1 Down 8 to Go!

So I do have tomorrow but I figure now is as good a time to celebrate as any. Tomorrow is my last day of my first rotation. I finished the didactic portion of pharmacy school last month (no more lectures and tests!). Now I have 9 (8 after tomorrow), 1 month rotations. I get to pretend to be a pharmacist under the supervision of another pharmacist while still paying tuition. Each rotation has a different emphasis and some will be more challenging than others. All of them are in the area, about half in Durham and half in Cary/Morrisville.

This month I have been at Almac Clinical Services. They package and ship drug and other supplies for clinical trials. It has been a very laid-back month. There is not a whole lot I am able to do other than watch and learn. I did give a short presentation to some of the employees here on the "ins and outs of a protocol" and put together a pharmacy manual for one study. It has made for some boring days but allows me a few weeks to take a breather from the rigors of studying for tests before I start a more difficult rotation next week.

Next week I start my geriatrics rotation at a continuing care retirement center that is only 1 mile from our house. I am so excited to have commute that is less than 30 minutes. This is the closest I have lived to my "work" since I worked on-campus at BYU. It should prove to be a little more demanding than this month as I will be assigned patients to follow and give at least 1 presentation. As some of you know older folks are on a lot of medications and provide plenty of opportunities for pharmacists to make changes to their pharmacy regimens that could improve their quality of life. I just hope it doesn't smell like a rest home.

I have the month of July off and then I will be back in Durham at a compounding pharmacy for August. In September I will be at the same company I was at last summer doing drug information. October is free. November I will be at a hospital doing a medication safety rotation. December is free as well. In January I will be at a specialty pharmacy that accepts physician referred patients on more than 10 meds. In February I will be at a Duke outpatient clinic taking care of diabetes, coumadin and cholesterol patients. For March and February I will be back at the same hospital I will be at in November working with the internal medicine team. If all goes well I will graduate on Mother's day 2009!

The light at the tunnel is getting brighter now the only problem is trying to decide what I want to do once my 10 year college career is over. Any suggestions?

A Welcome to Summer

Can I just mention again how lucky I feel to have some family nearby? We went to Emerald Pointe, a water park sort of near us here in NC, with the Saari family (Julie's sister) for Memorial Day and it was a blast! BJ and I were a bit nervous at first because Haylee didn't want to do anything and it was a bit chilly (not cold, just not screaming hot) but we all warmed up and had so much fun! Haylee was so brave and went on a couple very small water slides but her favorite part by far (as she keeps reminding us) was the octopus that had swings on it (in a pool). (Every prayer she has said since we got back she has been thankful for swimming and the octopus!) Bree had a ball just splashing in the water, oh and trying to climb out of the tube in the lazy river. BJ and Jason went off on their own to do some male-bonding on the biggest rides and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Mindy and I took our turn going on some of the "must be over 45 inches tall" rides and to sum up our experience, I shall use the word "thrilling." Let's just say we were a bit shocked that all these kids were going on the rides we were without batting an eyelash while we were so nervous that we were shaking the entire time! I felt so old and loser-esque! But trust me, I had reason to be afraid...the story why deserves its own paragraph...

About 1/3 of the way down one of the tube rides, the current from the water started pushing me equally from all directions so that I just stalled! I was stuck! I watched as rider after rider passed by me, wondering what I was doing there I'm sure. After trying to push off the side of the slide without luck, I frantically started trying to grab the handles on everyone else's tubes, despite the dirty looks I received from many of them, but it was no use! Finally, I just started yelling "Help me!" to everyone and they all just slid by me with an "oh, sorry!" and a sympathetic shoulder shrug. I thought about getting out of my tube but as I pictured myself getting swept up in the current and making the newspaper headlines the next day and knowing how I look in a swimsuit, I dismissed that option immediately. Eventually, my head started swimming with all kinds of thoughts, should I start screaming? would I be here all day? how did this happen? am I just too heavy? am I sitting in this thing the wrong way? maybe I should tell someone this ride is unsafe, that is, if I ever get off this thing? what was the last thing I said to my girls? will BJ be ok without me? should I start praying about this?...eventually, my runaway thoughts were rescued by an unsuspecting teenager who got wedged with me and I pushed off his tube with more energy than I thought I had, sending myself down the remaining 2/3 of the slide. The funniest part was Mindy, just sitting down at the bottom waiting for me. She overheard some guy, "Dude, did you see the lady that got stuck?" It took her a minute to realize that "lady" was me!

Language

Today I was eating a piece of toast by myself for breakfast while Haylee threw a mini fit because I wouldn't let her eat princess fruit snacks for breakfast (because they're not healthy and you're supposed to have something healthy for that first meal, right?). After a couple minutes, she came in, curious what I was eating that was so healthy...here's how the conversation went:

Haylee: Is that chocolate bread?
Me: No
Haylee: Is that dang-it bread?
Me: No, it's just regular bread.

I'm a bit worried of 2 things. First, does she really think there is such a thing as "dang-it" bread? And second, where on earth did she learn that cheerful phrase?

A Glimpse

I am constantly amazed with babies and how their brains work. This week we got to see a glimpse into Cambree's little mind. We've been doing some very simple sign language with her and didn't expect to see her respond for a while but as I was feeding her lunch the other day, she looked at me and signed "more" and then paused and made the sign for "food." I was so surprised! What a wonderful thing to be able to communicate with your baby. It seems she has entered an entire new level of babyhood and we as parents have said more than once this week that favorite line of all parents..."our baby's growing up too fast!"

Greensboro Marathon...he/we made it!!!

Yeah BJ!!! We were so proud to see him cross the finish line! A little bloody, a bit chafed, and the saltiest I've ever seen him after a marathon but he looked great! My (Julie's) sister Mindy and daughter Jaina joined us for the day and we were all so glad. Haylee had a friend and I didn't get lost on my own! Actually, aside from a 2 or 3 turnarounds, we didn't have any problems at all (Mindy and I have a bit of a history of getting lost together...) This was light years ahead of the horrible disaster we experienced at the Richmond Marathon a while back. I'd come back to Greensboro anytime...not sure about BJ though, I guess there was a couple tini tiny hills on the course but hey, who wants to run a flat marathon???


The finish line was not very crowded at all and I had the absolute best spot to take a picture of BJ (from the front) as he was about to cross the finish line. But Bree, in the stroller behind me was just so cute that I had to take a quick break from watching the runners to tickle her toes. The moment I looked up he was there and it caught me off guard! Someday I will get that perfect finish line picture!!!