Failed Education System

While helping an associate with her homework, it became blatantly obvious to me that society is extremely ignorant. She was working on a unit regarding the history of biomedical ethics. She didn't know the Nazi's conducted human research. She didn't know about the Tuskegee Syphillis study. I then proceeded to give her a history lesson starting with the rise of Nazi power in Germany and ending with the end of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was discussed because she believed The Wall was built in the 90s - when it was actually built in 1982. She also thought that the Korean War and the Vietnam War were fought in the 1960s. It was a long morning. The sad part is, she's not the only individual I have encountered that is ignorant about American history. John Q. Citizen is quite ignorant. We make individuals vying for citizenship know more about America than we make our children know.

Headlines That Piss Me Off

1. Tom Delay States Indictment is an Act of "Political Retribution."
~This one really doesn't deserve a comment, so all I'm going to say is this - if Senator Robert Byrd was indicted on a conspiracy charge, Delay would call it a "political victory." Stop your whining wussy pants! You got caught, now deal with it!

2. US Troops Traded Iraq Photos for Porn Access
~This disgusts me and highly pisses me off! It is when our armed forces do things like this that turn our citizens against the military. These weren't pictures of their war buddies, or even pictures of Iraqi citizens. These were pictures of DEAD people. You don't get much sicker than that. I think the VAC has a special place for them on the Pyscho Ward...
~Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of men and women over there that are NOT engaged in these kinds of activities. It is those men that deserve our support - not these dredges of society.

3. Dover Area School District Mandates Intelligent Design
~Ok. I'm not a law student, but I'm pretty sure this one is toeing that whole separation of Church and State line. That aside, let's be plausible here. What really makes more sense? The fact that the earth is BILLIONS of years old, evolution brought us from the pond to the top of the food chain, and that there is actually EVIDENCE to support this...OR....the idea that the earth is thousands of years old, one day God said "let there be light," He made a little garden where he placed all kinds of cutsy wutsy animals, and then he made Adam and then took his rib and made Eve? I'm going with evolution on this one. Best part - Creationists think there is more evidence for "intelligent design" (and I use that term VERY loosely) than there is for evolution. And that evidence would be....the Bible? Right...very plausible. (Note dripping sarcasm). Don't get me started on how many times the Bible has been changed to fit political views. For further information, read The Davinci Code or The Templar Revolution or Woman with the Alabaster Jar or simply read the Gnostic Gospels. Bottom line - evolution belongs in the science classroom and creationism belongs NO where but the church.

3...2...1...Discharge!

A week and a half into my fourth rotation, I have decided that my heart and soul truly lie in hospital pharmacy. The first week at the VAC was spent acclamating me to the center. Since DE and I are at the VAC at the same time, they try to put us in different places. This week I am working in the discharge pharmacy on the fourth floor and DE is in the IV room. Next week I'm in the IV room, and the following week I will be in the nursing home getting a feel for what a clinical pharmacist does in the long term care setting. I really like the discharge pharmacy. Basically, orders for patients being discharged are "tubed" to the fourth floor pharmacy. We input the orders and "tube" the labels to the outpatient pharmacy. Then, we go counsel patients on the medications they will be going home with. This is the best part. A lot of these guys are really interested in their care and take a "driver's seat" approach to their health care. My favorite patient so far is a 91yo man, who affectionately is called Sprinkles. He is a cat bird! Seeing that he was 91, I asked him if he wanted to wait on his care taker for his counseling. He put me in my place real quick. He informed me that just because he was 91 didn't mean he was demented, blind, deaf, or stupid. When I taught him how to test his blood sugar and give himself insulin, he told me to tell the doctor to stick his hyperglycemia up her ass. HA! I told him that he probably fell because of his blood sugar problems. He told me I was wrong. He said he fell because he went to sleep while sitting in his rocking chair watching television. He just rocked right out onto the floor. His care giver, who he affectionately calls "old fat ass", found him during the night and brought him to the ER at the VAC. I documented in his chart that he would not be testing his blood sugar, nor giving himself insulin. I figure at his age, who cares? The man is 91 and still kicking. I believe he's earned the right to not poke himself with needles. He left the ward with his care taker - arguing with her the whole way to the elevator about his "damn oxygen." He cracked me up. I only hope I have that much spunk when I am 91. Did I mention I LOVE this rotation??? :)

