Oncology Service Project Reflection

Today I was part of a group that helped to hang the banners for the Denver Race for the Cure.  The race is actually tomorrow, and hanging banners was the best way I could find for me to help with my schedule and living in the mountains.  

When I contemplated walking the race last year, I discovered it was going to be far too emotional for me, and I wasn't ready even though I was planning to walk it with some very supportive friends.  My cousin, Jenni, had passed away only 8 months prior, from breast cancer, and my uncle, dad, and sister had recently been found to be positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation.  I was still waiting to be tested, so felt there was too much going on, and oddly I felt like I didn't know where I'd fit in, in the race. 

This year, in light of the Oncology service project requirement, I found that, again, I am not ready to walk in the Race for the Cure, amongst the throngs of survivors and loved ones of those who have not survived.  My sister is facing a prophylactic mastectomy and beginning of reconstructive surgery this coming Tuesday, and she was (and has been and will be) very much on my mind, as were my cousin, and my aunt who passed from breast cancer in 1984.  Thus, there was a fair amount of emotion as I contemplated even helping hang banners.

I am not sure how this will affect my practice in pharmacy, except maybe in light of putting myself out there, interacting with strangers for a common goal.  I was open for whatever the experience brought my way.  What I found was that I amongst a group of very nice, very different from one another, in terms of background, but in terms of heart, very similar people.  Amid the seeming chaos in the world, it helped to restore a bit of faith in humanity, and working together with such souls was rewarding.  This will likely be a handy understanding to have as I work in pharmacy, in accepting each person as a child of God, and remaining open to their unique gifts they have to share, whether it's a patient or a coworker.

A life lesson that was apparent in our activities is that each of us had unique talents or aspects to ourselves that came in handy when coordinating with one another to brainstorn some tricky obstacles we came across in our hanging the banners.  I had the opportunity to lean on some knowledge I've gained from being a quilter, others were able to use their height to an advantage, others their tenacity to walk distances and remain cheerful.  We are all unique, as I am sure I will experience (and have experienced) in my life and pharmacy practice, and we all have something to contribute to this thing called Life.  One person doing that job alone would have been a disaster and taken forever, thus another good life lesson is that we are here to help and love one another, and any job can be quickly done, and be fun, with a creative cooperative group effort.

I am grateful for this experience.

P3 Year So Far

It's crazy to think that our class is already this far.  Seems like yesterday we were all meeting for the first time either at our interviews or at Welcome Week.  Every session we have I meet more of my class members and I am excited about that.  I feel sad when I think of the class members who are no longer in our class for whatever reason, but I know that life happens and our plans often get rearranged to suit a bigger purpose, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time. 

As for me, I keep plugging away.  The amount of work this year is even more than last year, however I find that I am enjoying, or have the capacity of enjoying, (there really isn't much time to consider enjoying) the classes more this year as they are more applicable to clinical practice and bringing all of the bits and pieces we've been gathering over the past two years, together.  I notice that our current therapeutics chapter on hypertension is written by Dr. Joseph Sasseen, from the pharmacy school at the University of Colorado.  He was my interviewer there.  He was very personable, enthusiastic, comfortable, open-minded, and seemed excited to hear more about my "interesting" background in Chinese Medicine.  He helped me feel that CU would be a good place for me, and I felt encouraged.  I was accepted there several weeks later, and was trying to figure out my life and my huge commute across town every day, etc., while I awaited the news from Creighton, which was offering a more flexible (and far more expensive, yet balanced) program.  I was wait-listed at Creighton, so CU was truly my most viable option at the time.  Oregon State U. and Regis University had also accepted me, however both offered their own challenges to attending.  OSU was out of state, and I still had my youngest son at home, and that would have been a difficult year away, for both of us, as much as I love Oregon and their little pharmacy school.  I would have been in Regis University's first graduating class, and a pharmacy school cannot gain accreditation until it graduates its first class, and the pharmacy boards cannot be taken until a student has graduated from an accredited PharmD program.  I'm sure that Regis U will have no problems getting accredited for their first class, but I so did not want to be a guinea pig after my experiences with Chinese Medicine school(s).  I knew I needed to be at an established program.  Creighton is the oldest pharmacy school in the country, and the only one that has an accredited Distance program.

