Interferon!

As ya'll can see from my previous updates, I haven't been too excited about the two drugs my doc mentioned. So, like the good patient advocate that I am, I researched things on my own and came across some studies for a drug called Pegylated Interferon (the pegylated part has to do with what it binds to and it's ability to stick around in the system longer...so you only have to take it once a week).

For the geek in all of us, here are links to two abstracts:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19826111
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18650451

So,what does this mean in good ol' plain English? Well, this particular drug has been used to treat hepatitis and some smarty pants decided to see how it would work with people who have PV...perhaps because one of the side effects of the drug is bone marrow suppression (which is exactly what us PV folks want!). In many patients it created a COMPLETE REMISSION (or "complete response" as the abstract states), and in some cases it REVERSES the gene mutation! Holy Cow Batman!

Anyway, I emailed the studies to my doc and he responded right away that they looked very promising. We are planning to meet on Monday, so let's cross fingers that he's done some more research and can get me on this drug (and that it works, of course!).

In other news...planning a brunch for a few friends on Sunday (and yes, we're going to eat outside in the semi-madeover backyard if it's not too hot). Cleaned out the fridge today, found a bunch of healthy stuff I had forgotten about in the cabinets and managed to fit my dehydrator AND juicer in the kitchen! Hoping to start doing more raw-foods, and having a permanent home for the ol' dehydrator beast should help.

Gotta get back to work!
Hugs,
Mo

All by myself....

I have that song running through my head...All By Myself.....lalala. Why? Because I am going to spend the night all by myself for the first time since this diagnosis. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep, though of course, I'll be waking up every two hours as is my norm. Not planning to sleep through the night until the platelets are below 600,000. Anyway, just reporting in...wish me luck!

My platelets are stupid

Just spoke with the doc...he'd left me a message the other day saying it was time to start considering platelet-lowering agents. The two he mentioned, Hydroxurea and Anagrelide, have icky side effects and I'm not too keen on taking either one of them. So, when we touched base today I thought he was definitely going to push for meds. However, since my hemoglobin has dropped to normal he says I'm not "high risk" for stroke right now...I guess just moderate risk (which is still rather poopy), but since I take an aspirin every day he says we can watch the platelets for a bit and see if they continue to go up or if they drop down below 1 million. If they stay below a million, I can just take an aspirin...otherwise it's time for meds.

I have, however, been reading some promising studies regarding something called 'pegylated interferon'...apparently plain ol' interferon is nasty stuff, but people seem to tolerate the pegylated version much better. Studies have been done on patients with PV and it has shown an "excellent" response...some people even go into a lasting remission. I plan to print these out and take them to my appointment on the 1st.

Now for some awesomeness...Tom and I are giving our backyard a little touch-up. Not a total re-do, but we're putting in a fresh layer of decomposed granite and new bender board for the flower beds. It has made such a huge difference! I'm going to get a few new plants on Friday and re-mulch the beds...it is going to be party ready in no time! If we can finish our bathroom project we could potentially have an end-of-the summer bash. Fun fun!

And...without further ado...our new addition!

And here is a shot of the interior:

Isn't she just adorable?
Hugs to all!
Mo

New car and more lab results :-)

Ok, let's get the business end of this out of the way...went to the vampires yesterday and got another unit of blood drained. My hemoglobin is now 11.9 (goal was 14...so I'm well under that), WBCs are back to being within the normal range (on the high end, but still within normal limits), and my platelets are still climbing, though at first glance it looks like they haven't jumped by quite as much...but what's it really matter when they're over 1 million anyway (normal is 150,000 to 400,000)? Call me Super Clotting Girl! Ok, not funny...since a clot is the evil little demon lurking around the corner of my every thought these days. Hence the reason I set my alarm for every two hours in the middle of the night...I figure if I wake up and find I've had a stroke, I've still got an hour to get to the hospital and start thrombolytic therapy. I seriously can't wait until I can sleep straight through the night again...I wonder if this is how parents of newborns feel? Well, they're probably a lot happier than I am right now...my mood has been a bit on the downer side and I have to say, I do not like it. Not one bit.

And now for the awesomeness....I got a new car! An adorable little Subaru Impreza hatchback...she's white with beige interior. I'll take some pics soon and put those up.

