyone else a break tonight, and here we go! It would be nice if they didn't have to eat/potty quite so often (I'm getting about 3 hours in between shifts). Thank goodness I like puppies! A reporter from the Aberdeen Daily World came out today to do a story on them - it should be in tomorrow's paper. They'll be available for adoption in a few weeks through North Beach PAWS.

And speaking of projects:

Here's my new Teddy boy and his brother Neil:

sore arm day

2010-03-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

Got my Hep. A shot today. Get to start taking drugs for both typhoid and malaria tonight. Not super excited about this. Not using complete sentences. Arm sore.

Two weeks to takeoff!

2010-02-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

So much to do, so much time I had that I didn't utilize! I've bought the travel insurance, I'm finally going to get my anti-malaria meds, I've located my darn passport, and I am sooooo excited! I've found the plastic bin of clothes that I put away when I moved from San Diego - thinking I wouldn't need shorts and whatnot in western Washington. Thank goodness I didn't give them all away, or I'd have to do some clothing shopping too.

New Project

2010-02-25T09:49:00.001-08:00

In preparation for the trip to Nicaragua, I somehow decided to add more complications to life, and in addition to moving this week (!) I have just adopted a new dog from North Beach PAWS. He's a 7 year old sable sheltie, and came in to be neutered today. Turns out he has other things wrong with him too - horrible teeth and an old leg injury - (a broken femur). So, being a sucker, I went ahead and said I would take him. I've wanted a sheltie since I was a kid, and, well, meet the new boy! We're tossing around the name Theodore (because of the many versions: Ted, Teddy, Ed, Eddie, Theo, The Odor...).
Here's a photo of him still sleeping in his kennel. I'm sure I'll put a few more shots later. And yes, I made sure I had a sitter lined up before I adopted - there is no WAY I'm missing Nicaragua!

We've asked an ER nurse if they have any extra supplies (gloves, etc.) that could be donated. She said she'll start putting together a box for us. Sweet!

laptop bag!

2010-02-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

Hooray - the purple laptop now has a carrying case!
I was recently the recipient of a purple laptop donation (as the previous owner had upgraded to a new purple laptop) and this laptop is nearly as excited as I am about the upcoming trip. I've been assured that we'll have internet usage at our lodgings, so I'll be sure to upload, update, and generally up-talk the whole thing while we're down there. The case was on promotion at ShopKo (gotta get my shopping plug in) and helps put the "fun" back in functional, which is always nice.

Also, a new donation has arrived to keep the first one company. I've left them alone in a rabbit hutch in the hopes that they'll propogate.

A week without posts!

2010-02-10T20:18:00.001-08:00

Sorry! So many things going on here, that I haven't done much in the way of Nicaragua prep. I would, however, like to announce that the first donation has successfully made its way through PayPal, and into the trip fundage pot. Word on the street is that the poor li'l guy is lonely in the account there all by himself though. Maybe he needs some friends... Only $993.75 to go!

In local news, we scheduled a spay/neuter clinic for the Saturday after we get back, so that we're still in surgery mode and can bring all our new and improved clinic skills to help reduce unwanted pets on the home front.

We've had great success at these at-home clinics in the past: the volunteers have been awesome! Our "cat whisperer" kept things calm and un-pooped-upon, and we practically trained a new surgery assistant (thanks Kristine and Ron!). Our coordinator, Joan, screened patients and scheduled who would be dropped off when. Our office staff did a bang-up job putting together paperwork (way to go, girls!). Our vaccination/flea treat/nail trim team of Jan and Vivian chased me away a few times for getting too nosy. Our recovery team, led by Holly, barely needed my help either, and at our last clinic I got to goof off a bit and enjoy the fabulous food provided by Spider Rocks (RIP, Spider). Which was nice, since I was fighting off a migraine at the time. Ahhhh, organization ahead of time is a wonderful thing!

Last night we had "rehearsal" for the improv "Murder in Margaritaville", and lots of time went into finding Russian gambler-turned-booking-agent makeup and such. Nothing to do with spay/neuter, but this thing is going to be tons of fun! Tickets are $15 at the OS Community Club.

Stuff from Webster!

