Sunday! I love that song, btw. Still one of my favorite songs ever. So I woke up and went to see my goddaughter! We played for a bit, then she came over and we watched her while her parents went to get a car wash. She picked Aladdin to watch, and I was so excited because I would finally get to sing Aladdin’s part in A Whole New World...let’s just say my older sister always sang the girl parts. Well she got antsy and didn’t sit through the movie. Oh well. After she got picked up, hung out with my parents for a bit then went to the hospital to see the babies! I have never seen babies that small in person. I did not want to open the incubator (? Is that what they’re called?) for the boy, but I touched the girl before daddy got to hold her for the first time. A truly surreal moment to watch as he got to hold his daughter for the first time because I have known him about 14 years now. Once we left the hospital, we went for dinner and dessert, then mommy wasn’t feeling well, so we parted ways.
When I got home, my parents and I played with the face swap filter on Snap and that was just hilarious. I also found two old notebooks I had in college...one had all of my PCAT prep stuff in it, along with a list I had written (probably about 10 years ago) of things I wanted in my dream house. I had good taste back then because I still want all of those things now haha I also found the notebook I used for a class (no idea which one) to journal everyday. Let’s just say I was obsessed with my ex and it was pretty pathetic. I cringed reading some of those entries because I was all like “we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together” blah blah. Some of the things I said really hurt me because I could tell I was treating my parents like shit in that time of my life. UGH. To be young, naive, and stupid. Anyway, I didn’t do much else that day, but it was an eventful first day in town!
Friday, May 31, 2019
Homeward Bound!
It felt SO nice to actually sleep in for the first time in a while. I was still finishing up laundry (oops) and had not packed yet. So when I woke up, I finished all of that, packed, and actually finished the Mad Men series...I wasn’t crazy about how it ended, but talked to my dad after the fact and then at guess it was ok. Once I finished packing and watching tv, I called an Uber and headed to the airport. My flight was around 4:30 and the first flight was to ATL. There was no overhead bins when I was heading to my seat, so I had to put my bags a few rows back, then people were still loading the plane, so I had to wait until they all sat down before I could go back to my seat. Once I got there, I had a window seat, so the Asian couple in the other 2 seats had to get up so I could get in, and they still left the bag on my seat. Ugh. Finally sat down and all I wanted to do was sleep, so I closed my eyes. About 30 min after takeoff, I felt a tap on my shoulder. The woman was tapping me to wake me up in case I wanted beverage/snack service. I clearly didn’t want to be bothered, but I guess the gesture was nice. Once we landed, she tapped me again to ask if her clock was right on her phone. Without asking of course, because she didn’t speak English. When I got off the plane, I wanted to rush to the next gate because I didn’t have a seat assignment yet. Got there and got my seat. Once we boarded, I sat next to the cutest little boy and his dad. He seemed like such a sweet little boy. I played with some puzzles and stuff on my phone so the time would pass. Then I landed and waited for my bag for what felt like forever. Then waited for my parents. My mom totally listened when I told her I wanted my sign to be laminated. =) After every break from school when I come home, my mom has a new sign for me when they pick me up saying, “P1.5/2...etc”. I was starving when I got home, but I had some leftovers then went to bed!
Thursday, May 30, 2019
It’s Presentation Day!
Yes, that was a nod to Frozen. What can I say...I still love that movie. So I had to take the bus to school because my roommate and I had different schedules for the day. I got to school early(ish) to go over my presentation, ran into classmates I hadn’t seen in a few weeks, and oh well. I didn’t practice. Presentation went decently. I kind of messed up on one thing with side effects. But the most embarrassing part was forgetting what Vitamin D was used for. Facepalm for sure. I was overwhelmed and wanted it to be done. So once we were all finished, we had a reflection session talking about the past 2 weeks, then I caught the APPE director on her way out to ask about my placement in Indiana after saying I didn’t have a car. She told me to shoot her an email and I said I would when I’d gotten home. They made all of our deadlines for 5pm, so I knew I would have plenty of time to get home and get done what I needed to, so I decided to go get a pedicure.
I called while I was on the train to get an appointment. Once I got home, I tried to upload my checklist...except our WiFi wasn’t working at the house, and they wanted it in a PDF format. So that was definitely a pain in the ass. Nothing was going right for me. Then it was getting close to my appointment time and I had just missed the bus, so I had to walk there. Luckily, the place is only like a 10 min walk from home. I was able to get my form uploaded in time. I got home and sat in the bed and realized it was 5:26 pm and I had not finished my evaluation yet. So I shot the director an email letting her know of our earlier WiFi issues. The syllabus said submissions after 5 pm would result in a 10% reduction in our grade, so I was pissed at myself for not getting it done. Not that I was worried about failing the class or anything, but I really just wanted an A. At that point, I had not finished my laundry or packed. But we had scheduled dinner with a friend/classmate that was leaving Chicago to go back home to Texas for work. =( We went to Chinatown for dim sum at one of our favorite places, sat in the restaurant for literally 3 hours talking, then went for rolled ice cream/boba. It was so sad saying goodbye. We have all developed such an amazing friendship over the past 4 years and I hate saying goodbye. Once we got home, I watched a little Mad Men then went to bed because I needed to get packed in the morning!
Last Day =(
Last day of the rotation. It was Suboxone day, so we went to the group meeting again. We heard the stories of the patients and learned of their weekly successes and it was nice. They even embraced my colleague and I and asked us to join in their prayer at the end. That was really nice. So we saw LOTS of patients on this day, because we see the Suboxone patients on top of the others there for visits. About every 5 minutes, my preceptor asked where lunch was (LOL). Once we were finally done seeing the patients, we went downstairs for the lunch brought in by the drug reps. We got to talking to one of them and ended up having an over hour long conversation. Really insightful. We talked diabetes and career advice. When we went back upstairs, we saw a few more patients, then we went over our presentations. Now, I had literally submitted it at 5:30 that morning, so I knew it wasn’t my best work. I took notes as to what she wanted me to fix and change so I could make sure it was good enough. My colleagues...was a hot mess to say the least. But her patient was way more complex than mine, so I kind of felt bad.
Once we were dismissed to go home, I’m not gonna lie, I procrastinated the fuck out of the evening LOL. I did not want to do this damn presentation! I fixed what the preceptor had told me to fix and submitted it. Again, I knew this wasn’t my best work, but at that point, I just wanted to get it over with. Normally when I have a presentation, I do a few run throughs, and even write down questions I anticipate the audience asking me. I didn’t do that this time around. I honestly threw my hands up to God and wanted to be done because I knew I was leaving for Florida SO SOON! =)
Once we were dismissed to go home, I’m not gonna lie, I procrastinated the fuck out of the evening LOL. I did not want to do this damn presentation! I fixed what the preceptor had told me to fix and submitted it. Again, I knew this wasn’t my best work, but at that point, I just wanted to get it over with. Normally when I have a presentation, I do a few run throughs, and even write down questions I anticipate the audience asking me. I didn’t do that this time around. I honestly threw my hands up to God and wanted to be done because I knew I was leaving for Florida SO SOON! =)
Wednesday Wednesday WEDNESDAY!
So whatever, I’m still about 8 days behind here, but I am catching up and making the effort! So back to last Wednesday then...
