Just When You Think You've Seen Everything

I was just sitting down to write a post allowing me to vent about all of the controlled substance issues that I encounter at work as a pharmacist, when I found out that Taylor Drug had another Oxycontin robbery at 3:00 on Friday morning. I didn't work yesterday so I didn't find out about it until now, but apparently it was pretty bad. The robber wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and forgot to bring a bag to store the loot in, so there were Oxycontin pills (along with some Synthroid and glimepiride, for hypothyroidism and diabetes respectively...I wonder what the street value of those are?) strung all over the floor, out the window, through the parking lot all the way to where his car was parked. At this point I don't think he has been caught, but the surveilance cameras were on so at least the police have video. The robber did break several windows and damaged our dispensing robot in the process of his tirade. Apparently everything is still a mess.

Which leads me to the reason for this post in the first place...controlled substance issues. It is sad/scary/stupid/dangerous what some people will do for a high. Prescription drug abuse is a HUGE problem in Utah and I get to see it firsthand everyday at work. Here are a few examples of situations I have encoutered:

• A patient asked us to identify one of her medications over the phone because the pill looked different compared to her last refill and she was concerned. Policy states that we can only identify drugs if they bring in the pills. So she brings hers up to the drive-thru. The other pharmacist I was working with that day dumps the bottle out and finds a bottle full of BEANS. Like the kind you eat. Beans. The label on the prescription bottle said it was supposed to be for Xanax. He leans out the window and tells her, "These are beans." in the most plain, wow-you're-stupid-not-to know-these-are-beans voice. She looks confused at first and then realizes that her son probably stole the Xanax pills and replaced them with beans. She then asked the pharmacist if he thought her son was trying to kill her...wow, that's a loaded question. Why she had to bring the beans to the pharmacy to figure out they were beans and not Xanax I'll never know.

• A patient calls and says, "Can I get your price on #210-80-OCs?" FYI, in the legitimate pharmacy world, OC usually stands for Oral Contraceptive, aka birth control. So when Megan, our intern who was speaking to her, asked her to clarify what she was asking, she had a shocked voice when Megan didn't know that OC = Oxycontin. Sorry for not doing the street drugs, sweetheart. FYI, the price is over $2,000. The patient was somehow willing and able to pay $2000 cash for medications. I don't know about you, but I don't know where else you can get $2,000 cash except on the street. Oxycontin goes for $1 per mg on the street so she made $16,800 on her "legitimate" prescription by selling it on the street. No wonder she can afford to pay a measly 2 grand to the pharmacy for the drugs! The other thing is, who needs 210 Oxycontin 80's? That would be 7 pills a day for a 30 day supply which is crazy! You'd better be at the end stage of a very painful terminal illness to warrant a narc load like that to your body. It makes me think one of 2 things: either the prescription is a forgery or the doctor is a candy man.

• There was a story in the local news recently about a father and son who robbed a pharmacy of Oxycontin, took a whole bunch of them, then the son didn't feel good, so the dad drove to the ER and fell asleep in the parking lot. When he woke up, his son was dead in the seat next to him. It's a very sad story, but it's real. I am surprised at how quickly the consequences of their actions hit them, but those consequences were going to hit eventually.

I could go on, but I won't. I think I have vented enough for one day. I really don't want to come across as heartless or unfeeling, I just want to tell everyone that addiction is real and it makes otherwise good people do very bad things. I am not trying to say that prescription pain killers (or anti-anxiety medications like Xanax) are bad drugs either. If you are truly in pain, by all means treat it. It's OK to take Percocet after having a baby or Lortab after breaking a bone, etc. There are actually really good studies that show that if you are truly in pain, your chances of becoming addicted to prescription painkillers is very, very low. What I am trying to say is talk to your kids, nieces, nephews, etc. about the dangers of using these drugs the wrong way. If you have some kind of sphere of influence over pre-teens or teens, talk about it. Just because they are legal, doesn't make it right or safe to take them if they aren't yours.

This and That

The last month has been a busy one. Carl and I enjoyed visits in July from our good friends Sean and Jenny Taylor (currently living in Connecticut) and my friend MaryAnn and her daughter Brie Ann (currently living in California). It was so fun to see everyone! MaryAnn and I had the chance to meet up with a few other of our BYU friends while she was here. We went to Thanksgiving Point with Valerie and Tara and had a great time. I miss my girls and wish I could spend more time with them. There is something rejuvenating and therapeutic about girl time. I also had the chance recently to see Temina and Kristen, 2 of my best friends from Evanston. Temina and I grew up down the street from each other and have known each other since the first grade. No one knows me better than her! Her daughter McKina is two now and I haven't seen her since she was a baby so it was great to catch up. Kristen is expecting twin girls in September so it was great to see her before her life gets crazy soon.

