The Medicine is the Easy Part

One year ago, I received my DVM and accomplished a goal that I had been pursuing, both directly and indirectly, for the past 30 years of my life. Like many little girls, I loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian. My best friend wanted to be an orthodontist and we had grand plans (complete with blueprints that we drew out) to one day open a joint practice where I would treat animals and she would fix the teeth of both the owners and the pets. As we entered high school, I became fascinated with marine biology and she drifted toward research-based science. In 2000, I graduated from college with marine mammal field research experience. Although tracking whales in the open ocean was fascinating and romantic, I knew I wouldn’t be happy with the struggle for funding and grant writing that so often accompanies a career in this field. As a result, I decided it was time to revisit the idea of veterinary medicine.

For the next few years I worked as a veterinary assistant to learn more about the nuts and bolts of the profession. Ultimately, I fell in love with my job. I had discovered my passion for helping animals AND their people. I started reading books that explored the human–animal bond and became a member of the Delta Society, an organization whose goal is to foster the human–animal bond primarily through animal-assisted therapy and activities. My excitement grew as I started volunteering with a therapeutic horseback riding program and I thought “This is it! This is my arena—the human–animal bond!” The only problem was that I couldn’t find any formal career opportunities in this field. My solution was to pursue occupational therapy using animal-assisted therapy as a main focus of my practices. 

After moving to the West Coast, it dawned on me that becoming a veterinarian was the best way for me to actively promote the human–animal bond. It would mean a big investment in time, money, and energy, but I finally felt that I had found the career that would most fulfill my values. 

Upon graduation from veterinary school in 2008, I packed everything up and, having added a husband and 2 cats to the mix, moved back to the East Coast to start another chapter of my life. Since settling in the Northeast, I have been working as an associate in a 4-doctor small animal practice while also supporting my husband during his journey through graduate school. My beloved dog died and, in a true circle of life event, my husband and I are looking forward to the birth of our first child in August. 

When I look at the journey I’ve been on in my first year as a practicing veterinarian, I am amazed that almost none of my 4 years in vet school prepared me for the ups and down of life as a DVM. Surprisingly, my biggest challenges have not involved the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Instead, my most intense challenges have involved the formation, cultivation, and maintenance of relationships with my clients and co-workers. 

Through this journal I hope to share the struggles and triumphs of being a new grad navigating a profession that is rapidly changing in many ways. For instance, both bedside manner and connecting with clients are becoming increasingly important as the cost of quality medicine rises in an uncertain economic climate. Women veterinarians are now the majority in a once male-dominated profession. And the challenges of being a new graduate trying to find balance between student loan payments, family, and personal well-being are very real and often seem to be irreconcilable. 

Please join me over the coming weeks as I explore the nontechnical challenges and rewards of practicing as a pregnant, relatively new graduate in a multiple-doctor practice.  I often find myself thinking that the medicine is the easy part!  It’s the human factors that make the job challenging. This is the stuff they base reality TV shows on…