Tales From the OR - Part II: Operation Hernia

Our patient, John Doe, was 20 minutes late arriving for his surgery. I thought fate was trying to keep me out of the OR, however as "fate" would have it, Mr. Doe arrived at 9:20...exactly 10 minutes before mandatory cancelation. The nurses got Mr. Doe into a gown and the surgeon came down and marked the surgery site. We then wheeled Mr. Doe to Suite #2. Once in the room we had to make a declaration of the patient, his SSN, and what site was to be operated on. After he made this declaration, Tim the nurse anesthesist, began working his magic. One shot of midazolam, one of pentothal, and one of fentanyl and Mr. Doe was snoring loudly. At this point pancuronium was pushed, thus paralyzing him. Mr. Doe was then strapped ot the gurney to prevent him from falling during surgery. This was a little eerie because the OR started to resemble the death chamber. I didn't have much time to observe the similarities, because Tim was pulling on my scrubs to watch him intubate. Having done this for 30 years, Tim was quick and smooth getting the tube in place. He then let me tape Mr. Doe's eyes shut while he taped the ventilator tube in place. During this time, the nurses were draping the site and arranging the tools - which looked like something the Marquis de Sade would have in his torture chamber. The surgeon entered the room with an I-Pod and promptly plugged it into the nurse's computer. Moments later the suite was bathed in jazz music. I was quite amazed. He left scrub up and returned for the nurses to gown him. The surgery itself took around an hour. I never felt faint or sick. I was actually quite enamored with the entire process. I suppose I was expecting something like church - quiet and serious...but I found it to be quite the opposite. Jazz music was playing the entire time, and everyone was laughing and joking. I guess when you deal with blood and guts all day, you have to do something to stay sane. When Etta James's "At Last" came on the I-POD, the surgeon called for a moment of silence so that I could hear the song (I told him it was my favorite), and then he said, "May every time you hear this song, you think of Mr. Doe's guts." HA! It was a great experience and I really would've kicked myself in the ass if I would've wussied out. And for those of you wondering, Mr. Doe recovered just fine and was discharged about 2 hours after the surgery was complete. Operation Hernia was a success!

Tales From the OR - Part I: Preparation

I spent Friday morning in the OR suites at the VAC. I was quite apprehensive about watching surgery. I have never been much on blood and guts. My sister and father have served in the EMS here in our hometown, but I never felt the drive to do the same. It's not the blood and guts that bother me as much as the emotions that injured individuals express. Knowing that the guy being operated on would be unconscious, I figured I'd be fine. So Friday, I reported to the women's locker room in the surgical center. I met some totally awesome nurses who explained the entire routine to me. Jaunita totally freaked me out - even though she was just trying to be honest. She left me at OR Suite #2 to watch a hernia repair. Standing there by myself, looking into the suite, I started to totally freak out. I don't know if it was the huge lights, the anesthesia machine, or just the entire atmosphere, but I actually started to have a panic attack. Lucky for me, a very nice older man came by and started talking to me. He took me to OR Suite #6 where they were going to be performing endoscopies and colonoscopies. He promised no blood and no guts. When I entered the room, Jaunita was there. She was surprised to see me and when I explained my panic attack, she hugged and hugged me. She told me I would be fine in the scope room and promised to take good care of me. The first patient was an older gentleman having a endoscopy performed. I watched the entire procedure and did fine. While I was in the post-op area with him, Jaunita grabbed me by the arm and said, "You are coming with me." I said, "Where are going?" She just smiled...you know that smile that looks like a cat who just at a canary. She introduced me to Kathy - the charge nurse for Suite #2 (the room where the hernia surgery would be). She told Kathy to take good care of me and before I could object Jaunita was hugging me and telling me goodbye. And so I was off to the OR for real this time...

