Where did the 4 years go?

I can't believe today is Lloyd's graduation day. In a way, it seems like forever since we moved to MS and started school, and in some ways the time has passed in the blink of an eye. Here is a litte recap of Lloyd's four years of vet school:
1. The Appendectomy:

Not a week after we moved to Starkville, Lloyd started having horrible pains in his side. After pouring over our health insurance information, I drove him to the hospital around midnight on Sunday night, where he was promptly diagnosed with appendicitis. He had surgery the next morning, and spent Monday and Tuesday in the hospital while I frantially called the vet school saying he couldn't participate in the team-builing exercises starting that week for vet school, and calling my job asking if there was any way I could not show up for my first day of work, which I was scheduled to start just 3 hours after LL went into surgery. Luckily, both the vet school and my job were very understanding.
2.The Coating Ceremony

The day Lloyd got out of the hospital was the day of the Vet School Coating Ceremony, where all of the new vet students were presented with a lab coat monogrammed with their name, year of graduation, and the CVM logo.
3. Vet School Begins


Like a proud mom, I had to photograph LL with his coat and stethoscope on his first day of vet school, and on the steps getting ready to leave. We were both so excited and nervous! If we only knew how eventful that year would be! Here's the short list:
-Aug.29th, 2005: My birthday, and hurriciane Katrina. This was our very first experience with a hurricaine, and it was a doozy! We spent the night away from our house(because trailers are NOT the place to be during hurricaines)and stayed with another vet student at a staff member's mother's house. Luckily, our trailer wasn't damaged, but it was a very frightening storm.
-Sep. 25th, 2005: Our very first anniversary, and hurricaine Rita. This one spawned tornadoes all day, including one that hit the vet school and very nearly hit our trailer. We spent the majority of the night in the basement of the vet school with a few hundred of our closest friends and all of their pets. Once we got home, though, we did still manage to eat the top layer of our cake, which we took with us from PA to MS.
-Halloween 2005: Lloyd is diagnosed with pneumonia, and is also told he has glaucoma, and will likely be going blind. The pneumonia clears up, and we happily find out that his eye condition was misdiagnosed, and he is fine.
-Nov. 2005, shortly before Thanksgiving: My grandmother passes away, and Lloyd and I hop a plane to MI to go to the funeral.

By Christmas I was convinced that I needed to leave the state of Mississippi, for clearly the state has something against us! We flew home to PA for a wonderful and uneventful Christmas, and 2006 was a MUCH better year for us in MS!

Here is a quick run-down of some of Lloyd's activites during his vet school years:
Freshman year, learning anatomy on a cadavar dog:

Freshman year, Tailgating with Bully:

Sophomore year, as SCAVMA president, in charge of Vet School Open House (with Bingo):

Reading to elementary students (again with Bingo)Sophomore year:

Palpating the holey cow Sophomore year:

Junior year, the fun begins! Working with miniature horses:

With Lucky the giant steer:

Operating-his first cow C-section:

And the healthy calf he delivered:

And finally, Senior year, the portrait for the class photo:

Where DID the time go? Unbelievable! Congratuations on making through a wonderful and grueling for years Lloyd! I am so proud of you! Tomorrow I will post the actual graduation pictures!