Latest / Beyond the Green Bibs / Ep 10 Chat with Dr. Marina Sweet

Transcript

Ep 10 Chat with Dr. Marina Sweet · Beyond the Green Bibs

0:11
SPEAKER_01: Hi and welcome to Beyond the Green Bibs.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: I am Annie, a cattle vet, farmer, mom of two boys, and business owner with passions involving agriculture and personal finance.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: I am on a mission to inspire and encourage women who want to be involved in large animal medicine and also be a mom and so much more.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: I believe we as women can create a community to provide support to other women as we build a life filled with gratitude and purpose.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: So whether you are in the vet truck on your way to a farm call, a mom running the kids to school, a gal that loves animal agriculture, or heck, all of the above.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me and let's roll on with today's conversation.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Green Bibs.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Annie, and we have another interview today.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: I am just gonna keep on rolling through them because I was fortunate to get quite a few in one setting.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: So the interview we have today is from the lovely Dr.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: Marina Sweet, and we had a really good conversation.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: She's a young working mom, freshly out of school, so mainly who this podcast is targeted to.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: So it was nice to get her point of view on things.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: And in the interview, she was working at a practice in Michigan that I was pretty familiar with.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: And since then, which it's going on almost a year now, but since then she has moved to Ohio.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: And Ohio is her home, so she's working at a practice in central Ohio.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: It's closer to her family, and she's got her little daughter.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: So um that's uh a wonderful thing that has happened for her.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: A couple things that I wanted to bring up before we go through the interview were some things that she had mentioned that I thought were pretty darn good, pretty important.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that we've already said it before with some of the other folks that we've talked with is that we as women working in a male-dominating field, now it's becoming more women-dominating.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's awesome.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: But we women were built differently than men.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: And one strong model that carries through for all of us is to work smarter, not harder.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: And she emphasized that as one of her one of her talking points.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: So that was that was just another good, oh, yep, we got that covered.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: And she did share some advice for students going through vet school, people interested in veterinary medicine, um, as you're going through your schooling, to prepare yourself to be a doctor, not just get through vet school.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: Our our end goal is to have a veterinary career.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: And so getting the grades on the tests, yes, they're important and we need to pass so we can take boards and get our license and all of that, and then actually get into practice, but challenge yourself to prepare to be that doctor and maybe put your blinders on a little bit um as to what other people may be doing in your in your class to not compare yourselves to them, but compare yourself to yourself to to really challenge yourself to do your best so that you can be best prepared as you enter that field as a veterinarian.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, large animal veterinarian.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: And another thing she mentioned that is hopefully kind of the target of this podcast is that we as women in veterinary medicine we wear a lot of hats.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: One of the hats, besides being a veterinarian many times, is that we are a mom.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: And having moms supporting moms in practice is huge.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: And it really is crucial.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's what gets us through some of those really, really challenging times, especially as a new mom or going to be a new mom, those situations and having that mom supporting each other and being able to have that community to reach out to somebody in a challenging time that you can say, hey, this is going on in practice, or this is going on with my baby.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: How did you handle this situation?
4:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, is is really a wonderful thing to have.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: So I hope this podcast can do that for women who find this this podcast, and I hope that we can make a stronger community.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: And the other thing that she had mentioned that was a little surprising, maybe not super surprising, but um going to mom's she picked her very first practice to go to.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: And so if there's any practice owners that are listening, or maybe folks that want to be a practice owner, think about that as part of your benefits package.
5:51
SPEAKER_01: A lot of the women coming into the field are probably going to have children, and it's challenging in itself to be a full-time working parent, and then also have the type of career that we have as a large animal veterinarian where there's a lot of unknowns for scheduling and traveling and that sort of thing.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: So have some kind of policy in place if you don't, and maybe this is a reminder to check your policy for maternity leave to see if it does need a little bit of adjustment.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: And that also will reach out to students or folks who are in vet school or interested in going to vet school as you end your school time and you're starting to look at contracts.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: If you're thinking you maybe potentially want to start a family someday, check your contracts on that because that is very important for us.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: We do need a break after that, after that baby's coming to bond and to care for them and figure out what this new life as mom and vet looks like.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: And so just take that into account.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: The practice that I was at previously, the handbook didn't have a maternity leave policy until I was pregnant with my first child.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: And then it was like, oh my goodness, what do we do?
7:21
SPEAKER_01: And how do we come up with an appropriate amount of time that you can be gone and the practice can still function?