Discoveries @ the VAC

Today was riddled with surprises - some pleasant, some not so pleasant. The first discovery came while I was on a Pyxis recovery mission with the Pyxis technician. When we walked through the double doors on 5C, there was a visitor sitting just outside the nursing supervisor's office. It was a cat!!! I was shocked. He was so cute...and then I remembered that I was in a hospital. And then I started asking myself, "what the hell is a cat doing here??" As though she was reading my mind, Pixie the Pyxis tech goes, "Oh I see you meet Mr. Norris!" He is the resident cat on the Alzheimer's nursing home unit. He keeps the residents company and I must say they seemed drawn to him. He loved the attention. They would call out his name and he would go running to them. It was really awesome. The second discovery I made was that the Dom has free food because it is the cafeteria for the inpatient drug rehabilitation unit. No wonder everyone was looking at us yesterday! Not only were we the only females in the area, we were also not in their drug classes. We must've looked like total idiots. At the prospect of free food, DE does not have a problem with this. When I put this with the fact that it smells like my middle school cafeteria, I just don't think I can eat there. DE insisted on eating their today, so I purchased a very nice, freshly made, deli sandwich in the Canteen and took it to the Dom. As I enjoyed my sandwich, I watched her choke down the free fish sandwich. (Somethings just aren't worth being free...) The final discovery of the day was that disrespect of pharmacists exists in the hospital environment also. I was a bit dismayed by this; however at least I didn't have anyone bitching at me because their copay is too high. Sayonara retail!

Day 1 @ the VAC

I'm glad my commute to rotation #4 was not indicative of how the rest of the day would pan out. I followed a Digging and Rigging crane down Route 9 at the lightening speed of 10mph. When I arrived at the gate to the VAC, the federal police officer asked me for my badge. At this point my heart dropped to my stomach and I figured I would be barred entry (my father had been threatening this exact situation for 2 weeks). However, I calmly explained that I was a pharmacy student and it was my first day. He accepted my school ID as a temporary ID badge and gave me directions. In the parking lot I was stopped to 2 elderly gentleman looking for a good place for breakfast. I referred them to Bob Evans and Crackerbarrel in my hometown. I even gave them directions. I then marched into the VAC and found a fellow classmate sitting in the lobby. DE waved me over and we proceeded to the basement together. We spent all morning in orientation, followed by reception of our ID badges and parking passes. Lunch was free...as a matter of fact, all meals are free if I eat in the Dom - which is eerily reminiescent of my middle school cafeteria. Tomorrow I will probably venture into the Canteen - where the meals are not free, but also are more palatable. On the way to the Dom, DE and I discovered the mini-golf course. I believe we're playing golf tomorrow afternoon! The day ended with promises of surgery observations and an awesome rotation experience. I say - "Amen." Oh and..."KISS MY ASS XYZ!" :)

Goodbye XYZ, Hello VAC

Friday was my last day at the XYZ and I can't say I am one bit sorry. I was so fed up with it that I couldn't even stay my full 10 hours. We got rather slow at 7PM, so I told JJ that I was leaving. I took off my white coat, grabbed my purse, and walked out the swinging door. It was a great feeling - almost as great as when I left DC. I will be sharing my true thoughts about the XYZ on my site evaluation and not recommending it for future rotations. I was used as technician slave labor. I learned more at my regular job than I did at the XYZ. Tomorrow I start at the VAC. BB, a pharmacist from the XYZ, is starting at the VAC tomorrow as well. He couldn't take the XYZ either. He's meeting me in the lobby tomorrow morning to show me where I am supposed to go. At least I will start this rotation knowing someone. I think other students will start tomorrow to - which I am thankful for. Knowing someone makes the time go faster. First day jitters are setting in - not nervous about the rotation, just anxious about what to expect. At least tomorrow will be mainly orientation. In the end, I'm glad that when I leave I don't have to get on a train and ride 2 hours home. At least that's one positive thing... Oh and I'm pretty sure I'll get a lunch at this rotation. That's always a good thing.