After the text from the preceptor that we had to go to the other site (BOO, because I was really needing a project day to get my presentation done at this point), I had already mapped out where this new site was and I got even less excited. Since I take public transportation, it said it would be 1 hour and 46 (ish) minutes to get to the site, and mind you...I know once the street numbers start going up, the areas become less and less safe, so when I was told i would be going to 82nd street...I was kind of afraid, not going to lie. I have made it through 4 years in Chicago up until this point, but really, I was kind of scared to be in this part of town. I took a bus to the train, to another bus, then was to transfer to another bus. I was unfamiliar with the area, so I asked the policeman standing on the corner (there were also 2 other officers on the other corners, so that was alarming) and he pointed me in the direction to the bus. So I waited for the bus, jumped on, and pulled out the navigation. When I looked and none of the street names were making sense, I realized I was going in the wrong direction. So I had to get off that bus and walk to the other side of the street in an even worse neighborhood that I had initially gotten on the bus in. When I looked at the app, there were no buses heading in the right direction. Shit. At that point, it was getting closer to the time I actually needed to be there. Just a rule of thumb for me, I map out my directions and transit time beforehand and usually give myself an extra half hour to account for delays or me getting lost.
Once I finally got to the clinic (after having to walk a few blocks from the bus with my backpack and white coat in hand), I realized that I had definitely judged a book by its cover. The inside of the clinic was AMAZING and so state of the art. The rooms were incredible; most rooms had a consultation area with a couch for patients and a desk with computer and behind the desk was a sliding door and then the patient goes into the exam room. SO cool. The patient chair doubled as a scale! Really neat. Anyway, we couldn’t access the computer to see the patients because that was not our “home” clinic site, so myself, my colleague, and preceptor sat in an unused MA office and my preceptor was like, “well, we cant do anything, so y’all just go on Facebook or something”. I LOL’d, then could finally check my text messages...the twins were born! A friend of mine from high school’s brother (who was also my friend in high school) had twins and she had been sending pictures of her new niece and nephew, who came about 5.5 weeks early due to mom having high blood pressure a few days prior. I will try and keep updates on the babies now that y’all know about them too! But anyway, it was cool to get to see the baby pictures and keep up with all of them.
Back to the clinic. It was Suboxone day at that clinic, so we were familiar with the routine. Met a few patients who were really nice, but honestly, some really just had no idea about their medications. So we did the best to educate them. We had one patient who was just seeking out treatment and the process of patient interviewing is so much more intense and thorough. The patient had a lot of questions, but seemed like they were really ready to quit the drugs and be a better person. I am routing for them!! But we stayed at clinic from 11-3ish and after the adventure I had getting there, I needed to Uber home. ETA was about an hour and 15 minutes. Lawd have mercy! Once he arrived, I legitimately slept the whole way home. I never do that. It took forever to get home, but I finally had made it. I knew once I got home, I needed to work on my presentation, since the preceptor wanted us to submit the presentation beforehand so we could go over them the next day. I was in for a long night...but I still watched more Mad Men haha
After the text from the preceptor that we had to go to the other site (BOO, because I was really needing a project day to get my presentation done at this point), I had already mapped out where this new site was and I got even less excited. Since I take public transportation, it said it would be 1 hour and 46 (ish) minutes to get to the site, and mind you...I know once the street numbers start going up, the areas become less and less safe, so when I was told i would be going to 82nd street...I was kind of afraid, not going to lie. I have made it through 4 years in Chicago up until this point, but really, I was kind of scared to be in this part of town. I took a bus to the train, to another bus, then was to transfer to another bus. I was unfamiliar with the area, so I asked the policeman standing on the corner (there were also 2 other officers on the other corners, so that was alarming) and he pointed me in the direction to the bus. So I waited for the bus, jumped on, and pulled out the navigation. When I looked and none of the street names were making sense, I realized I was going in the wrong direction. So I had to get off that bus and walk to the other side of the street in an even worse neighborhood that I had initially gotten on the bus in. When I looked at the app, there were no buses heading in the right direction. Shit. At that point, it was getting closer to the time I actually needed to be there. Just a rule of thumb for me, I map out my directions and transit time beforehand and usually give myself an extra half hour to account for delays or me getting lost.
Once I finally got to the clinic (after having to walk a few blocks from the bus with my backpack and white coat in hand), I realized that I had definitely judged a book by its cover. The inside of the clinic was AMAZING and so state of the art. The rooms were incredible; most rooms had a consultation area with a couch for patients and a desk with computer and behind the desk was a sliding door and then the patient goes into the exam room. SO cool. The patient chair doubled as a scale! Really neat. Anyway, we couldn’t access the computer to see the patients because that was not our “home” clinic site, so myself, my colleague, and preceptor sat in an unused MA office and my preceptor was like, “well, we cant do anything, so y’all just go on Facebook or something”. I LOL’d, then could finally check my text messages...the twins were born! A friend of mine from high school’s brother (who was also my friend in high school) had twins and she had been sending pictures of her new niece and nephew, who came about 5.5 weeks early due to mom having high blood pressure a few days prior. I will try and keep updates on the babies now that y’all know about them too! But anyway, it was cool to get to see the baby pictures and keep up with all of them.
Back to the clinic. It was Suboxone day at that clinic, so we were familiar with the routine. Met a few patients who were really nice, but honestly, some really just had no idea about their medications. So we did the best to educate them. We had one patient who was just seeking out treatment and the process of patient interviewing is so much more intense and thorough. The patient had a lot of questions, but seemed like they were really ready to quit the drugs and be a better person. I am routing for them!! But we stayed at clinic from 11-3ish and after the adventure I had getting there, I needed to Uber home. ETA was about an hour and 15 minutes. Lawd have mercy! Once he arrived, I legitimately slept the whole way home. I never do that. It took forever to get home, but I finally had made it. I knew once I got home, I needed to work on my presentation, since the preceptor wanted us to submit the presentation beforehand so we could go over them the next day. I was in for a long night...but I still watched more Mad Men haha
Monday, May 27, 2019
”Oh, I’M a Fucking Bitch?!”
This title will make more sense toward the end of this post, but hear me out, I had to draw in some readers, right? RIGHT? Well, that is unlikely, but here we are.
Tuesday, May 21. I woke up at the ass crack of dawn to get to rotation literally to copy and paste my patient’s chart onto a word doc and get all I needed. The preceptor said we had 2 hours to get all we needed. I had it all done in 30 min, because I figured she would just let me leave once I was done. NOPE. Because my colleague was SO slow and didn’t know how to work the computer system, I had to stay. The preceptor was like, “Why don’t you look for an article for your presentation?” I mean, it was something I had to do, but I remember being super fucking tired that day...it was one of those mornings I slept on the bus on the way to site. Shameful, but zero fucks given and nobody stole anything from me. So I did what I needed to do and left. Came home and took a glorious nap before I had to go to work. I slept so long I was almost cutting it too close and thought I was going to be late for work.
I took the 152 up Addison to Broadway, then walked the rest of the way since the bus wasn’t coming for 7 min, and the walk total was around 11 min. I took the healthy choice and did the walk. Yay me. But whenever you get to a store that’s not your home store (especially if you have never worked there before), it’s a certain amount of tornado chaos into the first few minutes because it takes a minute to get credentials, familiarize yourself with the layout, then remember there’s customers in line to pick up their meds. So I introduce myself to everyone and jump on the register. They were backed up on everything, but didn’t realize Machine Gun Monica was there to catch them up. I’ve never said that before and it’s kind of weird that I did, but it’s out in the open now and there’s no going back. What I meant by that is I can count really fast. Perks of starting out working at a busy store. Anyway, the day went on and it was going fine. Until about 7:45.
