James Harriot Essay, Research Paper

Most people working in the medical field treat human patients, but one common

medical field is Complaining about his first experience in the country, James Harriot

starts out his book saying, "They didn’t say anything about this in the

books, I thought, as the snow blew in through the gaping doorway and settled on

my back. No there wasn’t a word in the books about searching for your ropes and

instruments in the shadows; about trying to keep clean in a half bucket of tepid

water; about the cobbles digging into your chest. Nor about the slow numbing of

the arms, the creeping paralysis of the muscles as the fingers tried to work

against the cows powerful explosive efforts." He clearly doesn’t show any

signs of enjoying his job, yet. Later on, on his way to Mr. Farnon, he remembers

some of the horror stories told to him from experienced veterans, which had

visited his college. One vet said," Never a night off or a half a day. He

made me wash the car, dig the garden, mow the lawn, do the family shopping. But

when he told me to sweep the chimney I left." And another remembers, "

First job I had to do was pass the stomach tube on a horse. Got it into the

trachea instead of the esophagus. Couple of quick pumps and down went the horse

with a hell of a crash-dead as a hammer. That’s when I started these gray

hairs." By that time James was doubting whether or not being a vet was the

best profession he could have chosen. Deciding to stay a vet in the same city he

quickly realized the problem of having to adapt to his new environment. One of

the first he encountered was the ability to communicate properly with his

customers. James, on the first day of work, while Mr. Farnon was out, had to

deal with a customer on his own. Harriot had trouble understanding him due to

the use of terms, to describe animal body parts, sickness, and diseases, which

were made-up by farmers in that area. After the customer left "(Harriot)

returned thoughtfully to the sitting-room. It was disconcerting but I had

listened to my first case history without understanding a word of it."

There are many unexpected obstacles and difficulties which are going to come in

his life time job as a vet. One of which he hates dearly is the fact that his

job requires him to be able to be wide-awake and focused at any time, 24 hours a

day 7 days a week. He got a call one night at 3:15A.M. to come help a farmer

with his mane having trouble giving birth. He remembers, " My stomach

contracted to a tight ball. This was a little bit too much; once out of bed in

the middle of the night was bad enough, but twice was unfair, in fact it was

sheer cruelty. I had had a hard day and had been glad to crawl between the

sheets at midnight. I had been hauled out once at one o’clock to a damned

awkward calving and hadn’t got back till nearly three. What time is it now?

Three fifteen. Good god, I had only had a few minutes’ sleep. And a foaling!

Twice as difficult as a calving as a rule. What a life! What a bloody awful

life!" A gentleman, back in the school days, told him " if you ever

become a veterinary surgeon you will have a life of endless interest and

variety." James thought "that old chap was certainly wasn’t kidding,

variety. That was it variety. Variety is something you rarely get residing in

the city. Every day you see the same buildings, go to the same office, meet the

same people, and pretty much do the same work all year long. But as vet it’s the

extreme opposite. After a hard days work, Harriot wonders, " but then I

might have been in an office with the window tight shut against the petrol fumes

and the traffic noise, the desk light shining on the columns of figures, my

bowler hat hanging on the wall." Living in the city doesn’t come without

its rewards. Even though you are a "slave" to the cities seemingly

endless redundant, same way of life; it doesn’t come without its rewards. Having

finished helping a lamb with its birth a little past midnight James tries "

to keep out the black thoughts; about those people I knew who were still in bed

and would only leave it when their alarm clocks rang; and they would read their

papers over breakfast and drive out in their cosy banks or insurance offices.

Maybe I should have been a doctor-they treated their patients in nice, warm

bedrooms."