I was finally accepted at Creighton and at that moment my whole life shifted into bigger and greater things.  My life is great with my new husband and having the ability to live in the mountains.  I am very grateful for the program at Creighton.  I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like had I ended up at CU.  I know I would be spending MUCH more time in my car commuting, and wouldn't have had the time and energy to commence and develop the most amazing relationship I've ever had. 

I diverge a bit from the topic of the P3 year, I guess I'm just astonished that it's going so quickly, and before we know it we're going to be on rotations.  I am looking forward to rotations, even though I don't know much of what to expect.  I look forward to getting out there and interacting with the 'in person' world of pharmacy and gaining more information so that I have a better idea of what I will do with all of this new knowledge.

This reminds me of an awareness I had earlier this week on the way to one of my exams.  I was listening to an NPR story about prescription medication addiction and the prevailing problem it is without apparent answers.  The day before this story aired, we had a lecture on Lifestyle Modification to help patients to learn how to better take care of themselves through diet and exercise and stress-relieving activities, in order to decrease their chances of developing chronic preventable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.   My weird entreprenurial mind kicked in and I began envisioning a clinic where one focus is helping patients with their addiction to pain medication through Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, and other modalities, but also within the context of being a pharmacist with the knowledge of the medications and hopefully being able to work with doctors and other health care workers.  Dr. Chen, who was the L.Ac. and PharmD who taught a workshop I took over the summer, said that one of the biggest niches that an acupuncturist could work in would be in pain medication addiction.  I know, too, that if Lifestyle Management could also fall within the scope or realm of pharmacy, then that's another area to consider creating a clinic of focus utilizing the complementary medicine modalities I have in my toolbox, but also the drug knowledge I'm learning in pharmacy school.  On top of this it would be very cool, once I'm comfortable, to provide a compounding service to the local community.

Up until this point I was mainly contemplating finding a pharmacy job after graduation to give my entrepreneur a rest (which she is a little bit while I'm in school).  It seems like a good idea to have a job, an income, etc., and not have the stress of starting and running another business.  However, if I were to work full time, I'd have little time for practicing acupuncture and Chinese herbs, which I love to do.  My wonderful husband suggests a happy medium:  Work part time in a pharmacy that I enjoy and that could support my entrepreneurial endeavors.  He's a smart man, and seems to know me well.  I also realized that I can create what I want to do with a PharmD, so that it's in complete alignment with my self. 

I have a dear friend who has just completed her degree in Chinese medicine and is in that wonderful waiting period post-graduation and pre-licensing.  I enjoyed this period, as it was a truly creative time as I explored and created my first clinic.  I am looking forward to this time, again, to have the time and freedom to explore the possibilities.

Right now, though, it's about succeeding in/passing these demanding classes, as this takes pretty much ALL of my time, and MOST of my energy.  I can pretty much, honestly, say, that this is my final degree.   I can see taking classes in the future that utilize the other side of my brain, like drawing, painting, or basket-weaving, but all just for fun and likely one at a time.

The end is in sight, and "they" promise that the 4th year is worth the wait and hard work.

Half Way Through: May 2011

It is impossible to realize that two years of pharmacy school are behind me, with two more to go.  We really have only one year left of the didactic course work and then a full year of rotations before graduation in May, 2013.  Once I graduate in 2013 I can sit for the NAPLEX pharmacy board certifying exams, and then obtain my state right n license to practice pharmacy.  These last steps seem very far off to me right now, however, considering how quickly the past two years have screamed by, I think they will be here before I know it.

The classes have been a LOT of work and often very trying.  Overall, I feel I am obtaining lots of pertinent and interesting information for my future, and it still seems, at this point, very piece meal.  I am hoping that the P3 year pulls it together with all of the pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics, dosage forms, pharmaceutics, and the myriad other classes our class is making its way through.  Through the process I am learning lots of self-acceptance, and continuing to let go of whatever perfectionism might remain from past programs. Over the last two semesters I've sacrificed some A's in order to try to pull C's up to B's.  B is for Balance, I say.  I know the program is not about the grades, for the most part (unless I want to be competitive for residencies after graduation).  I do always want to perform the best I am able, and with seven courses, that is difficult for me to do  most of the time.  I am glad that I survived the P2 year in pretty good shape, grade-wise and everything else-wise, and have most of the entire summer to rest and recover before plunging into more intense schoolwork.  

