16 miles and a lot of ibuprofen later....

Last Saturday was the 23rd Annual Swim Across the Sound - and it literally took me this long to recover from the agonizing muscle pain and blog about it... (not really... I've just been cRaZy at work and not able to get online :-)

My team of 5 crossed the 16 mile (25 kilometer) stretch of water from Port Jefferson, NY to Bridgeport, CT in 8 hours, 24 minutes and 53 seconds.

We finished 5th in University Challenge, and 21st overall (in a field of 45 or 48). More excitingly, I survived, despite NO training WHATSOEVER in the last few months, and avoided uncomfortable encounters with marine life!

Apparently I swam right next to a whopper of a jellyfish, but didn't see any while in the water. From the safety of the boat, I saw several - they tend to clump together in little patches. One large colony in particular was sort of trapped in this lovely seaweed/lobster trap/trash swirl out in the middle of nowhere. One of the guys on our team swam STRAIGHT through it (thankfully, he was fast so the pain was brief!!) After that, we told him to swim directly behind the boat (most people like to swim slightly to the side) to avoid swimming through stagnant clumps of seaweed/trash/jellies and whatever else was floating around.

I think its the mental fear that's exponentially worse than the sting. I told everyone NOT to warn me about impending jellies unless they were absolutely enormous (like, bigger than me) or had a little sign on them saying "Adrien or Bust". I would rather just swim on/over/through them and have the whole process done and gone by the time I feel the sting. Knowing and projecting something slimy and painful in the water in front of you is a panic attack waiting to happen. That being said, I swam behind the boat and avoided whatever was waiting for me out there.

I spent most of the summer thus far working or traveling (and subsequently working too) and NOT in the water. So my contribution to the 5 person relay across the 16 mile stretch was minimal. But I certainly enjoyed the process immensely. This was my 3rd crossing of the Sound with the Swim Across the Sound relay, and by far the most fun and exciting. I was recruited at the last minute for a University of Connecticut student/alumni team for the 1st (of which I hope there will be more!!) SAS University Challenge. There were I think 7 or 8 university teams: Several from Fairfield U - student varsity and alum (and Fairfield Prep, which really shouldn't count, since they are technically still in high school, even if it's right next door to the university), Dartmouth alum "and friends" (which was a kick ass team, since they had 2 highly experienced marathon swimmers), Springfield U (several large, muscled guys who obviously swim very well).... And the best - UCONN!!

We had 2 alum (me and one woman who was also a professor at the medical school), 3 students (very fast swimmers - ah.... to be young(er) and in good shape!), and our boat captain and wife were ALSO alums!!! Our boat was decorated with UConn flags and banners, and everyone who passed by on the water (including several coast guards and police boats) cheered "UCONN! HUSKIES!" It was the first time I was psyched to be a Husky - and the first (unofficial) UCONN sporting event I was psyched to be at. Next year I hope to recruit another UCONN team, and we have already solicited the boat captain, his awesome wife and magnificent sail boat for University Challenge part 2.

Now, time to get back in the pool and train!!


Swimming Photos!!

Getting numbered on the ferry ride to Long Island



Just in case we forget the swimmer order...



all the swimmers getting off the ferry



Dresden and I tagging off for the first leg of the relay



All the boats behind us!!! Try and catch up suckers!! ;-)



Heading towards Connecticut...



Buoy 2A - 1 mile to go!!



go Team UCONN!

Swimmer's Kryptonite

SO.... in a historic attempt to make this year one of the best years, I'm working on crossing off a few more items from my personal
"LIST OF S#*% I AM TERRIFIED OF DOING"

* Travel to a war-torn country and sleep through an earthquake - Done
* (Re)learn how to surf (or at least, not die on a surf board) - Done
* Handle a spider monkey - Done and done (scars to prove it)
* Re-apply to veterinary school - Should be writing that essay now.... ;)
* Learn how to drive a stick-shift car - Done
* Swim with a Cyanea capillata - working on it...........

WTF is a Cyanea capillata you ask??

