Fatigue

Sorry I've fallen off the face of the earth. I've been so beat lately. Probably not helped by the fact that my family recently became another statistic when my dad (an accountant) lost his job. It happened the night before my birthday and a huge pharm exam. Bummer, right? So it's been a rough few weeks.
On the bright side, we only have about 3.5 weeks left of classes! That's both exciting and frightening. I'm worried I'll have to retake orgo this summer. Wouldn't be the WORST thing, but it would be pretty frustrating.

Tech Abuse

As a tech (or an intern), my job is to help the pharmacist do his or her job. My obligations and responsibilities are limited to what they say I can do- some people want me compounding, others don't even like me doing data entry (really? That's pretty basic tech 101). With that being said, techs have the potential to make a pharmacist's day really awesome or really awful. It's not necessarily out of spite! Some are poorly trained, and some are just bad workers. Floater pharmacists should know this better than anyone else. When they walk into a store, they don't know the clientele, front store staff, or general store nuances- it behooves them to befriend the techs to make the day run smoothly. So when a floater pharmacist (who, for the record, is TERRIBLE) treats my little sister poorly and makes her stay 20 minutes late when she knows the poor kid has to get home, do homework, go to sleep, wake up, and get herself to school in a mere 10 hours...well, I don't take too kindly to that sort of thing.

Computer Fail

I take the same bag to school nearly every day- an LL Bean backpack I got in 8th grade that has served me through thick and thin. For whatever reason, I switched to a light shoulder bag Thursday. My class schedule was light, I had plans after school, and I really only needed to bring my laptop in. Sure enough, that little bag broke. Outside our library. And crashed onto concrete. So my laptop died, and since I'm a rebellious, immortal youth, I hadn't backed up the hard drive since October. I'm praying it can be fixed, mostly to salvage my pictures from our January vacation. Class notes I can get, pictures I can't. Everyone cross your fingers and say a prayer before  Tuesday!

Thanks and Giving

Today I was talking to a friend who was feeling a bit down in the dumps. I told her when I get down (which is more often than she realized!), I play the thanks and giving game. Think of five things for which I'm thankful, and give a little prayer for five people who have it worse than I do. So here's my five-five of the day:

THANKS
1. Pharmacy school. This often tops the list. I know it's hard to stay motivated now, but it will be worth it when I have my diploma and start school in August.
2. Vacations. I have a great one in the pipeline.
3. My BFF. Eighteen years and still going strong.
4. My sweet BF who hangs out with me at work even though he has to leave for work at 6 AM, drive three hours round-trip every day, and is definitely exhausted when he gets home.
5. The great weather we've been having.
GIVING
1. Aforementioned friend from above.
2. My grandmother, who has a bad case of Alzheimer's. Even though her nursing home is down the street from my school, I'm lucky if I get there once a week.
3. My parents, who have responsibility for said grandmother. It's more work than having a child.
4. A customer at the pharmacy who is 81 and cares for his wife and his handicapped daughter. Breaks my heart.
5. My youngest cousin

So, dear reader, what mini stress busting mechanisms do you use? What would make your thanks-giving list?

Follow-Up

That pharmacist is definitely leaving, probably, maybe. At least, that's what he told all of the customers today. He then tried to get some to call corporate to get him to stay. I can't help but wonder, would he really want to stay with all of the bad blood at the store?
He yelled at me this morning because I mentioned in passing to the pharmacist yesterday that he looked under the weather Friday- which is true. He has an insulin pump (not a secret, he tells everyone), and he just looked a little off. I figured maybe he was messing around with his insulin or something. So he took that to mean I was out to get him, and proceeded to yell at me for 25 minutes today just after we opened. Needless to say, it made for an awkward 8 hours.

Demoted

Today, I think our staff pharmacist (i.e., not the manager) got demoted during my shift. It was a long time coming. He had some serious issues with the fact that his boss was both a female and 20 years younger. But he also had other issues- he once broke a kid's Gameboy while the kid was in the waiting area because the music was too loud. Just went over and whacked it out of the kid's hands. Last week he punched a computer screen. We're a very slow store- maybe only 1200 a week, with just under 120 tech hours. I don't know where he can even go from here! Anyway, the DM called twice tonight, and eventually, RPh just disappeared for about half an hour, came back, only to disappear again. I'm wondering what I'll walk into on Sunday. My poor partner (we rotate the same shifts)- hope she has fun tomorrow if he even shows up. I'd feel bad, but he dug his own grave here. Easy come, easy go- such is the world of the big chain pharmacy.