Carl and I went to Youth Conference last weekend with our ward and although it was a lot of work, we ended up having a great time. We wanted the kids to have experiences outside of their comfort zone so we split in to groups and did service projects up in Salt Lake. One group went to a Detox Center, another group went to Refugee Daycare Center, and our group served lunch to the homeless at the St. Vincent De Paul soup kitchen. The experience reminded me how fortunate I am to have my home, my husband, my education, and the great support from my family. I think the kids really enjoyed it too.

Seven Years Going On Eight

August 2008

August 2001

Yesterday Carl and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary! Saying that makes me feel old. I could go off about how I married the perfect guy and how we have the perfect marriage, but that would be a lie. Carl isn't perfect, I'm not perfect, and our marriage isn't perfect. We have our struggles and our bad days just like everyone else. The important thing is that we try to work through our differences each day, communicate, and have patience. We aren't perfect at this either, but we are working on it. Carl has taught me a lot about the meaning of unconditional love and faith. He is one of the most Christlike people that I know and I truly feel very blessed to have him as my husband. He will always be my best friend and my adventure buddy. Here's to 7 great years!

New House # 3

Carl and I decided to buy another new house. The new house is down the street from the one we currently live in. This will be the 3rd house we have bought in the past 4 years, and the 3rd house we've owned in our ward boundary. What can I say...we love our ward!

The nice thing about New House # 3 is that it really is a new house. We are buying it from the developer so we get to pick out our flooring, lights, appliances, everything. House # 2 is currently for sale which is sad in a way because it has been a good house too.

Hopefully our house A.D.D. is over now and we will live in New House # 3 for more than two years. Here are a few pics of the inside. I will post more pictures as progress is made in the construction process.

Spirit Lake

I spent the weekend at Spirit Lake in the High Uintas with my dad, Cheryl, and the family. All six kids were there (Chrissy, Mandy, me, Nate, Ronnie, and Casey) with our families except for Carl. He had to go to Arizona this weekend for a simulator trip and we missed him. The lake was beautiful and we had a great time. It rained on Saturday so we spent a lot of time in the lodge playing cards, but it was nice just to spend time together. Me and Grandma Massey

My 4 Minutes and 7 Seconds of Fame

Today I made an appearance on "Studio 5," a local TV show. I spoke about sunscreen, which isn't a super exciting topic but an important one I suppose. Check it out:

Life on the Other Side

I have had several people ask me what I've been up to since graduation, how my boards went, etc. I did pass both of my board exams and ended up doing fine, which was a huge relief. My license posted a week after taking my second exam, so I am officially a pharmacist now!! I received my license on Friday the 13th (of June) so hopefully that is not an omen for the future of my career. I'm not superstitious so I'm not too worried. I work about 20 hours a week at Taylor Drug, the pharmacy where I interned, and work one shift a week at a pharmacy in Tooele. I also recently signed up to be a fill-in pharmacist for Target--if you work at least one shift a quarter you get the employee discount so how could I pass that up? Here are a few of the other things going on since finishing school:

The day my license posted Carl and I went to Salt Lake to visit my sister Mandy, her fiancee Josh, and their baby Gabby. We had a great little summer BBQ outside. It makes me sad that Mandy and I have lived so close to each other for so many years, but still only see each other 2-3 times a year. Hopefully now that school is behind me I will be able to spend more time with her. Isn't Gabby a beautiful baby? I took piano lessons for a couple of years as a kid and have always wanted to get back into it. Carl bought me a new piano about a month ago and I have been taking lessons from my neighbor Heather. Heather is great to work around my work schedule so I can take a lesson every week, even if it isn't on the same day each week.

We also recently sold our townhome (finally!). It was on the market for almost 6 months and I have to admit it was a very stressful process. If we could do it over again we would do it much differently, but you live and learn. Our townhome was a great little starter home for us and I will miss it, but only just a little.

During the rest of my spare time I am still working on my goals of maintaining a spotless house 24/7, becoming a gourmet chef (that likely won't happen in this life or the next), and going to the gym more than once a week.

Carl is staying busy with work and the army. He is working on becoming a pilot-in-command (PC) with his guard unit now that he has a little extra time. They are in desperate need of PCs and even asked if he could take 2 weeks off of work so he could get all of the requirements done faster. His thoughts were "hmm...after taking time off of work for Woodbadge, scout camp, and to maintain my flight minimums, if I had 2 weeks of vacation time left I would spend it cruising the Mediterranean with my beautiful wife, not doing army work."

Maybe someday we'll take that Mediterranean cruise...