Ok, off to get ready for work. The awesome thing about being at work is that I hardly have time to think about my health...I'm too busy taking care of others. It's a wonderful feeling, and I'd do it more often except for the fact that: a) overtime is frowned upon, and b) it's totally and completely exhausting.

Day off tomorrow! Yay!

Hugs and fuzzy warm kitties,
Mo

I'm almost there!

Got my 2nd phleb done yesterday and my levels today were almost to goal! Yay! The nurse at the infusion clinic initially thought it would take about a month to get to these levels. She obviously did not know who she was dealing with. However, my platelets are all out of whack, so not really sure what's going on there. WBCs are also on the rise. Could be due to stress or just this icky disorder. Meeting with the Doc on the 1st, so will find out more then.

Awesome thing of the day....Trudi!!! She is sporting one of her many costumes (she's the canine Cher, I tell ya), and it just makes me smile. Animals are indeed AWESOME.
Hugs to all!

Awesome News!

I got blood drawn at the lab today...and I am happy to report that my hemoglobin dropped by 1.8 points...after just one phlebotomy! My platelets are still rising (darnit), but am trying to focus on the positives. At this point the platelets are close to 1 million (normal is about 100,000 to 450,000), and I'm not sure at what point meds come into the picture. I have an appointment with my doc on the 29th. Stay tuned.

Something awesome happened today:

My friend, the Yoganazi, surprised me with this over-the-top surprise present. What's the occasion? She's awesome, that's the occasion! Apparently, this particular bag was chosen because it will match my new car...hopefully going to pick it up tomorrow! Will the awesomeness ever end? Let's hope not!

Diagnosis

The past week or two have been a real roller-coaster...hope mixed with terror, curiosity mixed with avoidance...it's been trying to say the least. Based on my EPO levels (a hormone produced by the kidney to stimulate the production of red blood cells), my doc has essentially confirmed that I have Polycythemia Vera. It's a disorder of the bone marrow that causes it to produce too many cells..in my case RBCs and platelets. This causes the blood to essentially become too thick leading to awful things like blood clots which manifest as stroke, heart attacks and pulmonary embolism. Not happy thoughts.

So, the goals of therapy are to get the blood levels down to normal ranges while reducing the blood's tendency to clot. To do this I take aspirin every day and also get a phlebotomy 2x a week until my levels are normal. A phlebotomy is basically like donating blood except they throw it in the garbage. Here is a picture of me after my first phlebotomy.

I was very nervous going in...but my good friend Kerry came along and held my hand when they poked me with the huge needles. When the first set of IV tubing clotted off almost immediately due to the extreme sludginess of my blood, I got a little bit scared. Happily, nurses are very clever, and they figured out how to use a different type of tubing that was a little larger in diameter. I hear that as the phlebotomies progress and the blood gets thinned out, you can see the difference in how easily it's able to move through the tubing. I'm going again tomorrow, and will video tape it. Yes, I know it's dorky...but I'm doing it anyway :-)

Referral

So my doc referred me to a hematologist (who also happens to be an oncologist). So when I called to make the appointment, the woman who answered the phone said "Oncology, this is So-and-So." Needless to say, my heart dropped down to my shoes. After setting up the appointment time she says, "Now, I don't want you to freak out, but when you come to the appointment, the door says 'oncology'...it's all in one unit." Don't you think she could have said that FIRST? Geez!

Regardless, I am still a bit freaked out as there is obviously something funky going on. And the reason my doc is both a hematologist and an oncologist is because blood disorders and cancer are so closely related. Great. Anyway, I have vowed to stay off the internet and stop trying to self-diagnose myself. In the meantime, I'm just focusing on drinking my 64 oz of water every day and eating foods high in iron. For breakfast, I had a green smoothie with blackstrap molasses, which is super high in iron. Plus, it was yummy! And high in fiber! And full of vitamins and nutrients! Loooove my green smoothies. I think I could work this angle and get Tom to buy me a Vita-Mix...hm.....