A woman came up to pick up and the pharmacist was helping her. I didn’t hear the beginning of the interaction as I was helping with something else, but I heard this woman starting to get loud. She was basically pissed because her VET quoted her the wrong price of the medication she was to pick up for her dog. Now there are many ways this could have been avoided, namely the vet should have called us and asked us to process the claim so he/she could give an exact price, instead he/she gave the price with GoodRX...that would be all fine and dandy except vets don’t have NPI numbers, which are necessary for billing GoodRX claims. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, she’s showing the pharmacist the email her VET (again, not us, THE VET) had sent her saying the price. It was <$8 of a difference. So the lady was PISSED, and the pharmacist really was trying to be reasonable with her and offered her a gift card with the balance of what she was to pay vs what she was quoted. This was beyond fair in my eyes. I was still helping with other things when I noticed a line forming, so I went to help the next person. This woman is still acting a fool and yelling at the pharmacist because she was pissed about the “miscommunication” and said everyone she had interacted with at the pharmacy was a, you guessed it, fucking bitch. So the pharmacist clapped back with the title of this blog and I was not allowed to physically laugh because I didn’t want to piss the lady off more, but it was really damn funny. Then she finally went to pay and was obnoxiously banging on the card reader with the pen, to the point where I thought she would crack the screen. Well in her fit of rage, she was hitting the wrong button and then I, again, had to hide my laughter. Transaction finishes and the good ole CVS receipt starts printing, which is usually an LOL moment in itself. So the woman obviously didn’t stay for the receipt and begins walking down the aisle to leave saying her last “fuck yous” to the pharmacist and the pharmacist yelled down the aisle, “have a nice day!” to which the woman replies “FUCK YOU”. And the pharmacist yelled, “GREAT MANNERS YOU HAVE!” And that made her more pissed. Whatever, she was finally gone, then the pharmacist proceeded to apologize to me and the other customers in line profusely for her unprofessional behavior, which I told her not to worry about me because she handled that bitch like a fucking champ. Anyway, the rest of the night went by fast and I went home.
More Mad Men, I’m sure, followed, and at that point, I hadn’t heard from my preceptor yet. She had said we were going to shadow the doctor at another clinic site, but would text us beforehand to let us know what time to be there. I got an email around 9:25 saying the following day would be a project day, which I needed because I hadn’t actually started working on my presentation yet. I replied and said, “great, see you Thursday” and went along with the night. Well, one more check of the email before bed revealed another email saying where to be and what time the following day. To say I was not excited about this adventure was an understatement, and when I get into tomorrow, you’ll understand why. For now, that’s all!
Tuesday, May 21. I woke up at the ass crack of dawn to get to rotation literally to copy and paste my patient’s chart onto a word doc and get all I needed. The preceptor said we had 2 hours to get all we needed. I had it all done in 30 min, because I figured she would just let me leave once I was done. NOPE. Because my colleague was SO slow and didn’t know how to work the computer system, I had to stay. The preceptor was like, “Why don’t you look for an article for your presentation?” I mean, it was something I had to do, but I remember being super fucking tired that day...it was one of those mornings I slept on the bus on the way to site. Shameful, but zero fucks given and nobody stole anything from me. So I did what I needed to do and left. Came home and took a glorious nap before I had to go to work. I slept so long I was almost cutting it too close and thought I was going to be late for work.
I took the 152 up Addison to Broadway, then walked the rest of the way since the bus wasn’t coming for 7 min, and the walk total was around 11 min. I took the healthy choice and did the walk. Yay me. But whenever you get to a store that’s not your home store (especially if you have never worked there before), it’s a certain amount of tornado chaos into the first few minutes because it takes a minute to get credentials, familiarize yourself with the layout, then remember there’s customers in line to pick up their meds. So I introduce myself to everyone and jump on the register. They were backed up on everything, but didn’t realize Machine Gun Monica was there to catch them up. I’ve never said that before and it’s kind of weird that I did, but it’s out in the open now and there’s no going back. What I meant by that is I can count really fast. Perks of starting out working at a busy store. Anyway, the day went on and it was going fine. Until about 7:45.
A woman came up to pick up and the pharmacist was helping her. I didn’t hear the beginning of the interaction as I was helping with something else, but I heard this woman starting to get loud. She was basically pissed because her VET quoted her the wrong price of the medication she was to pick up for her dog. Now there are many ways this could have been avoided, namely the vet should have called us and asked us to process the claim so he/she could give an exact price, instead he/she gave the price with GoodRX...that would be all fine and dandy except vets don’t have NPI numbers, which are necessary for billing GoodRX claims. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, she’s showing the pharmacist the email her VET (again, not us, THE VET) had sent her saying the price. It was <$8 of a difference. So the lady was PISSED, and the pharmacist really was trying to be reasonable with her and offered her a gift card with the balance of what she was to pay vs what she was quoted. This was beyond fair in my eyes. I was still helping with other things when I noticed a line forming, so I went to help the next person. This woman is still acting a fool and yelling at the pharmacist because she was pissed about the “miscommunication” and said everyone she had interacted with at the pharmacy was a, you guessed it, fucking bitch. So the pharmacist clapped back with the title of this blog and I was not allowed to physically laugh because I didn’t want to piss the lady off more, but it was really damn funny. Then she finally went to pay and was obnoxiously banging on the card reader with the pen, to the point where I thought she would crack the screen. Well in her fit of rage, she was hitting the wrong button and then I, again, had to hide my laughter. Transaction finishes and the good ole CVS receipt starts printing, which is usually an LOL moment in itself. So the woman obviously didn’t stay for the receipt and begins walking down the aisle to leave saying her last “fuck yous” to the pharmacist and the pharmacist yelled down the aisle, “have a nice day!” to which the woman replies “FUCK YOU”. And the pharmacist yelled, “GREAT MANNERS YOU HAVE!” And that made her more pissed. Whatever, she was finally gone, then the pharmacist proceeded to apologize to me and the other customers in line profusely for her unprofessional behavior, which I told her not to worry about me because she handled that bitch like a fucking champ. Anyway, the rest of the night went by fast and I went home.
More Mad Men, I’m sure, followed, and at that point, I hadn’t heard from my preceptor yet. She had said we were going to shadow the doctor at another clinic site, but would text us beforehand to let us know what time to be there. I got an email around 9:25 saying the following day would be a project day, which I needed because I hadn’t actually started working on my presentation yet. I replied and said, “great, see you Thursday” and went along with the night. Well, one more check of the email before bed revealed another email saying where to be and what time the following day. To say I was not excited about this adventure was an understatement, and when I get into tomorrow, you’ll understand why. For now, that’s all!
Mondays are the WORST
So going back and thinking, I don’t really remember much about this day specifically, unfortunately. I know I got to site at 12 and stayed until after 6. Wait, I lied. I remember it. We had to interview our patients to get our patient cases for presentations at the end of the week. So with an interpreter, we interviewed who was to be picked as my patient. She was an older woman who spoke primarily Spanish and had nerve pain in the face, along with a bunch of other chronic diseases. We interviewed other patients that day as well, but this was who I got for my case. It wasn’t a hard patient, so I was honestly glad. The preceptor said we were to stop early to get all the info we would need for our patient cases so we could have a project day the following day to work on the presentations. Which I of course took advantage of and picked up an afternoon shift for some extra money.
