December and January - Tea and Tigers

December:
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year first of all! December was a tad crazy for me flying home to see family and friends. I enjoyed spending time with my Eloise, eating a ton of amazing food, and a lot of laughing and sweet moments with my sister.

My lovely friends on New Years 

Christmas with the family

Eloise is a Scrooge

My siblings (Brett and Alli)

My favorite place in my hometown

Me and my child

Alli and Eloise Christmas Eve

January:

So I fly back to New Orleans, and I am instantly SICK. I come home to my clean, but no food* apartment with a definite need for cold medications. Luckily to my pharmacology knowledge, I made it through the first week back at school with my personal pharmacy. (Even if my Sleepytime herbal tea is unregulated by government standards and might be a placebo- I am still telling myself that my sinuses were soothed).

The last unit we were in was Endocrine pharmacology, which I thought was really interesting! We had a TBL on Diabetic drugs like insulins and hypoglycemics, as well and a CBL on contraceptions. I didn't have a ton of familiarity with endocrine-affecting drugs, but I found several of the topics like discussing treatments for uterine fibroids and endometriosis cool. In addition to Medical Pharmacology, we also have a separate Endocrine Pharmacology class that we starting reading a book called Why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers? The author's writing style is captivating for the audience to be engaged with stress and body function such as cardiovascular health. I am taking neuropharmacology, and we are presenting topics like Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's. Environmental   Signaling we had an interesting discussion with a visiting professor discussing lead levels in the pipes in America... which honestly was a little scary to realize how prominent it is!

Study-wise I am continuing with my method I think I perfected last semester. I think the most significant hallmark of my studying is trying to fit all of our drugs in clinical scenarios, where I can image a more "hands-on" type learning. 

I am starting up the semester with the same volunteer organizations! Nothing new, just my regular routine. 

(Oh yeah, and LSU Tigers wins the National Championship! Big win for LA)

Blessings, 

Ms Ashley 

Volunteer hours January: 6