Lazy Ol Weekend

Thankfully I don't have a test this week. So I took this opportunity to spend the weekend doing something that I love to do but have been missing out on, SLEEP!! god how I love my bed, with it's fluffy down pillows and plush blankets. Sigh, I miss it now! It is my cocoon of comfort, warmth, and love!



Also I got to spend some time with my best friend Friday night and work out some problems we had. It is so nice to know that he is willing to work through things with me and remain friends.  I mean we have been friends since we were 14! That is about 12 years now! I can't believe I have even had a friend that long haha

Even though I spent a great deal of time loafing around this weekend I did get some studying done for my next test coming up. So it wasn't all a waste! I am going to spend all my free time this week catching up on all of my classes. I feel guilty for wasting so much time this weekend, and really need to do some work

I also have made a sale off of my side business! I sell handmade hair bows of of etsy and facebook. I do custom orders and when I have time I pre-make things to sell. I got into that because I love wearing hair bows! I sold my most expensive order ever this weekend! The girl ordered 3 of my more expensive Bows! The only problem is she lives in England, and I had no idea how much international shipping cost, so I way undercharged, and half of my profits go to shipping. but oh well. people are wearing my creations overseas! If you want to check out some of my work you can check it out here
https://www.facebook.com/allysbeautifulbows?
https://www.etsy.com/shop/AllysBeautifulBows

In addition to hair bows I plan to make flower vases with interchangeable bows, lanyards with bows, earrings with bows, wine glass markers with bows, and anything else that comes to mind! I think I will have to wait until summer to start those projects, as well as work on my crocheting.

Later this week (Tuesday to be exact) I will be playing my first DnD game ever and I am excited! more about that later.

Now off to learn about schizophrenia!

Stay Healthy Lovelies! 

Pharmaceutics Lab - Ointments

So Pharmaceutics lab was a lot of fun yesterday.  We had to make 3 different ointments. The first one which we did in teams was an Oleaginous Base which we prepared in teams of two. The second was estradiol in Hydrophilic Ointment which was also done in groups of two.  The third which we had to make individually was an almond oil, beeswax and lanolin.  Our table decided to divide and concour! we each weighed out or obtained a different ingredient for our whole table to save some time.  I love my table they are such nice and hard working people. we all get along together well.

Kevin Putting our ointment into a Jar

Rushi mixing up an ointment

Emmanuel putting ointment in a jar

April Levigating estradiol

Physiology And Pathophysiology II and Neuroscience

Tomorrow I have a test in Phys and Patho II and it is all about neuroscience.  This is a particularly difficult topic and covers a wide range of materials. these materials include but are not limited to: vision and hearing, nociception, motor control, headache and migraine, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke, seizure, epilepsy, stress, depression, and anxiety. and it is pretty in depth.  After taking the practice tests yesterday I am FREAKING OUT!! I don't feel like I know or understand all that I am supposed to. I studied for 12 hours last night and after I get out of lab today will study almost as long.  I just hope I can get it all shoved in my brain by 8am tomorrow haha.

It looks like I will for sure be moving into my cousin's townhouse.  Which is awesome, it is so close to campus, I can use the gym at school and cancel my LA fitness membership. (I have lost 50 pounds in the last 5 months, so I need to hit the gym hard to keep it up!!) I will have to have a roommate which makes me nervous. I have had the crazy roommate that had to be included in everything in my life, followed by the crazier roommate who pulled a gun on me and moved out without paying rent (causing me to later get evicted), followed by the guy who didn't like my friends so he got his mom to kick me out, (grow some balls guy, you could have just talked to me). Since then, I have lived alone until I moved in with my aunt when I got into pharmacy school. So having a roommate makes me nervous, which I think is justified. I am hoping that because we are all professionals it will work out fine.

I also met someone who was a manager of a pharmacy, and offered me a job! It is likely to pay more than my current job, and is a whole different environment. I will keep both jobs, because I have 10 years with kroger, and can't leave it behind just yet. I know I get so attached to things. But I am really looking forward to this learning oppertunity! I hope it all works out!

That is all for now
Stay healthy Lovelies!

Update On life as Pharmacy Student

Well I have gone to the doctor and got help in the form of a little yellow tablet. I take it at night to help me sleep, and my life has been so much smoother ever since! I am calm, I can focus on my studies, and I don't get distracted by fretting over how much I have to do.

Recently, the option has come up to co-own my cousin's townhouse, because she wants to move in with her boyfriend.  My Aunt is really happy about this because if I am making the mortgage payment then she doesn't have to. However, I cannot afford all the bills on my own, so I will need a roommate. Luckily the house is PERFECT for roommates. each bedroom has it's own full bath, a walk in closet, an extra closet, and is really spacious.  Oh and the house comes (to me) fully furnished, so I don't have to buy any of that.  This is such a great option for me financially, because I can pay off what is owed on the house within 6 months to a year after graduating, and then can focus all of my income into paying off my loans and be debt free in about 3 years. That is an amazing opportunity that I am so grateful for! I just hope my cousin doesn't change her mind about moving haha!

school is going well, so far I have 3 A's and 2 B's. I just took a test yesterday in Biopharmaceutics, that I felt good about before I went into it, but I feel like I failed.  We will see though. I tend to be hard on myself and be kind of a downer on myself when I am perfectly capable of being successful in meeting my goals.  I need to work on that.

