How I Got Away With Vet School, or The End Of This Book.

 Hello Dear Readers, 

I decided that today I would write a true close to my blog on how to survive island school turned emotional release platform, turned very rarely updated blog about my life. Unfortunately looking back though this grammatical nightmare there is probably very little someone starting vet school at SGU might find helpful, outside of the fact that it is indeed very hard, but most people don't become vets because it is an easy thing to do, no we do it because it is the ONLY thing we can do! 

Okay so allow me to try and set things right on the front of help advise, which I will do though a anecdote on my meany failures, I failed to become a rich Baseball player for the New York Yankees (the then highest payed team in the sport), I failed to care about school as much as I should have (hind sight and all), I failed to win any of the several Tennessee 4-H officer positions I ran for, I failed to hold on to my amazing friends from my high school days, I failed to prep for the ACT which I took 3 times I believe (thank goodness for super-scores), I spent a year at community collage, before spending a year at UTK, where I tanked my GPA and made a lot of D's in very important classes, so I spent another year at community collage retaking several classes I failed to ever get my associate's degree, I went to Austin Peay to finish undergrad, after failing biochem I failed to find any other job to aspire to other then Vet, I failed to hold onto my amazing friends from collage, I failed to get into any state vet schools that I applied for, after being accepted to St. Georges University's spring 2017 class I was on track to fail four classes, I deceled three classes and made a D in the fourth, I moved into the new fall 2017 class I failed to meet and get to know new people, I struggled my way though the rest of vet school but failed to really become a part of the class, along the way I failed to kill or save the Improv comedy club, by the time we got to choose clinical year schools my GPA had started to recover but it was to little to late and I went into my meeting telling them that I just wanted to go some place that had the best food animal program that I could (read whats the lest bad place I can end up), after moving to Stillwater Oklahoma I failed to keep in contact with my vet school family, I also failed to keep good communication with my family, I failed not to fall for my roommate/classmate/beautiful woman, I failed anesthesia, I failed myself more times then I count. But I never fail to keep pushing towards my goal, sometimes the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I hadn't been kicked out yet.

Today at about 12:30pm I was given the title of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, along with all of my classmates including those from the spring 2017 term. the commencement was done online which still hurts because I honestly would have loved for the ceremony to have just been all us students seating in our old VSL class room hanging out and talking like old times before slowly meanding to our seats as all of are amazing professors made there way in to start hooding us before we all left to go hangout and party till we all had to go are separate ways... 

So if you have happened to stumble upon this blog take my advise, vet school is a very individual thing everyone has a different experience, so savor yours and share it with others, Laugh till you cry, Cry till you laugh, cram for a test, study for the rest, sleep in class but don't get caught, hangout with great people, learn, learn how to learn, live, make mistakes, make the grade, whatever grade gets you though, Re...lax..., panic! go see an improv show (it's only 5ec at the door), pray, pray, pray, work out, sleep in a hammock all day, eat whats bad for you. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths and then begin. Do all this and you too can Get Away with Vet School you can trust me on that I'm a doctor. TTFN

The End Or The Pandemic

Hello dear reader
At 8:04pm last night March 11, 2020. SGU sent out an email that I believe could have been thought out more and worded more clearly, the gist of the this email is that SGU is advising students to leave the island, do to the risk of COVID-19, which has been moving through the Caribbean. This has lead to a panic to leave, mostly in med school (there are just so many of them), most of the vet school is still in midterms, and while we in term 6 finished are midterms Monday, however we also have rotations that for some of us started on Monday afternoon, on top of this there was no wind up to this email, unless you count the email that we received around noon yesterday that informed us that nothing was mandatory anymore. now (7:25pm) we have been told that everything will be done online and no in person classes will be offered, Once I leave Grenada I am gone for good.
This morning I woke up feeling tired and stressed (normal), i got the bus to campus (it was almost empty, not normal), went to class where 3 lectures happened and a Q & A to try and dispel fears (we know what you know and we are trying to get you more information), even though this was handled by the overall university poorly, SGA and SVM are doing an amazing job handling concerns and panic. The small animal clinic opened its doors and is doing everything they can to get all the animals that are leaving Health certificates on short notch, the vet student community also staying on task as much as we can. I am going into surgery this afternoon.(it went well)