Anyway, Tom gets home today from a camping trip...he cut the trip short so he could be with me in my freak-out-edness. I think staying busy is the key. It's when I get in bed at night and there's nothing to distract me that my mind starts going to those scary places. Today has been good so far...this morning I went to an ICU Skills Fair for work where I had to get checked off on a bunch of stuff like ScVO2 monitors, IVDs and lumbar drains, temporary pacemakers, PA caths, sepsis screening, pressure ulcer prevention, rotational therapy...so, that was nice and busy! Saw lots of people from my unit there...starting to feel like less and less of an outsider. In a few minutes I'm picking up my pal to grab lunch and go scrubs shopping...she starts her new job on Monday, so now all my friends have found nursing jobs...awesome!

Ok, off to make the house look like I semi-cleaned it before T gets back from his trip. Hugs to all!
Mo

Honk if you love my blog.

Hey friends and fam...I don't update this much because I am not sure anyone else reads it. Probably due to the fact that I have my privacy settings set to "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Anyway...if you've been in touch with me at all lately, you know I landed my dream job in the ICU. It is all kinds of awesome!

In other news...dealing with some troubling blood work but am trying not to get too freaked about it. My red blood cell count is high which means I've got a horrible disorder or I'm pretty darn dehydrated. I'm going with dehydrated and as a result am drinking a ton of water...I downloaded a little app for my iPhone called Water Tracker. It's pretty neat...you can set random reminders throughout the day that say, "Hey, drink some water!" I've set my goal at 12 8-oz glasses and have done good for two whole days in a row! Apparently it takes a bit to reverse chronic dehydration, so I'm going to stick with it until I get my next blood test. I also have super high platelets, which can also be a horrible disease or an iron deficiency. Since my ferritin levels came back low, I'm hoping that's the reason for it and not Something Else. Tom (and everyone else) thinks I need to eat beef every now and again...and honestly, I probably would because this shilolah is scaring me awfully bad. However, I'd like to try alternatives first...and one of the things I've been reading about is celiac. Apparently, a significant number of people who are diagnosed with celiac have NO gastrointestinal symptoms at all....they get tested for it because they have iron-deficiency anemia (like moi). With that said, being a vegan AND following a gluten-free diet would be rather restrictive, and I may have to throw something back into the mix to replace my beloved seitan (which is 100% gluten and one of my all-time favorite things). Sigh...we shall see. I just want to get this blood work back to normal so I can stop lying awake at night thinking about all the horrible things that can happen. And I also may have a B-12 deficiency...I'm telling ya, I am one really untalented vegetarian! I am sure my doc will do more tests, so stand by...if anyone is out there, that is.

In other exciting news...Tom and I found a little house we'd like to buy. It's two streets over from us and is absolutely darling! It would make a great little rental. Not sure we have enough saved for a down payment yet, but T is supposed to call a lender tomorrow and get some ideas. I may have talked him into staying in this house, but there are some things I'd like to do to it to get it more organized and functional. Namely, I'd like to turn the office into a humungous walk-in closet. That would be The Most Awesome Thing In The World. It would also cost Way Too Much Money, but could possibly be a fun DIY project. We'll see...need to buy the little rental first, so stand by.

Oh, speaking of buying things, I bought a new car. Or rather, I committed to buying a new car. It is enroute from some mysterious place and will arrive on the 20th...only 16 days away! Yippee! It's a white Subaru Impreza hatchback. Super super cute. I'll take pics once it's in my hot little hands...or maybe a video using Tom's dorky GoPro camera. YouTube here I come!

Ok, that's enough rambling...do me a favor and post a reply if you are still reading. I'd kind of like to see which of you I've suckered into following this almost non-existant blog.

Love and hugs,
Mo!

Is there a hematologist in the house?

Before I graduated from nursing school, I told myself I would blog more often...especially about the trials and tribulations of my first year as a nurse. Ha. I've been way too busy, way too exhausted and way too overwhelmed. I've been working at my new job in the ICU for eleven weeks and this is the first time I've even felt like sitting down to write about it. But, truth be told, that's not what is on my mind this morning...I am dealing with some troubling lab results and that seems to be all I can think about.