7:30
SPEAKER_01: And it was a really challenging time.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: It was a lot of discussion.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: And um, the first time around, I was not very happy with how my maternity leave went.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, it was it was very short, and I in the moment didn't really think about it.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: I just put my head down and kept working and took the time that was uh allotted to me and went right back to work to get back in the in the swing of things, and I didn't take a very long time to kind of bond with with my oldest now.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so looking back, that is one thing I kind of regret that I wish I would have taken a little bit more time and and just said, no, I'm not gonna be answering the phone, I'm not gonna be coming to the office for a couple more weeks to one recover from an emergency C-section and to to bond with this baby and try to figure out what our schedule is gonna look like.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: My second child, since we had already gone through it one time, um they had their policy created from from when I was pregnant the first time around.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: And it was a little bit more organized, I guess I'll say.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, still wish maybe I could have had another week off um of just spending time at home with two little ones, but we got back into the swing of things and um we figured out our schedule and we made it work.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: But having something in place before people are pregnant is super helpful.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: And if you are out of practice and there isn't one, or there's a maternity leave policy that maybe you think might not be adequate or appropriate, be brave and speak up and talk to practice manager about that, if if there's something that could be adjusted, if that's gonna work better for you, or you know, what if XYZ happens and maybe I need to be off before the baby's born for a little bit of time, um, with with health issues going on or something like that.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, have the conversation early.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: I guess that's probably my main point.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, because I just thought we were just gonna jump right back in and things were gonna chuck right along.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: And after having a baby and having emergency surgery, yeah, life doesn't just jump right back.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh you you kind of have to take a little bit of a breather, and you have to work out what that length of breather is gonna be.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: So before I keep chatting on about that, let's go ahead and get on with our interview with Dr.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Marina.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I am at the AABP conference.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: That's the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, and we are in Omaha, Nebraska.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: And today I have the pleasure of talking with Dr.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Marina, and she's gonna share her story.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: She is a young mom, so I'm super extra excited to hear about the whole story she has, but also about how she's worked with maybe challenges as a new mom in practice.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: So, Marina, I've got I've got a few questions for you, and then we're just gonna go to town.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, thanks for having me.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: You are welcome.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for coming.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: So I want to start off.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me a little bit about where you're from, what school you went to, and then what you're up to currently?
11:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, so I am kind of the non I consider myself a slightly non-traditional path to food animal medicine.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm originally from the Detroit area in Michigan.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: I was born and raised in a suburb, um, grew up with dogs, and that was it.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: And then moved to Ohio when I was 10 years old, um, to London, Ohio, which is just outside of Columbus in ag community.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Um that was for my dad's job.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: And when we moved, I got involved in 4-H and you know, the animal kid always wants to do something with animals.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: So my mom put us in that, put my brother and I in that.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that was kind of my first experience with agriculture, which I thought was amazing and immediately dove ahead first.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: So I started out with a handful of chickens, ended up with goats, and then leased dairy heifers from a local dairy, and basically ended up taking every livestock project except a large beef because I didn't really keep it.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Um that kind of spurred the interest.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, ended up being a dairy kid, went to Ohio State for undergrad, um, studied animal science through a number of different farm experiences.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: I gained a lot of experience, ended up going to vet school Ohio State as well.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I didn't grow up on a farm, I didn't start in that, but I kind of found my passion along the way, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so now when I graduated from OSU, I ended up in the Thumb of Michigan at Thumb vet services, being um a large animal production animal vet there.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: I do mostly um mostly dairy, but I'm also kind of becoming the like small ruminant vet, and I love sheep and goats.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, the long story short is grew up in a suburb, found my passion for Ag and 4-H in Ohio, and ended up somehow back in Michigan, which was not the plan.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I, yeah, I love my job.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have it any other any other way.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: And I have a little bit of a connection, as we were talking a little bit before we started the recording, back to the Thumb Veterinary Clinic from shoot, 20 years ago of spending some time there shadowing veterinarians.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: So that's a very cool connection that we share.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: We were talking about it because her um her we'll call it a student mugshot is still in the file at the clinic because they keep our record.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, how do I know you?
13:21
SPEAKER_00: And I think it was from that.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: Very, very possible.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: So when you were in undergrad, I mean, you knew you wanted to be a large animal veterinarian.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: And so when you were finishing vet school, did you picture yourself jumping into a practice like Thumb?
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Or did was it a some kind of different scenario?
13:44
SPEAKER_01: Thumb vet has a large number of doctors.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you don't mind sharing kind of the demographic of that particular practice, is that what you pictured?
