BPharm

And just like that, my uni career has come to an end. I received an email this afternoon from the Head of Pharmacy School congratulating all fourth years for completing our Bachelor of Pharmacy degree. What can I say? I guess the only thing I can say is “WOW!”

I’ve taken longer than most people to complete this degree (combine “slacking off in first year” with “bad luck with the course coordinator(s) in third year”), and you’ll be put in my situation. Normally it takes only four years to finish the BPharm degree. I completed it in six. I’m definitely not proud of it, but to some extent, I feel I’ve learned a whole heap more and matured that much more over the course of these additional two years. Not to mention the close friends I’ve made; especially those made this year (you know who you all are!)

I never thought I would say this, but I’m already starting to miss uni life. But on the bright side, I’ve accomplished my mission, and as far as I can see, this is where my educational career comes to a close (who knows, maybe in a few years, maybe even in ten, I may decide to come back and do something else!). I’ve had a lot of fun. Sure it was stressful at times, but all in all, I’ve enjoyed my time at uni.

A big thank you needs to be dedicated to my girlfriend, Jenny. Without you, I don’t know where I would be right now. I would probably be wasting my time with a BCom or Japanese degree. If you hadn’t stepped into my life and encouraged me way back in our second year (gosh that seems so long ago, eh?), I surely would not have persisted and continued with BPharm! SO… THANK YOU SO MUCH, BABY!

Monday’s (23rd November 2009) the Pharmacy Completion Ceremony. I’m thoroughly looking forward to it!

Congratulations to my fellow fourth year BPharm’ers!! We made it!!

#27!!

The Yankees have done it again. The most decorated team in all of professional sports just won their unprecedented 27th (I repeat, TWENTY-SEVENTH) MLB World Series title, taking down the defending world champs (and my other favourite team from the other league), the Phillies. Just like how Babe Ruth and his Yankees won it all in the old Yankee Stadium, Derek Jeter and co. have emulated what Ruth and co. did, but this time at the new Yankee Stadium!

Solid effort from Andy Pettitte, from the bullpen and Mariano Rivera who recorded the final five outs. But perhaps the man who deserves the most glory is no doubt Hideki Matsui. “Godzilla” singlehandedly mauled the Phillies with six RBIs including a two-run home run off Pedro Martinez. Well deserved World Series MVP, Godzilla!!

Let’s hope this is just the first of many for the Bombers!! Congratulations!!

Back to reality. Two more exams for me… Come on, Nathan! Study! Also found out I passed the Super OSCE yesterday night too, which I’m still quite ecstatic about!! XD

Bronx Bombers Up By One

Didn’t watch the game on ESPN today because of the three exams I have left… However, caught most of the “action” on MLB.com Gameday. Yankees bested the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, with veteran Andy Pettitte picking up the win and Cole Hamels the loss (what the hell is wrong with him this season/postseason?!).

Phil Hughes was shaky, giving up a home run to Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz in a non-save situation. Thankfully, Joe Girardi brought in who else but Mo to close out the win and pick up the save (since Hughes gave up the solo homer, the game became a save-situation) before any further damage could have been done.

What was most peculiar for me was Andy Pettitte logging a single to centerfield, then rounding the bases in a warm up jacket on Johnny Damon’s two-RBI double (was it a double or a single? I forget). Now I know he was most probably keeping his arm warm, but I’ve honestly never seen any other pitcher do that before lol. Forgive me if this is common practice, but I haven’t seen that many baseball games… Yet!

Nevertheless, great game. Yanks up 2-1!

Yanks Pull Even

A solid 7.0 innings by AJ Burnett coupled with a 2.0-inning, six-out save by Mariano Rivera usually means a win for the Bronx Bombers, and today was no exception. Although Mo kind of struggled in the 8th. Nearly gave me a heart attack; figuratively speaking Nevertheless, as Mo has done countless times in his illustrious career, he escaped the jam.

Homers from Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui paved the way for the win, along with a pinch-hit RBI by Jorge Posada. Alex Rodriguez, however, continues to struggle. Similarly, the Phils’ big first baseman, Ryan Howard. also struggled. Hopefully A-Rod wakes up soon. Otherwise his so-called postseason “transformation” thus far will be quickly forgotten.

