It's a beautiful day

So today is a great day here in south Alabama. Not just for me, but the weather is amazing. After a couple days of constant rain with flood and tornado warnings, the sun is shining and the birds are chirping. So, while I should be outside enjoying the weather, Jen and Bekah are at the movies seeing the Lorax (it's her first movie at the movie theatre) and little Raymond is napping so I am stuck inside. Well, not really. I'm on my back porch so I'm technically outside.

Our family did some traveling recently to visit my family in Florida. We drove with 2 kids in the car and it actually started out OK. Until we got to I-75. There was an accident (at least I'm assuming that's what it was since we didn't actually see it) causing all the traffic to be diverted off the highway and into a small city called Live Oak. Nice little town, since we got to see so much of it stuck in traffic trying to get back on the interstate. However, with some quick thinking and Jen's map reading skills, we were able to get back on the highway faster than I would have thought. The detour still put us about an hour behind schedule, but it was OK. We weren't doing anything once we got to our destination anyway so there was no rush. There was traffic, as there always is going through Gainesville, but it was moving along nicely. Then we get to the Florida Turnpike, the most expensive toll road ever designed. Except there was a horrible car wreck (we actually saw the endings of this one) on the other side of the road which had traffic on that side completely shut down. People were actually out of their cars, chatting with each other, sitting in lawn chairs on the road, and other various activities that shouldn't be undertaken on a supposedly swiftly moving highway. So, of course our side of the road was slowing down due to rubbernecking. In fact, there was another accident on our side of the road among the rubberneckers (see that's what you get!), but everyone was OK. So then we got to go through Orlando basically at rush hour on a Friday, which was just as busy as it sounds. When we finally got to our hotel (about 2.5 hours after I thought we'd get there), we were all exhausted and tired of sitting in the car. Thankfully the kids did great and there wasn't too many melt downs. We got smart and brought lunch from home to make eating a little better. We had a little picnic at a rest area and it got the kids out of the car to be able to run around some.

We had a great visit with my family and it was nice to see everyone. The kids made out like bandits from being spoiled with toys and affection. We took the kids to a local children's museum and it was good for a 2 hour distraction. The kids warmed right up to everyone which was good. I guess video chatting with family far away does help! I wish we had more time to spend, but we had to make the drive home after only being there for 2 days. The drive home wasn't too bad and we made good time. We hit a little rain, but it was manageable.

Other than that excitement, there hasn't been much going on. Jen's work is going well and the kids are doing great in school. I am still enjoying my job and I just finished up with my last student for the year. Yay! She did very well and I enjoyed having her on rotation with me. We had very similar senses of humor, so she understood a lot of my off-color and weird jokes. Now I have some time to work on finishing up some book chapter and other projects I'm working on. I get to work on my posters for the CPNP meeting, which I am really excited to attend. I'll get to see a lot of friends and catch up with them as well as seeing a concert while I'm in Tampa. I get to see Evanescence again, Shinedown, Halestorm, and Five Finger Death Punch who I've never seen before. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the drive, but it should be OK because I'll have a friend there to share the driving and talk to. Also, we are rapidly approaching May, which is when Bekah's birthday is. Which she reminds us about constantly. Especially when we attend other kids' birthday parties from her class.... She's definitely my daughter since she is so impatient!

One other programming note: I'll be helping out at the Southeast Regional Conference of Phi Delta Chi in a week by facilitating a breakout session. Should be fun!

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. Have a good week!

Why am I a pharmacist?

This is a question I get asked quite often in various forms. If I'm going to be honest with you (and I am) there are multiple answers. Most of the time I tailor my answer to who is asking. Is it a pharmacy student? Another healthcare professional? Another pharmacist? They all receive slightly different answers, all of which are truthful and accurate. How is this possible, I hear you ask? Well, I hope I can explain a little better throughout the rest of this entry. I think this is an important question that everyone (no matter your profession) should have an answer to. Why did you chose your specific job over another?