13:53
SPEAKER_00: I knew so.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: When I interviewed for jobs, I was like, I'm not working anywhere with less than five vets, which I think is probably a somewhat common theme or becomes more common when you talk to students, like it comes from the on-call, you know, the on-call wish of not spending every hour of every day being on call after work.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, which obviously there's ways to navigate that, and there's every clinic starts somewhere.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, you can't, you're not just gonna that two doctor practice could eventually be the 14 doctor practice or whatever.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: So thumb bats.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, I went there as a student just for uh, you know, want to punch some buttholes, get some dairy experience in the summertime.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Um realized I loved the team.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: I fit in really, really well, and the practice type is what I wanted.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: So we do have, I'll say seven and a half large animal vets because one's partially retired.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, and five of those seven and a half are owners, and then there's also five small animal and e-point vets.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: So it is a large team.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: I did not plan to be on a big team, I wasn't looking for a big practice necessarily.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: I just knew I didn't want less than four or five just for the sake of alcohol.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that was kind of my thought process, but um yeah, I did not think I was gonna end up in Michigan.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: I had a few clinics in Ohio I had spent a lot of time at, and I knew I wanted to do large animal medicine, like a primarily large animal.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: I did not want 50% or more small.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: I liked, I like dogs and cats.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: I like campaigning animal medicine, but I love, love large animals.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of where the chase that passion for sure, for sure.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: Um with kind of the I don't want to say it's a divided clinic, but it with having the two sectors, I guess we'll call it.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Do you find yourself ever having to meander over to the small animal equine side?
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you do?
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so so I actually when I started out at Thumbfats, I said when I started, I want to do one day a week a small animal because I don't want to forget everything I learned.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: So the whole first year, year and a half I was there, I was a small animal vet one day a week.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: And I I still loved it.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: Very elementary small animal vet, okay?
15:53
SPEAKER_00: I know my limits.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: I know when to ask for help.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: But um, I did surgery and saw those appointments, and I think it made me a better large animal vet though, because I became the large animal vet that did the pigs phase and was willing to bring a chicken in and do x-rays.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: So I'm the one that I do think I'm probably the one that does the most hybrid, even now.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: So I said I started out in the first year and a half.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: I did some small, I kind of phased out of it because one of my colleagues went on maternity leave and I took over her um her rotating herd check on my small animal day on alternating weeks.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: So then I was every other week's small animal for I don't know, it ended up being like for over a year because that herd check became weekly when she came back very messy, but we made it work, it was great.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: And then when I went on maternity leave and came back, I just stayed large animal.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's just funny because I slowly phased out of it.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: But those small animal skills do make me a better large animal vet.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: And because I love hobby farms, I love the pet livestock.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: I know some people probably have a very different opinion about that, but I love it because that's where I got started in AG.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: So I have a big soft spot.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: So those silly, you know, pet clients that need to come in and kind of be babied and treated like a small animal client, it's my jam.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And I think because I did the small animal for a while and I still appreciate that side of things, it made me a better bat for that.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: No, that's very cool.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: All right, so you haven't been out of school for very long.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: No, how many years?
17:19
SPEAKER_00: So three and some change.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm a 2022 credit.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: 22 co-box.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: So far, in in your short career so far, what are you most proud of?
17:30
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, we've got a short timeline here, so I want you to shine the light on yourself.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: If if you're kind of, you know, hey, what can I come up with here?
17:40
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking for a badass moment that you were like, I did that.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: I I didn't think I could do this, but I did it.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: Some kind something that you're super proud of over the last three years.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've got three little mini stories then.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: The one is just simply the fact that I've become the small ruminant vet at our clinic.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: I know that my colleagues appreciate it because a lot of them are more production animal vets.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: And I love, like I said, love the pet livestock, the goats, and she it's the best.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: So I actually wrote a goat owner handbook at our clinic, and we sell it now to clients.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: It's like 70 pages, crash course, like everything you need to get to know, and clients are eating it up.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, we didn't roll it out until after I came back from maternity leave, and it's been well received.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping to continue that.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Very proud of that.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, not like a published book, but like spiral bound locally printed.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Made it on root doc.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the two other okay, but I did that.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's two of them.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: One of them was my first cow see section that I did solo, which I I mean, I did a few in school and prior and helped out, but I never did like the whole process.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: And I remember it was like my first weekend solo on call, and I probably made my one uh boss who was like my backup that weekend to help me out.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: I probably made him want to put his head through a wall, but I was calling him because I was like mildly panicked and like someone's gonna come help me, right?
18:59
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, You got this, you got this, and I'm like, Do I?
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Are you sure?
19:03
SPEAKER_00: But it was this big fancy, I mean, like bubble above my eye level, Holstein show heifer for one of our clients.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Her name's blueberry, okay.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: She had a twisted uterus, they called her freaking out for a calving.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: And I get there, and it's this like kind of small straw pen, but I have more help than I've ever had on a farm.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, more help.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, I'm sweating to ride some bibs right now, but we got this.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Rolled the poor cow three times, two different directions, couldn't get her untwisted.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, oh my god, this is the first C-section.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm gonna have to do this.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: So I'm on the phone with my boss, and he's like, You're fine, you're fine, just do it.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, great mentorship, loved my practice.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: So that was that was a great helpful moment.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: But I cut my first solo cow C-section on some God knows how much she she's worth show Holstein with an embryo calf.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: She laid down, had to do my first solo C-section that I'd never done one down before down without a letter opener, just had to go in the abnormal with a scalpel blade.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, the calf was already dead, but through the rodeo of that entire experience and sewing her up, that cow lived.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: She's alive, she's had a calf on her own and she's been embryo flushed a whole bunch.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: I see her like twice a year when I go to that farm again.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: I am that is something I'm so proud of.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: That was like one of those grit your teeth and be like, this is I I I think I'm made for this, but we're we're gonna do it.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, really proud.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: And that's one of those stories that I even tell students now, too.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, if there's something a procedure that you're scared of, like when you do it for the first time solo and you walk away, you get in the truck, you might be whipped, but you're like, I did that.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: I did that.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: And blueberry's still alive, and I'm gonna see her every year.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: So that that is an awesome story.
