T minus 13 days!

T minus 13 days and counting until I load up and ship out to the Philippines for the summer! This is incredibly crazy to me! I am so very excited and am working on lining final things up before I depart. 

little reminder

Yesterday I had my appointment with the travel specialist to talk about vaccinations and travel safety. I got my Hepatitis A vaccination yesterday and also started my Typhoid oral vaccination this morning. From a nursing perspective, I am very fascinated by the oral vaccination. It is given in four doses with one pill taken every other day. It must be kept in the refrigerator and has a high risk for non-compliance which is why they tend to lean towards an intramuscular version (just like when you get your Tetanus booster or flu shot) to assure that the proper dosage was administered. I assured my doctor that I would have no problem with compliance and was issued a prescription for the vaccination. One thing I did find interesting and good (again from a nursing perspective) was that they gave me a bracelet to wear to remember to take the pills. It is similar to the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelet but says "Remember Oral Typhoid Vaccine." 

Today has been a VERY BUSY day! I spoke to the Philippine Consulate today and it looks like my visa will be dropped in the mail to come back to me tomorrow. Please say some prayers that it arrives here on time (sooner than later would be great). 

I also spoke with  the guidance counselor from my high school and received some very good news. The student government voted today to donate $200.00 to purchase over the counter medications to donate to the clinic I will be working in this summer! I will be looking around for the best deals on Tylenol, aspirin, and prenatal vitamins in the next few days and will be able to bring those supplies along on my trip. Thank you Beckman High School!

Kelsey, Tilly, and I met with an MMU Communications and Publications staff member today to talk about our trip a little bit. We are all so very excited to start our journey and may be getting a little stir crazy waiting to load our planes. One thing for sure is it sounds like we are all pretty excited to dive right into the experience.  Speaking of which, they will also be blogging their experiences you can follow them at:

www.kelseybishop2012.blogspot.com  and www.tillyschmidt.blogspot.com  respectively. I am so very blessed to be able to learn alongside and from these two ladies this summer, not to mention share in some sure to be awe inspiring births!

One final note for the day... FINALS! It is true, finals are among us! I am pretty fortunate to only have one actual test and two take home papers and then it is onward to SENIOR YEAR! Now that is something I could get used to saying! I am so very excited to continue on my journey to my nursing career and have some amazing people to thank for all of the support I have received! 

Well I am off to study study study!  Next time I write, I will  be *crossing my fingers* all packed and ready to go! Please feel free to e-mail or subscribe to my blog if you have any questions! 

Dreamin' big,

Casey