While my colleague had to leave early to get her son, I stayed with my preceptor to interview one more patient. It was a relatively young (<50) man who had diabetes and his A1c was trending up and down, but still above 10%, which in referring to the guidelines, suggests the initiation of insulin. During the interview, he stated that a medication he had been prescribed to take twice daily, he had only been taking once daily. This wasn’t the main contributor to the high A1c though. When digging in to get more info on his diet, that’s when the shit hitteth the fan. His diet was so poor. Lots of burgers and fries, pizza, sugary juice, etc. Man, when I see patients like this not taking care of themselves it really breaks my heart. I’m sure it’s hard for these patients to take advice from someone who looks like me, but I am hoping to make some lifestyle changes that I won’t be a “do as I say, not as I do” type of practitioner. Anyway, after this patient, I went to go get my patient case info so I could keep the project day on Tuesday, after I told the preceptor it took me almost an hour and a half each way to get there. I sit down to do it and then she starts asking around how long we can stay, and it wasn’t long enough for me to get all the info I needed (which I could have done, actually, but more info on that in the next post). So it sucked, but I left knowing I would have to wake up super early to make it there by 9am the next day. More Mad Men when I got home, and then I went to bed.
Well, Now That I’m Officially More Than a Week Behind...
This past week has been...BUSY! I’m officially 8 days behind on this blog, so I am still going to try and recall the days and what has been going on. So let’s start at Sunday, May 19th.
I worked this day. I have not been working a lot this past semester, and honestly, I’m only upset about it because of the low funds. It has been nice to be able to sleep in and study freely without having a prior commitment to work. Anyway, I got to work EARLY for once! I also walked the entire way to work, which I have not done in a while. It’s really only a 15 minute walk to work, but with Chicago’s crazy, unpredictable weather (I thought Florida was bad!), it has not been great. I had enough time to get Starbucks when I got to work, so I went back into the pharmacy and wow, I knew the craziness would be starting because of the line outside the pharmacy. It turned into one of those days where I only had enough time to put my lab coat on and then had to get to work. Of course since I am not consistently working, my password had expired, so before I could literally even do anything, I had to call for a password reset. Once I got past that bump in the road, I wish I could say it was smooth sailing, but man, it was a crazy fucking day. Phones going off like crazy, lines backed up, and it was just the pharmacist and myself until 1:30 (I think). I counted drugs like my life depended on it and even spoke a little Spanish in there too. The tech came in and she handled the customers to pick up and made the calls in free time, but I had overdue trainings to complete and I wanted to leave her with nothing to count when I left at 4.
I left on time and went to church that night. I can’t say enough good things about my church and how lucky I am to have found such an amazing place to worship. It feels like my parish here at home (oh yeah, since I’m so behind on this, I am home!), and I am forever grateful to have been chosen to be a godmother because I found this church all because of that. Once I was done at church, I remember going back to Target (Target) afterwards because I needed bubble wrap. Remember how I said I was so broke? I ended up having to sell some of my favorite Rae Dunn mugs just to get by. I was SO sad to see them go, but I hope I can have them again in the future sometime. So when I got home, I packed the rest of the breakables up to ship out tomorrow, watched more Mad Men, and went to bed.
Saturday, May 18, 2019
354 Days to Go!
Welp, today is an easy post because I did absolutely nothing...and I’m kind of ok with that. Besides having absolutely no money to do anything right now, I just stayed home and binge watched Dead to Me...well I think I’m on the last episode now. But today had absolutely nothing to do with my pharmacy journey, except for the fact that I am finally beginning to realize that by this time next week, I can officially call myself a fucking P4! This journey has been anything but easy, and since I have failed so many times, it’s almost like I never thought I would get to this point. Looking into the future is exciting because a) I don’t think I’ll ever have a more shitty week financially (remember, I promised myself) and b) exploring options for my career is overwhelming, yet super fucking exciting.
I really need to get my shit together because my room is a mess and I am still a little sick. But things have turned around a bit since I started writing this post...been trying to sell anything and everything to make a little extra money and I am going to be ok now.
I really need to get my shit together because my room is a mess and I am still a little sick. But things have turned around a bit since I started writing this post...been trying to sell anything and everything to make a little extra money and I am going to be ok now.
Friday, May 17, 2019
“I’m Never Gonna Leaveeee This Beddddd”
Today I legit spent the entire day in bed. I woke up around 10, checked my email to see if my preceptor had sent our assignment yet, and when she hadn’t, I went back to bed. My body tells me when I need the extra rest, and since I’ve been sick, all I’ve wanted to do is sleep. I left the bed today to get water and to use the bathroom, then eventually in the evening to eat dinner. Well, so my assignment finally came through and I completed it, then went back to sleep lol I am trying to get all of this sleep in before I go home because my mom does not let me sleep when I’m home. Don’t tell her I said that. Anyway, I’m just scouring my room to see what I can sell to make some money to pay these damn bills. It’s really taken a toll not working. Thankfully, I’ve got some shifts coming up. And my tax return should drop any day now, along with student loans. But damn, does this suck being broke. I prayed on this last week and vowed this would be the last time I was this down on cash from here on out. I want to turn a new leaf, pay off my debts, and live a different life. I hope to have enough of a student loan refund to buy a car, then I can drive Uber/Lyft for some extra money because the inconsistency of working is not good for my current lifestyle. I want my last year to be different and not struggle anymore. There, I’be said it out in the open, so it will come true. That’s all for today.
Thursday, May 16, 2019
TRIGGER WARNING
Well, I am attempting to remain consistent, so I will talk about today. Let me say getting home last night after 2 am then waking up after 7 to make the bus and be at site on time was ROUGH. But I didn’t want to be late. I was feeling terrible, but I can’t skip any days. So I sucked it up, got dressed quickly, and made it for the bus. You know how there’s those times in life that are SO perfectly timed? That happened with my buses to and from site today. It was so awesome because I was so tired by the time I had left today. But in the morning, let me tell you. I SLEPT my ass off on the bus. Maybe not deeeeeeep sleep, but it was nice. I know my parents would kill me right now if they read this and knew I slept on the bus, but bitch was tired!
Today was Suboxone clinic day. For those readers (lol, nobody reads this) who are not familiar with it, Suboxone is a drug used to reverse opioid/heroin addiction. So when we first got there today, we worked on some patients and talked with our preceptor and staff for a bit, then she sent us to the group meeting. There were about 9 struggling people in there and man was it fucking sad. Some of them are newly recovering, and some have been in the clinic-established program for years. They’re at all different levels in their sobriety and some said they had used as often as yesterday. I’m not well-versed on the program specifically, but I am sure some of these individuals are required to participate in this to maintain their jobs, at least that’s the vibe I got when talking to them individually. As they all told their stories of temptations of the week, it really opened my eyes to how accessible drugs are. One of the group members said she was down on some money and looking to make some extra bucks and was helping a friend bag up heroin. I never really knew how much of a problem drugs were until I got older...and I guess I still don’t know. As I sat in and heard these stories, it was hard not to get emotional. It also didn’t help that my nose was so runny that I kept sniffling, so my colleague kept asking if I was ok. Once group was done, we met with patients individually. Now, our preceptor must really trust us because she had us going in with patients ourselves without her, and I know for some, that doesn’t happen until weeks in. So that felt cool to know she can depend on us to get accurate patient histories. Speaking to these people one on one really helped me to understand they’re humans too who may have started this addiction because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I keep going on, I’m going to start to cry, but I can say I’m super proud of these folks for admitting they needed help and doing something about it. I think that’s it. Tomorrow is a work from home day (thank God because a) I still feel like a donkey ass and b) it’s supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow), so I can’t wait to sleep in...again. How lucky have I been on this rotation so far?! Toodles!