Why I Love West Virginia

I spent today catching up on my "Auntie" duties. This afternoon, I accompanied my brother, his wife, and their two children to Charlotte's Web at a children's theater. The play was really cute and the kids enjoyed it. I even got led around the room by a rat (Timbleton for those familiar with the story). This evening, my sister's daughter was competing in the local Band Spectacular. I've never been much for marching bands...unless of course it is "The Pride of West Virginia" (that's the WVU marching band for thos unfamiliar with that nomenclature). And it just so happened that after the high school bands finished competing, the WVU marching band took the field. :) As I have said in previous posts, you have NOT lived until you have heard the WVU marching band play "Simple Gifts." I still get goosebumps when I hear that song. :) My niece's high school received three awards - Best Marching & Maneuvering, Best Conducter, and First Place in their division. She was ecstatic to say the least...and I must admit, they were really good (no WVU, but what can you expect???). On the way home from the competition, their buses passed a local fire department's squad gassing up at a 7-11. They stopped the buses and asked the guys if they would give them a flashing light escort back to the school. The guys did one better - they escorted them with lights blazing and siren blaring. They even through in a few horn honks for extra measure. My Dad is a lifelong member of this fire department and has volunteered for them for over 30 years. Sitting in my bedroom this evening, I started to reflect upon today and what it meant to me. I'd like to sum it up with a short list of things detailing why I love West Virginia.

1. My sister and her family live across the street from me. My brother and his family live 10 minutes from my house. I love spending time with my nieces and nephews and watching them grow. (Children used to not be my thing...these four have converted me!). Several generations of our family have been born and raised here...I'm happy to be one. Our family bonds are strong - I wouldn't want it any other way.

2. Being able to sing all the words to John Denver's "Country Roads" and get all teary eyed is something special...not as special as "Simple Gifts", but still special. For the first time in 5 years, I listened to the WVU marching band and did not regret not attending WVU, but rather felt a wave of pride to live in West Virginia. There was also a swell of pride for my sister - who was sitting beside me. (She's a WVU alumnus as well as a WVU Marching Band alumnus)

3. Honestly, where else would a small town marching band get a fire department escort home for placing first place in a competition? Some may think of it as "hick-ish," but I think it is just plain awesome.

That's Mrs. Potter to You...

I knew before the sun set today that there would be a full moon tonight. People were absolutely looney today! One guy was so desperate for his Vicodin that he called it in himself. Then afraid that he was too lenient on the dosing schedule, called in again and corrected the directions. He is now residing in the Eastern Regional Jail. Another young lady was supposed to pick up three prescriptions, but was only given two. She called the pharmacy balling her eyes out because she didn't get her (sit down for this one) blood pressure medicine. I'm not talking crying or sobbing, I'm talking wailing. I could hear her across the pharmacy - and she was on the phone!!! We finally got her calmed down enough to understand that we had the medicine and she could come back and get it. Crisis narrowly averted. The next lovely lady wanted her doctor to fax us her CII prescription for Percocet and then mail us the hard copy - but she wanted the Percocet today. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. She got very beligerent on the phone with at least 2 technicians and finally KK told her to not even bring the script there because we would NOT fill it. Finally there was the lovely lady pretending to be her daughter trying to pick up birth control. If that woman was born in 1978, I'll kiss her ass. Unfortunately, the doctor had not called in more refills and the script was out of refills. She then proceeded to stand at the counter and yell obscenities about the staff at the pharmacy because we would not give her a pack of birth control. I wanted to give her Valium or a swift kick in the ass. While I usually would be stressed out in these situations, I just laughed about it all. Tomorrow's my last day and I may just dance my way out through the aisles. :)

