Zumba?

Rain paused on the windowpanes. Came on the wind then stayed put as if each drop had nowhere in particular to be. Warmed oatmeal. Still sick, I danced around on the floor, and wore myself out just as fast. Another request for photos, strawberries, shower. I could feel the rumble in my stomach, the low pains of flu. Not much of a fall break. It’ll get better though, I reassured myself.

All We Have

Today—that’s where it’s at, my friend.

Today is all we really have for sure.

So I am SO glad today was a day I can look back on, in joy, and say today was not perfect, but it was memorable. Why? Because I encouraged. I smiled. I listened. I apologized. I waited. I cared. I tried. But above all, I loved … oh how I loved … and I HOPE my boys felt it from the top of their heads to the depths of their soul.

And when I wake up tomorrow and feel the pressure of future events, I will remember I am simply going to do what I can today. Today is doable. It’s manageable. It’s standing right in front of me requiring no plan whatsoever. Today is just waiting to be lived.

{Monster High girls I taught for tonight's Halloween Show}

"It's a Great Day For Hockey"

Aspen, Colorado 

Very Cool

Monsters have been pulling on my nerves, lightening flashes disrupting my sleep and trying my patience. So many memories I thought long buried have been hauled to the surface - jagged creatures all of them - and I'm at a loss as to why they've suddenly taken to stalking me.

As much as I often want it, I can't ignore the fact that Ben gave me my sons. There was love when we created them, and while that love changed in the end, what we created together then is blooming, cascading, sparkling and bewildering every day of my life in the forms of my sons.

Ben didn't fight me for my sons either. It was clear from the very first discussion we had about what my decision to end our marriage actually meant in reality, the boys were his focus. I have some very cool photos Max's coach took of the hockey tourney in Vegas of the boys on his team, and I still can't believe that they are there without me. I miss my boys so much and I just talked to them on the phone and they sounded like they were having a great time.  

“Missing someone, they say, is self-centered. I self-center you more than ever.” 

I want to see the photos, at least I get a glimpse and they are wonderful pictures, and the boys are playing great. I know the grief it makes to not share them. I still find it galling, to deliberately be generous to a devoted Ironman, to ignore the hurts and do the 'right' thing. I don't want to share the majesty and brilliance of my sons with people who don't care about them. I just don't. I want to be jealous, keep them close by me, carefully shared with those who will appreciate them for who they are, who love them enough to rouse on them, mock them, encourage and look forward for them.

I guess I have to get over myself enough - my scars and pains from past experiences - and give the gift of my sons to their (in so many ways distant) father. Even if the man has no idea what he is getting, or - even worse - what he is missing out on.

So.... It now looks like tomorrow after Max plays in the championship game and I work all day and my boys ride home they will be writing a thank you to Dad, enclosing their current school photos, and then maybe a mental palate cleansing Nerf war and Slurpee. Gosh, I am so tired of trying to be better than I am.

All this over seeing two photos. Which kind of explains why, elsewhere in my head, I had actively ignored a task now one year and counting put off, and continued to carefully avoid taking down the photos I had hanging on the walls in my home staring at me, waiting.

Waiting for me to be brave. Waiting for me to tie on some big boots and go monster stomping. Waiting for me to take a deep breath, a calm afternoon and evening last month, and sink into the deep, ancient, beautiful waters of memory, tiny babies and unbroken promises. Waiting for me to slay the last of the monsters, or maybe face them (warts, fire-breathing, knashing their terrible teeth and all), see them captured in sticky, shiny, matte-finished snapshots, and clear out the cluttered dense corners for better, brighter memories both past and to come.

Celebrate Today

I love the weather, what a way to make the day a perfect 10! Darlin sent me this text this morning...

Here's wishing you a smooth journey. :) 

Birthday Party

My brother's birthday party was scheduled for tonight but instead I went to Max's hockey game vs. The Regulators. I had so much fun watching Max play and I'm kind of sad that I won't be going to Vegas with him tomorrow. He is looking forward to playing some fun hockey games. Eagles, eagles, fight fight fight! 

Max said after the game that it felt weird to be playing defense again and that he kind of liked it. I guess so - he helped his team keep the Regs to one goal and the Eagles scored nine. Way to go Bucky! 

I (❤️) This Time of Year

^*^*^*^*^

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LmXaaEvnnOQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLmXaaEvnnOQ

Heart shaped puddle from our walk around Silver Lake on Monday. Markus noticed it. He is my noticer. 

Some Answers

Pharm 1250 Answers to “Practice Math Questions”
1. 17.5 mg
2. 15 mL per dose, 105 mL for seven days
3. 42 tabs
4. 0.4 mL
5. 82.72 mg
6. 1.25 mg
7. A.  40 doses  B. 2.5 mL per dose  C. 100 mL dispensed
8. 0.25 mL
9. 0.4 mL
10. 12.5 mg
11. 12.72 mg
12. 30 mg
13. 465 mg overdose
14. 2 tsp
15. 49 capsules
16. 7.5 mL
17. 2.048
18. A.  0.028, 2.8%
B.  0.428, 42%
C.  0.004, 0.4%
D.  0.0025, 0.25%
19. 0.4 mL
20. 0.03 mg

I was at work all day today and it was so busy I didn't have time to study. I am going to study tomorrow in between conference. Units 5 & 6 are going to be on peripheral nervous system drugs and drugs affecting the respiratory system. 