Today was Suboxone clinic day. For those readers (lol, nobody reads this) who are not familiar with it, Suboxone is a drug used to reverse opioid/heroin addiction. So when we first got there today, we worked on some patients and talked with our preceptor and staff for a bit, then she sent us to the group meeting. There were about 9 struggling people in there and man was it fucking sad. Some of them are newly recovering, and some have been in the clinic-established program for years. They’re at all different levels in their sobriety and some said they had used as often as yesterday. I’m not well-versed on the program specifically, but I am sure some of these individuals are required to participate in this to maintain their jobs, at least that’s the vibe I got when talking to them individually. As they all told their stories of temptations of the week, it really opened my eyes to how accessible drugs are. One of the group members said she was down on some money and looking to make some extra bucks and was helping a friend bag up heroin. I never really knew how much of a problem drugs were until I got older...and I guess I still don’t know. As I sat in and heard these stories, it was hard not to get emotional. It also didn’t help that my nose was so runny that I kept sniffling, so my colleague kept asking if I was ok. Once group was done, we met with patients individually. Now, our preceptor must really trust us because she had us going in with patients ourselves without her, and I know for some, that doesn’t happen until weeks in. So that felt cool to know she can depend on us to get accurate patient histories. Speaking to these people one on one really helped me to understand they’re humans too who may have started this addiction because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I keep going on, I’m going to start to cry, but I can say I’m super proud of these folks for admitting they needed help and doing something about it. I think that’s it. Tomorrow is a work from home day (thank God because a) I still feel like a donkey ass and b) it’s supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow), so I can’t wait to sleep in...again. How lucky have I been on this rotation so far?! Toodles!
Welp, That Didn’t Last Long
Yeah, I am behind a day. Again. Did I ever mention how much of a procrastinator I am? It is something that has ‘defined’ me since I started college. It’s terrible. I mean it wasn’t so long ago at this point, but man, I used to wait until the absolute last minute to study for exams. I’m terrible, but it all worked out because I’m here. Anyway, this cold sucks and needs to be gone before I go home next weekend.
So what happened yesterday? My colleague and I presented our topic discussion about opioid use disorder to our preceptor. We had not done one of these topic discussions, so I think we did well for our first one! The preceptor was taking a lot of notes while we were talking, so I assumed we had done a bad job, but she was just highlighting things she wanted to delve deeper into once we were finished. We ended up learning a lot more than I thought and damnit, when will I ever stop underestimating myself? This is something I have struggled with for a long time, well, specifically since 2010. Maybe one day I will get into that, but today’s not that day. Every time I tell my parents (my mom more often than dad) about an accomplishment, they always say, “now when will you start believing in yourself?” I stubble with that so much and soon enough, I’ll share why that is. So once we were done with our discussion, we were able to go home. Thankfully, I was able to get in a good nap before the drug rep dinner we went to last night! The discussion was about the use of Truvada as PrEP for the woman population. It was an interesting topic and at a really awesome restaurant int he city. Now normally at these dinners, you either choose your entree or they do it family style. This was family style. Our table only had my preceptor, her friend (who is also a professor at school), my colleague, and myself. The menu had three sushi roll choices and FOUR appetizers, so I figured we would just choose. NOPE; they brought us everything! There was SO much food and the main courses had not even arrived. I really wanted to ask, but was too shy, to take the salads and things home because there was so much left. Now I knew I was going to a friend’s house afterwards, so I figured this would get eaten. Well fast forward to us going through the main course (some plates not even touched by us because we were so full at that point) I flagged down the server and asked what they were doing with all of the leftover food. She said, “it’s getting thrown away”, so I asked if I could take it home. She informed me that the hosts of the dinner instructed them NOT to send us home with any leftovers. I was in shock. When the fuck did we become so wasteful? That food could have fed at least another 4 people from our table alone, and there were 4 other tables set up. Anyway, I digress, but that really bothered me the way it was so wasteful. Captain Monica signing off for now.
So what happened yesterday? My colleague and I presented our topic discussion about opioid use disorder to our preceptor. We had not done one of these topic discussions, so I think we did well for our first one! The preceptor was taking a lot of notes while we were talking, so I assumed we had done a bad job, but she was just highlighting things she wanted to delve deeper into once we were finished. We ended up learning a lot more than I thought and damnit, when will I ever stop underestimating myself? This is something I have struggled with for a long time, well, specifically since 2010. Maybe one day I will get into that, but today’s not that day. Every time I tell my parents (my mom more often than dad) about an accomplishment, they always say, “now when will you start believing in yourself?” I stubble with that so much and soon enough, I’ll share why that is. So once we were done with our discussion, we were able to go home. Thankfully, I was able to get in a good nap before the drug rep dinner we went to last night! The discussion was about the use of Truvada as PrEP for the woman population. It was an interesting topic and at a really awesome restaurant int he city. Now normally at these dinners, you either choose your entree or they do it family style. This was family style. Our table only had my preceptor, her friend (who is also a professor at school), my colleague, and myself. The menu had three sushi roll choices and FOUR appetizers, so I figured we would just choose. NOPE; they brought us everything! There was SO much food and the main courses had not even arrived. I really wanted to ask, but was too shy, to take the salads and things home because there was so much left. Now I knew I was going to a friend’s house afterwards, so I figured this would get eaten. Well fast forward to us going through the main course (some plates not even touched by us because we were so full at that point) I flagged down the server and asked what they were doing with all of the leftover food. She said, “it’s getting thrown away”, so I asked if I could take it home. She informed me that the hosts of the dinner instructed them NOT to send us home with any leftovers. I was in shock. When the fuck did we become so wasteful? That food could have fed at least another 4 people from our table alone, and there were 4 other tables set up. Anyway, I digress, but that really bothered me the way it was so wasteful. Captain Monica signing off for now.
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Yay for Keeping Consistent!
Today I spent the day at home. It was nice to sleep in...til around 9 am. Yesterday, I felt a sore throat coming on and hoped it wouldn’t turn into anything because I don’t want to be sick when I go to FL in a few weeks. Well, I’m here to report the sore throat isn’t as bad as yesterday, but sneezing hurts my whole respiratory tract. Like holy shit.
But in all actuality, I spent most of the day in bed watching Mad Men and working on our topic discussion. Admittedly, my partner did most of the work on this, but she did a lot of copy and pasting from lecture notes. I had to go in and format the whole thing then add more here and there to make it sound better. The topic to discuss was opioid use disorder. The handout looks really good at this point, hoping my partner doesn’t want to change it up too much.
Anyway, here I am still in bed waiting for my roommate to go grab dinner. One exciting thing I did today was I applied to be a Happy Planner Squad member! Ever since my friend from school got me a HP last year, I have been hooked, and honestly, my planner spreads have been getting better and better (and my wallet smaller buying more supplies!). That would be a cool gig to have though. Squad membership lasts for a year, and what a cool way that would be to go along on this 365 days of pharmacy school journey.
Lastly, my pup back home seems to be doing better! I am so happy with this. I am really hoping she continues to get better so I can see her when I’m home in a few weeks. Also, please pray this doesn’t turn into full-blown illness because I can’t afford to skip days. That’s all for today; I am about to feast the fuck out of some Popeye’s/Wendy’s with my roomie. =)
But in all actuality, I spent most of the day in bed watching Mad Men and working on our topic discussion. Admittedly, my partner did most of the work on this, but she did a lot of copy and pasting from lecture notes. I had to go in and format the whole thing then add more here and there to make it sound better. The topic to discuss was opioid use disorder. The handout looks really good at this point, hoping my partner doesn’t want to change it up too much.
Anyway, here I am still in bed waiting for my roommate to go grab dinner. One exciting thing I did today was I applied to be a Happy Planner Squad member! Ever since my friend from school got me a HP last year, I have been hooked, and honestly, my planner spreads have been getting better and better (and my wallet smaller buying more supplies!). That would be a cool gig to have though. Squad membership lasts for a year, and what a cool way that would be to go along on this 365 days of pharmacy school journey.