Is it faster than a speeding bullet? ... Well, fast enough.
More powerful than a locomotive?? ... Maybe in groups
Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound? Not really...

So what is it that has almost 300 swimmers in a hot panic this weekend?







































Meet Cyanea capillata - the Lion's Mane Jellyfish.
Or as it's referred to in the New England area "Oh f#%@"

This weekend marks the 23rd annual SWIM Across the Sound to benefit the St. Vincent's Cancer Center, and my 3rd year as a relay swimmer (working up to the solo swim... eventually...) More about the SWIM and St. Vincent's here

This Saturday I join a group of crazy people who will be up well before dawn and catch the 6am ferry boat from Bridgeport, CT to Port Jefferson, NY. We will then turn around and SWIM back - in my case, PART WAY back, since I will be sharing the 25 K (15 mile) swim distance with 5 other members of a relay team. That's still a lot of swimming, and according to the latest reports, it will be a lot of swimming in a sea of red lion's mane jellies.

Oh, by the way... did I mention that they sting??

Ecuador video

What I did on the plane ride home from Ecuador (when I should have been sleeping!! :)

Ecuador photos updated

Recent Ecuador photos can be found aqui:

http://picasaweb.google.com/adrienzap/ProteccionAnimalEcuadorIbarraEcuador#

3 weeks later...

3 weeks and 367 animals later (I think that's the final count... I lost track around 30 so I have to check my notes).... I am sitting in the Colombia airport at the same cafe I was at when I blogged 3 weeks ago - it seems like it was just yesterday, but at the same time, it also seems like it was lifetimes ago.

This has been an long 3 weeks filled with blood (lots of blood), sweat (mental as well as physical) and tears (and I'm sure a lot more are coming once I get home and internalize everything that happened). In the meantime, photos are being updated aqui:

www.picasaweb.google.com/adrienzap

machismo es violencia

There is a billboard campaign in Ecuador promoting non-machismo male attitudes and anti-domestic violence. The slogan is "machismo es violencia" (Machismo is Violence) and there are catchy signs and billboards around Ibarra. Does it work? Probably not.

Today was mostly a good day in the clinic. Twelve surgeries (including 3 street dogs EL and I caught with a dart gun this morning) and an overall good, normal high-volume spay/neuter clinic feeling. Until the niños showed up.

One of the street dogs we caught (whom I nicknamed "Tank") was a big, 80+ pound Rottweiler mix that I darted as he was trying to rape a 20 pound female in heat. After surgery and recovery, we put him outside the clinic on a little abandoned side street, gave him an injection to reverse his sedation, pulled out his IV catheter and stood back. JS stood guard over him for a few hours to make sure he was OK, and after a snack of bread and cheese, we were happy to see him back on the street, minus 2 very large testicles!!

A few hours, JS and EL came into the clinic in a hot panic. A pack of children ran up to poor Tank (who was sleeping/passed out on the sidewalk) and attacked him with rocks. One fat little niño hit him square in the head and cut his ear open. Apparently JS and EL chased the little monsters, and the ring leader ran into a church. EL chased him inside and ripped him a new one, along with the pastor/church lady, who screamed at him for trying to hide out in a house of God.

Poor old Tank slept off the last bits of his anesthesia in the clinic bathroom, and we decided to keep him overnight. Considering what he had been through today, a nice shelter, pain medication and bread was the least we could do.

This was probably the most disturbing, depressing day of my entire time in Ecuador. Who the f$%& throws rocks at a sleeping, helpless dog? Seriously? I am speechless. What difference does all of this make if the children (not just the people, but the CHILDREN) have a f$%& it attitude towards animals and humanity. And you know what they say about children who are cruel towards animals, right?

Machismo es violencia. Too bad some of those machismos aren't even old enough to read.

When bad things happen to good people....

... I get very upset.

I went to Ambato Sunday night to visit my friend DA and her family. It was (supposed) to be a much needed, animal-drama free 3 days of rest and fun before heading back to Ibarra for the last week of the PAE/WV clinic. But the universe saw fit to have otherwise.

