Cory's Blog

Sorry to keep you all waiting for my end of the year wrap, but I have been absolutely bogged down at my pharmacy rotation. However, I have scraped up some time to recap (in a unique way) this past semester and officially end it with a neat little bow on top.

I must preface it by saying that this blog would not be possible without the inspiration from my freshman English 101 and 102 teacher, and self proclaimed “Renaissance Man” Dr. Miller. He often spoke of the ideal of a “Renaissance man” or what we would call a jack-of-all-trades today. A Renaissance man was someone who could do a lot of different things, and do them well.

I would like to think that this semester I was a sort of Renaissance man myself, and I am going to do my best to go over some of my “trades” to really give you a full picture of what my semester was all about.

I was a student first and foremost. No surprise there.

I was an author. You are reading this aren’t you?

I was a leadoff hitter/leftfielder. Softball anyone?

I was a comedian. Just try and sit through class with me without laughing.

I was an umpire. And I called 'em like I saw 'em!

I was a vice president. A big thanks to my P1 constituents!

I was an idea man. Wild wings for our P1 dinner, not to mention all these blogs.

I was full of spirit. See my post about Pharmacy Phun Week

I was defeated. Second place in the racquetball ladder isnt’t all bad I guess.

I was a 6th man. Not good enough for an intramural championship b-ball repeat.

I was a compounded. Who loves anti-allergy gummy bears?

I was an insomniac.

I was a hacker. On the golf course that is.

I was an expert on hyperlipdemia

I was yelled at. See my posts re: umpiring

I was a chef. George Foreman grills count right?

I was Greek. Phi Beta Kappa to be exact.

I was a food critic. Just flip to my “best of” blog for more.

I was a nuclear pharmacist for a day

I was a trivia champ. Ah yes the glory.

I was a runner. Can’t wait until next year’s Cooper River Bridge Run!

I was a “one upper.” I was also one-upped a time or to as well.

I was a jack-of-all-trades. But a master of none.

I was a Renaissance man

Posted by Cory at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I was ready for this, I mean I had a WHOLE YEAR of pharmacy school under my belt. I had taken my community pharmacy lab, and I was excited for this first rotation in a community pharmacy. Piece of cake right? Not so fast! All the preparation in the classroom doesn’t compare to the good ol’ fashioned real world experience.

Allow me to fill you in a little bit more about what I am talking about. In pharmacy school, during the summer after your first year, you get out of the classroom and do some real life hands on work in what is a called a community rotation. The basic idea is that you go out into a retail pharmacy setting (your run of the mill CVS or Walgreens etc.) and get your feet wet taking care of various tasks from filling prescriptions to transcribing them from doctors offices and, the most important part in my opinion: patient counseling.

For me, I wanted to do my rotation close to home, and so I arranged it so that I am working at a Target pharmacy about five minutes from my house. I did this because I don’t have a lot of pharmacy experience, and I wanted to be as comfortable as possible to be able to learn as much as I could in my four-week rotation. Had I stayed in South Carolina, I would have signed up for a section (early mid or late summer) and location preference online and been assigned a pharmacy to work at.

However, as I said, I was coming back to Tucson to work, and last Tuesday I began my rotation at Target. Initially, my pharmacist preceptor, Elena, and I just sat down and went over the objectives of the rotation. She also asked me if there was anything specific I wanted to do. Since I don’t have a lot of work experience as a basis to know what I do and don’t want to do, I just said I wanted to learn as much as possible. So far, it has gone very well in the first week. I have done an in depth drug report, taken prescriptions via telephone (which is not as easy as one might think), and gone over our “Top 200” drug list.

All of that may not seem like much, but trust me, there is a lot more to this pharmacy thing than you think and if all of that seems kind of “dry” to you all, there was a pretty hands on exciting activity I did last week: patient counseling. Now I had done counseling in a controlled setting in our community lab last fall, informing our instructors on important information when taking medications, but it was a whole different story when an actual patient was depending on me for information that affected their health. I probably counseling four or five patients over the course of the week, and also watched in on several more to learn the finer points of teaching patients how they want to take their meds.

