We have had an extraordinarily spectacular and colorful autumn on the Palouse. Perfect fall weather, amazing sunrises, and the sounds of migrating waterfowl. And the rains held off just long enough so that the West Twin cider pressing (held annually at the home of our wonderful college photographer) was successful, the epitome of community, abundance, and good cheer.
It has also been a season of loss. In July 2023, I wrote about firsts. And one of those firsts was taking our beloved “foster failure” Chihuahua, George, to the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. It was my first time being a client, and I was grateful to and impressed by those who helped us. Since then, we have been very regular clients. And, last week, we said goodbye to George. The experience we had this time, from the Friday night emergency visit to weekend communications and overnight care, was also wonderful. It is such a deeply complicated gift and pain of our profession, being so engaged in the cycle of life. Often our veterinarians treat our pets as puppies and as seniors. And then they participate in decision-making with families and the experience of loss. I believe all veterinarians take this frequent engagement in euthanasia deeply to heart; it certainly contributes to compassion fatigue. Some find ways to orient themselves towards the positive — the humanity of relieving pain and suffering, their role in helping a grieving family. All of us need to find some peace with this aspect of our profession. I will end by saying thank you to the wonderful clinicians, house officers, staff, and students who work at our hospital and do “the hard work” of engaging in the cycle of life.
Ironically, when I was thinking about writing these Notes, I was actually smiling. I was walking out of our college’s annual research symposium with a renewed sense of wonder at the diversity of our profession. Earlier, I had been tremendously grateful for our clinical work. Later, I was truly delighted by our undergraduate, graduate, and professional student scholars who took part in the poster session. Students who bubbled over about microbiology and fish health (they weren’t going to choose; they were going to do both), about a metabolic pathway that may hold a key to how we treat a bacterial infection, about how amazing sturgeon are, and about which orthopedic models are best to train novices (students) versus specialists. It was cool. It lifted my spirits. Happy late autumn.
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Be safe, healthy, happy, and stay hopeful. As I said on my first day on the job, the future is bright.
Take care and Go Cougs!