Lastly, my pup back home seems to be doing better! I am so happy with this. I am really hoping she continues to get better so I can see her when I’m home in a few weeks. Also, please pray this doesn’t turn into full-blown illness because I can’t afford to skip days. That’s all for today; I am about to feast the fuck out of some Popeye’s/Wendy’s with my roomie. =)
Monday, May 13, 2019
Last First Day!
It felt nice to sleep in today, but I’ll admit, I had 2 bad dreams last night about something going wrong to start the rotation today. I don’t remember the dreams at this point, but I remember waking up worried because I thought I’d slept in and missed the bus or something.
When I got there today, I really thought we would just be getting out schedule for the rest of the two weeks then leaving, since we had such a late start. I was WRONG! We were shown how patient visits happen and we saw three patients today. The expectations are pretty high of me at this point in the game, and honestly...it’s kind of exciting! Being able to apply everything I’ve learned in the classroom into real world situations is what I’ve been looking forward to doing doing for last three years. Anyway, no set schedule yet for this rotation, so that kind of has me going a little bonkers because I am a planner, but it’s also kind of nice to be this relaxed. Tomorrow is a project day, so I do not have to physically go into site, and Wednesday evening, we will be going to a drug rep dinner in the city. Life is good!
When I got there today, I really thought we would just be getting out schedule for the rest of the two weeks then leaving, since we had such a late start. I was WRONG! We were shown how patient visits happen and we saw three patients today. The expectations are pretty high of me at this point in the game, and honestly...it’s kind of exciting! Being able to apply everything I’ve learned in the classroom into real world situations is what I’ve been looking forward to doing doing for last three years. Anyway, no set schedule yet for this rotation, so that kind of has me going a little bonkers because I am a planner, but it’s also kind of nice to be this relaxed. Tomorrow is a project day, so I do not have to physically go into site, and Wednesday evening, we will be going to a drug rep dinner in the city. Life is good!
Sunday, May 12, 2019
YES I am Caught Up as of NOW!
HOLLA! Ok, so I am caught up, let’s see how long this lasts. Today I was a hot mess. Let me explain. Remember when I was talking about wanting to throw my Cricut machine out? Yeah, so my friend from home had her baby’s dedication today, and since I still am strapped for cash, I have been making homemade gifts with the Cricut. I did not take a picture of the finished product, but here’s what it looked like before it printed.
I needed that nap. I woke up and watched more TV (oops I did it again) and now I am sitting here on the last episode and trying to get ready for tomorrow. I am trying to get my shit together to finish the quizzes and send them in before I get there tomorrow. Also, I am WAY fortunate that I don’t have to be there until 12:30pm tomorrow so I can sleep in a bit. This past week has been wild with all of the grad parties and things! All I can say is I cannot wait for that to be me next year. Actually, in 360 days! CRAZY! Anyway, I really should finish up with my prep work for tomorrow. Wish me luck!
P.S. I am SO excited to use my badge reel I had bought on Amazon a while ago, but my friend got me these awesome cards for my badge with vitals and things like that. It is so awesome and I have been waiting a long time to use them. Until tomorrow, friends!
“Just Write 2 Today, Then You’ll be Caught Up”
Is what I’ve been saying to myself for the last few days. Today, there will be 2 so I am caught up. So lets see...what did I do yesterday?
I started to catch up on How to Get Away with Murder (I had missed out on the last season due to school, but now I’m on the second to last episode haha So as I was watching TV yesterday, I knew I had been neglecting my modules I needed to complete for my rotation site tomorrow. (Oops) I began to do these modules I had to get done and ughhh 75 minutes of my life I will never get back. At least that is done though. I still have to do these quizzes and submit them before tomorrow (I am SUCH a procrastinator). Anyway, that was yesterday. I also almost threw my Cricut machine across the room because it wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do. Spoiler alert: I finished up the project this morning and I loved how it turned out. I’m going to sign off here because this was it for yesterday.
I started to catch up on How to Get Away with Murder (I had missed out on the last season due to school, but now I’m on the second to last episode haha So as I was watching TV yesterday, I knew I had been neglecting my modules I needed to complete for my rotation site tomorrow. (Oops) I began to do these modules I had to get done and ughhh 75 minutes of my life I will never get back. At least that is done though. I still have to do these quizzes and submit them before tomorrow (I am SUCH a procrastinator). Anyway, that was yesterday. I also almost threw my Cricut machine across the room because it wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do. Spoiler alert: I finished up the project this morning and I loved how it turned out. I’m going to sign off here because this was it for yesterday.
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Day 4...Written on Day 5. Sorry!
I need to stop drinking because I just get behind on everything. Luckily, yesterday was the last of the graduation celebrations, but it was the most important: my roommate’s outing! She has been my roommate the past 3 years and was one of the first people I met when I started pharmacy school. She was only 20 when she started! I remember the first day I met her (during orientation) and we were assigned to the same group. She said, “I’m not smart, I just grew up in Canada and our schooling system is different, that’s why I am so young.” LOL I loved her from that moment. She has been there for me when nobody else has and there is nobody else I know who can sleep through all of her alarms, while simultaneously waking up everyone else in the house.
So I had to finish up putting together her gifts and all of that when I got a call from my mom in the afternoon. Our pup back home is 13 and she hasn’t been doing well the past few weeks. Yesterday was bad. She was vomiting, not eating/drinking, and just super lethargic. It was a really shitty call and I was upset the rest of the day, but I had to put the happy face on and go to the grad dinner because I couldn’t miss that. So after a Tobias Funke crying in the shower moment, I got ready, had a good time at dinner with friends, and then we were out to a club. Usually, I love to go out dancing, but I wasn’t feeling the atmosphere or the music there, so I, regretfully, went home early.
What does any of this have to do with my pharmacy journey? Well a little. But back track, I finally got a schedule for my first day of my last IPPE rotation that begins on Monday. Now I need to get my shit together and complete these modules before I start on Monday, but I am too far into the TV and being sad about Bella now. She went to the vet today. She’s a little better, but she is still not well. I know my parents hate seeing her suffer, so these next few days could be pretty shitty for us. I selfishly wish she would get better so I can see her again when I come home in two weeks to properly say goodbye. She is the best part of coming home because she is always so excited to see me when I come home. =(
So I had to finish up putting together her gifts and all of that when I got a call from my mom in the afternoon. Our pup back home is 13 and she hasn’t been doing well the past few weeks. Yesterday was bad. She was vomiting, not eating/drinking, and just super lethargic. It was a really shitty call and I was upset the rest of the day, but I had to put the happy face on and go to the grad dinner because I couldn’t miss that. So after a Tobias Funke crying in the shower moment, I got ready, had a good time at dinner with friends, and then we were out to a club. Usually, I love to go out dancing, but I wasn’t feeling the atmosphere or the music there, so I, regretfully, went home early.
What does any of this have to do with my pharmacy journey? Well a little. But back track, I finally got a schedule for my first day of my last IPPE rotation that begins on Monday. Now I need to get my shit together and complete these modules before I start on Monday, but I am too far into the TV and being sad about Bella now. She went to the vet today. She’s a little better, but she is still not well. I know my parents hate seeing her suffer, so these next few days could be pretty shitty for us. I selfishly wish she would get better so I can see her again when I come home in two weeks to properly say goodbye. She is the best part of coming home because she is always so excited to see me when I come home. =(
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Day ‘3’
So technically I’m writing this at 1:30am, so you get 2 blogs again today (sorry!), but here it is. Before I proceed, I will warn you I’ve had 4 shots of Jameson and some champagne. Let’s go back into earlier in the day.
