KAILAN?

I need to be early today, it is weekend and the drugstore is usually full. I need to make sure that everything is smooth in the operations so the patients will be able to get medicine. Ako kaya kailan pa magagamot?

I need to make sure that I provide the best information to the patients, so they know what they are taking. It is important that they have confidence on the drug, many believe it hastens the healing. Ako kaya kailan kaya ako mabubuhay na hindi nangangamba?

I need to make sure that at the end of the day, the drugstore lives so it will be able to serve more patients. All my life I've been for other people and what they want, siguro masyado ng tiwala si Lord sa akin na kayang-kaya ko lahat at baka nakakalimutan na nya na tao din ako at nahihirapan. Sa totoo lang po, pinipilit ko lang kayanin. Lord, kailan mo kaya ako ituring na tao?

YOUR MYDRIATIC EYES

This wasn't meant to be like this, this was supposed to be a happy and inspired article about your mydriatic eyes as I envisioned weeks ago but I couldn't find the inspiration anymore, I'm tired. I am very tired. One of my mentors in the graduate school of pharmacy taught me that Pilocarpine was used in the olden days by royalties for mydriasis as people used to view mydriatic eyes as beautiful. On the other hand, you don't need any Pilocarpine as your eyes are beautifully round as they are. In fact, they were one of the things that initially attracted me to you. Do you know that sometimes I can almost see your soul by looking at them? But just sometimes because most of the times, they are mystery to me. You are a mystery to me and you will always be.

I've been thinking a lot and it made me realize that in most part, what we share might not be what you wanted and I don't want that. I want us to be happy, I want us to be free and alive and I can't search that from your mydriatic eyes. I've seen you very happy before and you were wonderful and I want that for you, not this. I remember you used to fight for your happiness but when you are with me I feel like you just don't have a choice. I pray that you will be able to discover that you are a wonderful person and that you have so many choices and possibilities within your reach. I hope you will be able to find that in your heart someday and don't you worry for me because I can't feel pain anymore, I don't get jealous anymore, I'm just tired and numb that I feel like I don't need to take another step because its not worth taking advantage to a very beautiful person like you. So I am left with one right thing to do which is the only thing I know but haven't done, to set you free. Maybe what we have isn't just worth this uncertainty. Your mydriatic eyes tell me so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX STRANDED!

September marks the first anniversary of this blogspot! Can you belive that it has been a year? A year of pharmaceutical non-sense and how nice it is to reminisce when I first wrote an article here last year, I remember that was about FDA and Ms. Tacandong (its Director-General) and how time flies! Now... she's gonna be replaced because she ain't have no CESO exam from the government! Her replacement is gonna be Ms. Agnette Peralta, a Physicist and the current Director of BHDT (Bureau of Health Device and Technology), the Medical Device arm of DOH. I remember asking for Ms. Peralta's experties to teach in the field of Radio Pharmacy at UST but it didn't push through. Well, lets just hope now that she also knows Pharmacology apart from Medical Physics.

Speaking of Medical Device let us go to another neighbor of Drugs which is Cosmetics. I was amazed how Myra E lotion works! It gives me a better effect more than expensive brands from Marks and Spencer, Oil of Olay etc. I think it is one thing that United Laboratories should be proud of aside from routinely copying formulations from multinationals Hehehe

One more thing before I go to church for the Sunday mass, I was watching "Sleeping Beauty" from Repertory Philippines just 2 hours ago and I was amazed how beautiful is the non-disney version! The princess looks innocent and not "malandi" best of all, he fell in love with a prince in which he knew since childhood - The Faun, Yes! The faun that was also put to spell by the evil TROLLERINA (see pic) , it was very very entertaining! I just feel that leadership is also like that, a leader should know what he/she leads for the longest time like that in the case of Ms. Tacandong maybe who knows management and drugs for a very long time instead of... Physics (Peace Agnette).

AEDES KNOWS SWEET

Dengue, dengue, dengue! Its rainy season and Dengue Fever is once again invading homes. I just wanna share some interesting infos related to this disease that I learned that are very interesting (and confusing, at least for info 1).

Info 1. Do you know that Aedes albopictus (common in the Philippines) and Aedes aegypti, the vector of the disease prefer biting those with Type O because this blood type is sweeter than the rest of the blood groups in the ABO system? I really don't know why it is sweeter because if I look at the molecular structure of an O it only has 2 galactose and 1 fucose while the rest has either equal or much more (B is 3 galactose and 1 fucose, A is also 2 galactose and 1 fucose while AB has both of A and B combined). I guess I'll never know.

Info 2. Malaria thrives best in clean waters like in resorts and in the provinces (sosyal!) unlike Dengue which is common in the city which has dirty waters. I think you would want to know this so you would be able to assess which you are prone to LOL

SUDDENLY... A Lesson from Yeh Hsien

As a Clinical Specialist Pharmacist, I work at night shifts to process coverage review criteria. The Managed Care industry is a good opportunity for me since not all Pharmacists in the Philippines are given the opportunity to work in a practice unknown to national healthcare.

As a Regulatory Affairs Consultant, I deal with Regulatory issues of the Pharmaceutical industry in the fields of Drugs, Food, Medical Device, Cosmetics and Household Hazardous Substances in business areas as Manufacturing, Trade, Import and Distribution. This job demands management skills and confidence and I am coping everyday.

As a Pharmacy Instructor at National University, I spend a lot of time doing lectures, making exams, computing grades, developing the curriculum and guiding the students with their laboratory experiments. Its tough! Life is tough!

Then I watched The Princess & The Red Carp this weekend. It is a Cinderella version of the east and believed to be the original story where Yeh Hsien (Cinderella) said amidst the cruelty of her step mother and step sisters: "Why should I complain? things could be worst, at least I am able to eat 3 times a day and I have a roof on my head!" It made me realize how we never get to appreciate our blessings!

PS: Even though most of the actors are not really good but I truly loved the story and I still prefer it over the other recent shows as Xanadu and Shock Value.