It's funny how we kept hearing how the P2 year is the most difficult year, and this year we heard that it's the most difficult year until we get to the P3 year.  I know I will make it, but I feel if the program were any longer, or any more difficult, I would be completely second-guessing this decision.


It was three years ago,  in 2008, that I set this whole back-to-school PharmD thing in motion.  I'm glad I did, and I'm happy with the choices I've made along the way, including the program of study and school in which to study.  I had several options presented to me in 2009, in terms of where I could attend school and how, and I love the story of how it all fell into place with the right timing. 

It still feels as though obtaining a PharmD is a wise career decision, and I know that the path I take with it once I've graduated will be clear when I get there.  I know I have been Divinely led to this program, and am being Divinely led through it.  For now, I am enjoying the process as much as I can, continuing to find as much balance a I can through it.  The past year has been  a blur, well, actually the last two years have been a blur, and nothing specific comes to mind to blog about, so, for now I will let the year rest.  Some new and exciting career ideas are presented in my last blog from earlier today.

Compounding Possibilities

Dissolvable troches

I just completed a two day "boot camp" training at the Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) in Houston, TX.  I really enjoyed this, because 1) it was well-taught and organized, 2) it provided lots of hands-on opportunities to create unique dosage forms in a lab.  I always enjoyed my general and organic chemistry laboratories during my undergraduate years, so this was a nice practical confluence of old and new.  Also, 3) it provided a spark of a thought of and idea of a possibility of where I might be able to utilize and combine my knowledge of Eastern and Western medicine. 

My lab station at PCCA

A few of the compounds made the first day of boot camp

Suddenly a vision of a compounding pharmacy appeared where I could provide not only unique and creative dosage forms for patients who are challenged by the manufactured pharmaceuticals, either through allergies to drug components, or not having the correct dose available in the traditional forms, but also I'd be able to proved Chinese herbal remedies, either in the traditional decocted tea formulations, or capsulized powders, or also utilizing the compounding methods I've just learned.  With this new awareness in mind I have done some research and have found another Chinese medicine practitioner who also has a PharmD (aside from Dr. John Chen who also has a PhD, OMD, etc. and writes some of the textbooks for Oriental Medicine - I'm taking a workshop from him in July).

Setting up to make lollipops

Part of the museum at PCCA

Throw back to when pharmacy was mostly botanicals

The woman I found in Edmonds, WA, offers compounded medications (such as bioidentical hormone replacement, pain relief, veterinarian needs, etc. with a physician's prescription) as well as herbal remedies, and combination of the two for the optimal therapy for each patient.  I really like this idea, especially the individualization of the dosage forms, and the aspect of direct patient care.  Check out her site: The Compounding Pharmacy

Me in the compounding pharmacy museum at PCCA

 
I will be doing more research, especially visiting local physicians and veterinarians and see how receptive they are to something unusual.  If I were to open my own pharmacy, this is the type it would be.  We have plenty of regular community pharmacies in our little town:  King Soopers, Safeway, Walgreens, and WalMart, and it seems it would be pretty silly for me to spend the money, time, and energy to set up something that isn't unique.  


The entrepreneur in me gets excited about these ideas, and I know that when it comes to starting whatever I'm going to start, I will be approaching it differently than I did when I began my Chinese medicine practice.  I have learned much in the last seven years in practice in Chinese medicine.  I still have a couple of years, at least, before I plunge into a new venture, so I have lots of time to explore possibilities and develop a business plan (or business plans) and tweak it as new knowledge is gleaned and life events happen that change and mold dreams.

What is Esoteric Acupuncture?

I wrote this awhile ago, but it is not in a blog.  So, here it is.  I love this level of acupuncture, and for those patients who are in a balanced state, there are tremendous rewards for enhancing connection to their spiritual selves.  I definitely enjoy helping people with the more "standard" issues like pain, digestive and hormonal issues (and more), but the esoteric is especially rewarding.

So, here's part of the scoop:

Esoteric Acupuncture:  This is Dr. Sankey's first book on the subject.  It is a great read for more than acupucnturist, it's mainly for anyone who is interested in learning how to heal and balance and connect in the spiritual realm.

 

Esoteric Acupuncture:  What Is It & How Can It Help Me?  