So I received a phone call from a number I did not know. Something told me to pick up this call. It was my preceptor for my FIRST APPE rotation that starts the first week of June. Yes, he reached out to me prematurely, but damn, it felt good to begin this 4th year journey! I thought since I have some compounding experience in the past that this rotation is going to be a breeze, but DAMN he dropped the ball on me. It’s been SO nice these last few days not having responsibilities and sleeping in, but once Monday rolls around, that’s out the window. I begin my last IPPE on Monday and that lasts for 9 days then a day of presentations, but that should fly by (hopefully!). So anyway back to the preceptor, he has a lot of expectations for me and what I thought would be a walk in the park may not actually be. I will be helping develop a program that allows the pharmacy to bill for DME supplies (google it). And I have to read a whole book by the end of my first week! I am a slow reader. I hope I can live up to the expectations he has already set forth for me. I am nervous and excited over here.
Anyway, I also got to celebrate two of my best friends’ graduation tonight. One of their families own a bar, so it was a huge family affair, and the other is one of EIGHT children, so there were a lot of people there! Great music and great company, and they loved their homemade gifts! After that, we went back to the house rented by my friend with the large family and MAN, did we have a blast. More great music, Vietnamese food, and lots and lots of Jameson shots. Suffice that to say that I got home safely thanks to a wonderful Uber driver. Got to talking to him and he opened up and let me know his wife had passed away last week. We then talked about blessings in our lives and man, it was a good conversation. He has 5 children, 9 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild on the way. I talked about my pharmacy journey and told him this time next year I would be the one being celebrated...all by the grace of God. This blog isn’t meant to be religious, but sometimes I just really take a step back and look at how blessed I’ve been. I literally prayed FOUR times the morning of my last final. I bargained with God that if I could just make it through this, I promised to give the best care possible to my future patients. I often end my prayers with, “You’ve brought me to it, now help bring me through it”. I want to wrap this up and head to bed soon, but I just cannot believe I am finally at this point in my professional career and I only made it here because of HIM and my family always being in my corner for support.
More tomorrow. Signing off.
So I received a phone call from a number I did not know. Something told me to pick up this call. It was my preceptor for my FIRST APPE rotation that starts the first week of June. Yes, he reached out to me prematurely, but damn, it felt good to begin this 4th year journey! I thought since I have some compounding experience in the past that this rotation is going to be a breeze, but DAMN he dropped the ball on me. It’s been SO nice these last few days not having responsibilities and sleeping in, but once Monday rolls around, that’s out the window. I begin my last IPPE on Monday and that lasts for 9 days then a day of presentations, but that should fly by (hopefully!). So anyway back to the preceptor, he has a lot of expectations for me and what I thought would be a walk in the park may not actually be. I will be helping develop a program that allows the pharmacy to bill for DME supplies (google it). And I have to read a whole book by the end of my first week! I am a slow reader. I hope I can live up to the expectations he has already set forth for me. I am nervous and excited over here.
Anyway, I also got to celebrate two of my best friends’ graduation tonight. One of their families own a bar, so it was a huge family affair, and the other is one of EIGHT children, so there were a lot of people there! Great music and great company, and they loved their homemade gifts! After that, we went back to the house rented by my friend with the large family and MAN, did we have a blast. More great music, Vietnamese food, and lots and lots of Jameson shots. Suffice that to say that I got home safely thanks to a wonderful Uber driver. Got to talking to him and he opened up and let me know his wife had passed away last week. We then talked about blessings in our lives and man, it was a good conversation. He has 5 children, 9 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild on the way. I talked about my pharmacy journey and told him this time next year I would be the one being celebrated...all by the grace of God. This blog isn’t meant to be religious, but sometimes I just really take a step back and look at how blessed I’ve been. I literally prayed FOUR times the morning of my last final. I bargained with God that if I could just make it through this, I promised to give the best care possible to my future patients. I often end my prayers with, “You’ve brought me to it, now help bring me through it”. I want to wrap this up and head to bed soon, but I just cannot believe I am finally at this point in my professional career and I only made it here because of HIM and my family always being in my corner for support.
More tomorrow. Signing off.
May 8...Day 2. I Promise, I’ll Start Being More Creative with These Titles
So again, playing a little catch up, but here’s the feelings of May 8, 2019:
TODAY IS GRADUATION DAY! To backtrack for those who may not know: this was supposed to be my graduation day. I didn’t perform well in a class my second year, so this caused me to have to sit out another year. More on that I’m sure later. So did I feel sad seeing my friends get their hoods signifying the end to their pharmacy school journey knowing I should have been up there too? Maybe for like a second. I had SO much to celebrate today in my friends that my heart was just so overwhelmed with joy and love for them.
Moving to Chicago was not really a difficult decision for me...go with the school you actually got into, or wait for the rest of the summer on two schools you’ve been waitlisted at. I loved Chicago both times I had visited, so I knew I would enjoy it. I’m usually pretty outgoing (after I get over the initial shyness), so I knew I would make friends, but honestly, some of these people have become like sisters to me. We’ve laughed and cried together, struggled together, and had some of the best times together. I lived with some and we’ve gotten closer that way, but something I will never forget are our epic game nights and dance parties. Getting off topic there, but suffice this to say: I was a damn proud friend today while I saw my friends walk across that stage. It also got me really excited knowing that will be me in 364 days too!
Yesterday (sorry, writing this a day later) was such an amazing day because I am so happy to have been part of my friends’ special day and been able to celebrate with them. I actually talked on the phone today with my mom (today as in tomorrow, depending on when you’re reading this...I promise to try and not make this confusing in the future) and she said to me, “Were you a little sad you weren’t a part of this graduating class too?” And as I thought about it for a second I said, “Was I sad I wasn’t able to do this with my friends? A little. But I am a firm believer in God and His timing, and I know that sitting out the extra year had a purpose”. There were some dark days when I had to sit it out, but the opportunities that were unfolding literally right in front of me made me not question His reasoning for that happening. I know this year is going to be my best one yet, and I know in 364 days, my friends will be right here cheering me on just like I did for them today.
Signing off here, because I am going to take a nap, and the next post will make me back on track,; yay me!
TODAY IS GRADUATION DAY! To backtrack for those who may not know: this was supposed to be my graduation day. I didn’t perform well in a class my second year, so this caused me to have to sit out another year. More on that I’m sure later. So did I feel sad seeing my friends get their hoods signifying the end to their pharmacy school journey knowing I should have been up there too? Maybe for like a second. I had SO much to celebrate today in my friends that my heart was just so overwhelmed with joy and love for them.
Moving to Chicago was not really a difficult decision for me...go with the school you actually got into, or wait for the rest of the summer on two schools you’ve been waitlisted at. I loved Chicago both times I had visited, so I knew I would enjoy it. I’m usually pretty outgoing (after I get over the initial shyness), so I knew I would make friends, but honestly, some of these people have become like sisters to me. We’ve laughed and cried together, struggled together, and had some of the best times together. I lived with some and we’ve gotten closer that way, but something I will never forget are our epic game nights and dance parties. Getting off topic there, but suffice this to say: I was a damn proud friend today while I saw my friends walk across that stage. It also got me really excited knowing that will be me in 364 days too!
Yesterday (sorry, writing this a day later) was such an amazing day because I am so happy to have been part of my friends’ special day and been able to celebrate with them. I actually talked on the phone today with my mom (today as in tomorrow, depending on when you’re reading this...I promise to try and not make this confusing in the future) and she said to me, “Were you a little sad you weren’t a part of this graduating class too?” And as I thought about it for a second I said, “Was I sad I wasn’t able to do this with my friends? A little. But I am a firm believer in God and His timing, and I know that sitting out the extra year had a purpose”. There were some dark days when I had to sit it out, but the opportunities that were unfolding literally right in front of me made me not question His reasoning for that happening. I know this year is going to be my best one yet, and I know in 364 days, my friends will be right here cheering me on just like I did for them today.