From what Elena told me, I did a pretty good job of counseling, but I still have a ways to go before I am a pro. However, I have still had a blast working with Elena and all of the different pharmacists and technicians this past week, and look forward to my next three. Like I mentioned before, all of that book learning cannot compare to the “real thing.” Take care!

Posted by Cory at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man am I good at this “before and after” title thing. I think this is the second blog with a title fitting into that Wheel of Fortune category. Last I left you all, I was talking about some of my favorite study food and hinting about the last two finals I had left on the docket. Well, last Monday came around and I had to tackle Pathophysiology followed by Biochemistry (and the inspiration for this title) on Tuesday. I will just make a quick note about the Patho test: it was definitely challenging, but it was a mere 20% of our final grade, not to mention my favorite teacher of the year, Dr. Soltis, had his material on the exam. I have become pretty accustomed to his style of tests, but I still studied hard (as usual) and was able to pull out a solid grade.

Now to my good ol’ friend Biochem: a lot of the information presented involved genetics and exploiting it our pharmacological advantage. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was pretty cool stuff, or at least that of which I could comprehend. You see, that genetics business can be quite tricky, and I must admit that I was a little concerned about our final because a lot of it went right up and over my head. That was concerning, not to mention the fact our final accounted for a massive 50% of our final grade.

So, I put in quite a few hours the weekend prior (when I wasn’t studying Patho of course) and as soon as Monday’s Patho exam finished up, it was off to the library to study ‘til I couldn’t stand Biochem anymore and that is exactly what I did! Many hours and flashcards later, I was ready for to take it and get my summer started with.

And so it was at 9 AM on Tuesday I settled in and took my last test of my first year of pharmacy school. Was it bittersweet? Sort of. Bitter because I was going to miss a lot of my classmates, but it was also sweet because it would be nice to finally be all done with class and say “good bye” to Biochem so I could enjoy some summer fun!

Anyways, the test went well, and I was out of the door to enjoy summer break…kind of. Unfortunately for me, I still had to pack and clean out the apartment before the fun could begin. In a nutshell, I took care of what I had to do around the apartment, moved it on outta there, enjoyed a couple days of the beach in Hilton Head, and after a plane ride, here I sit back at my old home in Tucson, Arizona (quite a large nutshell indeed). I am pretty glad to be done with school for the summer, but am really amazed at how fast it flew by. Over the course of the summer, I will do my best to keep you up to date on my “adventures” and hopefully here in the next couple days I have a fun “semester wrap up” to bring everything to a close with a nice neat little bow on top. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know that I am dating myself with the title of this particular blog, but I am a big fan of the classic rock group “Dire Straits” and I particular like the song by the same title of this blog, “Heavy Fuel.” For a kick, type it into YouTube for a fun trip back in time to rockin’ guitar riffs and some “fun” 80’ outfits. Anyways, despite the slightly random title to this blog, I am still referring to finals. How so? Well, I would say that because of the long hours required by studying, students tend to rely on their on version of “heavy fuel” to keep them going and studying late into the night.

Personally, I prefer a “healthier” approach to tackling the books for a long afternoon or a late night. Typically if I am going to spend an afternoon/early evening in the library, I make sure to pack up a full lunch. I try to keep it healthy, yet full of the energy I will need. It typically will consist of a PB and J (only my personal FAVORITE sandwich ever that I could and sometimes do eat literally everyday), a baggie of baby carrots, a protein or breakfast bar, and my special energy source: a tasty apple. Now I know that baby carrots don’t sound like a gourmet meal, but, along with the rest of my favorite snacks, they provide me with good fuel and energy to keep me going all afternoon.

Another strategy is the late night type of studying. When going for this particular flavor of studying, I will typically pack my secret weapon as a staple (that apple I mentioned before). In addition, I will typically add in a Clif bar for an added kick of energy, or if I am at the Barnes and Noble Café in the bookstore, I will invest in a granola bar. I did find a particular favorite during this semester’s installment of finals: trail mix. The salty mix of peanuts and cashews complimented to the sweet raisins and M&M’s gave me nice balance of nutrients and some added sugar to push me through even the longest night.

