Castles, Gowns, and the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up (Days 20-22)

Day 20: Monday, April 2

Today started our first full week at the hospital.  We were excited to finally get to see how pharmacy and the pharmacists work in the hospital setting.  The only problem?  No one was expecting us.  I mean, literally, no one.  Constant blank stares even with our fancy hospital name badges with pictures and job title.  Sigh.  So no one really knew what to do with us since our preceptor is normally only on site one day per week, usually Fridays.  Obviously, this presented us with a *small* problem.  We wandered up to the wards with one of the pre-reg pharmacists and looked through patient charts, which, might I add, are not yet electronic.  In fact, nothing at the hospital is electronic.  Prescriptions are still hand-written and carried down to the pharmacy to be filled.  The charts are practically illegible, but Carmen and I did our best to interpret the chicken scratch that some people call doctors’ handwriting (no offense to any doctor friends, but y’all seriously need to up your handwriting skills!!).  We looked up a bunch of drugs that aren’t available in the States, then headed back down to the tea room.  Yup, a tea room.  There’s one in just about every place we’ve gone to.  Brits sure like their tea and snack breaks.  The room always seems to be full!  We tried to get someone to help us with obtaining an email list of all the pharmacists so we could be proactive and set up appointments to meet with each specialist.  This was not the easiest of tasks, and after sitting in the tea room for another hour and a half, someone was finally able to help us by hitting one button on her computer and printing us out a list.  Apparently no one else in the pharmacy has this list, or at least, just wasn’t willing to share it with us.

As you can probably tell, we were a little frustrated by this point, so we headed back to the guest house where we had computer access to start emailing pharmacists and setting up meetings.  We sent out about 15 emails in total.  Still not sure what we were going to be doing at the hospital the next day, we hoped for plenty of email responses during what we decided was a much needed shopping excursion!  We headed up to Primark, where we got lots of fabulous clothes for just a fraction of the cost in the US!  It definitely made us quite happy.  Very full shopping bags and still a full wallet as well!  We ended the day with some Pizza Hut, which has quickly become a weekly tradition.  Upon returning home, we saw that no one had emailed us back, but we decided to hope for the best overnight and re-group in the morning!

Day 21: Tuesday, April 3

On Tuesday morning, Carmen and I awoke pretty early to start checking our email for responses back to see if we could shadow anyone that day.  We were unaware that our preceptor would be on-site, and at the risk of having another 3 hour day in the tea room, and at the advice of Peggy, who picked the boys to start their orientation, decided to forgo the hospital as there was nothing for us to do there and no one was really helpful without our preceptor around.   

The statue of Queen Victoria, Britain's longest ruling (and very beloved) monarch.  The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is close behind though, and will surpass Victoria's reign if she rules until 2015.

So, off to another palace we went!  This time, we stayed close in town and headed to Kensington Palace.  We were quite excited about this, as it had been closed for several years and just re-opened on March 26^th!  It was the main residence of Princess Diana until her death in 1997, and it has just recently been announced that Prince William and Kate (the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) will move into an apartment as their primary residence starting next year.  You know, just a small little nest egg to start with… 4 stories and 20 rooms.  Nothing extravagant or pushing for lots of children :)  Also, to my and Carmen’s delight, Prince Harry will be moving into their former apartments on the property as well.  Other than the Princes and Kate, only minor royal members reside at Kensington (sorry “minor” family members…this wording comes straight from the internet and brochures…not by my choice!). 

Many of you will recognize this gate at the side of Kensington Palace as the place where thousands of flowers and letters were left in memory of Princess Diana after her death in 1997.  The flowers went out for dozens of feet in front of the gate and all down the sides.

Carmen and I in front of Kensington Palace

The very cool entryway at Kensington Palace.  It is a fiber optic tree, and it's hard to see in this picture, but it is covered with sparkling Swarovski crystals!

Though we were very excited to have the chance to visit Kensington, Carmen and I both decided that it was not quite ready for public viewing.  There were 3 main exhibits, along with a special Princess Diana temporary exhibit of her gowns.  There was the Queen Victoria Revealed exhibition, where we were able to see the gown she was wearing the day she learned she became Queen, along with her wedding dress and many other belongings.  Also, there was an exhibition of King George I and II apartments, along with the story of the end of the Stuart line in Queen Mary II’s apartments.  The only problem was that none of the rooms were decorated in the way that they were originally created (e.g. the dinner hall would have a gown display and the arms room would have bedroom furniture!), so it was a little confusing.  There were also no placards explaining everything, but luckily Carmen and I found the employees to be very knowledgeable about the history of their British Monarchy and answered all of our many, many questions.  The Palace was not supposed to open until June, so we think they may have just jumped the gun a bit in trying to let more visitors get to experience the Palace.  The Princess Diana exhibit and her dresses were very neat, but the wall leading into the exhibition was artwork of her in all of her many gowns, and that was almost better than the exhibit itself.  