I started this blog in 2017 it was meant to help people decide if it was the right school for them, later that 1st term, I was really struggling with classes and ultimately deceled, that is when this blog became a therapeutic outlet for me to talk about the times that I fell and how I was able to get back up. that lasted for several terms, I would write whatever I was feeling sharing more then I would have had I been in person, I always tried to write as if I was talking to one person because I wanted everyone to read it to know that it is okay to struggle but it is not okay to give up. 

Currently everything is fine we where all hit hard, and we are all now leaving the Island, we are sad about the sudden end to our island life and leaving this big crazy dysfunctional family that we have come to love over the years of hard work together. I love all of my SGU SVM family/ Improv family I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to get to know you over the last 3.5 years and I wish we had a bit more time to have fun and learn together, and I know you will all be amazing, and we will all see each other again so this is not goodbye, it's just

Ta Ta for Now...

Sincerely, the soon to get away from vet school student.
Aaron Helms
Thanks Grenada its been fun. 

Lossing Hope

Today Dear Readers,
             my 15 year old faithful Friend, Protector, and the smartest dog I've ever know, Hope, will die. In 2004 I was going to my first day of volunteer work at the Lincoln county humane society shelter, I was 11 and my mother and I had shown up on the wrong day and it turned out the shelter was closed it was one of the coldest Decembers in southern Tennessee with lows in teens, it was not ideal weather to be a puppy on the side of the road. So when a man pulled into the parking lot with a small brown-black puppy I knew it couldn't stay in the drop off pen over night so we called one of the humane society bored members who gave us the okay to foster her for a while, and as I tucked her into my jacket I decided that her name would be Hope, and when on the drive home she threw up a mix of cat food and bacon grease I knew that she was feeling a little better. when we got home we spent about an hour setting up a pen in the barn with a heat lamp and blankets food and water it was a great spot, but after the third time that she beat us back to the house we decided to let her stay in the house for a bit to tire her out but then this weeks old puppy ran to the door and started whining and when we opened the door she ran out and did her business before returning to the door to be let back in.
Fast foreword several months and Hope and I started obedience school and after graduating that we did a bit of agility, (which did not last long because she was to smart and would refuse to do parts of it). Hope went to one 4-H dog show and even went to a school with me once for one of my meany educational talks, she did not really enjoy the travel so she got set up as the first and only house dog of my family. She lived out the rest of her life as the family protector and no deliver driver would leave there car if she where outside, she would greet me at the door every time I came home from collage, and more recently vet school.
Recently she has been slowing down and over the last break I built her a ramp since she was having trouble using the stares to go out side, a few days ago she suffered a stroke, which she looked like she might pull though but unfortunately she just does not have the strength to keep going. Hope has had a powerful and lasting effect on my life and I can honestly say that without Hope I would not be where I am today, I would not be the same person as I am today.
"Hope I will miss you but gods going to need you back now, Go to him with no pain"
I love you Hope.   

I Hate Cliffhangers Or, What Happens Next

Well Dear Readers I know that I said I would not post again this year, but I have some good news I have unofficially passed term 1 (finely) thanks to Gods grace.
And that's it really I just wanted to let you know that you will be hearing more from me. Oh and if you ever felt like "man i really like this stupid blog, but i really wish there was a way that i could show the world just how much i like it", then  you can stop yelling about it and just check out my redbubble account (I have had this account for about a year and it has all the crazy little designs I make as stress relief, Please don't think I am trying to sale you stuff, but i am a bit, sorry) . also I will include some samples here let me what you think or don't its up to you. TTFN And Marry Christmas
https://www.redbubble.com/people/underdogracing?ref=account-nav-dropdown&asc=u

Finaly Finals, Or Three More Weeks

Hello Dear readers, Finals start next Monday so this will be my last post this year, and for this post I figured I would talk about you the reader.

