Hello everyone and welcome to my first blog for week 1 of my internship. I headed out to Denver on the 29th to start working on the 30th. On Monday, I got a tour of the building seeing the different departments, cardiology, oncology, surgery, and emergency and critical care. This week, I started in cardiology and I got to learn more about the different heart conditions animals may get like heart murmur and atrial fibrillation. I followed Dr.Julie Martins to see ultrasounds of the heart of cats and dogs.
On Tuesday, I got to meet Dr.Erika Pugh and a few other vet techs. She explained to me how to read the ECG and I got to see them place a Holster on a dog that will read it’s heartbeat for 24 hours to see if anything abnormal occurs. With any down time the vet techs and veterinarians had, they spent some of it answering any questions I had and giving advice on this type of field. 
Wednesday was Dr.Erika’s birthday were they decided to do a potluck and there was a lot of food. I met Dr.Pamela Lee and she took me with her to observe how she talked to clients. After each appointment, she asked how I thought the communication was between her and the clients. Some of the conversations were good and some were a bit confusing. Dr.Lee went into depth about the heart conditions which was great because she would answer the important questions like why does it happen.
On Thursday, I got to follow both Dr.Erika and Dr.Lee to see the conversations with clients and hear the discussions on treatments for the animal. Ones of the cases I found interesting to see was that a dog had come in because its lungs were affecting the heart causing high blood pressure around the lungs. This type of case is secondary because another factor outside the heart that is causing a problem. It was interesting because it showed how the clinic works together with other departments and other clinics to get the animal the care it needs. Overall, the first week was amazing and fun and I really enjoyed learning about the heart.
Friday was the 4th of July and I got to go to a baseball game with my sister and see the fireworks. Saturday, my sister took me with her to a place called Chicken n Pickle for her birthday party (her birthday was the 3rd) where you can order food and play games like pickle ball, ping pong, corn hole, and battleship. I’m excited for my second week of my internship and to go into the oncology department.
Stay tuned,
Valeria Hernandez
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