Motivation

I told my parents that as soon as I got in, I was booking a vacation. My BFF and I are Dublin/London bound the 2nd week of May! But now it's really hard to stay motivated. I'm going to pretend this is really pharmacy school (I am taking baby pharmacology now...), and see if I can form some good study habits, because I know that I've done some slacking on/off through undergrad. If anyone has any tips, send 'em my way

Accepted!

Got in! Five hours of mild agony and a semester of relief. I'm definitely going to accept this school and withdraw from the other. So happy to be done!

Interview

It went well, I think. It was a group interview and there were 5 of us in total. The interviewer was really nice and kept everything really casual. I'm sure I'll overanalyze things until I hear back. Cross your fingers and say a prayer for me!

Musings on Friday Night

Today a doctor told me that he "literally knows everything there is to know" when I asked if he had any questions (it's the law! I have to offer!). Must be nice, I reckon!
It's amazing how slowly a night can go when you're procrastinating homework and dislike the pharmacist on duty. Time to go find another tabloid to skim...

Change of Plans!

My interview got moved up to next week! I called today to see if they had any openings, and sure enough they had something for me. I'll keep you all posted!

Tests

We've had first exams in some classes so far. My animal behavior test seemed easier than it was- I lost a bunch of points on tricky things. I also lost 2 points because I forgot penguins were birds...but we'll pretend that never happened.
The pharmacology test today was hard. The first 3 pages weren't too bad. Page 4 was tricky. Pages 5-7 were really really tough (and had some high-point questions, of course). I stayed up all night going back and forth between studying and writing an ethics paper. If I'd budgeted my time better last week, I could have written the paper then and studied more for the test. Bummer. Too soon to tell how I did, but I won't get my hopes too high for now. Need to work on that whole "time management" thing!

Drunky McDrunkerson

Friday night, 8 PM.
A man walks in and asks for his scripts. Three are retrieved. He expects five. I get a whiff of alcohol radiating from him. Hell breaks loose.
Me: "But Mr. McDrunk, I have your potassium and Prilosec, and Lipitor* here."
Drunky: "You're withholding my meds! I'm a heart patient!"
Me: Haeartless patient, that's right. "No, see, TerribleRPh** left this note to fill your Percocet and Ambien tomorrow. You have plenty left."
Drunky: "WHY DID HE TELL ME THEY WERE DONE?!?"
Me: We both wish we knew.
He proceeds to yell at us about getting a phone call that they were done, then not wanting to get phone calls from us, then why his cardiologist has a nurse practitioner write his scripts, and 'so help me G-d' if he finds another bottle with the NP's name on it, and don't ever let her write for him again, and where are his Percs, he needs the meds for his heart, and then he leaves empty handed.
Saturday morning, 9 AM. We realize that TerribleRPh made a mistake, and the Percocets were still too soon. We try to call him twice, get no answer. He shows up...sober, clean, and looking mildly guilty. I break the bad news, and he ACCEPTS IT. Buys the other 4 and leaves! We didn't know if we should call him out on his bad behavior or not, but we figured he is a loose cannon and it was probably better not to start that fight. I also said we should have called the cops and gotten him a DUI at the time. Hopefully now he'll just avoid our weekend. Normally, very little ruffles my feathers, but I hate the possibility of physical violence. This guy was big and could easily take on two small girls behind a 2-foot counter.
*Might not have been those 3. You can replace this with any 3 boring drugs.
**He's really awful. More stories to come on that one.

Interview

I got an interview invite today! It's for the state school in the area. I thought it was a longer shot (especially since I thought I missed the deadline...), but I'm quite pleased to hear back so soon. Unfortunately, the first available time was for March 15. Going to be a LONG month waiting!

