Trailing Thoughts

Well… another weekend has passed. It has been a nice weekend. Madhujit is panicky and will not go out at all until his thesis is up. I had tickets for 3 dog night, but he would not go, which I guess is okay, the tickets found other people to go… I am in my last week at flower hospital. I will then be going to St. Charles then St. V’s. I have a week break inbetween where I will spend a significant amount of my time at rite aid.
We took the dogs for a lot of walks this weekend. The weather in Toledo is getting almost spring like. Hopefully it will stay that way, though the weather people have different predictions. We also let Daisy and Luckey run around in my back yard– and Daisy did not run away; instead she chased Luckey as she played fetch. She was so tired, that she slept for the rest of the evening… though she does have energy now.
On another note:
The other day, a dermatologist gave a lecture on the current updates for treating acne and he mentioned the use of systemic antibiotics. When he was questioned with the resistance issue, he said it was not a big deal. Now I ask myself, who just spent 6 years in pharmacy school, why does he think that it is not a big deal. That was one of the major objectives of learning at the college– to understand that resistance is a huge issue. It was preached in every and all classes. But then doctors don’ t think it is an issue. I especially have a “beef” with using systemic antibiotics to treat acne, though it is a commonplace practice. Don’t get me wrong, it does work, and I am proof of that– I was on antibiotics for 6 years to control my acne– now my issue is how much did I harm myself when I get that serious infection which my body nor the antibiotics can fight because I took oral antibiotics for years? With some disease states, like acne, antibiotic use is not necessary in systemic form, especially long term use, because of the period of time and compliance issues, which is another story in itself! A scary thought is that these bacteria, microorganisms, existed way before we did and will continue to evolve to conquer anything we can develop. These little bugs will outlive the human race, because at one point in time, resistance will cause mutations that are not able to be killed with our drugs. For example, when penicillin first came on the market, only a few units could control the bacteria… now we load up on a couple antibiotics to kill the same bug because it developed mechanisms to fight our antibiotics. The develop of MRSA and VRE should warn us to take precautions, but unless the doctors also head the warning, it will be hard to win the battle against the bugs.

Well, I started to feel horrible yesterday– I woke with a sore throat and runny nose and congestion with ringing ears. It got a little better when I took some medication, but yesterday as the day went on, I could not stay at work– I started to feel worse and worse. I went home and slept the whole day and night. I was hoping to feel better in the morning, but that was not the case. I still have a lot of congestion and runny nose. My ears are congested, but atleast the ringing has stopped!
Daisy is a little brat– but we love her anyways– she has been escaping the fence– she squeezes through the smallest holes– anyways she started to run for the street. At this point, we use a long rope to let her out. She is hard to train, and I think that is for a few reasons including she has an independent streak, and there are too many bosses so she is confused!
I worked a lot last year and I almost now have all of my required intern hours that I need– 920 hours last year…. Which is good, because I wanted to be able to get my license right away, but I was worried that I did not have enough hours to take the test right away because I started working in a pharmacy later than most.
The other night I made french onion soup and it was very good– but I think it is easier to go out to eat to have it, it is not worth a 5 hour investment! ( I made homemade beef broth before I was able to make the soup).
I am doing my final presentation for Flower next Wednesday on DKA. I think that would be an interesting subject and I don’t have to worry about mispronouncing everything! Last presentation, I used brand names because they are easier to say, and was told at the end that when presenting, I should use generic names. Which is fine for me, but I have a horrible time saying the names correctly. Growing up, I had a problem with pronounciation and stuttering. I have been better with that, but I still have a hard time with some names. I am lucky that it does not bother me that some words I cannot pronounce. I am okay with it becuase I know I am a relatively intelligent being.
Anyways, I should get back to the ICU and see if any more charts are free so I can complete my monitoring.

There I was, trying to find charts this rainy afternoon, and suddenly the fierce beeping sound of the alarm goes off, and the speaker says, “Code Red, Flower Hospital, 3rd floor stairway.”. As this was going on, the doors to all the patient rooms slammed shut — this was the freaky part– the fire alarm has gone off before but I was never on a patient floor.
Anyways, it is all good now….
I got a headache from the alarm– but only a few more hours to go…

Well, it is midweek already. I am not feeling too well right now… I am kind of “blah” feeling… I just ate a frozen dinner for lunch– a chicken nugget dinner that is of unknown age and origin from the back of my freezer… and now I am wishing I did not eat it. Anyways, not much is going on. I am at Flower today and tonight I will be at Rite Aid… I am tired, which is suprising because yesterday I napped from 4 to 9 and then 11 to 6, I should have slept enough, but I was still tired. I am almost done with my 5th week at flower. It has gone by really quite fast.
Daisy is feeling better… this puppy has lots of energy– luckily I have Luckey, Madhujit’s dog, to play with Daisy which is a release for Daisy’s energy level! If you don’t watch her every moment she gets into everything! She is feeling better, she is still sneezing, but not as much, nor is her nose runny. This makes me happy– she is a normal healthy puppy.

I had a wonderful weekend, thanks to Madhujit….but it is back to reality and early monday mornings. But as Madhujit said on his blog, we attended the Dinner Mystery Train in Blissfield MI. It was a lot of fun. The play was kind of lame and I think that it is a new story line for the actors, but the food was excellent! I was sleepy though, the train’s gentle rocking was lulling me to sleep.
Valentines Day was spent at home, but that is enough for me! We had a nice family dinner.
Yesterday I attended a seminar for Rite Aid Pharmacists on insulin delivery. I learned a few things yesterday that interested me. There is a type of diabetes that is type 1 & 1/2 — We know all about type I and type II, but this I guess is type I with some added symptoms that are type II. Another interesting fact is that insulin needles can be used more than once. I did not come across this before, but the speaker said that it is in the new ADA guidelines. I guess this is to make people more compliant, because they forgot a new needle though. This is not to say that a needle has unlimited uses, usually it is good for just 1 day and there is still the threat of infection.
Daisy is doing very well… she is still sneezing, but no where close to what she was doing last Wednesday. This puppy loves her amoxicillin! She gets all excited when I take out the bottle. If only humans were as compliant and excited to get their medication. She ran away from me today and that worried me. She knows her name and is doing very well with bathroom training, but she has an independent streak and chooses to ignore us when she wants to… I had to chase her to the neighbor’s pond.
She is still a lap dog though… she loves curling up on laps…. which is strange for such an independent dog.
She now needs to learn leash walking techniques!
Well, I guess I should attempt to find more charts…

Daisy is doing very well.. At first, I thought, Not again, as she did not eat all weekend and was vomitting and other not so pleasant bodily functions, but I took her to the vet on monday, and they gave her some reglan ( for the vomitting) and some penicillin and gent, as a broad spectrum antibiotic to cover what ever is wrong with her, and some take home amoxicillin. She started to feel better yesterday, especially after Busia made her some wonderful rice with chicken… she really likes that, and wants to eat all the time now, but she has to get use to regular food. She is getting into all kinds of mischief now… you have to watch her every second, otherwise she is in something that she should not be in. Yesterday I was going to blog how well she went to sleep, not even a peep, but last night she cried all night long… so I cannot say that now…
We have a picnic basket in which we store the toys in, she is talented enough to open it and drag all the toys out… I don’t think she is picking up that we are calling her Daisy… she does not respond to the name….
She is so cute though, she loves being on your lap, but now she is getting more frisky…
I will get up tons of pictures as soon as possible… she takes great pictures… she is very photogenic!