Happy New Year everyone!

I ended 2007 with my last day working at Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital. It was a great day, filled with friendly clients and great pets. I even had some time to make all of my final phone calls, get everything squared away and reminisce a bit with the staff. I am really going to miss working there. What a great clinic and truly the inspiration for me to start Mt. Tabor Veterinary Care.

Me and Carmen in Room 3 at Murrayhill

On the drive in that morning I paid attention to all of the things I liked to note on my way into work - the Hawthorne Bridge and the river, the way downtown looks different every morning, a quick peek while speeding down I-5 to see if the mountain is out. I noted the fog going over the Terwilliger Curves and the beautiful field off of 217 that sometimes even has cows grazing in it and in the summer smells like green peppers (Why is that? In 4 1/2 years I never figured that out!). I also appreciated the center island landscaping on Teal Blvd. that changes throughout the year - I could never pick a favorite one. I took a look at the pond by the clinic to look for migrating waterfowl - yesterday there was a small flock of American Widgeons - that's the first place I ever saw those birds and ID'd them thanks to Christy Lee (a technician- birding friend - turned vet student). I was also careful this time turning into the driveway - there was a lot of black ice on the road and one time last winter I had a little too much confidence in my Subaru and snow tires and took the turn a little hard and nearly ended up wrapped around the light pole. 

My last day cake - chocolate with chocolate and more chocolate!

As I said the day was really nice. It started with this beautiful cake from Beaverton Bakery and Candace was so sweet to have designed the cake using our business card design. It turned out great! I didn't cut it right away, instead deciding to wait until after work to have it with the bottle of Cava I had brought in. Well, true to the spirit of veterinary medicine (and many last days that I have experienced - my last day of vet school I was on call for Ambulatory Service and had to go out at 1 a.m. to pull a calf!) Shawndra, one of the receptionists, had her parents bring her dog, Wrigley down that was not doing well. He had been feeling crummy and vomiting since the day before. He had vomited some pieces of plastic toy...uh oh. The staff was great - we quickly got radiographs and a catheter placed and started rehydrating him. The x ray was awful - lots of foreign material in the stomach and in the intestines. He needed surgery. I cut the cake first for everyone to have and to give me a little energy in the surgery suite - it was DELICIOUS!

Me out in front of Murrayhill in my surgery gown in the snow

The great thing about last night was that everyone was happy to stay and help and I had my old Monday surgery team there - Cindy and Debbie to help. How nice to be together one last time to help out Wrigley and Shawndra.  The surgery went well. We removed lots of hair, material and plastic pieces all wrapped up in a mat out of his stomach and intestines. He woke up well and even walked himself to the car. Hugs and handshakes were given all around and I drove home feeling great about my time at Murrayhill and knowing, although I will miss seeing everyone everyday they are only a 30 minute drive away.