My last night in Ambato was supposed to be spent at a nice little restaurant and any number of local bars or clubs - a girls' night out on the town. After finishing dinner and dessert, DA got a hysterical phone call from her sister (whom we JUST saw not even 30 minutes before). She returned home to find her dogs had been poisoned in her front yard. One dog was still alive, but had escaped during the chaos when the family got home, and was running/seizing/vomiting in the field next door. I have been blessed/cursed with the ability to maintain some control during emergencies (then I freak out afterwards), so I ran (high heels and all) to fish vomiting Osita out of a drainage ditch. I jumped into the back of DA's car and we rushed her to the local vet.

DA's whole family showed up at the vet's office; it was horrible to see them upset about the dead dogs and dying Osita. The story I got (via translation) was that someone threw a few dead chickens (packed with a variety of rat poisons) over the fence into their yard. The dogs ate the chickens (feathers and all) and Osita (being the largest of the dogs) was the one that survived long enough to get to the vet.

After waiting at the clinic for almost 2 hours, Osita was stable and we were told to come back in the morning. I haven't felt so powerless and hopeless in a long time. There was nothing I could do except sit and wait. If there are 2 things I'm NOT good at, it's sitting and waiting. I'm much more of a get-out-there-and-get-dirty kind of gal. It was horrible. The next morning was a relief when I heard Osita was fine (I think the vet was up all night with her) and her prognosis was good.

I wish I had more time to spend in Ambato, but it was hard to be there and not be in a position to help. DA's sister is probably the nicest woman in the world; why someone would poison her dogs is beyond comprehension (*side note* NA told me that when she lived in the Caribbean, people would poison the dogs a night or 2 before breaking into the house... again. Why?) I left Ambato this morning feeling sick and depressed (the sleepless night before didn't help) - my nice, relaxing vacation in Ambato turned into a melodramatic 72 hours, complete with a toxicologic emergency experience and a twisted ankle... In Quito now, and back to Ibarra tonight. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger (and gives you nightmares and ulcers in the process...)

Ehrlichia = 5.... Me = 0

There’s a reason I haven't updated my blog in almost a week.

Actually, there are several:

1) I’ve been exhausted every single night
2) I’ve been too depressed to take out my computer (or go to the Internet cafe)
3) I’ve been too busy having panic attacks and/or being generally agitated and/or impatient

We held surgery/clinic days on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday we were too depressed and drained to do surgery, so we traveled around Ibarra throwing ivermectin at random street dogs and visited the Mercado (market) to see the puppy/kitten booths. Wednesday we braved another day of surgery (very successfully) only to have a disaster later that night. Yesterday we slept in, did laundry, went to the internet, visited a local waterfall and made dinner at Gloria’s house (JA is an AMAZING cook!!)

I will spare the gory details, but let’s just say in almost 2 years of international veterinary clinics (including 3 previous clinics in Ecuador) I’ve never had such a frustrating, depressing, disheartening experience.

My new mantra/theme song for this trip:
I am powerless over Ehrlichia and any other bleeding disorder commonly seen in street dogs of Ibarra Ecuador.

Wish things were better here...

La Esperanza

I arrived in Quito Thursday night and (finally!) met NA (the World Vets vet from Buffalo) and BL (the PAE Ibarra coordinatior). NA and I are staying at BL’s aunt’s farm in La Esperanza, a small town just outside Ibarra. I have an AWESOME room on the farm, and even though it’s about 40 degrees (F) out at night, I have a pile of super warm blankets and a nice cozy bed to snuggle in. Now I just wish my Hudson bullie was here with me!

We had a late night tea and cake with BL’s aunt Gloria and her 2 bestest friends, GA and LF. I was exaughsted from not sleeping on the plane (and referring back to a prior entry, there was a woman on the plane who was LITERALLY wearing a bra covered by a scarf. That was IT. Oh, well actually, she was wearing some flashy, “Hey-look-at-me-I’m-almost-naked” jewelry and Brittney-esque shades).

