First day in Oncology

It didn't feel like I just started the job.  I have been "residing" in the department for about 4 weeks now.  I will now have 3 months of training.

Today was great.  I ran the infusion chair by myself today.  Since it was a Monday, I had to complete a review on each patient.  After I ran all of today's infusions, I was able to prepare for tomorrow.  I reviewed every chart, so I won't have the backlog tomorrow.  Today was interesting.  I had 5 medications that the doses had to be reduced due to bad kidney function.  I cannot just change the dose.  I have to make sure that the physician signs the orders (if they didn't approve it).  This is a problem when the patient arrives at 8:30, and I have already tried to contact the doctor at 8:00 am and they haven't read the new orders.  So, yeah, I had 5 of those today.  BUT, I struggled through it.  I survived.  Yay.  It felt good.  Oh, and I forgot to send one drug in to be reconstituted.  But I got through that too. Day 1, down.

Last Day of Residency

Today was the last day of my 1 year residency.  I wish I would have taken a picture of me in my "garb."  I worked as the product checker in the oncology infusion compounding clean room.  When working in this room, I have to wear the following garb:

• booties over my shoes
• hair covering
• face mask on my mouth and nose
• gloves
• coverall coat
• face shield

Throughout the day I move from hood to hood checking the work that the technicians do.  I make sure the right amount of chemo (or other treatment) is removed from a reconstituted and injected into the IV bag.  There is also some computer work to be attended to by entering all the lot numbers and expiration dates of all the medications and diluents.  The only problem with the whole get up is if you have to go to the bathroom.  You cannot just "run" to the bathroom.  You have to de-garb and re-garb to go back in.  I will be the product checker every 7 weeks.  

On the way home from work I decided to treat myself to a McDonald's cheeseburger and French fries.  I ate it alone and then celebrated a little more by eating some ice cream.  It's no fun to celebrate by yourself.  I can attest to it. 

But, just to shake things up a bit, I did my hair different today.  The picture doesn't show it very well, but I just used mousse and boinged it up a little.  Kind of cute and different. 

So it's done.  On Monday I start my new job.  I am so excited to be an oncology pharmacist.  

Pockets of Time

How do I do it?

I am a pretty busy person.  I am probably not much busier than most, though.  Sometimes people will say to me, "I don't know how you do it."  I look at them and wonder what they are thinking.  I do it the same as they do it.  I do have a few tips though, that I might share.

Scripture Study.  This is a critical part of my testimony.  I know the scriptures are the word of God and that they should be visited every day.  I get tired and fall asleep instantly, so reading right before bedtime just doesn't work for me.  When my kids were little, we bought "disposable" scriptures and read during breakfast (my favorite meal of the day.)  As time went on, and I had a cell phone, I read every single morning before I rolled myself out of bed.  This was particularly helpful during school.  I knew that I could only be blessed in my studies if I made sure to stay focused on the scriptures before I tried to focus on my pharmacy books.  Now, I listen in the car on the way to work.  My commute is 30+ minutes each way.  I can listen to the scriptures and to current conference talks every single day.  At this time in my life, this is working well.

Relief Society President business.  I was given the perfect blessing when I was set apart. In the blessing, the bishop blessed me with "pockets of time."  I definitely have been given multiple times throughout each day to take care of this important calling.  Sometimes, it is just a minute or two in the grocery store line.  Other times, it is a whole evening that was planned with another event, but happened to get cancelled.  Keeping the Sabbath also allows for me to use that day to fulfill this important calling.  Again, I use my commute home to take care of other RS business. 

Pharmacy Study.  Prayer and caffeine. I have always used prayer.  I didn't start using caffeine until my second year of pharmacy school.  I thank Dr. Ofstad for my conversion to the drug world. Haha.  My best time to finish projects is in the morning.  I usually put the finishing touches on a project at about 3 am the morning it is due.  

Work.  I love my job.  I am happy every day that I get to go into the pharmacy and learn more and more.  I enjoy reading the updated literature.  I squeeze this in throughout the day, usually at lunch.  My email inbox is full of emails with the latest information on new drugs.  I read these emails at every opportunity.  Sometimes it is while standing in lines or late at night when I am just finishing up for the day.

Sleep.    I make sure to get good sleep all the time.  This may seem like it conflicts with my pharmacy study technique.  Sometimes sleep does get "put off."  However, I always make sure that I catch up.  Sometimes I will "bank" sleep.  My brother taught me that I could take extra naps ahead of time, days in advance, when I knew I would be under a time crunch.  I love sleep.  

House cleaning.  I don't.  Actually, my best cleaning is done when I am mad.  Too bad I don't get mad at things very often.  In fact, we have a maid come in and clean up for us every 3 weeks.  She takes care of the blinds and the dusting.  It is great, except I hate paying for something that I should be doing myself.  AND I feel a little guilty about this part of my failings.

Taking care of a sick husband.  This is actually not something that I really do.  It appears that I take care of a sick husband because he is often sick, and I am close by.  Mostly, my sick husband takes care of himself.  He just needs me to be there.  So I am there and will always be there.  He supports me 100% of the time.  I will do the same for him.  I love Paul. =)

Family and friends.  I squeeze them in.  I may be lacking in this area.

So there you have it.  If there is something else I should be doing, I try to get it done in my left-over pockets of time.  Life is too, too good. I love every day that I get to spend on this earth with family, friends. It may not be that these tips are helpful to anyone else, but they are working for me.