The dress that Victoria was wearing the day she found out she had become Queen.  It was originally black, in mourning for her uncle, the King, but over the years has changed to this mustard color due the dyes.

Queen Victoria's wedding gown on the day she married Prince Albert.  She was very tiny, as seen by the size of the gown.  Reading some of her letters in the Palace, it was apparent they were very truly in love.  It was quite touching, but he died rather young, and Victoria was said to have never been truly happy after that day.

Two of Princess Diana's most famous gowns.

One of the walls with wallpaper of Diana's gowns.  It was very cool!

After leaving the Palace and walking through Kensington Gardens, our first big rainstorm hit!  Luckily, we were prepared with both raincoats and umbrellas, but just about everyone else was not.  

The circular pond in front of Kensington Palace by the Gardens, aptly named The Round Pond (very creative, I must say!)

On our list of things to find: the Peter Pan Statue in the Gardens.  For those who don’t know, Peter Pan is my absolute favorite Disney movie.  Of all time.  I mean, it even beats out Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.  Side note of humor:  I went through a stage when I was about 4 years old when I would only answer to the name Wendy, and I had an imaginary friend named Michael.  Some poor man “sat” on Michael at the Macy’s shoe department, and I just about had a fit, but he was a very good sport and even apologized for squashing Michael.  I can guess my parents were pretty glad when I grew out of that stage.  But I think it just reiterates how much I love Peter Pan.  And the movie takes place in what is slowly becoming one of my favorite cities…London!!  So, even with the pouring down rain, I got my picture!!

With the boy who would not grow up!!!  My all-time favorite movie!

Me and Peter, just chilling in the rain :)

After that, we finally visited our local pub, The Brockley Barge, and were quite pleased to find out it was extremely yummy and well priced (and stocks my favorite cider).  Score!  We also have real plans at the hospital tomorrow because our preceptor will be there and will help us find all of the pharmacists to schedule our meetings!

Day 22: Wednesday, April 4

It’s Wednesday, and we have REAL plans at the hospital.  Carmen and I were quite excited about this!  Professor Cairns assigned us to oversee several 3^rd year students who were doing the equivalent of IPPEs at the hospital.  It was a little weird being kind of in charge of students in a country where the majority of drugs have different names, some aren’t even available in the States, and we don’t know the country’s pharmacy laws! Ha ha.  But it was still a lot of fun.  The students were really excited to get to talk to us about the US, and we’ve gotten pretty good at foreseeing their questions and having answers ready.  The concept of insurance companies and claim rejects is just one topic I will never be able to properly explain to someone who will never have privatized insurance and experience a problem with their prescription.  But overall, I think I did a pretty good job with everything else.  I was able to help the students with some of their clinical work as well, mainly explaining important things to always look out for (e.g. renal function, relevance of therapy, important counseling points).  And then I answered some more questions about the US! Ha ha.  Luckily these students knew a little more about the States and Atlanta than it just being “the home of the rappers” (see post from week 1!).  I really enjoyed getting to spend time with the students.  It was also a little strange to realize how far I’ve come since my 2^nd and 3^rd year and how much I was able to help clinically by just briefly looking over the (poorly hand-written) charts.  It makes graduation and entering the job world seem a little more real and not quite as terrifying!

Since my last paragraph was about growing up and it not being quite so scary now, this sign of the Peter Pan statue just seemed appropriate.

After helping the students in the morning, Professor Cairns took us around the pharmacy department and introduced Carmen and I to the rest of the clinical team.  We were able to schedule about 6 appointments for next day and following week.  We almost forgot that it was Easter weekend, and found out we would not only have Good Friday off, but Monday as well, as the Brits celebrate both as bank holidays!  After we got back home later in the afternoon, I took a long, much-needed nap (I’ve still been having some trouble with going to sleep at night knowing how early it still is back home!).  Then Carmen and I joined Michael and Stephen at the Brockley Barge for dinner…again!  But hey, it was their 3^rd night there, so judge them first :)