Swimming in the deep end

So, last Monday was a fun day. I went into work after our Monday foundation meeting to find the place eerily quiet, just me and shelf upon shelf of pills. After a while it transpired that a minor mix up had resulted in all the pharmacy staff being given the day off, leaving the task of running the dispensary to, guess who? Yes, that's right, your neighbourhood pharmacist in training/totally unqualified random!




Luckily for me, the legend that is Sammy G came in and took over all the down referral stuff, leaving me free to see to the patients who were piling up outside the door. It was a fun start when all the ward staff came in looking for injections that I either a) couldn't find b) didn't know what they were or c) had a completely different generic name. After consulting the SAMF [South African Medicines Formulary] a few times and calling on the expertise of, er, everyone else, I managed to struggle my way through the morning. For once I was very glad of the torrential rain [yes, feel free to gloat, the weather here hasn't been so great!] as it kept lots of patients away and made life just a bit easier.



We finally shut at half five, quite a victory considering! I stayed later sorting out an order for the dentists (it didn't take long because every item except gloves was out of stock, and even then we only had massive ones that would only fit the BFG) then did some paperwork. I'm fast learning how much admin [ha] is involved in medicine, fun fun fun! At seven I decided to pack it in for the night and went home to see what delights Sam had prepared...



Turns out it was sweet potato shepherd's pie [nice!] - we have the emptiest fridge ever seen. It literally has tomato sauce, mouldy cheese and a slice of bread in it. I think we have gone a bit too long without shopping! It's coming up to 5 weeks now!



Monday as per meant Grey's night and although we have skipped 2 seasons it's still good to get a weekly fix of television. Funnily enough, tonight's episode saw Alex Karev using a technique called Kangaroo Mother Care used in looking after premature babies that was seen to be radical and amazing in the US – particularly interesting to note that almost every premature baby in Zithulele and in fact across the third world is treated like his...you've got to love the drama of Grey's.