I went in for my annual "girlie visit" and asked the NP about getting my cholesterol screening done. She said she'd like to throw in a CBC and chem panel as well, so I said, "sure"! You know how us ICU nurses love data...the more the merrier! So I get my results back and started with the cholesterol (excellent), worked through the chem panel (fine and dandy) and then got to the CBC (not awesome). The results are troubling and I am wracking my brain trying to "self-diagnose" myself into a non-terrifying explanation (I've since had a follow-up draw, so that's the second set of results):

WBC: 10.2, 10.9 (normal...whew!)
RBC: 6.56, 6.66 (range 3.6-5.7)
Hgb: 17.1, 17.2 (range 11.5-15)
Hct: 51.8, 51.9 (range 34-46)
MCV: 79, 78 (range 80-100)
RDW, RBC: 17.5, 18.5 (range 11.9 - 14.3)
PLTs: 859, 858 (range 140-400)

Of course, I made a little diagram showing all the possible causes for each of these results (per my lab book, so probably only a portion of the possible causes, but I had to start somewhere). The happiest, very best explanation for the elevated RBC & Hgb would be that I am chronically, chronically dehydrated. I know I don't drink enough water...I absolutely know it. I am hoping like hell this is the reason. The other possible cause is polycythemia vera, for which there is no cure. Even if I don't have PV (and knock on wood that I don't), a RBC and Hgb this high is pretty scary...stroke, organ dysfunction and pulmonary embolism have all been circling around in my head for days. Sadly, as a nurse, I know just enough to scare the crap out of myself...but not enough to be reasonable and rationale.

Moving on to the high PLTs, I've been hoping against hope that I have an iron-deficiency anemia (because, trust me, the alternatives are way cruddier than that). AND THIS JUST IN!!! I just got a lab result back and my ferritin level is 9 (normal is 22-291)!!! Ok, normally this would be huge cause for concern, but I feel like this is something I can control. The other possible causes (things like cancer, polycythemia vera, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory conditions, chronic heart disease, cirrhosis, essential thrombocythemia, leukemias, pancreatitis, TB, ulcerative colitis) are super scary.

The thing that's throwing me is that with I.D. anemia, my RBC and Hbg would be low...but possibly the dehydration is causing such hemoconcentration that it appears high despite the anemia? I did have microcytes...which is also a sign of anemia...so I don't know. I am definitely feeling better about things than I did when I sat down to write this, but I am pretty sure my doc will send me to a hematologist. In the meantime...I'm upping my water intake to 12 glasses a day and eating iron-rich foods. I've been a pretty lazy vegetarian for a while now, and am hoping I won't have to resort to eating meat. Hoping I can just get back to eating lots of greens and such...we shall see. This is scaring the pants off me, so I will do whatever I need to do to get healthy...even if it involves eating a cheeseburger. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Life after nursing school

Here it is, the first day of 2011 and I am almost (but not quite) bored with my empty schedule. I knew it would happen, but I didn't think it would happen this fast! So far I do not have any job prospects, but I've applied to five positions so far and am waiting to hear back about four of them. Cross fingers and toes, please!

Graduation and pinning were amazing....exhausting, but amazing. I gave a speech at the pinning ceremony and was honored with an award from one of our local hospitals (it came with a nifty etched glass thingy AND a very unexpected $500 which I am using to by myself a decent camera!) I had a dessert party at my house after graduation and now I am completely SUGARED OUT. No more sugar for me. Seriously.

NCLEX is scheduled for January 24th, and I'm supposed to start studying today. At least it will give me something to do! And, now that I have all this time on my hands, I'll try to post more often (of course, the downside to this is that I have nothing of interest to post. Sigh).

Happy 2011!!!

Hi from Mo Land!

Howdy friends! I am just popping in to say hi...things with school have been pretty busy and iIve generally just had a case of "the blahs" brought on my a severe case of senioritis. Only four more weeks of school and then I am a FREE WOMAN! In other good news, I only have three clinical shifts left and I'm getting one of those knocked out tonight...the last two are Sunday/Monday (knock on wood that my preceptor doesn't get called off).

In other news....wait, there is no other news. All I do is school stuff! I've been making lots of cookies lately...I'll have to post some recipes soon. Also, I recently discovered Soy Curls. OMG! The best thing evah!!!! More exciting photos and details to come as soon as I'm done with all this school BS and have time to cook and basically live my life. Oh yeah...and hunt for a job (it's bleak out there folks...very very bleak).

10 days until school starts...

...and have I accomplished ANY of the things I wanted to this summer? Have I...

-lost 20 pounds? No
-studied for clinicals? No
-worked on my bestseller? No
-frozen a bunch of meals to eat on busy school nights? No
-organized all my closets? No
-deep-cleaned the house? No
-filed everything in my "fun things to file" folder? No

Sigh.

