Live A Different Life

I'm so so so frustated! How can it be that you have just explained to a person that what he is doing is not ideal and he just looked back at you and say he will do it anyway. I felt like banging my head at the wall. Did you completely just sleep through the conversation?!!

This is the whole of the converstion

Me: Do you have a syringe or measuring cup at home that can measure the dose?
Custy: I just give her a spoonsful.
Me: (silently thinking, did you not hear what I just ask?) Spoons come in different sizes and it's important that the patient gets the right dose each time. We recommend that you buy a measuring spoon/cup.
Custy: I won't pay for that. I will just use a teaspoon.
Me: (silently screaming, if that will work that why do you think I am still talking to you!) It is best that she gets the right dose each time and a teaspoon is not an accurate measure.
(Custy looks at me blankly)
Me: (sigh~) I will get you a free measure.
Me: Here you are, make sure that she gets the right dose each time and keep the cup for future use. Do not use a teaspoon as a measure.
(Custy still looks at me blankly)

Urgh! I just felt like I was talking to myself. Why is it that people don't listen when it concerns their health? Do you not care about your medicine and how you should take it?!

When you work 5 days a week. 8 hours a day: typing, dispensing, checking, double-checking, correct error, give to customers, filing, doing batch, blister pack, pre-packing, stocking, OTC sales, every script begin to look very similar, every patient walking through the door become a number, not a person.

We do what we are trained to do: dispense, check, give to patient, next item please. But every patient is different, every customer is unique. It's easy to get swallowed up by the routine of work but it's also easy to get out of the routine. Go an extra mile for a customer, a smile is taken kindly by a patient.

I have worked with quite a few pharmacists in the past few months and they were all great pharmacists but there is one that have made an impression. She remembers the names of regular customers, familiar with their current situations and expresses kindness for those who is in need.

Health professionals are the ambassadors of health systems, complex medical terms, medical examinations and medicines. It's important for us to remember that eveyone needs compassion and random act of kindness would be appreciated. One nice comment or a smile might make someone's day.

Growing up is part of life. Sometimes I feel like I am an adult, working and all that but there are times when I miss being young. Photos of old friends, memories of good and bad times, what had being, could be and is.

Fishing is the new black! Well, Alex goes fishing and I just sit there look pretty and attract the fish. I love fishing and I love eating the products of the activity. The best part of fishing is that just as you are going to pack up and go home, something bites! It's very exciting :)

Yes, yes, yes I am guilty of not updating my blog for ages. I sincerely apologise for the lack of update.

Imagine this: you work in a profession where confidentiality is the cornerstone of your work and you work 4o hours a week and often arrive home too tired to do anything adventurous. What do you blog about then? I'm sure you are not interested in finding out that it takes me 15 minutes to get home then I prepare dinner, watch Friends and Campbell Live, have dinner, shower, watch The Mentalist and go to bed at 10pm. Multiply these events by 5 times and you have my weekly diary in your hands.

On a different note, it was scary to know that I might accidentally kill someone one day, how's that for an interesting career path? We went to Wellington for our training days last week. It was awesome food, great company, beautiful scenery, and useful learning from experienced pharmacists. We were told all these horror stories about dispensing errors. It was scary to know that even if you are 99% accurate in your dispensing, you are likely to kill 16 people during your entire career. No!!!! I am not a murderer...

Guess what?! Alex caught his first fish, losing his fishy-nity to Moki! It was legen...wait for it...dary, legendary! (it's funny if you watch How I met your mother, and if you don't, you really should watch it. It's awesome.) First saturday off in a long long time resulted in Alex taking his fishing rod and equipments on a fishing trip and came back with Mr. Moki. He was very yummy (the fish I mean).

We were both extremely excited so we decided to go on another fishing trip today just to try our beginner's luck...and guess what again?! We caught Mrs Moki. Poor couple both ended up in our tummy...yum yum...

As both Mr. and Mrs. Moki are safely in our tummies, we can only make do with this image courtesy of a NZ local website:

7 days, 4 cities later, I am finally back in Napier! Graduation was great with rain, friends, family and fellow graduates :) Good old Dunedin with its super cold weather and super rainy face reminds me of the good old times being a scarfie. Go Dunedin!

Some pictures from the weekend






It was great meeting up with old friends & new friend, ie baby Alex! I felt like the graduation weekend was the busiest day(s) ever in my life. Dinner and sleepover at Jocelyn and Sharon's flat on Friday night, picked up Alex and my parents on Saturday morning, picked up regalia, makeup put on by experts, Jocelyn and Sharon, put on regalia, rush to Town Hall 10 minutes late (and apparently our names were called out *oops*), sat for 1 hour and a half for 5 seconds of fame, pictures with family, friends and lecturers, dinner @ Lone Star, reunion at Jocelyn's flat, sleep, more photos the next morning, more reunion at Jitsu, brief visit to Microbiology building and onto the bus back to Christchurch, sleep, flight to Wellington, met May for 2 hours and bus back to Napier. Whew, I felt tired even just typing all the things I have done in the past few days. I feel like I am getting older...oh no~