Signing off here, because I am going to take a nap, and the next post will make me back on track,; yay me!
Here Goes Nothing...Day 1 of 365
So I’ve been toying with this idea in my head for a long time of having a blog. Yes, I had a LiveJournal back in the day which I loved, but as the times changed, that got fazed out. I wanted to create a place that is mine and that I can creatively and unapologetically be myself. Nobody may read this, but it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a while.
Once the days counted down to my LAST didactic semester of pharmacy school, two things became clear to me: WOW, no more classroom time and I will have more time for things now, so let’s finally launch this blog I’ve been thinking about. More days passed then I finally figured out what I wanted to do: I wanted to document 365 days in the life of a pharmacy student. Now granted, this probably would have been more entertaining to do while I spent the last few years IN the classroom, but I think sharing my experiences through this platform could a) help someone who may be considering pharmacy as a profession or b) just help me things I may not remember from the day to day hustle of things.
This semester, my school offered an elective called Mindfulness and Meditation. I had previously ‘meditated’ before exam days after being up almost all night and trying to wind down after all the studying to get a couple hours of sleep, but I had no idea what I was doing. I intentionally took this elective as a way to boost the GPA, I won’t lie, but what I got out of it turned out to be SO much more than I could have ever imagined. My teacher had us pick a weekly mindfulness activity (brushing teeth, washing hands, etc), so we would be mindful while we did this thing daily. On top of that, she also wanted us to meditate for at least 5 minutes a day. I knew I would just fall asleep (because I know my reality lol), so I tried some guided meditation apps. I found one I really LOVE: Buddify. Yes, I paid for it, but I really love it. Maybe I’ll go more into it further down the road, but I’m just laying down foundation with this post. ANYWAY, this course taught me to try and have a daily routine. Pharmacy school is stressful, and I thought the worst was behind me, but DAMN was I wrong. While I was home for 2018 Christmas break, I found a few guided journals (are we seeing a theme here? I am not diagnosed with ADD, but my mind wanders A LOT) and I picked them up. I got one that is called “Q & A a Day” and this is a journal that asks a different question a day for THREE years! I picked this up because I wanted to see where the journey will lead me as I finish my last year of school, begin my first year as a pharmacist, and beyond. So I have been doing that daily (well, I’ve skipped a few days here and there, but I have gone back to my trusty planner and seen what I had done that day to answer questions I had missed). This blog will serve as another daily routine component.
Now that I have introduced the idea of this blog, I am now TWO days behind, so I am going to give you three posts today (I’m sorry, but kind of not also?). I had thought about what I wanted to see these last few days, so this post isn’t totally random, so here is what I was thinking of on Tuesday May 7:
I found out yesterday that I have passed ALL of my classes and I have finally made it to my rotation year. HOLY SHIT! This has been a long time coming, and perhaps I’ll get more into that over the next year of blogging, but this feeling is something I wish I could bottle up, put on the shelf, and have forever. Making my parents proud is always my #1 priority in pharmacy school; no matter how many times I have and will continue to fail, they’re always my #1 fans. Like seriously, they’re incredible. So making that phone call to tell them I had officially passed everything (I think) brought tears to all of our eyes (I know me and mom, but I think I heard my dad tear up too). Today was a lot of running around to get all the stuff to make graduation gifts for my friends (listen, I am a student, therefore i am BROKE, but I am also pretty creative) then come home to cook, which I haven’t really done in WEEKS because I’d been preparing for finals then actually taking finals, and then settle down to try and figure out how to use my Cricut I impulsively bought a few months ago to make these perfect and personal gifts for my friends. I had a few fuck-ups (btw, yes, I curse; sorry!), but ultimately, I love what I did. I made some of my friends these personalized cups and then I used the Cricut to write out quotes for them and framed them, and used this cute tassel I found at Target.
Once the days counted down to my LAST didactic semester of pharmacy school, two things became clear to me: WOW, no more classroom time and I will have more time for things now, so let’s finally launch this blog I’ve been thinking about. More days passed then I finally figured out what I wanted to do: I wanted to document 365 days in the life of a pharmacy student. Now granted, this probably would have been more entertaining to do while I spent the last few years IN the classroom, but I think sharing my experiences through this platform could a) help someone who may be considering pharmacy as a profession or b) just help me things I may not remember from the day to day hustle of things.
This semester, my school offered an elective called Mindfulness and Meditation. I had previously ‘meditated’ before exam days after being up almost all night and trying to wind down after all the studying to get a couple hours of sleep, but I had no idea what I was doing. I intentionally took this elective as a way to boost the GPA, I won’t lie, but what I got out of it turned out to be SO much more than I could have ever imagined. My teacher had us pick a weekly mindfulness activity (brushing teeth, washing hands, etc), so we would be mindful while we did this thing daily. On top of that, she also wanted us to meditate for at least 5 minutes a day. I knew I would just fall asleep (because I know my reality lol), so I tried some guided meditation apps. I found one I really LOVE: Buddify. Yes, I paid for it, but I really love it. Maybe I’ll go more into it further down the road, but I’m just laying down foundation with this post. ANYWAY, this course taught me to try and have a daily routine. Pharmacy school is stressful, and I thought the worst was behind me, but DAMN was I wrong. While I was home for 2018 Christmas break, I found a few guided journals (are we seeing a theme here? I am not diagnosed with ADD, but my mind wanders A LOT) and I picked them up. I got one that is called “Q & A a Day” and this is a journal that asks a different question a day for THREE years! I picked this up because I wanted to see where the journey will lead me as I finish my last year of school, begin my first year as a pharmacist, and beyond. So I have been doing that daily (well, I’ve skipped a few days here and there, but I have gone back to my trusty planner and seen what I had done that day to answer questions I had missed). This blog will serve as another daily routine component.
Now that I have introduced the idea of this blog, I am now TWO days behind, so I am going to give you three posts today (I’m sorry, but kind of not also?). I had thought about what I wanted to see these last few days, so this post isn’t totally random, so here is what I was thinking of on Tuesday May 7:
I found out yesterday that I have passed ALL of my classes and I have finally made it to my rotation year. HOLY SHIT! This has been a long time coming, and perhaps I’ll get more into that over the next year of blogging, but this feeling is something I wish I could bottle up, put on the shelf, and have forever. Making my parents proud is always my #1 priority in pharmacy school; no matter how many times I have and will continue to fail, they’re always my #1 fans. Like seriously, they’re incredible. So making that phone call to tell them I had officially passed everything (I think) brought tears to all of our eyes (I know me and mom, but I think I heard my dad tear up too). Today was a lot of running around to get all the stuff to make graduation gifts for my friends (listen, I am a student, therefore i am BROKE, but I am also pretty creative) then come home to cook, which I haven’t really done in WEEKS because I’d been preparing for finals then actually taking finals, and then settle down to try and figure out how to use my Cricut I impulsively bought a few months ago to make these perfect and personal gifts for my friends. I had a few fuck-ups (btw, yes, I curse; sorry!), but ultimately, I love what I did. I made some of my friends these personalized cups and then I used the Cricut to write out quotes for them and framed them, and used this cute tassel I found at Target.
I love the way these turned out, and I love even more that I personalized the quotes to my friends. Anyway, that’s all I have for this day; more tomorrow.
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