Apps are Done

PharmCAS finally submitted my applications to the schools today. Two of the deadlines were 1 February, which has been causing some panic. One school is pretty low on my list, so I'm not too bothered. The other school, however, sent me an email prompting me to fill out the secondary, and when I went to open it, it said it was also due 1 Feb. I  called and they said I should still submit it, but I'm a little worried about that.
On the bright side, the apps for my first choice school are done and not due for a while (primary 1 Mar, secondary 30 March), so I'm way ahead there. Cross your fingers for me!

Unsolicited Promotion

To be honest, I'm not normally the biggest fan of Drug Monkey. His posts get a bit too political rant-y for me, and I usually disagree with his points anyway. Some of his posts, however, are spot-on. Today's post just killed me, so I had to share it.
How often do we perform routine duties without realizing it could mean the world to someone? Once in a while, it's nice to hear. Reminds everyone of why they wake up in the morning to do what they do.

On Fashion

I wore a uniform for 12 years of my life, and they were 12 awesome years. They were both pretty standard Catholic school uniforms. My high school was fairly posh, so we had blazers, but other than that it was a lot of plaid and sweaters. Therefore, when I got to college, I had no idea how to dress myself. Really. I had a vague concept of jeans+sweater and little more than that. After four agonizing years, I've finally learned my style (note to self: it's not sk8r or boho or grunge jeans) and learned what looks acceptable. Unfortunately, when you're on a student budget, it's hard to stay current and fashionable. That's where designer-meets-high-street collections come in.

I've loved the Target designer collections since Paul & Joe joined their Go International group in 06. I'm not a huge Missoni groupie, so I didn't dive for that stuff, but when I found out about the Jason Wu set, I made a beeline. My style is borderline over-dressed for going to class, but I go to a pretty preppy school so it works. No one believes me, but I swear this is more comfortable than jeans would be! And a dress is your whole outfit. No need to get all matchy-matchy. It's done for you. And really, in my heart I'm still a Catholic school girl who doesn't want to think about what to wear in the morning, so it works out quite well.

Dress/Belt: Jason Wu for Target

Blazer: H&M

Boots: DSW

Touchdown!

So who watched the bowl today? I'm a sucker for Americana, and today is a prime example of the USA at its finest. As a Philadelphian (whoops, had I not told you guys yet? I'm bad at this anonymity thing), I hate both the Pats and the Giants, but I rooted for the Giants because we lost to the Patriots in 05. Honestly, I don't really follow football much. The Eagles haven't been good for a long time, and I'm more of a baseball kind of girl (13 days to pitchers and catchers!). I'm happy with how it went though. My friend once met Eli Manning and said he was the nicest guy in the sport, so good on him.
How did you guys celebrate? We had a low-key thing with just the fam and some friends since I worked all weekend and my sister and I had homework left. Pizza, chips, and lots of Diet Coke- what could be more American than that?

Update

Apps are done! Life is organized! This semester is actually not as awful as I initially thought it could be! Everything is sunshine and rainbows! Okay, maybe not that last bit...but I'm in a great mood.

An open letter

Sir. I told you that we were having a hard time stocking Percocet 10/325. I called four other stores around us. I can't call every pharmacy in the county looking at it.
Ma'am. I explained the details of prior authorization to your husband.  Yes, I see your insurance information on file. And the coupon card. No, the doctor won't do the paperwork on a Saturday. She has a life. No, your son won't die of eczema over the weekend.
Chickadee. You're chatting away about your awesome date for the night. No one wants to rush over to ring up your prescription. And don't roll your eyes and say "Look, I gotta go" to your friend when I have some questions for you. If you have a seizure or something, you won't be able to go on that totally awesome date.
Dude. You're 24. I don't mind that you're on your parents' insurance (heck, so am I). But you need to loosen the apron strings a little. Have a basic idea of what you need refilled. Make a copy of their insurance cards. Pay for it yourself, or at least offer. Show us that you love your poor saint of a mother.
Pharmacist. I love you, you are my favorite pharmacist at the store, you are a good friend. Customers love you, but please spend less time helping them when we are super busy. I know this sounds SO mean, but people are all waiting for you to sign off on the stuff we fill and we're getting busier!
Intern. You have come so far in a year and a half, and I really do enjoy working with you now. Never thought I'd say this, but you make me proud. You win the gold star today.

We were pretty busy for a Friday- I think our final tally was close to 500. We were also short staffed. This time last year was a crazy snow storm and we filled no prescriptions, which messed up our staff budget for this year. Luckily we didn't have any big incidents. I've learned to set the bar pretty low and then every night looks good when all is said and done. But I really do love my job!