PS - I arrived home to find my Gryffindor robe, Gryffindor tie, and Hermoine Granger wand. I have been traipsing around the house in it since I arrived home. :)

Murphy Strikes Again

As with all previous rotations, the beginning of the final week at the XYZ was riddled with Murphy sightings. I arrived at the XYZ to see only one pharmacist and three techinicians. There is supposed to be two pharmacists and five technicians. I was immediately notified that JJ the pharmacist had the flu and called off (I'm more confident that Mexico-induced jet lag/hangover was the real reason for the call off). BB had back pain and CR (the new technician) couldn't find child care. Ahh to be 22 and have 3 kids aged 5, 3, and 1.... CR is a great new hire. She's been working at the XYZ for two weeks and has already been late for work twice and called off twice. A great hire if I ever saw one. Murphy appeared again at 3 when the clerk who was supposed to run the register this evening called off. Add to this the fact that at 6:30 we had already filled 642. I'm confident that we broke 800. The cherry to the cake though is the call I received at 5:00PM. My mom called me to tell me that I should buy dinner after work because there was no hot water at my house. Apparently the hot water heater exploded after I left for work. I saw the monstrousity when I returned home...explosion is probably an understatement. The metal is cracked from top to bottom and blown outward. My dad went to the basement this morning to find almost a foot of water. The entire basement has to be remodeled. There are 4 industrial fans running non-stop in my basement...but there is good news. I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance... HA! Just kidding - the good news is that Sears replaced the water heater free of charge and tomorrow morning I will have hot water to take a shower. C'mon Friday! Oh yea...did I mention that my preceptor at VAC has not returned my call? When it rains, it pours.

Things That Piss Me Off

This past week at the XYZ, I found my blood pressure over 200mm Hg several times. In order to cope with this, I decided to make a list of things that piss me off. So here goes nothing...

1. Racism - If you want to get under my skin really quick, start spouting off racial epithets. This is especially true when referring to the individuals who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina.

2. Unwillingness to help others - If your fellow man is in need of something, and you can help him, do it! When a natural disaster places one's entire town underwater, it is NOT his or her fault. It's a freaking natural disaster - it's not like they willed it. Here's something to keep in mind, the next time you think that they should've left - where were they going to go? When they got there, how were they going to pay to live? And finally - could you leave behind everything you ever had??? I didn't think so.

3. Closemindedness - Contrary to popular belief, the world does not revolve around one person, or one town, or one state, or even one country.

4. Hate - Hate is poisonous. I'm sick and tired of my co-workers stereotyping every person that comes to the counter. That grew old REALLY quick.

Four more days...four more days. I may need a Valium to make it...

Can I Carry That For You?

Today was my day off from the XYZ. My mom found an auction in Virginia about an hour away that advertised a large amount of old medicine bottles. Since I am going to be a pharmacist in about 8 months, I have taken up a new hobby - collecting old medicine bottles. Finding the sale was a journey in itself. Once we got there and registered as bidders, the real fun began. There were close to 1,000 bottles to look through before the auctioneer got to those lots. The bottles were filthy to say the least - but all were from either mid-late 1800s to early 1900s. They were placed in boxes with roughly 20-30 bottles per lot. One of the boxes had a Liver Cure bottle (read - very old, very rare, very expensive). Several of the bottles were from pharmacies in the Stuanton and Woodstock areas thus having a high appeal to bidders at the sale. I figured I was SOL when the first bottle auctioned went for $80. This was not a lot of 20 bottles, but 1 single bottle with Edinburgh, Virginia embossed on it. The prices just went up from there, with the highest being $310. It was a beer bottle from Winchester, Virgina. The medicine bottles went for less. I bid a set of Woodstock pharmacy bottles up to $25 and dropped out - the set went for $65. I was ready to leave when they started auctioning the boxes, but I was pleasantly surprised. I got 3 of the boxes for $5 a piece. I got a wooden box of bottles for $10 and another 2 boxes for $12.50 a piece. One of those had at least 50 bottles in it. The box with the Liver Cure bottle went for over $100. The older gentleman who won, put the Cure bottle in his pocket and gave me the entire box of bottles left over. I was soooo happy. :) After the auction, three other guys that were bidding on the bottles approached me to see what types of bottles interested me. All asked me to attend a bottle show in 2 weeks where their wears would be sold. They all then asked to carry my boxes to the car - which I promptly allowed them to do. Being a feminist this kind of goes against my grain, but they bottles were dirty and the boxes were pretty heavy. At the end of the day, I got all my bottles carried to the car, an offer to buy a morphine bottle from the early 1900s, and a box of bottle collector magazines for free.

