🫀 The Beat Goes On: Another Day in Cardiology

October 29, 2025 9 AM - 6 PM.

Today in cardiology felt like stepping into a living, breathing version of my Pharmacology notes — except instead of bullet points and drug charts, I had wagging tails, purring patients, and real families hoping for answers. I requested to be in cardiology with Emily because we’re learning cardiac drugs in Dr. Schenkel’s class, and honestly, I don’t think I could’ve picked a better day to make all those mechanisms click.

We started with Sophia, a sweet 12-year-old cocker spaniel with a newly diagnosed murmur. Even before we touched the ultrasound, I had a full-circle moment seeing she was already on telmisartan, an angiotensin II blocker (ARB) I’d literally reviewed the night before. Today I got to see the “why” behind the “what”: decreasing afterload, helping with hypertension, and protecting organs beyond the heart. Sophia’s echo confirmed her as a B1 patient, meaning no new medications yet, just careful monitoring. It was a reminder that sometimes good medicine means patience, not prescriptions.

Then came Cody, a 14-year-old Maltese whose medical story could fill a whole textbook. He’s a known left-sided heart failure patient, but today’s visit gave me a firsthand look at how cardiology rarely travels alone — there were concerns about cancer, dental disease, and a middle ear infection all overlapping with his cardiac care. Watching Emily navigate his medication plan, diagnostics, and comorbidities reminded me that pharmacology is never a one-track subject. Every drug decision fits into a bigger puzzle. He was put on clindamycin, an antibiotic to help with his tooth infection.

Bernie, our anxious little poodle, came in for a six-month recheck. Thanks to his pre-visit trazodone and gabapentin, he was much calmer — and it was such a good example of how behavioral meds can make appointments safer and smoother. His echo looked unchanged, so he stayed at B1, enjoying the rare cardiology “no meds today!” win.

Kiera, our elegant sphynx queen with HCM, was probably my biggest pharmacology lesson of the day. She was switched from furosemide to torsemide, which is a ten times more potent diuretic and longer-lasting — something we’ve drilled into memory in class but hits different when you see it prescribed to an actual patient. Add in clopidogrel, an antithrombitic drug, to help prevent FATE, and suddenly I wasn’t just memorizing drug classes. I was understanding strategy.

Then came Kerry, a doodle with a brand-new grade IV/VI murmur. His radiographs showed moderate left-sided changes, so he was classified as B2 and started on pimobendan — one of the cornerstone drugs we’ve discussed endlessly in lecture. It’s one thing to diagram “positive inotropic and balanced dilator” in your notes. It’s another thing to watch a veterinarian choose it because it will genuinely change a dog’s life.

Sammy, our 9-year-old boxer, brought a genetic twist to the day. Dr. Morganstern was looking for subaortic stenosis, a congenital narrowing below the aortic valve that forces the heart to push harder to eject blood, increasing afterload and eventually causing cardiac strain. It’s especially common in large breeds like boxers. Sammy was also started on pimobendan and will have a recheck soon.

Emily also taught me about ARVC (Boxer cardiomyopathy) and the cheek swab test sent to NC State — another fascinating intersection of genetics, diagnostics, and treatment.

Our last patient, Dutch, stole my heart. This sweet cocker spaniel has episodes of syncope when playing with his sister — blue tongue, pale gums, the whole scary moment no owner ever wants to see. His echo today was unremarkable, which was both relieving and humbling. Not every cardiac patient walks out with a neat diagnosis or a specific medication. Sometimes the best plan is monitoring, time, and a reminder that medicine is still as much an art as it is a science.

By the end of the day, I realized something important:Cardiology is where pharmacology stops being memorization and becomes meaning.

Every case showed me how drugs like telmisartan, torsemide, clopidogrel, and pimobendan fit into real lives and real beating hearts. Understanding when to start a medication, when to wait, and when to adjust — that’s the part you can’t learn in a classroom alone.

And thanks to Emily’s incredible explanations (seriously, she’s a magician at connecting dots), today felt like the moment where everything I’ve been studying finally settled into place.

One rhythm, one patient, one drug at a time — I’m learning the heart from the inside out. 🫀✨