20:43
SPEAKER_01: I love that story.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, yes, unfortunately, you know, that calf was dead, but you get to continue seeing the cow made it, she's had another calf.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, and so you you overcame that challenge on doing this intense surgery.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm I gotta give it to you.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, that is a super intense surgery, especially on a very high value animal.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the story ended well.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Yep, yeah.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: Share the last one.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: The last one was like a little like happy, like I helped mentor because I really like teaching too.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: I like having students along, but one of my younger colleagues that started um had a like pretty gnarly dead calving to go to on another expensive show animal, of course, a beef this time.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: And we went and I put my arm in that cow and I was like, ooh, this is not great.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: And over the course of like three, three and a half hours, we took that calf out in probably six pieces, and it was probably the most exhausting but most perfectly done phototomy you could have asked for.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: And that house should have probably been shot.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm sorry, that that was it was a disaster.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that was a client they were willing to let us try.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: He and I worked together and we said, as long as we're making progress, we don't quit.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: And between the two of us, after all that, we both left.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the farmer brought it, he brought us pizza, and we went home and we the next morning we had our rounds at the clinic and we got to share it.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: And it was one of those just like another heroic we did that moment, and I just felt really good because I think that I think he would have walked away from.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, any any vet probably should have walked away from that, but the fact that we didn't and she lived, I actually had just read Dr.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: Melinda McCall's chapter in her book for the Driving Home Naked Book about a dumpster fire photodney she did on a dairy about taking out and you know 100 pieces and sweating through her clothes.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: I had read it like the night before and I went to that and I was just having deja on boo and I'm like, I am I am living through her right now.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: This is we're we're doing this.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh that's awesome.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: That's a great, great story.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for sharing.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you could go back in time, is there something that you would change um as you think about going through veterinary school and now being in practice for the few years that you've been out so far?
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's it's like it makes me think about what kind of advice I would want to give to like another student that's in, you know, my shoes back then.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: And as far as the path to I just the life path to go through the process of going to vet school and doing going into large animal medicine, I don't know that there's a whole lot that I would change.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: It it was a pretty I mean I was probably like every other pre-vet, whatever, like super involved, probably did way too much, worked jobs and had clubs and shadowed on the weekends and did all that.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I would probably look back and like just want to pat myself on the back and be like, you don't have to stress so much.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Like you're doing everything right.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Because I think I worried a lot, and my my poor mom, godlover, got to answer my phone calls all through college and chemistry, you know, exams and undergrad.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, was it any was any of that really that big of a deal?
23:48
SPEAKER_00: No, I mean, not in the grand scheme, but it got me here.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, worrying and caring that much is what got me here.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: So that's what I mean.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I would go back and tell myself anything different, but now that I'm here, I've kind of chilled out a little.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: Like probably less overfilling the plate, but now entering the new phase of life of motherhood, which is filling your plate in a different way, probably even more than I ever could have in undergrad, you know what I mean?
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Um but I don't know that I would necessarily go back and change anything other than just saying, like, trust the process, like you don't have to worry so much.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: The advice I give to students often, though, is that you're not competing with anyone but yourself.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, if the process of going to vet school or any process in your life, you're not trying, you're not wishing anyone else to do worse than you.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: You're wishing and making yourself better.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: You don't wish that someone else failed something so you can get a better grade.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't give you a better grade, right?
24:43
SPEAKER_00: It just you should be the one that wants the the the better.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: You want to better yourself rather than putting anyone else down.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Just trust the process and work hard and do good.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: That's it'll all come.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a great answer.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a great answer.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: So this is a perfectly geared question towards you because you are still what I would call a recent grad.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: So, what were the biggest challenges that you faced as a new grad woman, large animal veterinarian going into practice?
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna jog in here just a hair that I know from my experience at the thumb clinic, they did have some women veterinarians on staff.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: And so that certainly does help some of the challenges that you face going out into the field.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: It does not take them away, but it does lessen um some of those challenges compared to as those women when they were first the first woman going out.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: Um but I guarantee you have facing challenges, please.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: Well, and so our clinic of the seven and a half that I'm talking about, it's me and one other female large animal vet.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, there is one other one, but it is just the two of us.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I know a lot of clinics have a similar dynamic, but there's a lot now that have even more women.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I also will say prior to graduating, all through the years of externships and shadowing and whatnot, um, I found places to go that had female practitioners because I wanted to see it.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to know, I wanted to ask the questions and say, how do you do this with a family?