On to other news, my new uniform arrived in the mail the other day. Talk about boxy...so I took the top to get altered and am hoping that it comes back much improved. It certainly couldn't get worse...I was SWIMMING in extra fabric from my chest to my hips...of course, it was a little, ahem, snug at the hips, but the rest of it was voluminous to say the least. Who is shaped like that? WHO????

My other big project as of late has been switching myself into a night person. It's not going very well. I did manage to stay up until 0230 or so the other night, but I wasn't able to sleep in, and then had to get up this morning at 0600. I tried to take a nap today, so we shall see. My goal is to get to where I can stay up until 0300 without much effort, thinking that I can pull off another four hours on adrenaline alone. We shall see. So far it is not looking good. At all.

I guess the only thing I can get accomplished now is a list of commonly-used cardiac drugs that I'm compiling for clinical. Also need to brush up on my rhythms (though I just took a cardiac monitoring course and have a nifty little lapel pin to prove it!). I don't know, I just feel like I forgot MOST of Med/Surg during the ultra-useless Peds/OB semester so I want to review a bit of that stuff as well. However, I only have ten days left, and two of those days are dedicated to learning the computer charting at the hospital....so basically eight days left...I know! I'll make a schedule. I heart a schedule.

Off to get the zucchini bread out of the oven...can you smell it?!?!?

Precepting Assignment!!

We finally got our preceptor assignments today! I don't think I mentioned that my Plan A went totally out the window d/t a bunch of changes at the hospital I wanted to preept at. Plus, over the summer I thought a lot more about what sort of nursing I want to get into and realized that working on a telemetry floor would be a great start to either the ER or the ICU...and maybe someday a heart transplant unit (a girl can dream).

So, I ended up getting assigned to a "tele" floor at a big hospital about 20 miles from my house. The drive will stink, but I am hoping it will all be worth it. Plus, this hospital is new-grad friendly. Yippee!

I have not had any clinical rotations at this hospital so I know absolutely NOTHING about how things work over there. And yay...I get to learn yet another charting system....my favorite stress-free activity. Ha! Luckily we get a 2-day class on how to use the system...so hopefully that will be beneficial and I won't feel like a complete moron my first day.

Oh, and did I mention I'm working the NIGHT SHIFT?!?!?!?!?!? If anyone has tips for transitioning between days/nights, let me know! Somehow I have to get on a day schedule for Thursdays and Fridays...good times are ahead!

Ashtanga Day 1

In my quest to be less fat and more awesome, I am exploring Ashtanga yoga. Yes, I've been doing yoga for something like ten years now, but I've never full heartedly committed to one type of practice or another. And Ashtanga is pretty darn cool. Plus, and I hate to say this because it's very un-yoga-ish, but it's great for those of us who are rather goal oriented. By doing the same practice over and over and over, you can easily see where you are improving and, as such, there is always something to work on. I like that aspect of it very much. It is, however, very difficult....especially when you look at doing the whole primary series with all the jumping forward and jumping back. I do not have anywhere near the strength needed to do a proper jump back, and my forward jumps are rather clumsy (in my opinion)...exhibiting none of the floatiness of David Swensen or other Ashtanga gurus. Sigh.

But today, I was reading my Asthanga Practice Manual (Swensen), and in it he says he could not make it through the primary series at first. So, that is my motivation...because obviously, if you keep at it then it will get better...right? I have been going to a yoga studio to practice with Bill Counter (who is awesome!!!), but my lack of a job makes it difficult to go as often as I'd like. So, I am going to try very hard (notice the lack of the word "commit") to doing an Ashtanga practice daily and supplementing that with one or two trips to the studio each week. Now, when I say that I will do an Ashtanga practice daily, I do not mean I will do the entire series each day. I know me, and I know that I cannot commit to 1.5 to 2 hours of yoga every day. I will, however, at least do one of the short forms that Swensen outlines in his book, and will commit to a full series one or twice a week.