Super OSCE went quite well yesterday (I hope!). Cellulitis with a penicillin allergy. One down, three more to go (4th, 7th and 11th Oct). Wish me luck!

Enter Night, Exit Light

The Yankees punched their ticket into their first World Series since 2003; Mariano Rivera was summoned from the bullpen at the top of the 8th, and you all know what happens next. 99.99% of the time, the Yankees roll on to win the game. Although I’ll admit, I was on the edge of my seat while watching Gameday on MLB.com. The Angels managed to squeeze one run off Mo (which is near impossible), but because it was a pivotal game (win or go home for the Halos), I’ll let this one slide (as Mo still recorded the save anyway).

So, the World Series stage is set. My TWO FAVOURITE TEAMS will battle it out for baseball’s most coveted prize. I remember telling Dill when the season just started that a Yankees/Phillies World Series match-up is possible. He told me to stop dreaming.

Teams-wise, I’m gonna have to say I like the Yankees a little bit more overall, so chances are I’ll be rooting for them. That’s not to say the Phillies aren’t awesome, because I love them just as much! But whoever wins, I’ll be happy. At least Boston didn’t make it

I had my P410 presentation today at 1:30pm too. All in all, I think we did a great job, and without a doubt, our Powerpoint slides were by far the best!

Now, just an OSCE and three exams to go…

Super OSCE!!

Just had my first ever super OSCE this afternoon, and WHOA, what an intense experience!! What’s worse is that our case was by far the most difficult out of ALL the cases given over the past two days (incl. today). I guess it sucks to have a surname near the end of the alphabet lol… Nevertheless, I think I nailed it on the head!

The case was for a 62 (or was she 52?) year old woman who had stable atrial fibrillation (AF) and stable hypertension (HTN), who went to see her doctor a few days ago as she was coughing up green sputum. She was then diagnosed with community-acquired, uncomplicated pneumonia (what a mouthful!). Subsequently, she was prescribed roxithromycin and paracetamol.

That was ALL the info we were given. Firstly, we hadn’t even touched on pneumonia, AND secondly, we have never dispensed roxithromycin. The initial 10 minute preparation time we had was more like 10 minutes of panic time for me! Next was the patient consultation. I was assigned Dr. Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar as my patient, and boy was he useless. Not knocking him or anything, as he’s a pretty awesome lecturer, but he seriously needs to work on his role-playing/acting skills LOL. He was pretty much reading off a movie script for all I knew lol! From this consultation, I find that the patient is also on cilazapril, metoprolol and warfarin (for her AF and HTN).

Off to my doctor’s consultation. I had Dr. Jeff Harrison as my doctor, and I suggested the initial changes I had decided on; which was 1) reduce the cilazapril dose due to the patient’s HTN being well-controlled, and also to reduce the risk of angiodema, and 2) to change the roxithromycin to a penicillin-based antibiotic (such as amoxycillin), as the patient is allergic to the roxithromycin. Unfortunately, at this point, Dr. Harrison declines both of my suggestions, and I’m left sitting there thinking, “OMG come on! What else is fishy!”. I ask to look at the BNF, then it finally clicks; the warfarin! Warfarin interacts with pretty much everything! Turns out roxithromycin increases the anticoagulant effects of warfarin, therefore it’s not suitable for this patient.

Script change(s): roxithromycin changed to amoxycillin 500mg tds for 5 days.

Dispensing was pretty straight-forward, and so was the final patient counselling. Only downside would be Dr. Babar’s lack of rapport and/or acting skills lol…

So there you have it. My very first super OSCE, which I reckon I survived. Even if the case I got was much harder than the rest! One down, two more to go! XD

Passed My Exams!!

Just got my results for MEDSCI305 and the dreaded PHARMACY302 yesterday, and I PASSED!! WOOHOO!!

B- (much better than I thought I did!) for 302, and C+ for 305 (not as good as I thought).

Looks like I’ll be enjoying these holidays!! WOOHOO!!

Exams Over! Lakers 5-0!

What a day. Finished off my final exam for the year this afternoon, and it feels GREAT to finally finish!!

Additionally, the Lakers beat the Rockets at Staples Center today too. What’s amazing is they’re 5-0 AND Kobe doesn’t even have to go all out either! (the only team without a loss in the big, bad Western Conference, and one of only two teams to have a lossless season so far!)

Let the relaxation BEGIN!!