My true inspiration.

My true inspiration, my boys. My husband and my son are my everything and keep me going. They are truly my heart and soul.

I know that choosing this new career path comes with lots of sacrifices and trials, but I know with my boys by my side, and supporting me and loving me, I can do it. With my new work schedule, I work evenings and Holidays. This has been quite a change for us, but we make it work. 

My husband, of all people, knows my dedication for the love of animals. Since Kevin and I were friends since 2001, he has seen me and helped me through the highs and lows of owning and nurturing animals. I wish I had a picture of when I taught Kevin how to ride my old show horse, Jimmy. Quite hilarious! Kevin would have to go out to the stables with me and clean and care for my horse Jimmy. Helping me with my dogs and cat , or even helping him with his animals. We learned we made a great partnership back then, in which is clearly evident now that we have so many tasks that we have to accomplish together.

My son’s vibrant smile melts my heart when I’ve come home from having a tough day at work, or just always brings a smile to my face when I see him. Erik is truly a gift and try to cherish him as much as humanly possible. I want a better future for him and want to provide him with amazing opportunities. Whether it be a great education, an amazing hobby, sports activity, etc. He deserves it.

It is amazing to have wonderful family and friends being a huge support as well. My parents, and also my brother and sister, have been very supportive through my many endeavors within my life, and they know how much I love animals and have wanted to work with them. My extended family, such as my Mother-in-law, my aunts, uncles, and Kevin’s family. My friends who still stand by my side even though they might think I’m a bit crazy, because I change my mind often enough.

This guy was quite an inspiration throughout a period of time in my life. When Jimmy had his hoof issues, it was hard to know that my partner was in pain. Jimmy helped me realize that animals can bring so much joy into your life. After we had to put Jimmy down in 2005, I made a secret vow to myself that I would want to help others who had to go through the same pain I did when I lost my “best friend”. I wanted to see the day when there was a cure for White Line Disease, and to hopefully help be a part of that process or help other horses that had the same issues.

I remember when one of the doctors I work with asked me, “Why do you want to be a tech”?. I got to shy and basically fumbled over my words and said “I like doing techinical stuff and I want to make my Uncle Russ proud of me”. I wish I had the nerve to tell him all of the stuff I just explained. Being a Tech is more than just getting to do things hands on in the Vet industry, it’s about nurturing and caring for animals –espeically since they do not have a voice and can not explain to you what is going on with them. It’s about educating pet owners to provide healthier lives for their pets, assisting with medical procedures, and so many other facets that I feel I truly enjoy and want to be apart of.

Taking baby steps.

Just keep going. Keep taking baby steps towards your goal. Take advantage of any opportunities to pave your path.

These are some of my favorite personal sayings I like to repeat to myself when I am dealing with a tough time on my journey. I’ve been reflecting a lot lately realizing that my first year anniversary is quickly approaching next month and how much progress I’ve made and the goals I still strive to achieve. Also with starting my next round of classes in the RVT program, I am interested to see how I will enjoy these classes. I am also hoping to gain more experience and become a Technician and just be more confident at my job.

Why take baby steps, you may ask? Why not leaps and bounds? I have been there, done that. From personal experience I have noticed when you don’t put your full effort into something and use hard work and dedication while making progress, the bounty is never as fulfilled as you expect it to be. Plus, if you have set backs it won’t seem as troublesome and painful if you keep making some kind, any kind of, progress forward toward your goal. Trust me, I am not diminishing the pain from a set back. I, personally, am a dweller and will automatically blame myself on a set back, even though sometimes these things are not within our control. I’ve tried for so long to break this habitual pattern of degrading myself and truly being my own worst critic. It doesn’t stop me from wanting to achieve my goals though, it pushes me.

For majority of my life I have been involved in competition. I felt this truly honed my technique for patience and dedication to working hard toward my goals. Whether it was an individual, or team effort, I learned at a young age when you place hard work into something, it always paid off. The endless practices with riding my horse, practicing my instrument, running, conditioning, the “blood, sweat and TEARS”, etc. I wasn’t always first place either, but when I did win it made the victory so much more appreciated.

I know my fears and ill-confidence in my new career is do to me wanting to do things right, and I hate messing up. Also to impress my peers. I need to get over it, and just do me. I know it will come to that point, but I don’t know I can’t shake these feelings sometimes. I guess it’s just I know I want to do a good job, and I just get so frustrated with myself that it gets in the way of just “getting over it”. I know it will come with time.