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what I want.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: I have said for years, the one thing I want more than to be a veterinarian is to be a mom.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, I mean, I say that like you have to choose.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: You don't.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: We're here, we're living it.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: You and I are living it.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: There's many women.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: There are many women living this, and it's not easy.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I shadowed a lot of ladies asking, how do you do it?
26:44
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say it first of all, it was hard to find places to shadow that had women because I mean, five, six, seven years ago when I was spending time in clinics, I mean, there the shift was still happening where we were kind of the profession's changing, having a lot more women.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: So at my practice, um, Lauren, Dr.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Lauren Lowers, she has been, I mean, she's like a sister to me.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: I I I didn't I grew up with a brother.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that's like to have another female close to your age in your life, other than having good friends growing up.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she is she is a friend and a sister to me.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: And she had a baby um like ascended almost exactly a year before I did.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: And so I have got to, I've gotten to follow kind of in her footsteps in as mentorship, both in vetmed and through life, um, and now as a mother.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: And so that's probably one of the most valuable relationships, something that I can't.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: I hope she listens to this podcast one day because it is really, I told her it, but it it matters, it deeply matters to have someone in your life like that.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, and not everyone does, and maybe not directly at their practice where they work, but maybe everyone needs that person in their life that they can talk to and and bounce things off of and learn from.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: So um, thum butt, I mean that the the female involvement there is is is great that I have, especially that I have Lauren.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Challenges, though, there are, I mean, there's still challenges I face on a on a regular basis, being a female, being a young female, being a young female that didn't come from ag originally on farms.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't I think that our clients are extremely receptive and I don't run into it very often, but on occasion, there is still some, well, you're sure you can do that type attitude when you show up for the you know the rough calving.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's I've had comments that are like, well, aren't you just you just probably just got out of school, you're just out of high school.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: Things like that, you know, things that I think people don't always mean to be derogatory about your knowledge or experience, but sometimes it sometimes it come across comes across that way, right?
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that I've just chosen to kind of ignore them because I realized pretty fast from other observing other women that like your words don't necessarily they're your your words will never change someone's opinion if they already have that, but your actions might.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: And so um I remember I took my husband with me on one call, two one or two calls.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't go with me very often, and I have a pair of spare pella bibs that fit him, and so he'll put them on and we'll go.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: And every time he goes with me, they look to him first, and then he immediately is like, Oh, I'm I'm I'm just the help, I don't, I'm not the doctor.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: But people naturally go to him first because probably because he's a man, and so that that that little there's always that little prick in your heart, like, dang, that sucks.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: But then I get to go to work and do my job, and people realize immediately, like, oh okay, like yeah, she's young, but she knows, and and and what I don't know, I will find out, and then people know that I care.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the bottom line is I might be young and more inexperienced than my colleagues who've been doing this for 30 years, and even then than Lauren, you know, Dr.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Lauren out of our clinic, she's she's older than I am, and she's got more experience, but she she and I both just kind of go about where you know you just do your job, you do it right, you do it for the animal, if not for the owner.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: And some people you're never gonna change their minds, but the there's ones that you will by doing it well and doing it right.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: So I don't think I have faced significant challenges.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: We have good clients, and I've always had good support at work.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if there's someone who treats you poorly, I I mean my my boss is really like, well, we don't need to be doing that, but you still get people who call and say, I want the man, but I want I don't want one of the girl that's and it always comes down to they don't think that you can do it.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Yep, but you just have to do it, you just have to work smarter, not harder, I guess.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: That's my philosophy.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when you ask about challenges, I mean, I don't think that like the perception and the client, most people don't see me and assume I can't do it or or or won't let me even try.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: But I do physically struggle.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm five six, I'm not tiny, but I'm not I there's been the headback halving, so I know that if my fingers were an inch longer, I could get it.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: So I cut more C-sections.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: I have to get more crafty with my equipment.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's ways to do it.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Admittedly, there's some things that are just going to not be any, they're just not going to be possible.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: But the other thing I learned from uh other women is when something is really, really easy and you make it look easy, you don't tell anyone it was easy.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Like putting in a prolapse, if that took me 10 minutes, no one needs to know that was a really easy prolapse.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: You just do it.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: Just do it.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a yeah, that's a great answer.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, yeah, I've had the the my philosophy is the work smarter, not harder, because yeah, I'm five foot, I'm not a very big person, and so I have had to come up with some creative things that yep, I still can get the job done.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so excellent.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: All right, so the next question is about kiddos, and you've got a little baby, you you don't um need to share too much personal information about your child, but if you would like to share um what it's been like so far raising your little girl as a vet, and if you I mean, she's little, so she hasn't gone on too many adventures with you um as a doctor.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: But if you want to share, you know, stories of you know, hey, what you were talking before about that you might take her to a farm, um, what that might look like for you.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: So um she's seven and a half months old, so she's really fun right now, starting to get more mobile, but she's still pretty little.