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.