You see with out you no one would ever read this and while that probable would not be sad per say, (given my writing skill), It would make me a lot less motivated to write this fun little blog post.
For me this blog is mostly therapeutic, I really do enjoy writing about whatever is currently going on around here, and I am glad that you like to read it.
It's also grown somehow see that most of my post from last term averaged 50 views and now it's closer to 150 (which might not seem like much but I think it's cool). So you won't here from me till next term which as of today might as well be in two months, and assuming I do well on my finals (I am nerves but not as bad as midterms) I am really trying heard to make sure I can pass all my classes and finally move on to term two. Going along with that thought I would like to talk about my decel term in broad strokes for just a minute, this term has been weird a year has gone by and I have been standing still watching everyone moving around me, I can not even talk to them since I have to hold my breath while I wait to see if I get to move forward again or if i will fall back into a thick fog never to be seen again.
It's been a stressful year for me but hopefully, my Dear Readers though the grace of god, and hard work I will be able to talk to you again next term. Thanks for reading TTFN.

     

Second Thanksgiving Or Final Quiz

Hello Dear Readers, It's US Thanksgiving week which means next to nothing when your on an Island but a lot of parties and stuff, also today was my last quiz of the term which is nice but also not so nice since that means there are only two weeks till finals start.

But this week let me tell you about shopping here since I do that about once a week, If you don't have a car then there are two easily accessible options IGA which is in the Spice Island Mail, and food fair which can be found in Grand Anse Shopping Center. The two have mostly the some things IGA is easier to get to and from since the buses run at least every 30mins, Food Fair buses only run every hour, the biggest difference is that Food Fair has more local stuff, IGA has more "name brands" and stays of "stocked" most of the time. 
 In a totally unrelated twist, The last Improv show of the year (not sure if I have talked about the fact that I am part of the SGU Improv Comedy Club) in lieu of Auto Racing which used to be my main destress tactic, I have found Improv to be a good way to relax, and I figured I would mention just how much the club has helped me this term, I just really like having a group of friends that love to make each other laugh. TTFN

Sleepless in Grenada Or, Writing about Nothing

Well dear Readers, it's going to be a short one since I woke up and thought crap I have to write a post after my quiz. The way I normally write these is during the week if something happens, or a cool event is going on, etc... I make a note of it so I can remember it on Monday but sometimes Nothing interesting happens, and if I don't remember before Monday I do not look up some interesting Island/vet school fact to write about, then this happens and I tend to ramble on about nothing. Anyway I am going to take a nap now TTFN

 

Earthquake! Or Valcano!

Hey there Dear Readers, We had an earthquake yesterday, it was a 5.7 but it was far enough away that it was barley a thing, but it did lead me to finding out that off the coast of the other side of the island there is in fact an Active Volcano that last erupted in April of this year.
Okay so staying on the natural train I have to say that some (SOME) days last week where ineradicable it wasn't hummed, it might have been cold if the sun was not out (could in that anything below 80F outside feels cold now). However it is back to being super hot and hummed here so all is right with the world.
Let's just jump back into Kick Em' Jenny which is the name of the under water volcano off the east coast of Grenada and the Northwest coast of a smaller Grenadian island known as Diamond Rock, the reason no one knew that Kick Em' Jenny was erupting in April is that it is 180m below the surface of the water.

Since we are learning lets straighten out what might now be going though your head, yes the earthquake and volcano are totally unrelated to each other. Islands in the Caribbean are actually fairly active when it comes to seismic activity which is something that I Learn yesterday. The more you know TTFN

P.S. if you want to learn more this is a great resource. http://uwiseismic.com/

     

     

Thanksgiving? Or, Halloween?