When your animal is the patient

I know I’ve said how much I can help others cope with their stress and sadness while they are in my clinic, but when my animal is the patient…I stress big time!

I’ve been to the Vet with previous animals a plethora of times, but now knowing what it’s like behind the scenes and knowing how things are procedurally going to happen, and it’s happening to your own baby stresses me out for some reason. When my puppy Layla had to get spayed, I wasn’t able to stay and watch her get prepped and ready to go for surgery because I knew I would be watching every step of her pre-op and post-op like a hawk. Or if Layla was being bad while they are getting her ready for surgery I was afraid of stressing her out and causing more issues. More recently, I thought Layla had possibly gotten into Erik’s Christmas chocolate. I knew she got into his candy canes for sure, but I doubted about the chocolate. I see so many chocolate toxicities at my clinic, I don’t think I could count them. Knowing I had to put MY BABY through the same as I did to other patients made me worried. So many scenarios were running through my mind of her gaining possible pancreatitis, getting lethargic, vomiting, and so much more. I was so mad at her that now, but worried at the same time. It just sucks when the tables are turned and you have to watch someone induce emisis (vomiting) on your own dog.

I find that even now when I take my son Erik to the Pediatrician or ER, I am viewing things so differently now and able to have a better picture of what is going on medically with him. Last time I was in the ER with Erik, I was still wearing my scrubs from work. The nurses and Dr.s treated me differently and I felt like they were giving me more information than they normally would, because they had a feeling I understood what was going on medically with my little guy. It is truly interesting how relatable animal and human medicine is very similar, in most respects.

Anyways, back on track! I get asked often at my clinic from clients, “How do you deal with working here” and I simply answer, “Trust me, if it was my dog you would not see me this calm”.

Change.

I saw this picture earlier this evening and I couldn’t stop thinking about how inspirational it was. I’ve kind of made it a new mantra of mine to “just keep going”, and I feel this quote within the picture follows suit with reinforcing about not giving up. It’s been incredible the various changes I have gone through within the past year at my new job, and how much it has varied from my previous line of work.

Just like switching from one company to another, of course you’re going to deal with a whole new set of policies and protocol within the workplace. The company I was previously employed with, Starbucks, had a policy that was “Just say yes!”. I always felt conflicted with this policy. Even though a customer would be rude or demanding, we would have to give into their demand due to THIS policy, and I felt it gave free reign for customers to not have respect for you and they are still allowed to have as they demand, even though it may contradict the company’s policy or what someone should do for the better sake of the company. Or giving customers free things just because we did wanted them to comeback, even if they were rude. Of course they would come back and still continue with their bad behavior because they knew the Baristas would have to give into their demands– not because they respected us. At my new job I am able to have some authority within a situation and be able to adhere to policy and be confident in doing what’s best for my clinic and what’s best for the patient’s best interest. Yes, we still provide amazing customer service, but the severity of the types of situations now it seems more appropriate if clients become upset  over their pets well being– instead of getting yelled at because there is too much foam on someone’s Chai Tea Latte. Also being able to make a judgement call if an animal is in a well suited environment with its owner and we have to contact Animal Control to help them gain a better life.

It’s a whole different “ballgame” when you’re dealing with saving lives, as opposed to preparing tasty beverages. Nonetheless, I gained an incredible amount of skills from my days as a Barista. Learning how to deal with a variety of different personalities as clients, and really how to provide great customer service skills in general became truly beneficial throughout my life and other jobs I have had. At the Vet clinic, mine and my other coworkers positions are so multifaceted. We must provide excellent care not only for our patients, but for the clients as well. Educating them, discussing about treatment, preventive care, nutrition, wellness care, etc. Especially since I work at an Emergency clinic we deal with lots of emotional/ stressful traumas.

