Cowboy Take Me Away

Glass Heart

I tried my best not to slip on the ice as I ran to get inside my mom's vet clinic that I work in. The reason I am running is because it is the middle of January and it's cold as hell in Montana during January. I miss being able to wear a tank top and shorts, at all times of the day! But I am thankful for the snow. I love playing in the snow: ice skating, sledding, snowball fights, building snowmen, and snowmobiling! 

I relaxed once I got inside the nice and warm building. I hung up my Carhartt jacket and put my gloves on the shelf. I took a sip of my hot chocolate as I walked out of the break room and into the kennel room. "Hello, pretty animals." I sweet talked all the animals in the kennels. I looked at their charts and saw their progressions and what medicine they needed to take today. I'm not sure if I have a busy day in front of me today. I hope I didn't because I wanted to work at the dinner tonight because Taylor and I need to discuss plans. 

What plans? Well her wedding plans of course! That's right my best friend is getting married right around the corner. She's getting married on Valentine's day, how romantic is that!? Well anyways, I am her Maid of Honor, so we get to plan everything together! She is going to have the best wedding ever, and I am going to make sure of that. 

Sometimes I wonder why I chose to become a vet. It's not that I don't like it, believe me, I love it. It's just that I wish I could take home every animal I take care of! They're all just so cute! I mostly specialize in farm animals, but from time to time, I'll see cats and dogs, and the generic house pets. 

"What a good boy!" I say as I smush the face of a Bernese Mountain Dog, after I give him his yearly shots. "Alright, he's good to go. You can just go see Cindy and she'll take care of ya! Have a nice day!" I say to Mr. Wright and then leave the medical room. I sit down in my desk and start to do my favorite part of my day, paperwork. Note the sarcasm. 

I notice Cindy, the secretary, come in the backroom where our desks are. "What's up?" I ask her, turning in my swivel chair. 

"Desiree Blackwood just called and said her horse has a pretty bad laceration." 

"Okay, I'll head out there and check it out." I say and go to the break room and grab my coat and gloves. I wonder what horse it is, and I wonder what happened. I hope it's nothing too serious, Desiree loves those horses. 

I park my work pickup right next to the barn, where I assume the horse is. Desiree must of heard my pickup because she walked out of the barn and waved her arms at me. I shut off my pickup and got out and she said, "It's JW, he's cut up real bad on his hind quarter." She says in distress. 

I nod to her and then open my back door and pull out my kit and then I follow her in the barn. She closes the door behind us, to try to keep in the warmth. "What happened?" I asked her as I opened the stall door and examined JW. Blood was trailing down his right back leg, she was right, it was real bad. 

"Well what I think happened is that he was getting a drink next to the river, where the property line cuts off. Then I think he must of slipped on a rock next to the fence, and it tore him up pretty bad. I found a trail of blood spots next to the fence and his hair and skin on some barbed wire. Is he going to be okay? Cooper might kill me if he's not." 

I stop what I'm doing when she mentions Cooper's name and then it becomes awkward, so much you could smell it in the air. "He's going to be fine, just a lot of sutures, maybe a couple of staples." 

First, I handed Desiree oral antibiotics to give to him so he begins to relax. After he took it, I began to clean the wound with sterilized fluid and wipe it down the best I can without causing too much pain. As I do so, I take my stethoscope and listen to his heart beat. "His heart rate is normal, so he didn't loose too much blood."