I also on a whim decided to get my hair cut this wednesday.
before:

After:

In other news I have been having a lot of fun in pharmaceutics lab

SUSPENSIONS
Last week we made suspensions:

 These are the ingredients for the "white lotion" the yellow/orange stuff is sulfurated pothash. It stunk. It smelled strongly of sulfur. It reminded me of the water at Bonnaroo where we camped the last 2 years it was awful.

close up of my zinc

Close up of my pothash

My dissolved ingredients before mixing

My white lotion all finished and in a bottle!

my next suspension was an aspirin suspension. We had to open up the capsules we made to make the suspension. I felt like I was ruining my work! I am so glad I took pictures haha!

The next suspension was an aspirin suspension made from the tablets we made the previous week. Unfortunately we had to turn in our remaining tablets at the end of this lab :(

my tablets after being crushed up

My three suspensions from the side

My three suspensions from the front

SUPPOSITORIES
This week we made suppositories. I especially enjoyed this lab.

My ingredients for the 2 types of suppositories we made. The first is an aspirin in a Cocoa Butter base and the second is not medicated, and is just Peg.

We had to melt the cocoa butter in a water bath to be able to mix the aspirin and pour it into the mold. We also had to melt our PEG which is the white powder in the beakers in front. My suppository ingredients are the ones on the right.

 This is my melted cocoa butter. with the aspirin in it before pouring into the mold

My cocoa butter and aspirin suppositories in the mold

My aspirin and PEG suppositories in their molds next to each other.


Well that is all for now.
Stay healthy lovlies!

Pharmaceutics Lab - Tablets and Solutions

Over the past 2 weeks we have been learning how to make dosage forms such as capsules, tablets, and solutions. Here are some pictures of our process

Tablets

My three ingredients weighed out, and ready to mix! (Aspirin, Lactose, and Sucrose)

A close up of my API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) Aspirin!

My ingredients after mixing

The next few steps (moistening, transfecting to the mold, packing the mold) were all very time sensitive, so I did not have time to take pictures of those steps.

 My tablets after being pushed through the mold

Close-ups of my tablets on the mold

My tablets after being removed from the mold. Unlike many of my classmates, mine were all uniform, and therefore none of them broke, cracked, or crumbled upon removing! The pieces you see on the table are pieces that were dried to the mold, not from the actual tablets.

My tablets with the weight of each tablet (in grams) written out to the side to show accuracy. I was told by the professor that I did really well! So exciting! (Sorry, I have to brag, I am just so PROUD of my creation!)

Some classmates making their tablets

Solutions

for this lab we had to make for solutions, a isotonic solution (not pictured) "Drug A" solution (a stock solution) "Drug B" solution (a geometric dilution) and a Simple Syrup

My cylinders, beaker, prescription bottle, and pens, that I need to make my solutions!

Drug A measured out

Drug A before it is dissolved

Drug A after being dissolved and stirred

Drug B after it's first dilution and before it's second

My simple syrup being heated to dissolve all the sucrose.  The room smelled so good at this point!

Me stirring my simple syrup as it cooled. This was a terrible idea. It made the sucrose precipitate out of solution rendering it unusable. So I had to start over

The finished products! My four solutions and my tablets! I am so proud of my babies haha!

I really enjoy my labs. I find the pharmaceutics lab incredibly interesting (in previous semesters i enjoyed pharmacy practice I and Anatomy as well). I really enjoy the hands on look what I just did type of thing.  This lab is a lot of fun for me and I thoroughly enjoy being able to make drugs!

Stay Healthy Lovelies!

IPPE - Community

This semester I have been placed at a community retail pharmacy chain. At first I really didn't like it.  I thought the pharmacist I was working with was a little hard on me.  Actually a lot hard on me.  Today was the 3rd day I worked with this pharmacist (I work with his partner on alternating weeks). I guess this pharmacist decided that they liked me, because today I was offered a job there after my rotation is finished.  The pharmacist told me they liked the work I was doing and that they really appreciated me being there. 

Of course this makes me very happy.  I used to dread going to my IPPE site because honestly I was kind of afraid. HAHA! All I can think now is "this isn't going to be that bad after all!" It is so nice to feel like you are worth something, and even nicer to have others in your field, your chosen profession, your life path, to feel like you are worth something.

All the warm fuzzies aside, I AM FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY II TEST. I just cant find enough time to study and I am completely exhausted.  I don't know how I am going to well at all.  I am so concerned.

Well that is all for now.  Maybe if I get some rest now, I can wake up early and study... lets hope

Stay well lovelies!