Some of the common cases we see in our clinic are hit by cars, dogs being attacked by other dogs, toxicities (chocolate, rat bait, prescription drugs, recreational drugs, anti-freeze, dead on arrivals, etc.), animals who are actively having seizures, cats being attacked by dogs or other cats…just to name a few scenarios. Gaining the experience to see these types of cases as often as I do, especially in a Vet clinic setting, is truly invaluable. Learning about medications, wound treatments, fluid therapy, surgery, and so much more. I feel like most days I can’t fathom how much more I still need to learn about being in the Vet world. I feel that it’s never ending, but that’s what I think what I love about this job the most. It is truly never monotonous, and I am constantly learning EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I know I get nervous, because I lack in confidence if I am performing my jobs task well, and dealing with the situations at hand in the best manner as possible. With time it has improved, but I still worry about impressing my peers and doing my best. I get stressed out that I “annoy” someone if I constantly ask questions, or I am using the correct terminology, or if I am putting enough efforts in with being a team player, and that’s where I feel the quote of “Don’t give up just because things are hard”. I am truly my own worst critic, more often than I should be. I worry about always being my best and wanting to be better. I don’t always communicate this to others, and I feel that sometimes it becomes mistranslated to just “being emotional”. I get more upset with myself than anything within situations, because I feel like I make “stupid” mistakes and literally degrade myself mentally. I feel I have been working on this a lot lately and this has improved, it was a lot worse when I first started there and I would get emotional about it. I just told myself “don’t give up!!”, it will be worth it later. It has truly proven to be that way and has pushed me in many facets of my life to NOT GIVE UP!

An Intro into my journey.

I remember feeling uncertain about wanting to designate a career for myself. Already being a wife and a mom had brought so much joy into my life, but I wanted to feel more productive in this world and within my own life. I have been a continuous student throughout most of my life, and love learning new facts, terms, and virtually anything that would broaden my spectrum of thinking.

When I was enrolled in college previously I was a History major, and I didn’t see much fulfillment in wanting to designate a career path in that field. Also working part time at various jobs just did not seem to be entirely productive, just monotonous. I remember when I was reflecting upon things I love the most. Animals, especially horses, became a reoccurring thought. I’ve considered myself to be nurturing when my animals would become ill, or would be wounded, and wanted to learn how to treat them medically. In fact, in one of my speeches for my Public Speaking class in college I discussed how I wanted to find a cure the disease that crippled my beloved horse, Jimmy. My uncle Russ was a small and large animal Veterinarian, and owned his own Vet practice for many years, and even took me on a tour of UC Davis’ Vet school. It was entrancing to say the least, but my confidence of entering the Veterinary field held me back for such a long time. My fears of lacking intelligence, dealing with difficult situations with animals getting hurt, and many other troublesome probabilities ran through my mind ,and I let it hinder entering the Veterinary work force.

When I finally did some research I found the Registered Veterinary Technician program was available at Bakersfield College, but I gained some advice from peers that maybe I should try working in a Vet clinic first to see if this is truly the right fit for me. In the beginning of 2014 I decided to take a chance and follow my dreams.

I remember in my interview for A.E.U.C. I was so nervous, but very honest about how eager I was to start in a brand new field I had NO experience in. The ladies who interviewed me ask about my past with previous animal experiences and I told them about the instance “I saw a stud horse literally filet a mare’s skin off her neck while he was mounting her to breed her, and then I had to help clean the wound for the next few weeks…including getting rid of maggots from the wound”. I think it sealed my fate that I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty. Haha! I had lots of experience with treating horses medically, but not much in the small animal realm. It is very different! I also told them my interest in the RVT program, and I know they were happy to see my enthusiasm. Thankfully they took a gamble on me and hired me.

I started work at the emergency vet clinic on Valentine’s Day 2014. Luckily my first night wasn’t too busy, but my shifts after that were nothing short of dealing with many different traumas. The pace of an emergency clinic is truly unique, and seeing the variety of cases that we see, even within one evening is truly invaluable. Dealing with death was something I dreaded, but I have learned to cope with it. When you have had personal experience with losing a beloved animal, I feel like it helps you empathize with others going through the same heartbreak. I know the horrible heartbreak I felt when I had to have my horse Jimmy euthanized, in fact it still breaks my heart when I think about it, but when you know you are the one supporting and comforting someone through their heart break it makes it easier to not get emotional about it.

The experience I have gained since working at my clinic has been astounding. I have never felt so fulfilled through a job such as I have throughout this past year. I have learned so much, and still have SO much more to learn. I became a student member of the California RVT Association and started the Registered Veterinary Technician program in August 2014, and just completed my first classes in December. Terminology and Anatomy and Physiology were great classes and I learned so much from them. I am excited to continue in the program in a couple of weeks in my Large Animal diseases and Exotics classes.

If any of you have feared to follow a dream because you didn’t think it was feasible, take a note from someone who has felt the same way (me) and follow your dreams! You can do it with hard work and dedication. Believe in yourself and amazing things will happen. I am enjoying my journey becoming an RVT.

~ Jessa