Esoteric Acupuncture is a form of acupuncture which utilizes the principles of Sacred Geometry, Hindu Chakra System, and the Qabbalistic Tree of Life to assist us in our own spiritual practices and development. Its aim is not that of treating physical illnesses as such but instead to balance us on a deeper level. Esoteric Acupuncture assists us in becoming conscious of and able to live in progressively deeper and more profound spiritual energies or levels of consciousness. The patterns of Esoteric Acupuncture assist and support our own inner work, whatever form this may take.  Sessions of Esoteric Acupuncture can be very powerful and feel quite different from a traditional acupuncture treatment.

What should I expect on an energetic level during and after a treatment?

As Esoteric Acupuncture is directly concerned with assisting our own spiritual evolution the effects can be very profound and unusual both during a treatment and afterward.   During a treatment many people are able to sense the spinning of the points contacted by the needles. Many perceive the building of a geometric structure around them or within them. Many report experiences which are highly visual in nature.  Some report observing energy movements in their chakras or central channel. Others report simply 'knowing' and understanding a new perspective. Some individuals have reported being aware of other beings in the room guiding the treatment or assisting their own understanding of the Pattern.

The effects following a treatment vary from individual to individual and depend upon what inner work a person regularly performs. Generally speaking, people report that things in life which previously were 'issues' or 'blocks' are either resolved or much reduced in their effect. Others report new perspectives in their meditation or magical work. Some people have experienced profound levels of insight and the awakening of psychic powers. Others have simply felt safe and protected in times of trouble. 

One aspect which is often reported is that the effects of treatment often ripple out into one's life and the theme of the pattern will commonly be reflected back at you by events in your life and changes within yourself. This synchronicity is something very commonly experienced with Esoteric Acupuncture, on many levels.

It is important to remember that Esoteric Acupuncture doesn't do the work for us. Dramatic effects during and following the patterns are usually based on a considerable amount of prior inner work. Esoteric Acupuncture can open many doors for us and show us new insights but it still for us to walk through those doors and to integrate these insights into our daily lives.

Esoteric Acupuncture is the work of Dr. Mikio Sankey. Working together with Djwhal Khul and other Ascended Masters of the Wisdom, Dr. Sankey is taking Acupuncture information to the next step for our new Golden Age. 

I trained directly with Dr. Sankey in 2007.  It was a wonderful treat to do so!

Pharmacy School So Far

I cannot believe how the time has flown, and now our class is already 1/2 of the way through the didactic portion of the pharmacy program at Creighton University.  The final (4th) year consists of 8 rotations, 5 weeks each, so we have just 1 1/2 years, 3 semesters, left of classes.

I have been asked if I am enjoying the program, and I always have to stop and think.  It usually keeps me at full speed ahead and there's no time to really ponder whether I am enjoying it or not.  It is definitely, at minimum, a full-time job in and of itself.  I do not know how many of my classmates balance their lives as full time parents with young babies and toddlers or multitudes of kids to transport here and there, and care for 24 hours each day.  Nor do I see how people are balancing this program with working full time, or anywhere near part time even.  I am grateful that the classes do seem to build on each other, and we seem to revisit important information relatively often.  

Definitely I remain in awe of the information we are learning, and will be able to apply in our careers. There is so much that scientists have discovered about the human and body and how it works, and are discovering all the time more nuances and intricacies, although I know that we will never be able to describe it all solely in a physical manner.  I am almost in as much awe of what scientists have learned through the centuries as I was and am with the acupuncturists and herbalists in ancient China learning what they knew about energy, meridians, and natural medicines.   I am eager to learn more about pharmaceuticals and how they work in the body to increase health, so that I can apply the knowledge I have gained and am gaining at Creighton.  At the same time, I realize I have never worked my brain so much and so hard for such seemingly mediocre results, grade-wise.  It has really been a matter of continuing to let go of the perfectionism I've carried with me all of these years, and hoped I'd balanced.  I definitely felt I had to sacrifice what might have been a couple of sure A's to devote time and energy to the more difficult classes and maintain them at reasonable grade levels.  Definitely a balancing act, and not one that included much balance in the rest of my life.  Thankfully, I have a super supportive husband, and all of my kids are doing well off at college, and all of the drama from last year (big move, cats dying, having a high school senior to keep tabs on) was not this year.  My acupuncture practice is small, as it needs to be, and I still enjoy treating people and helping them feel better on many levels.