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: Like she's not she's not the you know, the five-year-old you can drop off in a feed pile with a stick and say, you know, I'm gonna go pull this calf, you know, stay close, that kind of thing.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: So um I imagine that our future will look very different.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: But you know, the transition into motherhood as a large animal vet, um, I feel very thankful.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: I purposely chose a a clinic where I felt supported in all the things that I want to do professionally and personally.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: And so we're, you know, we're we're a family, we look out for each other.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: And it was one of my only job offers I had a maternity leave policy, which to me, I mean, yeah, the policy is great, but the fact that it exists tells me something enough about the the place.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, so when I was late gestation here, you know, a little dry check here.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: Um I was really struggling physically with like being swollen and you know not having enough stamina.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: So I actually stopped palpating cows probably about a month and a half, two months before I KF, which was the right choice because I was I was I was really uncomfortable.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was able to still work.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: So I was very supported in that.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: And then I was on leave, ready to come back to work mentally, but needed to be at home.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: So like the mental transition into motherhood with the job was kind of hard because I was very torn where I was just itching to be back because I needed to like be busy again.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: The whiplash of working literally until I ended up getting induced, working until my induction day, then coming home and being like stuck on the couch with this beautiful sleeping baby on my chest.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, whoa, it's like getting a cold bucket of water poured over your head.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: Complete like three six, I would should say 180 because complete opposite direction of where I was going with working.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: So um the transition was hard, but that's just the transition to motherhood in general.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: As far as being a vet, going back was hard because I was still at the time I I tried to um I was breastfeeding for a few months there.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: I ended up having a transition for other reasons, but pumping and being in the truck was hard.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, juggling all the things was difficult, totally manageable, um, but challenging.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: And I yeah, I just there the the thing that I I go back to to every time when I think about the challenges of having this baby and working, it's not even I have a wonderful husband who's very supportive.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: I live where I don't have family members to help.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: So we have to get creative in kind of our scheduling navigations, I guess.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, and basically what we come back to is that on call is probably the hardest part.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: At least my mental mentally for me, thinking about on-call as part of our life is the hardest part.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: And I think every woman would say that.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's not not a lot, no, not a lot of people who wouldn't.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: So I don't have any cool stories of taking her on calls with me yet.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: And I would love for her to be at home and sleeping and not disrupt her routine as much as possible for now, but I've got farms where if I got called out to and I didn't have, if my husband wasn't home from work yet and I needed to take her with me, I could say, hey, you know, are you there or so-and-so there to to watch her while I while I work on your couch or while I wonderfully cut kids out of your goat.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
35:38
SPEAKER_00: There's there's definitely a place for that.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: And there's people at my clinic and family is very supportive.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: I've got a few people that, you know, if I was in a pinch, I could be, I could just drop her off on my way to a call.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: That's building the village, I guess, that makes that hard parts work.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think in in summary, um, I know that raising kids in large genome is gonna be chaos, but it's chaos no matter how you do it, no matter what you do.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: And what better field, what better lifestyle than an ag is there to bring a child up?
36:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're gonna have the I mean, our kids will have the best childhood.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't have that as a kid.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: I didn't grow up on a farm.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: And now I get to show her some of this, especially after having a lot of friends who grew up on farms and seeing, you know, their life like I want, I want my daughter to grow up and go out and help me feed the chickens and take her to someone's farm where she's sticking her fingers in calves' mouths, and I'm like, please don't get crypto, you know, like that.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's part of life and her realizing and learning from a young age that these people that I work for are the ones who work so hard to put food on our plates and feed all of us.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there is no more humble and beautiful work to show our kids.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: So she yes, she's little now, she's super fun right now, but she'll be, I think she'll be even more fun as she grows up and can appreciate these things with me.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: Yep, I think that was a beautiful answer.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: All right, so if you're comfortable answering, um, this podcast does involve personal financial top cat topics.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, I will do some episodes later on just going over different personal financial topics because that's kind of where one of my passions lies.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: And so have finances affected your path to where you are currently, and if you're comfortable with sharing, um, how they've affected your your path.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I mean, I probably won't delve too far into it.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, my husband and I are kind of private about some of those things, but um, I am I'm frugal for my husband.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm frugal.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: I prefer to be money conscious, but now the longer I go on, I'm like, oh, I think I might be a little frugal.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: And he is not.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: So I remember having this conversation with multiple vets, too, especially large animal vets.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: And one mentor of mine said, for the fact that I am frugal, he said, you'll be a great large animal vet because of that.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: So I chuckled, but um, yeah, I think that money's a hard topic for me because I have a lot of anxiety around it for no reason.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: I haven't really unpacked that, I don't really know why, and that's why I'm frugal.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: I I would rather buy something used, I'd rather cut corners on certain things so that we, you know, have more money for other things later.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: And my husband is very much like, we could die tomorrow.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: Let's have the things.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, I so somewhere in the middle, he reminds me that money is meant to be spent, but I remind him that we still need to retire one day, hopefully, and maybe send our daughter to college.