2010-02-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Our Webster rep came out to the clinic today - to bring me a giant bag of supplies for the trip! We've got suture, pain meds, ear cleaner, disinfectant, LickGuard, and more! Awesome! I know Worlds Vets asked for suture, and I'm sure the Nicaraguan pets will appreciate the Metacam.
Thank you Regina!

More whatnot

2010-02-02T18:11:00.001-08:00

Today we shopped for travel insurance. It looks like I'll be going with CSA's Custom Luxe because they have more MedEvac benefits - enough to get me back stateside should things be less than fun. For $75, I get a million bucks' worth of coverage, with $250K for medical stuff. Not a bad deal. So I'm telling myself, okay, self, if you're going to get injured in the next year, make sure you do it on the last day of the Nicaragua trip, so it gets all paid for.
Plus I have AFLAC.

travel insurance and whatnot

2010-02-01T22:57:00.000-08:00

So has anyone out there used travel insurance before? I've been told that www.insuremytrip.com can be a helpful website, but I don't really know what I'm looking for. Any recommendations?

I'm a successful foster parent!

2010-01-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

Not quite Nicaragua, but critter-related: I've had a broken-legged weiner dog at my house (and at work, and in the car, and at other people's houses...) for the last couple of months, and now that she's finally recovered I got to turn her over to an adoptive family yesterday! Both of my other foster attempts have failed, because I somehow justified keeping my "fosters", hence the abundance of critters at my house. Third time's a charm I guess.

On the World Vets front, we've had a pledge of donated air miles for the next spay/neuter trip! It won't be my turn again for a few years, but someone else from my office is going to have a blast! Dr. Steele gets to go every year, and the rest of the staff get to take turns. Which was great, but now we've hired three more staff members, so it'll be a while... ah well. I get to work our freebie clinics here in town. We put those on (sponsored by North Beach PAWS) four times a year. Last time we "fixed" 55 critters. Our first one this year will be just a few weeks after Nicaragua, so Dr. Steele and I should be ready to rock'n'roll!

Speaking or rock'n'roll, has anyone else seen Jonah Rocks? This kid is amazing!

PayPal link is up and running!

2010-01-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

I've got to mention that I'm super proud of myself, having never made a PayPal link before. It was surprisingly easy and user-friendly, and I'd recommend the service to anyone attempting to raise donated funds for a spay/neuter trip (note how I just have to mention the purpose for this trip at least once in every post). Feel free to make use of the link, now that it's there!
Next project, add a ticker/counter type thing to track fundage.
And just for fun, here's what I've been suckered into babysitting overnight:

Donations!

2010-01-25T13:13:00.001-08:00

I'd be remiss if I didn't give recognition:
to Webster Veterinary Supply for their pledge of suture material (and maybe more stuff!)
to Bayer for scrubs to wear
to Lilly for the offer of Comfortis
and I'd be happy to add to the list! I'm very lucky to work with these vendors and their representatives, and I'm glad they're excited to help out pets in Nicaragua as well.
We especially need surgery supplies, vaccines, and flea/tick control products.
Of course, not everyone has those kinds of things on hand, so at some point I intend to get a PayPal thingy up on here so that we can accept monetary contributions as well.

Got the plane ticket!

2010-01-25T12:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the generosity of Thorn and Cindy Ward, I now have an airplane ride scheduled. Thank goodness, because the idea of being shot to Nicaragua from a cannon just didn't sit right with me. I've not heard much about the quality of their catching nets...
However, I am very, very excited that I was able to get booked on the same flight as Dr. Steele, especially since she's my ride to the airport. We'll be going Continental. (I'd heard that United Breaks Guitars, not that I have a guitar to bring or be broken, but that gives me an excuse to promote the song).
Have a great day everyone!

First Post!

2010-01-18T17:45:00.000-08:00

Hello All!
News for today - I have successfully created the blog for our Nicaragua spay/neuter event, coming up in March.
Also, I have made a poster for the lobby, listing the blog as a resource. Hopefully, this will keep me motivated to report events as they occur...
Hopefully.

Dr. Steele and I are excited to join World Vets (www.worldvets.org) in bringing the joys of spays and neuters to pet owners in other countries. This will be my first World Vets trip (Dr. Steele's second) and, again hopefully, I will be able to keep the world at large posted on what happens.

Welcome to the Blog!