If I were a betting man, I'd wager good money that if you ask almost anyone in America what they know about pharmacists, one of the first things out of their mouths is that pharmacists make great money. I'll even go as far to say that a large majority of pharmacy students (if they're being honest) will say that this is a motivating factor in choosing to be a pharmacist. Heck, I know this was a motivating factor for me. However, while I do make good money being a pharmacist, this fact alone wouldn't be nearly enough to keep me in the profession. One thing that many people forget is that education is not free. In fact, a pharmacy degree is up there in cost with law and medical school. Additionally, most pharmacy students do not come from wealthy families that can pay for their entire education. So, factoring in undergraduate studies for 3-4 years and 4 years of pharmacy school, most students come out of pharmacy school anywhere between $100,000 and $200,000 in debt. Think about that for a second. You could realistically buy a new starter home (especially in this market) for that much. Pharmacists start out in their careers up to their eye balls in student loan debt. So while the salary looks good from the outside, when you factor in the amount of debt incurred while learning to "slap a label on a box" (actual quote from a customer in my retail days) pharmacists aren't raking in the dough. This is another reason why I think pharmacists should qualify for the National Health Service Corps, but that's another blog all together. In addition, the salaries aren't increasing at the rate they were when I came out of school. Due to the number of pharmacy schools that have opened up in the past 5-10 years "in order to meet the demand for pharmacists", as a profession, we've graduated so many pharmacists, the demand has decreased. For example, when I started pharmacy school, there were 83 pharmacy schools in the country. Now there are something like 120-130 pharmacy schools. So there's been a 50% increase in the numbers of pharmacists available for hire. This has made finding a job post pharmacy school difficult for many graduates. I'm not saying there aren't jobs to be found, there are, but the days of writing your own ticket to where and when you want to work are over, as are sign-on bonuses. Most other professions don't really have any of these things either, so maybe this isn't a bad thing? I think it probably is, but that's just me.

Also, consider the hours most pharmacists work. If one is working in a community pharmacy ("retail"), you can expect 10-14 hour days, usually with no lunch (or dinner) breaks and people complaining when, heaven forbid, you actually need to use the bathroom and their prescription takes 3 minutes longer than you promised. Most of the time, pharmacists are salaried, so there isn't any overtime pay. You may get a break or shorter hours working in a hospital or clinic or if you are a clinical pharmacist. But those jobs generally pay less than retail. The vast majority of pharmacy school graduates go into retail, even though their pharmacy curricula frequently tout all the clinical and advanced work pharmacists can do (yet another issue for a future blog). And here's another BIG issue I have, especially as a clinical pharmacist: why is it that I did 2 extra years of specialized training and still make less than my wife who's a retail pharmacist? I'm not jealous or blaming anyone. I just think the amount of specialized knowledge I have should be worth something. What's probably even worse than that, is the irony that most pharmacy school professors get paid MUCH less than their students do the minute the students graduate. Again, a large disconnect. But all this explanation was just to illustrate the fact that while pharmacists are payed well, they are by no means rich.

A more "appropriate" answer to the original question, albeit less truthful, is that I was good at chemistry, biology, science, etc. Which I was, but I could have gone into any other medical field, right? But I figured to be a psychiatrist (which was something I considered doing), I'd be in school forever and I didn't want to be 32 and just finishing my training. So that led me down the path of pharmacy. In addition, I had gotten a job at a local pharmacy and really enjoyed hearing the pharmacist answer all my incessant questions about how this drug or that drug works. I was intrigued and this is a big reason why I ended up in pharmacy: I wanted to learn all that cool information about the medications. I also had a great role model in my grandfather who was a pharmacist. When I was a kid I remember visiting him at work and seeing how happy he was. I never remember him talking bad about his job and he genuinely seemed to enjoy going to work. I really looked up to him and still do, even though he isn't practicing any more. I remember asking him once, how does Tylenol know where you hurt? I guess that should have been an early indication of my selected profession.

So to sum up: I got into pharmacy because I was interested in learning more about medications and I really thought I could be happy doing it (i.e. make money). But, while that got me into pharmacy, I don't think it would have been enough by itself to get me through pharmacy school. What I found out when I got into pharmacy school and I started to actually counsel patients on their medications was that I really enjoyed being able to use my knowledge and talk to people. So I did as much counseling and teaching as I could while in school, but I still thought there had to be something more. Then one day when I was sitting in class, we had a lecture on eating disorders. The professor introduced herself as a psychiatric pharmacist. Immediately I was interested. I had taken a lot of psych classes in high school and I really enjoyed it. Figuring out that I could do both pharmacy and psych together was a dream come true. I went up to her after class, introduced myself awkwardly, and proceeded to grill her about how she got to where she was. She suggested I come to talk with her in her office at a later date. I think I may have scared her a little. Once I found out more about what she did and how she got her training I was hooked. I really felt like I had found what I wanted to do. So from that point forward, I knew what path my career was going to be. Everything I did in pharmacy school from then on was aimed at becoming a psych pharmacist. I took my mentor's advice and got a second job at a hospital to get more experience than just retail. I took on extra projects, wrote a review article, tried to get as many clinical rotations during my last year in pharmacy school (which didn't really work out too well, although I did have a great psych rotation), and researched my options for residency training. I'm sure I made everyone crazy with my preparations and especially my mentor by hounding her for her letter of recommendation. I ended up getting an amazing residency and meeting some great people in Charleston, SC. During this training, my passion for psych pharmacy increased and I knew I had found my niche.