Winds of Change

I have been experiencing disrest for several weeks. Since Martin's so graciously took my health insurance from me, I have been second guessing my work agreement with the company. There are several things at Martin's that I do not like...but the staff always made it worth staying there. Then a couple weeks ago, my boss and mentor mentioned that he was thinking of moving across the country. That really got the wheels turning in my head. I remember when I first started working at Martin's, my boss confided in me that he was considering leaving the company. I told him, "If you leave, I'm leaving." Well, it kind of ended up that way. After compiling the frustrations of losing my health benefits and having to work every other weekend, I decided enough was enough. I drafted my resignation letter on Saturday night after several beers - I was quite pissed that I was the only person at the party that had to work the following day. I had been mulling over quitting for about 4 weeks and I think my frustration was at an all time high (combine frustration with alcohol and compound that with Labor Day weekend and you get a highly strung Ahsirt). When I called my boss to tell him that I was unable to work September 18, he informed me that he was closing on his new house half way across the country on October 31. I told him that I was resigning and that my official last day would be October 30. As I thought about walking away from Martin's and leaving behind the staff...I was actually relieved. It felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders...an obligation gone. In all honesty, I think my boss knew this was coming. I cut back my hours 5 weeks ago and have discussed quitting before. I just finally followed through with my decision. It actually feels good. :)

PS - Buckcherry reunited and has released a new song. Buckcherry is the best band EVER! :) (Thanks Axis for making my night!)

In Loving Memory...

On September 3, 2000, my Nanny lost her battle with Alzheimer's Disease. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her. She was a very special lady. I miss you Nanny...


~Donna Lee Wetzel~
~August 6, 1916 - September 3, 2000~

Do I Know You?

Last week at the XYZ, while I was working the famed Inputting Station #1, I encountered a gentleman that knew who I was but I had no clue who he was. He kept insisting that he knew me from somewhere. I couldn't put a name with his face, nor did it even look slightly familiar. I told him I worked at Martin's Pharmacy and that was probably where he knew me from. He informed me that this couldn't be since he never shops at Martin's. He asked if I was from around here, I said yes - been here my whole life. He was really holding up the line at this point, so I told him that it would be about 15 minutes until his prescription was ready and that I'd page him when it was. As he turned to walk away, he said, "You used to ride the MARC train." I stopped typing and just looked at him. I rode the MARC train 3 months ago and the only people I even made acquaintances with were those that rode on the quiet car. I didn't recognize him from that group. I told him that I worked in DC for 4 weeks at Washington Hospital Center and did in fact ride the MARC train during tha time. His reply - "Yes! You rode in the quiet car. I rode one car in front of you and I'd see you every morning when you got on the train." And then, my mind clicked. I saw the guy - not in the gym shorts and t-shirt he was wearing at my counter - but wearing his three piece suit, reading the Washington Post, and drinking a cup of coffee. Each morning when I would board the train, I had to walk through his car to get to the quiet car. Both being from the same small friendly town, we'd nod and smile at each other. This struck up a little conversation. It was kind of neat to finally put a name with a face. I thought I was incognito on the train, but apparently being a new person, I was noticable. Thank God I ran into this guy on the street and not the Nigerian stalker!!! :)