Well Dear readers it's been a Strange week with Grenadian Thanksgiving on Wednesday and Halloween tomorrow, which meant that all of us students did all are Halloween stuff Saturday and Sunday, so bring on the Christmas music. Because for most of us students go home in December, but hey can't think about that now since we are about 4-5 weeks out from finals, and that means that quizzes pick back up, assignments are going to be do soon. Which is why there was so much going on this last weekend, I had things going on everyday from Friday to Sunday, Island school life my not be a super chill relaxing why to go though vet school but we do actually try to have fun when we think we can get away with it which is to say very rarely unless it is something quick like watching some youtube, or playing a video game for A (1) hour. It's these little things that keep us sane and motivated, then you have these crazy weekends where you almost forget you are in school (almost), true it is probable slightly detrimental to our study's, health, and sleep, but hey they did tell us that we would be maladjusted to the real world when we started, we all know how boring that research must have been so for all of us here we try to keep everything at status quo.
Till next week Happy Halloween, and Late/Early Thanksgiving, TTFN

Island House Hunter Or, Time after Time

Hello Dear Readers, This last week was a slow one thank God, and this upcoming week we get Wednesday off for Thanksgiving? (I know it's a bit weird that it's before Halloween but I am sure that all the stores in the US already have Christmas stuff out). Last week was also strange because I did pass all my midterms, so I was remembering last term, and also how this time last year I was still in undergrad (Let's Go Peay), it's just crazy to think about that not that long ago I was still just trying to pass the ACT's and now I am Here! Which just blows my mind (I have to do the math every time I have to tell people how old I am... 24).

So changing Gears, me and my roommates are getting an apartment, and it's very nice. Now finding a apartment on the Island is a bit different since most of the landlords live off island, so it's a lot of back and forth emails which can get really irritating when things change on you and you have to email the realtor, so they can email the landlord so we can figure out how much money we need to get together. but at least the property manager is super cool, to be far this place is very nice and from what we where told it's had a string of bad renters so I can kind of understand why the landlord is being weird.

Sorry Readers I just read back though this post and it feels more disjointed then usual so let me clarify I am actually not stressed out about vet school for the first time since starting vet school, it is not that it's some how easier now it's just that I am passing classes, and I final feel like hey I do belong here, I can do this whole Vet school thing.
This weeks lesson is that everything looks so much more beautiful when you are actually looking. TTFN

Living on a Prayer Or Is Grenada the most saportive island? Or Litting them Down

So I still have two midterm test results to get (but I honestly don't have a good feeling about them) so I wanted to get this one out before I ether fail-out (I write only half lite heartily), or pass/get a high enough score that they don't kick my out right away and I have to study even harder. I am so incredibly thankful of all the support that everyone has given to me, all the prayers, and well wishes for school, I won't lie and say that all the support doesn't endlessly stress me out with a totally unreal fear of disappointing all of you. I know it's crazy but I am very confident in my insanity at this point in my life, regardless to my sanity or lack their of I know for a fact that I don't deserve Friends and Family as awesome as all of you, Thank you for having my back.
Related to this is the fact that leading up to midterms and during midterms the Locals of Grenada have been super great Bev who is the house keeping for our room has told me that she is parying for us every time I see her which most weeks is twice, multiple complete strangers have come up and told me that they pray for us students everyday, which is very powerful.
Now let's not get all doom and glum here Heck I made it further towards my goals then I thought I would when I got in to vet school so all this is icing on the cake, (and if I didn't screw up these last two midterms to bad I will keep pushing).
so just to rap this up, you are all great, Grenada is great, and vet school is a long never ending nightmare that I wouldn't trade all the dept that I now have for a moment of it.