So, to report on today...I practiced in my office using Swenson's audio CD and book as guides. I left out the jump backs in the seated series and did "take-it-up" instead, hoping that this will help me gain the requisite core strength for those gorgeous floaty jump backs. Even with that adjustment, I only made it up to Supta Konasana and then decided that I was beat. I also decided that the office is no good for this practice, as there really isn't room to do a good Supta Konasana and the floor is rather dirty. So, I need to find a better spot that has more space and less dust. Maybe the living room if I move some stuff around. I really look forward to the day when I can have an entire corner to devote entirely to yoga...that will be awesome! I hate having to move things around...it's just one more barrier and excuse to keep me on my duff and off my matt.

Also, I have had NO CHOCOLATE so far today. Really trying to make it all day!

Rainbow Cupcakes

This is the sort of trouble I get into when school is not in session:


I used the Basic Vanilla Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, then got fancy with food coloring. They are just so precious, I had to take a pic. Took a dozen to a friend's house for dinner and all but one got devoured, but only because I practiced restraint and only had one cake. Gotta get less fat, and all this baking is NOT HELPING!

It's time to cook!

Just like last summer, I am bored. And this boredom leads to lots of time in the kitchen making really good food that makes my booty not so awesome in white scrub pants. Today I made some delish Black Bean Burgers (they were great even though I completely left out one of the ingredients...oops!) and I also made these awesome cookies...

They are Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles! They have a nice chocolate flavor with a 'kick' of cayenne that comes in at the end and says "Howdy!". Sooo good! The cookies were from "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar", and the burgers are from "Veganomicon." Two really awesome cookbooks.

If you are interested, the link to the recipe is here:
http://www.theppk.com/2009/09/mexican-hot-chocolate-snickerdoodles/

Other than that, I pretty much did nada. Summer is here.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I made the PB cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I used the wrong molasses, so they turned out kind of dark and I may have cooked them too long b/c they have a slightly burnt or toasty flavor that I'm sure was not intended. So, my verdict with these is they are so-so if you use the wrong molasses. I'll pick up some of the light molasses today and give them a do-over sometime.

Curried Carrot Dip

I just received what some call the Big Kahuna of vegan cookbooks...Veganomicon. Though I am not famous for following through on projects (note the aborted Callanetics experiment), I am going to try very very hard to cook everything in that book and post my reviews of the recipes here for my pals and anyone else who loves vegan cooking.

So, without further ado...today I made the Curried Carrot Dip. Normally, I would not choose a dip for my First Ever Veganomicon recipe, but I had a bunch of carrots to use up, so the recipe caught my eye. It was either that, or end up tossing them out. I am so glad I made the dip! I did, however, learn that I really need to invest in a food processor or a VitaMix b/c my blender suuuuuucks. I ended up mashing the remaining chunks with a fork, so I'm sure the texture would be much creamier with the proper equipment.

I would also probably use a bit more garlic than the recipe calls for...but I may be speaking too soon as I did not wait the suggested 30 mins before devouring the dip on a whole wheat pita. No worries...there is still a substantial portion left in the fridge, so I'll see how it tastes after the flavors have begun to meld.

All in all, it was an easy recipe to make and I could see using this spread to kick sandwiches up a notch...or simply enjoying on a pita is pretty yum, too. It's also a gorgeous color! Since my version is lumpier than what it should be, I didn't take a picture...but if I get a food processor, I'll make it again and post the photo...it's so pretty!

Another one bites the dust...

Yippe-kye-yay...another semester done and only one more to go! I ended up with a 95% in OB and a 96.4% in Peds...why do I know this? Because I have a great app called GradeCalc on my iPod. Because of this fantastic application, I walked into my Peds final knowing I only needed a 65% in order to get an A...talk about taking the pressure off!

The other two classes I had were skills labs and were credit/no credit. Pretty sure I got credit...at least I hope I did, because I sure as heck did all the BS-y assignments and running around I had to do.

Not much else of excitement to report. I've got about 8 days off and then summer school starts. I opted to take a writing intensive class this semester instead of in the fall. I figure if I end up working nights I will be really really glad to have this 18 page paper out of my hair. Plus, all my favorite peeps are taking it, so it won't be too terribly bad. I am also in the process of applying for an internship with Kaiser...there were about 40 people at the orientation for 4-8 spots...so not super great odds (and sadly, they are not basing it on GPA). I will know in about two weeks if I got that sweet little gig or not...otherwise, my only plans for the summer are to celebrate my birthday, work on my bestseller, do some gardening and spend lots of time experimenting in the kitchen. Fun fun!

Good luck on finals everyone!