So without finding psych pharmacy I don't think I'd be as happy as I am. Now I enjoy going to work, helping the patients, teaching students, and doing my research. So all of that helps keep me doing pharmacy. Hence why my answer is complex. I got into pharmacy for different reasons than I stay in pharmacy, but I'm glad I chose what I did for a career. And I think that's what really keeps me happy: I know I'm making a difference and I'm proud and happy to be called a psychiatric pharmacist.

Falling into place

This past month has been fairly ho-hum, but I'll try to make it sound interesting. Beka is getting more and more independent, and this isn't necessarily a good thing. If what you want isn't what she wants, there will be an argument. Or coercion. Or both. Raymond is also following after his big sister and has this crazy notion that whatever she can do, he can do too. Unfortunately, he gets frustrated when he can't run around like she can. They have also started to fight over mommy and daddy's attention and while it's nice to be loved, it gets old fast. We've had a couple sniffles and coughs, but nothing horribly awful, which means Raymond's tubes are working to keep him from getting ear infections. However, this doesn't keep him from getting a GI bug, which he has now. Being up at 2 AM cleaning up puke, then getting up again in the morning only to clean more up from a second episode. Then also having to clean up "stuff" from the other end is probably worse. Sounds like a diet that consists solely of Pedialyte is the order of the day.

We are also gearing up for a road trip to south Florida to visit my family in a couple weeks. It'll be fun, but the drive won't be! We also have a couple days off for President's day and Mardi Gras so we'll get some good family time in.

Jen and I did have a good date night recently the weekend before Valentine's Day. We don't really celebrate this "holiday", but we used it as an excuse to go on a date night. Jen's parents came in to visit, so we already had a babysitter. Our plan was to do dinner and then go to the dance our church was putting on. We met another couple for dinner at a local Thai place. Jen and I had never had Thai food before, so we were a little leery of it. We'd always heard people rave about it, but we'd never had the courage to try it. The verdict: awesome! Very different flavors and spices made the food wonderful. Then we went on to the dance, which was fun, but we didn't stay the whole night, because we had church early the next morning. It was nice to go out though and we got to spend some quality time with each other and hanging out with some friends.

I submitted research poster (well 2, if you count the one a student wrote up and I'm second author on) to the CPNP annual meeting. And guess what? They both got accepted. I was proud of my student and her hard work. She also happened to win a travel grant from CPNP to attend the meeting. Again, awesomeness. She's going to do great things one day. At least, I hope she does.

Speaking of students, I just finished up a great block with a student and resident in clinic with me. I really enjoyed the 5 weeks I had with them and I'm glad they learned and had fun too. Well, at least that's what they said. Maybe they were just pandering to me, but for my own ego, I'll believe them. I have another student on for this block (my last one until August) and our sense of humor is similar so I think we'll have another great 5 weeks.

I have been really enjoying the change in my life the new job has brought and I know that I made the right choice. Being able to work on research, publications, students, and clinic at my own pace and in my own time has been freeing for me. I am much happier and less stressed than I used to be. I know Jen sees it and I actually think my students and coworkers can see it as well. Honestly, I think I've been more productive and a better teacher than I ever was.

Well, I think that's enough updating for now. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about after our trip to Florida.