A recent incident in our Pharmacology class definitely re-triggered memories from my time as a student in TCM school, and especially my time as Academic Dean in the same school.  One of our pharmacology professors suggested a relatively lewd means of remembering a certain drug during the lecture, and one of the campus students took offense and wrote to the professor about his/her discomfort.  The next class period the professor offered a survey suggesting that his comment was not out of line, and that he was justified in it if it helped us to remember the specific drug to which he was referring.  He was obviously agitated, and was clearly not appreciative of the student's feedback, plus he took class time for the survey.  It seems obvious that he could have handled the situation in a more professional manner, by acknowledging that someone in the class was uncomfortable and/or perhaps dealing with it directly with the student, and move on with his job of teaching us.  A few weeks later we learned that this professor has been removed from our lecture schedule for next term.  Many members of the class are in an uproar in protest of this decision.  

The campus class president sent us all an email explaining the steps he has taken to try to reinstate this professor multiple times, and his lack of success in that endeavor.  It is obvious the on campus class feels passionately about losing a "good" professor, with the head of department taking over his lectures.  Plus many of the students are very angry at the single student who expressed their discomfort and put everyone in this position of a seemingly worse pharmacology class next semester.


My experience as an Academic Dean in a school where I had also once been a student has given me a very different perspective on the matter.  I quickly learned as the Dean, that the students know only a fraction of what happens on the other side of the equation with the faculty and administration.  The students only get a time-stamped glimpse, rather than an entire history, of ongoing issues with faculty, students, and administration.  Students, especially when they are stressed and anxious, will often form uprisings about a particular issue without full knowledge of all aspects of a situation or the ability to see beyond the here and now.  The students often do not understand how difficult it is to make an unpopular decision for the integrity and professionalism of the school.  Unfortunately, in the school where I was dean, we struggled to keep instructors, so had little pull when it came to disciplining those who were outright unprofessional, and any action would take years to implement, at the cost of the students receiving less than ideal education for which they were paying plenty of money.  



As the dean, I saw many of these petitions for change and uprisings and very very rarely did they amount to much because the school did not base its decisions on students' narrowed perspectives of how things had been run for eons.  That was a bit frustrating as the dean, because I saw many things that I thought I'd have some power in changing that I saw as issues as a student, and really had none.  What I ended up telling students is what I'd learned myself as a student in the school, is that what you put into it is exactly what you will get out.  Ultimately their success was up to them.  They were taught and given various perspectives and information, either poorly or phenomenally (mostly poorly though), and their input and energy into the information would determine the level of knowledge they would gain and take with them into the world of acupuncture practice. 

I have definitely encountered worse instructors in that school than the pharmacology professor involved and far, far, far worse professionalism with instructors and didn't directly complain to the administration when I was a student.  I also do not know this professor's history with student complaints, so cannot make a judgment based on that.  I am glad that a student did express concern for the content of the remark, if it made them uncomfortable.  Yes it might have been in a more professional manner than was relayed to us, but also the professor should not have taken class time for his "survey", and to express his obvious agitation.  I am unsure of which act was unprofessional in the department head's eyes, perhaps both?  Anyhow, again, I do not know the entire story, and I reserve the right to not judge or become emotionally involved.  I certainly do not feel any anger towards any of these characters in this play, and I am actually glad to see that Creighton University has the ability to nip these issues in the bud before they devolved (either with this professor or others nearby who are observing) into the chaos I endured in TCM school.

My plan is to rest up this break, enjoy my boys coming home, and whatever is to come next semester (as rumor has it, it is the most challenging semester of the entire program - and if this is the case, I have a lot of work coming up to make it through and do well) be prepared and enthused and take responsibility for what I put into my education so that I can graduate and become the best pharmacist/acupuncturist I can be, regardless of who is teaching what course for what reason.

A Seed is Planted January 2009

In a hope of documenting my thought process about my decision to obtain a PharmD. degree, I begin with the beginning...