I slept like a baby, and woke up to see the farm in the daylight. Gloria’s neighbor puts her cows out to pasture in the back yard, so I was met with some friendly MOOS from the neighborhood vacas. Gloria has a handful of cats and dogs, all very fat and happy and excited to show me around the property.

Gloria is a very cool person – very ecologically minded with a humane spirit. She proudly showed me a dead scorpion she found in the driveway, and reiterated several times that he “died a natural death”. One of her dogs, Esperanza, was spayed by NA earlier (she’s been in Ibarra for a week already) and is now limping on her back leg in a very ACL-ish manner. Gloria claims she can massage it back to health, and I don’t know for sure if it was the massage or the Rimadyl, but Esperanza stopped limping for a few hours yesterday afternoon :)

NA and I hung out around the farm most of the morning, had breakfast with Gloria, went through our supplies and organized for the clinic. The newest dog on the farm is a cute little black dog named Nikki (after NA :)who is actually allowed in the house and hasn’t moved from the couch since I arrived. She just had an overall ADR look about her (Ain’t Doing Right) and has supposedly had intermittent vomit/diarheaa/anorexia/lethargy episodes since she arrived. She ran around the farm with me for a while, showing me the cow pasture and seemed overall AOK.

We were supposed to go salsa dancing in the afternoon, but BL never came to pick us up. Gloria took us out to lunch, after we re-checked a German shepard, Kaiser, who belongs to Gloria’s great-nephew or grandson. He was apparently showing signs of distemper (which I think is becoming the theme of the trip) and was doing better. We gave in another injection of vitamin B, which cures everything south of Mexico, then went to get ice cream/fruit salad in Ibarra. Yum!

BL was nowhere to be found, and we later found out that a friend of her’s was sick in the hospital. GA came to pick us up and took us to his house to make dinner! He is a really awesome guy, and I want to sneak him back to the States in my suitcase! He’s perfect – he cooks, cleans, drives us around, holds the door open – perfect! Except liking girls… *sigh*

BL came to his house and we had a DELICIOUS dinner, watched some crazy videos on YouTube, laughed, and after the dishes were cleaned and put away, we moved the kitchen table aside and GA and BL taught us how to salsa and meringue! We got back to the farm late and I passed out again (not as cold last night). This morning, NA and I were up and ready to go by 10am to the market in Otavalo.

But first, NA went running past my door with a stethoscope, then again with a thermometer – Nikki wasn’t doing well. Rapid, labored breathing, but no fever. Gloria was upset about a lot of things, and didn’t handle the dog situation well. She told us to just take her to the vet and get her out of the house. There were murmurings of distempter. We loaded her into GA’s car, and took her to the local vet. They have some sort of rapid test for distempter, which they did at the vet’s while GA and I went to the pharmacy to find IV lines and sterile water. When we got back, BL and NA were choaking back tears – Nikki tested positive for distempter.

Since she had been at Gloria’s house for 2 weeks, there was a pretty good chance she would recover from the distemper (as did Kaiser, who had the cornal edema signs of distemper and was now well into recovery). But, there was no room in any shelter or foster home for a possibly-infectious distemper dog, so she was euthanized. In the states, veterinarians are typically responsible for disposing of euthanized animals; in Ecuador, it is the owner’s responsibility. So we went to JA’s father’s house for shovels then off to a remote area to bury Nikki.

Everyone was pretty upset about the events of the morning, so we tried to make the best of the rest of the day. After lunch, we drove to a small town called Otavalo where there is a huge open market (an awesome place to barter for good deals on sweaters, jewelry and other handmade items). Then we drove to the next town over, Cotachachi, which is famous for leather crafts. JA drove us up the Cotachachi volcano to the lake at the top. We drove back to Ibarra just as the sun was setting and went to have parridilla (BBQ) for dinner – my new favorite food. The portions were HUGE, so NA and I saved our leftovers for catching street dogs. Surgery starts tomorrow! Wish us Buena suerte (good luck!)

awesome Colombian lunch

From the Barra International Cafe, Bogata Airport