38:20
SPEAKER_00: So, like there are reasons to save your money.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, and but I will say that money does not drive probably we're probably not the most responsible, but we're not the most reckless, we're definitely not reckless with our money.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: I would, I could, I could never.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: I could never.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that's a good match with you know, you know, it they say opposites tracked, and I think on that avenue that worked out for and what works for that we both understand each side of it.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: So that that's healthy, I think.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, like if I was single and I didn't have this his mentality on money, I'd probably have a big keeping savings account and be kind of lonely and not really have much more.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just would use my money differently, but like again, he reminds me that money is meant to be used for things now.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't you can't you only you only live once, you can't scroll it all, but you have to be smart.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: So I will say though, as far as finances and this job, when I was looking for a job, I the fine the dollar signs were not my number one reason to take a job.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: My priorities were finding the right fit and the practice type, like what I was practicing out and what percentage of what species, blah blah blah.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I actually ended up taking one of my lowest paying job offers.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: Now, mind you, that was also the highest percentage large animal work versus small.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: So I know that some of that is just simply offset for that reason um and the location, but it worked, it didn't matter, it was fine.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's something that when you're comparing job offers too, you have to kind of keep in mind the factors involved and know that at least for me, it was not all about money.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: Like we were just gonna make it work, and it was it needed to be the right fit.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's where we're at.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: And I think you answered my next question about offering financial advice.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: You that was beautiful.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: You went right through.
40:05
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
40:06
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any special memories or stories to share?
40:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've been in practice three years, so I don't know if you've got something funny or humbling, um, certain experience that you had that you would like to share with the audience.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I think about I'm going immediately to vet cases, but I know you're asking for no, that's okay.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: No, that's that's perfect.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't I don't know that I have any specific, like really funny one.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's little things that crack me up.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: I already told you some wild ones between that phototomy and that C-section.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, I work on some pretty funny species sometimes.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: Like I splinted a peacock the other day, and I walked in the clinic, and everyone's like, What?
40:49
SPEAKER_00: Why are what is happening?
40:51
SPEAKER_00: Um that's awesome.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm also a terrible storyteller.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: That in itself, I mean, what a unique opportunity.
40:59
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a great that's a great story.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:02
SPEAKER_01: And the bird left with his cast on?
41:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of other functions.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of things from vet school too.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: Probably TMI.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: I could tell you about the time I had a real bad time for the the 5K at the last AVP conference I went to.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, is that something you want to share with the world?
41:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we don't know.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: If you think of this podcast and you find me or chat with me later, I'll tell you that embarrassing story.
41:28
SPEAKER_01: Like we'll think of more stories, you know, after this recording ends, we'll probably think of some really great ones.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: That's how it always goes.
41:34
SPEAKER_00: We'll do another remote repeat podcast and we'll just recap.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: We'll do the we'll do the storytelling one sometime.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we'll come back in a couple years after your daughter's bed in the birds in the back of the bed track.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll get some really great stories.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: So it sounds like through your work you're able to mentor students that ride along and provide them with great advice, teach them some veteran skills.
42:01
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any advice beyond what you've already shared for new large animal women vets?
42:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll tell you my tidbit that I tell all students, no matter what gender, and that is perfect when you are wanting to go, when you're planning to go to vet school, you have to remember that your end goal is not to go to vet school.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: Your end goal is to be a vet.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: So everything you do prior to going to vet school is preparing you to be a doctor one day, not just get you into vet school.
42:29
SPEAKER_00: Because the people who just get into vet school then get through vet school and then they get out and they don't know what to do with themselves.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: And I think that has a lot to do with people's happiness in the profession.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: So I like to remind students you are doing everything you're doing now, all the experience you're getting, all the shadowing, all the hands-on, all the learning.
42:47
SPEAKER_00: You're doing that to be a doctor and use it when you were a vet one day, not to go to vet school.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: That one I think we I think people lose sight.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: So that one's big to me.
42:55
SPEAKER_00: And then as far as being a mom in AG, which I haven't really talked a lot about it with you because I don't have a lot to share yet, but moms supporting moms and women supporting women by just being role models, and also the village that came out of nowhere for me, people have met and otherwise that were mom friends of mine, when I needed it most emotionally and with the transition to work.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: And anytime I have a question or like, is this normal about my baby?
43:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there is no better community in the world than moms, like truly have seen it all.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: So, advice for young vet aspiring moms.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: I joined the DVM mom page on Facebook when I was in vet school because I had one question and I never left it.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that was totally allowed by admin, but I was just like a lurker and I learned so much from so many women before I even had a child of my own.
43:50
SPEAKER_00: And that network of just seeing and hearing things from other women, I sought out all those, you know, all those externship opportunities with women to observe and learn from like all.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Always asking questions.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: Starting early with navigating the questions you have about parenthood in this profession is important because it's just like learning about med.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: You will not learn it all in a day, and you have to pick a way at it over time.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: And somewhere you'll look back and be like, when did I learn that?
44:17
SPEAKER_00: And it was just cumulative over time.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: So starting early and asking the questions when you have them, and leaning on those people who are willing to support you and turn around and like you know, it's like the help the next one in line.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: Like there's someone ahead of you who has been through it that will love and support you if you ask and if you see that.
44:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm kind of rambling, but those that's what I would say.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: I cannot believe the love I have been shown as a new mom by the time.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: That's wonderful.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: No, that's wonderful.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: And finding that community and having that village because it truly does take a village.
44:48
unknown: Yeah.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, you and I were similar situations with having a young baby and not being near family, that you find people that become like your family to help you when your family's five, six hours away when you run into those situations that you need extra help.
45:08
SPEAKER_01: And so it does truly take a village.
45:10
SPEAKER_01: And I think that was a wonderful answer.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: All right.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: So we have come to the end of our conversation here.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything that we missed as we were talking about all these different topics, all within being a large animal event and being a mom and all the things that you've accomplished so far, which you have you have done a lot.
45:31
SPEAKER_01: You gotta put your hand all done a lot.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: Like you yes, we have.
45:35
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, when you sit back and think, now it's like, oh wow, I did accomplish quite a few things here in the last five years.
45:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
45:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's you sometimes have to take that step back.
45:44
SPEAKER_01: But is there something that um you wanted to share with everyone that we didn't get to?
45:51
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm gonna think of it later.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna sit here and think of it later, but that's okay.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: All I can say is that I mean, this profession is the most like mentally and emotionally taxing thing sometimes, but also gives me like it is it gives that back tenfold for every exhausting day.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: There's other days that I just feel like all it takes is one really good day to make me forget the mundane or the kind of couple crappy days I've had recently.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: And I think that we all have to continue looking for those things and just continue supporting each other through this this profession.
46:25
SPEAKER_00: And and I understand that, you know, depending on where you live and who you work for, it might be kind of a lonely world, or maybe you don't feel like you have that network, but like it is there, it is out there.
46:35
SPEAKER_01: And this is what this podcast is for.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: Yes, let us create a community.
46:40
SPEAKER_00: If someone needs someone to talk to, I mean, I don't know what I'm doing, right?
46:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm a new mom, I'm figuring it out, we're figuring it out.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: We all have that new mom.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: I would be happy to talk to anyone and just be part of that village and and try to you know support each other through that.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and I'm gonna think of some other silly stories later.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: I'd be mad that I didn't share it.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: So we'll have to.
46:57
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
46:59
SPEAKER_01: So we will, yep, we will wrap this up.
47:00
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a great note to end on.
47:03
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to thank you very much for coming on and chatting with me.
47:08
SPEAKER_01: If something in this conversation resonated with you and you'd like to connect, I will have Marina's email address uh in the show notes and you can um touch basically.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much, and thanks everyone for listening.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: So there is a new feature for this podcast where you can support the show financially.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: If you are liking what you're hearing and you would like me to continue to publish episodes on the various platforms that are available, please feel free to go ahead and click on the support the show link and put in a little bit of information and make a contribution.
47:46
SPEAKER_01: No pressure.
47:47
SPEAKER_01: But if you'd like to do it, I would appreciate it.
47:50
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just gonna keep chugging along, meeting people and sharing their stories.
47:55
SPEAKER_01: So if you'd like to help me do that in a in a small way, that would be wonderful.
48:01
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: That's all for this episode.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: Thanks again for spending your valuable time with me.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
48:10
SPEAKER_01: Just a reminder: this podcast is not intended to provide medical advice.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: Please contact your local veterinarian to establish and maintain a valid VCPR veterinary client-patient relationship.
48:21
SPEAKER_01: If you liked what you heard on this episode, please rate and review this podcast and share it with a friend.
48:26
SPEAKER_01: If you have questions or comments about this podcast or topics covered or ideas for topics, you can reach me at beyond the greenbibs at gmail.com or on Facebook and Instagram at Beyond the Green Bibbs.
48:39
SPEAKER_01: Have a great day, and we'll catch you next time.