I would Rather try to catch my Dreams, Chasing them across the earth, oceans, and sky above. Till I can no longer run, and Fail.
Then live life safely, and Never even Try to Run.  TTFN

InterNot Or Laundie

Dear readers, this week I wanted to quickly point to some of the struggles of this last week and then I can get back to studying,
1. do to hurricane maria the internet was out for a day here, why you ask well that's because all the internet for the campus is provided by a fiber optic cable running from New York to here! which put it directly in the path of maria (please do not take this as me saying are lack of internet was worse then the damages that happened on other islands) it does however speak to the magnitude of maria that it effected a cable resting on the bottom of the ocean.
2. The school turned off all the washers and dryers on campus on Friday and did not turn them back on till Monday, which explains why I was up till 1am doing laundry last night and not writing this blog post (which is late again).
 So there you have it dear readers island life is not always great and midterms are in two weeks so we will see how that goes, TTFN

 

Break Study Or Absent Time

Hello Dear Readers, let me start by saying that I am sorry that this post is a day late, I got very motivated to study yesterday and you need to strike when the irons hot.
So lets talk studying, for the most part it sucks (which is probably why I did so little before vet school), now that annotation is actually wrong I did lots of studying before vet school just not school related studying. Now if you haven't come to realize that you study a lot more then you think then this might be a shock, but if you've ever read a Wikipedia page you where studying (not the most reliable source), I have spent hours on end scouring the internet looking at very specific car parts.
However when you change that from non work to work all of a sudden studying is the worst thing ever, Why and for the purpose of this blog it is more of why do not like to study the thing that you want to do for the rest of your life, (ouch that question hurts a bit) now I could go on to talk about how not every subject apples to what specific part of vet work I want to do, however that's just a lazy answer as if you take the time to connect the dots every class in vet school can be related to any area of interest. Now not every class will be fun but at the lest having a positive attitude will help you study, take for example the Billion point study game that I started with one of my friends yesterday, the object is to ask a question of the other player for now that question can be in histo, anatomy, or physio, so say I  was asked a histo question then if I answered that question I would get +1 point however if I expand my answer to included anatomy then I get +2 points and if I add physio to my answer I get another +3 points, so the max points achievable is 6 the goal is to get 1 Billion points.

To rap up this post I want to talk just for a sec about time on a island, you see you all probably think that island time means taking things slow, which is really not true sure things don't open really early or stay open really late (except bars), but the True and real meaning of island time I believe has to do with the sessions, you see the temperature does not fluctuate here the sessions are dry (spring to summer) and wet (fall to winter) the problem is that I honestly lose track of what month it is all the time, if I where to walk outside it would feel like August even though we are nearing the end of September, I might lose my mind over this come Halloween but that's the subject of a different post thanks for reading till next time TTFN.

           

Irma Be, Or Rock you like a Hurricane!

Welcome Back dear readers to the first real installment of Vet school blog life, since last term. last week does not count since it was so short, so lets jump right in and start with the thing that is on everyone's minds. Hurricane's they are big slow ocean tornadoes that can level a city by storm surge alone, city's inland and bigger then most Caribbean islands. So understand that even though Irma is forecast to miss Grenada by probably 100 miles give or take that we are still all watching it and expecting to get hit by winds, rain, and surge. However we will all be fine and at most minor flooding and property damage on the fair (east) side of the island. I will be praying for everyone who is in the direct path of this very powerfully storm, but this does bring up a very good point of Caribbean Vet school which ever parent ask (Is It Safe?) short answer Maybe, long answer YES/and NO. You see it is a hard question to answer as it is really just as safe as every where else, it's more of a question of what is going to cause you harm, here its hurricane's, rabies infected animals, disease riddled mosquito's, and the parental of the mountain exploding because it is after all a volcano. On the other hand there is no snow and most days stay around the high 80's with a breeze, now if i compare this to the time i spent at UTK which has a vet school, then i can say that i feel just as safe here as there.
So there you have Readers nothing is safe and volcano's are everywhere, till next week try and stay safe out there in this crazy world, TTFN

   

I'm Back! or The never ending...

Hello Dear Readers,
I am back on island and I Actually feel pretty good about this term, I know it's not a full term and that i have already taken the classes, but it's good to get my study habitats down. The point is that i spent the summer trying to relax, unwind, De stress, which has really given me a good jumping off mind set for class and study.
well this week I am keeping it short and sweet so i will talk to you next week, TTFN.