Practice Math Questions

Some practice math questions from my math test in Pharmocology last Friday. I will post the answers tomorrow so you can test yourself. :) I also had a test today on Units 3 & 4. I will not be studying just off the notes from the lectures anymore. It was way too hard to know all the answers to the questions that way, I think the text helps me to understand the concepts better and then I can make my own logical deductions from there rather than trying to memorize all the different drugs and their sub classes and functions. I still got a B but hey, who wouldn't rather get an A? lol

1. The initial dose of a drug is 0.25 mg/kg of body weight. How many milligrams should be prescribed for a person weighing 154 lb.?

2. The dose of a drug is 50 mg/kg of body weight once daily for seven consecutive days. How many milliliters of a syrup containing 500 mg of drug per teaspoonful, should be prescribed for a child weighing 66 lb.?

3. A physician prescribed 5 mg of a drug per kilogram of body weight once daily for a patient weighing 132 lb. How many 100 mg tablets of the drug are required for a dosage regimen of  2 weeks?

4. A medication order calls for 0.2 mg/kg of albuterol sulfate to be administered to a 23 lb. child. The source of the drug is a solution containing 0.5 g of albuterol sulfate in 100 mL. How many milliliters of the solution should be used in filling the order?

5. If the recommended dose of gentamicin sulfate for a patient with normal kidney function is 3 mg/kg/day, divided into three equal doses given every 8 hours, how many milligrams should be administered per dose to a patient weighing 182 lb.?

6. Rimantadine (anti-viral) HCL syrup contains 120 mg of rimantadine HCL in each 240 mL of syrup. How many milligrams of rimantadine HCL would there be in 2.5 mL delivered by oral dispenser?

7. Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) oral suspension contains 250 mg of ciprofloxacin per 5 mL. A physician prescribed 125 mg of ciprofloxacin q.i.d. x 10 days.
a. How many doses are needed?
b. How many milliliters should be given per dose?
c. How many milliliters of ciprofloxacin oral suspension containing 250 mg per 5 mL should be dispensed?

8. How many milliliters of an injection containing 20 mg of gentamicin in each 2 mL should be used in filling a medication order calling for 2.5 mg of gentamicin to be administered intramuscularly?

9. Pediatric Lanoxin injection contains digoxin, 100 mcg/mL. What volume must be administered to provide a dose of 0.04 mg?

10. The dose of a drug is 500 mcg/kg of body weight. How many milligrams should be given to a child weighing 55 lb.?

11. The dose of gentamicin for premature and full-term neonates is 2.5 mg/kg administered every 12 hours. What would be the daily dose for a newborn weighing 5.6 lb.?

12. The dose of gentamicin for patients with impaired renal function  is adjusted to ensure therapeutically optimal dosage. If the normal daily dose of the drug for adults is 3 mg/kg/day, administered in three divided doses, what would be the single (8-hour) dose for a patient weighing 165 lb. and scheduled to receive only 40% of the usual dose, based on renal impairment?

13. A patient weighing 120 lb. was administered 2.1 g of a drug which was supposed to be dosed at 30 mg/kg. Was the dose administered correct, or was it an overdose, or was it an underdose?

14. The adult dose of a liquid medication is 0.1 mL/kg of body weight to be administered as a single dose. How many teaspoonfuls should be administered to a person weighing 220 lb.?

15. How many erythromycin capsules, each containing 250 mg of erythromycin, are needed to provide 25 mg/kg per day for 1 week for a person weighing 154 lb.?

16. A 25 lb. child is to receive 4 mg of phenytoin (Dilantin) per kilogram of body weight daily as an anticonvulsant. How many milliliters of pediatric phenytoin suspension containing 30 mg per 5 mL should the child receive?

17. Write the following as decimals and add:

a. 2/1000
b. 75/100
c. 3/20
d. 5/8
e. 13/25

18. Give the decimal and percent equivalents for each of the following common fractions:
a. 1/35
b. 3/7
c. 1/250
d. 1/400

19. If an insulin injection contains 100 units of insulin in each milliliter, how many milliliters should be injected to receive 40 units of insulin?

20. Digoxin pediatric elixir contains 0.05 mg of digoxin in each milliliter of elixir. How many milligrams of digoxin would be administered with a dose of 0.6 mL?

Practice questions taken from:
Pharmaceutical Calculations 12th Edition
Howard C. Ansel, Mitchell J. Stoklosa

New Net

As per his coaches instructions...

Max is taking on the 5,000 wrist shot challenge again that he started last winter. He started out doing 162 shots a day and was on track to finish by January 1st before he missed a few days and didn't finish. So now he has restarted thanks to his coaches telling him what he needs to work on...shooting in the garage, basement, wherever! 

He took it to heart and this is what he had set up after school. 

He said that his net is too small though so I'm on the lookout for a regulation size net. The new one is different he told me, watching the first game of the NHL season Tuesday night. He is fired up! 

Like a Lightning Bolt

Markus came out for his first Lightning game of the season as just that. A streak of light. He was voted captain again this year and was pretty excited to have Cole and Cutter as his assistants. 

In their first game of the season Markus played defense against the Regulators. Even though they won, 4-0 he still only let one goal in all game and I loved watching him play. Max told him after that he isn't aggressive enough, to which he promptly tackled Max to the ground. Lol

Coach Greg (r) will help them get better all year, I believe and Tony (l) will help as well. 

Daily Inspiration

http://vimeo.com/68901496

Inspiring video from one of the directors at work. One of the many reasons I love what I do. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S_0yjZEUbdg