Call me butter, 'cause I'm on a roll

We made it through the holidays with nary a scratch. It was nice to see the kids open their gifts on Christmas morning and to have my in laws here. We got a playhouse of sorts for the kids to use outside. It's a little mini house, complete with fake fireplace and fake food. It has a real doorbell though. I could regale you with the tale of how my father in law and I put the playhouse together, but it would mostly come down to "AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!" Luckily we had a drill that was mostly functional (when the battery was charged) which made it go smoother. I've put together enough toys to have a working knowledge of idiotic pictures which not only look nothing like the product you're trying to assemble, but seem to actively inhibit you putting it together. The directions had no words, only pictures, and it seemed they were drawn by the 3 year old the playhouse is for. So that was a little challenging. We did have to put it together outside since it was big enough that it wouldn't fit through the patio door once assembled and while it is L.A. (lower Alabama) it was a little nippy outside. It was an experience I'm sure will be repeated many times over the next 18 years.

With the holidays over, it was time to get back to normal with work for Jen and I and school for the kids. With my new job, I didn't get the 3 weeks off for winter break I used to when I was teaching, and I did kind of miss it. But not having all that time off did make it easier to go back to work. Work is going very well at the moment. I have a good pharmacy student and an excellent pharmacy resident on rotation with me this block. I hope they are enjoying learning about psych pharmacy as much as I enjoy teaching them. I also have some research I'm working on which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I have a couple papers and posters I am hoping to get accepted soon. I seem to enjoy the research and writing much more now that it's not required. I don't know if it's because I can work at my own pace and there's not something hanging over my head that says "if you don't do this, you may not have a job any more" or what. But I'm sure that's not it at all though.... I've had an M4 medical student do a couple weeks with me in the clinic after Christmas and it was a great experience for both of us, I think. I feel like I learned more about medical education and what med students are capable of at that level. Which is basically everything. I guess it could have been just that student though. I also had a pharmacy student shadow me in the clinic around that time and I know I can count on her to bring her A game to clinic since she wants to become a psych pharmacist. It was good to have both students with me at the same time, since they were able to complement each others' knowledge base. I actually had them do a mini-inservice to each other with the med student presenting on diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders and the pharmacy student presenting on treatment. It turned out better than I thought it would.

Jen's had a stressful month in the pharmacy. It started out bad, but it did gradually get better. A couple of the problems: beginning of the year, so everyone seems to have new insurance and they don't know it. Or their deductible resets for the new year and don't remember this fact until they have already paid for their prescriptions. January 3rd was especially bad. First business day of the new year It was also the first business day of the month and the 3rd is when everyone gets their SSI checks. The entire situation was complicated by the fact that some of Jen's pharmacy techs didn't renew their licenses on time and they can't work without being licensed. So it made for a hectic week for her being short staffed. Things seem to be settling down for her now though so that's a good thing.

The kids are doing well. We got a great "report card" from Beka's preschool. She is excelling in almost every area and the teachers say she'll likely be reading at the end of the school year. How awesome is that? Apparently, she has the social skills of a 5 year old. At least that's what they tell us. Raymond is doing just as well. He finally decided that walking is a good thing and is toddling all over the place. He is doing fine after his tubes were placed and (fingers crossed) no ear infections, even though he had a cold this past week. I am hopeful that this will be the end, at least for a little while, of the constant ear infections. I really think they were affecting his balance and that's why he took so long to walk. Or not. I'm not an ENT so what do I know? Beka went to a friend's birthday party this past weekend at the local "paint your own" place and had a blast. She and another girl are basically inseparable and BFFs. It's actually kind of sweet.

And the other big event from this past weekend was the Evanescence concert Jen and I went to in Biloxi. We went early to eat dinner with a friend at the casino buffet (which was much more expensive than I thought) and we pigged out. We had to, if only to get our money's worth. After dinner, we went to the concert. The place was actually a fairly small venue for such a well known band with maybe a few thousand people present. We had seats in the 14th row, but we were able to see everything very well. We missed the opening band, but did see the second band before Evanescence went on (called Rival Sons) and I didn't really like them, not because they were bad performers or had bad songs. They just weren't my cup of tea. They sounded a little like Black Crowes, who I like, but not enough like them that I was enjoying their music. It seemed kind of an odd pairing anyway. That kind of music before Evanescence didn't gel with me. Then Ev came on. Amy Lee was amazing and the band was tight as well. They were spot on and they actually played my favorite song off the new album, "Sick", so I was rocking out to that one even more than the other songs. I tried to video record it with my phone, but it didn't get any of the music, only the video. Yeah, it kind of sucks. But otherwise Jen and I had a great time and I was really happy to get to see Ev play live. We didn't get home until almost 1 AM, but it was so worth the exhaustion the next day. Well, at least for me it was.

Hopefully, I'll have more updates soon. Have fun!