He's Here!

Dave came in last night on Amtrak!! Carolyn and I went and picked him up and then celebrated at BJ's (which is new in Stockton, and VERY busy). I tried my first berry cider and pear cider. I thought they tasted kinda like those flavored water things, which I'm not a fan of, but they're DEFINITELY better than beer! And of course we had to finish with a Pizookie! Then I went home and studied for the two quizzes I have today...

Dave's Coming!!

HOORAY!!! I can't wait to pick him up from the train station on Monday evening!! It'll be tricky to get any studying done while he's here, but he totally encourages, respects, and supports what I'm doing...probably because it was really his idea in the first place :)

He'll be here through Thanksgiving and the weekend after! I'll take him back to the train station Tuesday the 27th, I believe. We may go spend Thanksgiving with my Aunt Jill and her family in Folsom. My grandparents are gonna be there, too! It's only about an hour drive from here (it's east of Sacramento).

I have classes Monday and Tuesday, then I'm off school for a few days to study, work, and be with my honey!! I'm really looking forward to it, if that's not clear yet :)

OK...back to studying...yes, I know it's Saturday...this is my life...

Shingles

So last Friday as I was calling Dave between classes, like I do everyday, he convinced me that I should drive home for the weekend. This made some sense because he hadn't been feeling well since Wednesday and my mom was planning on letting me borrow her "old" car (a '97 Camry that's been well taken care of) since she just bought a new one (and the Camry gets WAY better gas mileage than the '88 Lincoln Towncar my grandparents were nice enough to GIVE Dave and me, which was also VERY WELL taken care of...I love it!) and I figured I could leave the Lincoln with Dave and drive the Camry back up to Stockton.

Have I lost you yet? Sorry...back to the story! When I got home Friday night I met Dave at the football game at Liberty in time to see the band perform the 1/2 time show and to say "hi" to the McGuires (can you guys believe Karlee is a sophomore?!?!). He was feeling pretty bad so we went home after 1/2 time. When Dave was changing for bed, I noticed a rash on his back. Using my expensive education :) I diagnosed him with shingles and told him to prepare for some excruciating pain (hahaha...he thought he already felt bad at that point!).

I had to leave my sick hubby and drive back to school EARLY Monday morning. Normally I'd leave on Sunday, but Dave talked me into staying one more night...he's VERY persuasive. I drove the Lincoln back to Stockton because Mom forgot she'd promised to let my brother, David, and his wife borrow the car this past weekend to drive to a marriage conference in Monterey (since neither of their cars is very reliable). It worked out, though, because she gave me gas $$ since I came down (partially :) to get her old car.

Anyway, when I talked to Dave on Monday afternoon he felt like he was dying. He doesn't have medical insurance because he's not a "real" teacher (thanks, KHSD), because he's relatively a healthy guy, and because we can't otherwise afford it (yet). I wouldn't have it either (yet) if school didn't require me to. But I called the Dr. he's seen before (who's my Dad's MD...that's the connection) on Monday afternoon and they were able to get him in early Tuesday morning.

The MD said "Oh, my God!" and ran to get his camera when Dave showed him his rash...when Dave does something, he goes BIG. He confirmed my diagnosis of shingles (which anyone who has had chicken pox can get...it's the same virus that lies dormant in your nerves and can flare up anytime after the chicken pox--called herpes zoster). The MD knows Dave doesn't have insurance, so he rounded up some antiviral medication "samples" and prescribed some painkillers.

Poor Dave! The painkillers did NOTHING to stop the pain for the first few days. And he's pretty likely to get postherpetic neuralgia (unexplained and usually untreatable nerve pain that follows a zoster infection) because he was infected for almost a week before he got the antiviral medication.

Now the pain is controlled with the pain meds and I actually heard him laugh over the phone yesterday. Please pray for him to continue healing and to hopefully avoid postherpetic neuralgia!

My First "Real" Blog

I guess I should start by explaining why I live in Stockton but my husband doesn't. Dave teaches drumline at two local high schools in Bakersfield as well as at the JC, Bakersfield College. I'm attending the University of the Pacific to earn my PharmD. I'm currently a 2nd year student, and our 3rd year is exclusively experiential learning out on rotations. Most programs do 3 years "on campus" and 1 year on rotations, but Pacific is an accelerated program, so we get it all done in 3 years, year-round. Bakersfield has a rotation site, but the students are put in a lottery to determine sites to make sure it's fair for everyone. Since Pacific is so nice, they give 1 point for good grades (top 5% of the class...NOT ME) and 1 point for married couples (if the spouse lives in the city where the student wants to complete his/her rotations). The 2 point people get to pick rotation sites first, then the 1 point people, then the zero point people (this will be most of the class).

So we have a point!! HOORAY! But nothing's guaranteed...the Bakersfield site takes around 10 students each year (I believe)...and there are 200+ students in my class. And for those of you who are in Bako or have lived there in the past and are thinking "who the heck would want to go to Bakersfield??" let me just say that it's a really strong rotation site!! And LOTS of people seem to want it...go figure. We don't get to do the lottery until January, so I have to live in suspense until then...but at least I have a point!! From what I've heard, they're pretty good at keeping families together, if possible.

So does it suck living in a different city than your husband, you ask??

YES. It does suck. A lot.

But cell phones are wonderful. Dave has told me that he actually refers to his phone as "wife," and I honestly feel like he's not with me if I happen to leave my phone at home on accident (which happens very rarely since it's such an unsettling feeling).

I believe our relationship would be more strained if he lived here and we constantly felt like we didn't have enough time to spend with each other. For those of you who know Dave, you know he's VERY entertaining...I'd never get any studying done! And if I DID study as much as I need to (which is basically 24/7) and he was here getting ignored the whole time, that would be bad, too. This way we can set aside special times to spend together. Our time is quality, not quantity at this point in our lives!

Although my school goes year-round, I DO get 3 weeks off in December and August. So we make the most of that. The problem with THAT "vacation" time is that before I can sit for the board exams after I graduate I have to have completed 1500 intern hours. The 3rd year rotations count toward that, but all the other schools also have entire summers off from school during which students can work to rack up hours. At Pacific, we have to squeeze it in when we can. Needless to say, I try to work 40 hrs/week during those "vacation" times.

Please don't think I'm complaining. I absolutely LOVE what I'm learning and can't wait to be a "real pharmacist"!! And I try to get down to Bakersfield as often as possible to visit my family (including my nephew Elijah!!).

Let me finish by saying I'm SO EXCITED that after 20 years of school SO FAR (including kindergarten), there's a light at the end of the tunnel!! May 2009 will be here before I know it!! I hope...

Help!

How do I add friends to make it easier to see your blogs? Both Katie and Gretchen have bloggin' friends or some such link...how do I add that?? I'm getting better though...did you see my poll at the bottom?? Heeheehee...

Profile Picture

I'm trying to figure out how to add a photo to my profile, but somehow it's too difficult. I'm lost...now it's a post and still NOT on my profile! I give up!

I don't really blog

This is kinda just an experiment. Maybe someday I'll be a blogger, but right now I have to study for midterms...blech!