What's in a name: A rant.

My name is Indira. That's I-N-D-I-R-A. Not Anndira. Not Indoora. Not Andrea. Not Indiana. No, I didn't pick it (hello, did you pick your name?!). Yes, I've heard the "endearing/Indiring" pun before. My parents and sister call me I (just the letter). My extended family calls me Ra (as a result of name difficulty among my cousins when we were small). My friends call me Indira. Even the ones who have known me since we were four years old...well, she sometimes calls me Indy500. Fair enough.
Yes, I know who Indira Gandhi is. No, she's not the one with the hunger fast. No, she also wasn't his daughter either. Nope, no relation. Just like how Jack Black isn't Rebecca's dad. YES I AM SURE. Don't you think after 21 years on God's green Earth, hearing these comparisons all the flipping time, I'd have figured that out?
My name is what it is. I guess it suits me fine. Certainly not my first choice, and while I'd like to give my kids somewhat unique names (actually, I'll probably stick with names from family members), I don't think I'll saddle them with anything quite like this. Oy vey.

Exempt!

Because I transferred as a junior, my core curriculum was a mess. What counted at one school NEVER counted at the other, and for a while I was sure I'd never graduate on time. Luckily, I scraped through and realized that I had just one class to take after I graduated, introductory history. Unfortunately, I'd have to take it at the school because I'd maxed out the number of credits to be transferred in, and it wasn't offered as an online option. Today, my advisor, the department chair, and the assistant chair sent me a joint email telling me how we were going to get me to graduate on time with nothing left to take. Basically, I'll need to drop my senior seminar, write an extra paper for my pharmacology class (yay!) to replace it, pick up the history and a one credit "miscellany" class (ballroom dancing, etc). Unfortunately, that puts me at 21 credits and the overarching college is dragging their feet about approving it...but it will be done. I have the entire biology department on my side. AND this means I'll save over $2k on tuition and about $150 in commuting costs, plus be able to work when I would have been taking this class. So now I'll be in the black for the summer before starting at grad/professional school and losing it all again. Means to an end, right?

Grade Change

I had to get one of my professors to change my grade from her class. When I first contacted her (with a detailed spreadsheet of my grades), she told me I was wrong, that my grade was substantially lower, and she stretched the curve for me. Three weeks later, my grade is corrected. Sans curve, I will point out- I wanted to ask if it should have been even higher since she admitted there was a curve, but I didn't want to press my luck. Has this ever happened to you?

PCAT

Is done! They give you a preliminary score right away, so I already know how I did. Better than expected on the composite and bio. Did quite well on math and verbal. My chem score wasn't great but probably won't be prohibitive. Bizarrely, my worst score was reading comp, but since I have great grades in my English classes, I don't think that will be a major problem. Anyway, it's good enough not to retake for now, and that's all I wanted!

Vacation

I'm on vacation in Hawaii this week and it's as fabulous as it sounds (although everyone back home is saying that the weather there is great too). Unfortunately, I'm taking the PCAT here Tuesday, so I've stayed behind in our hotel today and will again tomorrow for last-minute prep. Bummer! But that means Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning will be that much better. Cross your fingers and say a  little prayer for me!

Regulation

I've been referring people to this article from the Times quite regularly over the past few days.  This is something that's been a major headache for pharmacists nationwide for several months. It is particularly frustrating because we've become unable to differentiate between desperate patients/parents and junkie seekers on the phone (in person, it's obviously much easier!). The role of the FDA/DEA is heavily debated in the comments section on the Well Blog post related to the article. While each entity is important in its own right, perhaps they have gone too far? It should be interesting to see how this pans out in the new year.

Happy New Year!

Ah, 1 January. The most agonizing day of the year. "What do you mean, deductible?" "No, my plan hasn't changed." "You people are jacking up the prices." Not to mention the regular holiday complaints. "But he increased my dose and now I'm out." "My doctor isn't in until Wednesday." "Why can't you do the prior authorization right now while I'm here?"
Truthfully, today could have been much worse, even though I had to catch a train home from the big city at 7:30 in order to make it to work by 9. Tough life, I know!