Thursday started out great! Before I headed to work, Hannah (one of the Samford girls at the Daniel House) and I went to Paul, a French pastry shop nearby for breakfast. I had a large latte and a nutella donut. It was amazing!! I was pretty tired so that caffeine hit the spot and nutella on anything is the best thing ever. I will for sure be going back before I ship out!
So at work we got to change it up a bit and go to Evangelina, the Children's Hospital connected to St. Thomas. I loved every minute of it! The first hour or so we went to an orthopedic floor just to observe. The best part though was talking to the pharmacist, Amy whom we had met earlier this week after work when we had gone for drinks, and the technician. They were very interested in what we had to say and they were so informative and easy to talk to. Normally in the work environment the pharmacists and other staff are strictly business so there is little time for small talk or get to know questions. It was so refreshing and I learned alot from them both pharmacy and life related.
After our hour there we headed to the PICU with Sian (pronounced like Shawn). The names over here are pretty interesting however I am sure they think the same about some of our names. Good thing Katy is a universal name and that helps us fit in! So in the PICU, Katie and I literally just followed Sian around the ward. I was so focused though, even though we weren’t doing anything and just walking around and observing. I guess I like kids way better than adults when it comes to ICU settings. When we went to the adult ICU I was counting down the minutes until I could leave, but here I was trying to figure out if I could stay longer or come another day. Even though it is hard seeing some of the situations, I feel like I am making a bigger impact and I just love the kids. Maybe this is a sign I should be a pediatric pharmacist? Hmmmm…to bad that is a very competitive route to head down and I don’t have superior grades. Oh well, the Lord has some place with my name written on it and it will work out in the end, just wish He would give me some direction now. Story of my life and I am not very patient ha!
Here is where my day first takes a dip. Remember how my debit card was cut off thanks to my little friend down in Mexico who likes to spend other peoples money, well without my debit card life is real difficult to get cash while in a foreign country. So during my lunch break I went to the bank in the hospital who the day before had told me to bring my passport and they would look into it. I did just that and had my passport in had when I tried to use my credit card to get some cash. Come to find out, the Brits our very particular with their cards. After a good 20 minutes of waiting the teller comes back to tell me she can’t help me because I had put on my card “see id” instead of signing my name. To me and most American’s that is a safe way to go to decrease the chance of someone else using your card, but to the Brits that increases fraudulent activity. Dumb policy! To say the least I let it get the best of me and I had a bit of a teary lunch break from that point. I called my bank back home and tried to see what other options I had and all they said was sorry, we can’t change their policies. Seriously! You would think that someone would have the heart to help out the stranded American in a foreign country, but no! Ok so you know how when you start to cry it is really hard to stop, even though you know you are being a tad bit dramatic and no the world is not ending, but it sure seems like it…that was me! After lunch I went to ask Anna (our preceptor) is she knew of any way I could get some cash by using my credit card. I almost made it without tearing up, but nope the waterworks picked back up. Unfortunately all of the higher up pharmacists were in the office and got to see me. Oh great! Anna, being the fire pistol she is, say you don’t worry about this and I am gonna figure out a way to fix this! Wooohooo Anna!
Now it is a little after 2pm (our lunches go from 1-2pm) and Katie and I are under the belief that we have a meeting at 3pm. Thus we have one hour to prepare some more and get ready to be superstars as we discuss a few patient cases in a group of various medical professions to help develop a better medical community. Little to our surprise, Vicky, the pharmacist who had arranged this comes running up to us to tell us we are late and that it started at 2pm. WHAT!?! Great here I am emotionally drained and frustrated and now late and not prepared. This was just the cherry on top. However the meeting went so well. Katie and I did a great job in the discussion and it was very laid back. We even heard via another pharmacist that the team leaders of the meeting had bragged on how knowledgeable, well spoken, and well prepared we were. PTL! (Praise the Lord) What a pleasant surprise! Also when we came back to the clinical office, Anna told us we could go ahead and leave so that we could try a few banks she had called around too. Thank you Jesus!!! So yea, we got to leave at 4:15 compared to our normal 5:30.
After being coached on how to use the bus system (yea we normally just stick to the tube or walking), Katie and I set off to get me some cash! We headed to a BarClays in Picadilly Circus first. Once we got there a lady told us she couldn’t help us but that there was a Western Union around the corner. So after some information and a phone call to my mom, money was wired to me. I have the best parents EVER! My mom had been working in the yard and after I called she rushed over to Kroger (where Western Union) is to send me some money. Thank you Mama!!
Since Katie and I had to wait a while before it was going to be sent, we decided to use our time wisely and we went to M&M World. Seriously, it is a 4 story building dedicated to London and M&Ms. It is so neat. We didn’t get to spend too much time here but here are a few pictures I managed to take…
This machine decided what color M&M you were. I got the Mega Mix which was a tie-dyed one. Also it said that I see the good in everything and like it that way. Very fitting I thought! Katie's was black and it said you must be thinking those nasty thoughts hahahahaha! I laughed so hard and especially at her reaction. Look at the picture below!
There was a gallery of M&Ms as historical and famous people.
Look it's Sherlock Holmes!
Is that the Beatles or the M&Ms walking down Abbey Lane?
After being wowed by the M&Ms, Katie headed home and I headed back to Western Union. However when I got there, the man’s system had crashed. Yikes! He then gave me bad directions to the next closest which I never found but I did know of one near the Daniel House. So I eventually gave up and to the one near home and it was a success!!! Wahooo! To celebrate the end of a crazy day, Katie and I met up with the South Carolina girls at Nandos for a delicious dinner. Yum!
Now time to get out of the past and chat about today… today was my last Friday at work. Can you believe it is almost over because I sure can’t! When Katie and I walked in, the hospital was eerily quiet and calm. Then as I am walking to the ward with Deanna I made the mistake to vocalize my observation and thus cursed us. On the ward things were soooooooo hectic. There were crazy patients who kept standing in the halls yelling doctor, there were people running around everywhere, and you could never find the drug chart you needed. I will take the blame because I am the idiot who said the “Q” word. However, the business of the day did make it pass by quickly and before we knew it, it was time to leave!
Also today as we walked to work and were crossing the bridge, I noticed a scuba diver in the Thames River. Immediately my first thought is oh no, one of my crazy patients who had thought about jumping off the bridge actually did it. Of course Katie and I had to stop and look, but we never could figure out what was actually going on. Then at lunch we noticed they were all still out there, so duh we went to investigate. We also notice tons of cameras and we see an ambulance that says emergency dive team. Eventually we asked someone near us and come to find out they would later in the day be shooting a commercial for Colgate toothpaste and no one was hurt. Haha we felt dumb and I guess the river has a lot of plague in it too so it makes an ideal Australian toothpaste commercial location. Oh and yea I forgot to mention it was an Australian commercial. After work they were still there and Katie and I did stick around for a while to try to see them shooting, but they were still setting up. I don’t really understand why it would take so long. Oh well here is a picture I took….
After being gawkers, Katie and I went back to the house and are now about to have a chill night to save money and to rest after another busy and exhausting week. Well everyone your Friday and sorry for the long blog, ok I am not really that sorry. Cheers Yall!
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