I mention what I typically eat, but I would venture a guess to say your “average cookie cutter student” doesn’t go my culinary route. I think a few too many depend on the allure of those new-fangled energy drinks. While they do provide a boost, they also provide an unsettling crash after their intended effects. In addition to the new energy drinks, folks tend to cling to caffeine, be it in soft drinks or in the staple of many a late night study session: coffee.

In any case, everyone has their own ways of staying awake and alert during finals or before any other large test. In my humble opinion, it is smart to pick something that has some health value that will also give you that burst of energy. All I know is that I was able to survive a rough finals week eating healthy, and I highly recommend it. However, if you go for that cup of joe or a diet coke, don’t let me make you feel bad, we all have our own methods of keeping awake. Anyways, as I mentioned in that previous blog of mine, I had gotten through those first three finals, and since I was nice and fueled up, it was time to bring it home with the last two! Stay tuned for the final chapter in this “Finals Thrillogy”. Take care!

Posted by Cory at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I had five finals ahead of me, but at least I had an easy one to get off to a good start and feel good about myself, right? False! The first final started last Wednesday with my old friend, Medchem! Regarded as the most difficult class in the spring semester of your P1 year, SCCP 620 Introduction to Medicinal Chemsitry/Pharmacology has been the metaphorical gorilla on our class’s collective back the entire semester. In one sense, it was kind of rough to kick finals off with the hardest class we had, but at the same time, it would be kind of nice to get the gorilla off our back so we could get on with the rest of our finals.

Ideally I wanted to set the tone and feel good about my first final, and the studying came early and often, as I began the study guide making process on the Wednesday prior to the exam. In addition to preparing for MedChem, I also had to be wary of the other two exams in that first week, Intro to Drug Information on Thursday and Pharmaceutics on Friday.

In order to break up the monotony of straight MedCehm studying for a week, I took “breaks” of studying for Drug information and Pharmaceutics with small “respites” to sneak peeks at Patho and Biochem that would come the following week. I think the worst part about studying for such an extended time in advance of the exam is that I spent too much time focusing and waiting. As Tom Petty sang, “waiting is the hardest part” and I think several of my classmates would agree that having to wait, study and wonder what would be on the exam was pretty difficult to stomach. I mean, after so many times of reviewing, quizzing, and re-reading my notes, I began to get sick of just looking at anything related to our exam.

Anyways, Wednesday came, and I can say looking back at the time I felt, how should I say, “lukewarm” about how I did. Luckily, the delay in posting has allowed me to see I scored a solid 97.5, allowing me to keep my A. In retrospect I could feel good about setting the tone for finals with a strong start. I think that the strong start kept me going through to my next two exams as I was able to snag a 95 on Fridays pharmaceutics and a 96 on Drug Info.

With the end of the Pharmaceutics on Friday (if you love transdermal drugs, you would have LOVED this exam!) came getting “over the hump” of the five finals. Just two classes stood between sweet summertime and me: Pathophysiology and Biochemistry, but those deserve a post all their own for another time (that is pretty soon actually). Until the next installment, take care and stay tuned!

Posted by Cory at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That title pretty much sums the last two blogless weeks up. MIA stands for “missing in action” and while I was quite literally missing from the blog (as you can obviously tell) I was most definitely “in action.” Allow me to begin by sincerely apologizing for my absence. Although I had plenty to blog about but there was just one little ingredient missing: time. Yes, much like The Guess Who song, I had “No Time.”(See didn’t you miss my obscure song references and other tomfoolery?)

Where was all this time going? I can answer that in six short letters: F-I-N-A-L-S. In all I had seven, but “only” five during the seven day stretch of official “finals week” with two coming the week before. Starting last Wednesday, I had Medicinal Chemistry followed by Intro to Drug Information on Thursday and Pharmaceutics on Friday. Monday it began again with the ever popular Pathophysiology and the madness finally ended with Biochemistry on Tuesday. As you can tell, there was not a lot of wiggle room in there for much other than memorizing the different drug receptors in the brain and learning the in and outs of acid base disturbances.

So, in the next few days I am hoping to blog in more detail over my last week or so, starting with Wednesday’s Medchem test and ending with my move out the following Wednesday. This short little message was just to let you know I hadn’t forgot about you and I hope you hadn’t forgotten about me! Take care and, oh my goodness, it’s summertime! (At least for me!)

Posted by Cory at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)