First of all, I have a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Colorado at Denver.  I graduated summa cum laude, and completed the program as I was raising my children in their early years.  I thoroughly enjoyed the program, learning the nuts and bolts of what science understood about human life.  I enjoyed the chemistry and made it through the physics and some of the other requirements of the degree. I completed pre-medical courses just in case I decided that medical school was in my future.  I was also compelled toward various PhD programs in research in the biological field.  I even briefly considered pharmacy.  This degree was completed in 1998 and my children were still too young for me to pursue an intense full time program such as medical school.  I felt I had time to contemplate and would focus on my family and parenting.

Meanwhile, my health declined, due to stress, unexpressed emotions, and many other things. A dear friend of mine suggested I receive acupuncture to help with what I was experiencing.  Having my first acupuncture treatment was life changing for me.  I was able to make health- and life-changing decisions, and within a couple years found myself a single parent and in acupuncture school.

I completed the Master's in Chinese medicine, which includes 3 and 1/2 years of learning theory, the fundamentals of acupuncture, including point location, energetics and formulas for illnesses, as well as the many many herbs, both singly and combined in formulas to also assist with many ailments.  After completing this master's degree program I sat for the national board examinations and became Diplomate in both Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine.

For the past four years I have enjoyed being in practice, putting into place the things I have learned, and learning many new things that pertain to "real life" patients in Western society.  One of these being the reality that many patients live and exist in a Western society, with a very Western medical mindset and are taking a variety of Western pharmaceuticals.  In school we have one class that covers pharmacology and pharmacognosy (the pharmacology of herbs).  This is nowhere near enough, but is all we have to go by as Chinese Medical practitioners unless we take continuing education courses on this topic.  I have completed a few of these courses as part of the recertification process for the Diplomate certifications.  I spend quite a bit of time doing research for those patients who come to see me who are interested in trying Chinese herbal medicine, yet are taking the pharmaceuticals which might have various possible interactions that are important to know.

As a practitioner of Chinese medicine during this time in history in Western society, even though it is becoming more and more accepted as mainstream, it can be a challenge to build a practice as an entrepreneur to be self sufficient to support a family.  Many practitioners have supplemental income, sometimes through the income of a spouse, additional jobs, or some other means.  For me it has mainly been through child support, and various jobs through the years, including working as the academic dean for the acupuncture school.

This past June, after I'd been working on my practice full time (after having resigned from the Academic Dean position) for about 8 months, my practice declined to very minimal numbers.  Low enough for me to fully realize that without the supplemental income I would have been in great financial trouble.  It also was a wake up call for the reality that this supplemental income will be ending in the next few years.  Since I had plenty of time to contemplate the situation, I did a parasite cleanse, and gained much clarity on my future.  It became clear, now as my children are leaving the nest, that it is time to begin pursuing the process of applying to pharmacy school.  Pharmacy school was chosen for a few reasons.  One, it is "only" four years.  Two, I have most of the pre-requisites for the program completed since they are the same as the pre-medical pre-requisites.  Three, completing this degree would help me obtain the information I need to assist with my Chinese medical patients, and four, the Chinese herbal medicine knowledge I have can be used to assist in the Western medical field.

Those were my initial thoughts as I got the ball rolling on the application.  It was a piece of cake to apply, fun even, so that is a good sign.

During that first month of the process, I saw myself writing at least three books.  One from and for the perspective of Western allopathic medicine concerning Chinese herbal medicine and how it can fit.  Another for and from the perspective of Chinese medicine, on the world of Western medicine and how it fits together,or possibilities, etc.  And the third as a patient advocate in informing the "laypeople" of how to talk with their doctors as well as the integrative medical people they might be working with.  Including, also, the more common things to be aware of, in terms of herb and drug interactions.

Since this time, it has also become apparent that as herbal and supplemental medicine may become more greatly regulated by the FDA, and the role of Chinese medical "pharmacist" is released from our scope of practice, a practical portion of the solution might be to become a pharmacist and learn how becoming an "herbal pharmacist" could be a possibility for those in my current field.  I currently have no idea of how this looks or could look, it is solely an awareness of a possibility.

So, now as the various pharmacy school interviews are impending, which is very exciting as I see the fruits of my labors from last summer (and from much earlier) begin to manifest, I know that these visions will mold and shape, as I learn more about both medical paradigms, and learn how to bridge between them, in a concise manner that will be greatly beneficial to everyone who endeavors to learn more and take more control of their health.