Family celebrations

Like I said a few days ago, I LOVE my family celebrations!  It's always fun just hanging out with them, chismis-ing or even playing games!  This year has definitely brought my family closer together so I'm thankful and excited for our next family get-together in May.  I always be a Purificacion at heart.

the Kaiser 'system'

There are a many 'perks' of working in a Kaiser pharmacy.  One is not having to deal with insurance problems (most of the time) and another is being able to continue a patient's therapy if the pharmacists thinks it's appropriate.  Since Kaiser is a closed system there is appropriate documentation & transparency between HCPs, ease of transfers and trust between the providers, the patients & the pharmacy.  IMO, it's one of the better outpatient pharmacies to work for!

carpool & the redline

I'm not a good car person.  I fall asleep as a passenger, I nod off while driving (SCARY I know) and sometimes I get car sick!  So when the opportunity arises to carpool or take public transportation somewhere I'm all over it!  Today I got to carpool w/ Alex when he worked at KP PC.  He dropped me off at the NoHo red line station & I took the train to KP Sunset where I worked that day.  It all worked out wonderfully, I got to take a nap on the train and I didn't have to drive!!

birthday celebrations

Today we celebrated my sister's birthday with my immediate family.  It was kinda sad bc my parents weren't there but they're with my aunt in San Jose so it's a-okay.  I've always loved celebrating my birthday and my family's birthdays since it's a time when we can all get together regardless of how busy we are.  And there's cake!

I look forward to many many more birthday celebrations and our family gets bigger and we all get older!!

LB naval base

I spent many childhood hours on the base at the commissary, the NEX and my favorite places there, the swimming pool & bowling alley. I remember the cheap bowling games and the empty pool and simply having fun with my family.

My parents x 2

There was a list going around on FB '27 signs you were raised by asian immigrant parents.'  It makes me realize how thankful I am to have such wonderful parents in my life.  They were tough growing up with strict parents and feeling like 'they just don't understand' or 'they don't care about me' when in realize that's all they cared about.  They care(d) about my well-being, my happiness and my future.  Thanks Mom & Dad!

While some people may not get along w/ their in-laws I am very thankful for mine.  Yes I may not fully understand what they're saying or need to speak in Spanish to communicate but I am thankful nonetheless.  I am most thankful for their goal of making sure their children are happy with whatever decisions they choose to make.  Thanks nai-nai & lol-yeh! (please excuse my horrible phonetic cantonese spelling)

Kimberly Purificacion Ma

1. bc it's her birthday today and 2. bc she's always been a caring older sister to me.  

Looking back at our childhood I see now that I was the annoying younger sister who wanted to tag along with her everywhere she went.  I hung out w/ her & her friends from the elementary school all the way until high school and I didn't stop bothering her until she went off to college.  Even then I would go with my mom on Fridays to pick her up from USC and order Jamba Juice w/ her FLEX money while waiting until she was ready to leave.  I realize now that throughout it all my sister was understanding, accepting and loving.  

THANKS ATE!  I love you!  I hope you have a spectacular day!

Mrs. Wilson aka Mrs. Cahan

I distinctly remember snack time during 1st grade w/ Mrs. Wilson Mrs. Cahan when I first had carrots & peanut butter.  We also made celery sticks w/ PB & raisins but my favorite of all were the apples w/ PB & crushed cornflakes.  YUMMMM.

OOPS.  after discussing w/ my sister, i've never had a Mrs. Wilson!  Mrs. Cahan was my 1st grade teacher.  SORRY!

shopping lists

When I have a shopping list of things I need I can cut my time by at least half when I'm in the store.  It keeps me focused and I avoid buying extra random snacks.  One time my sister told me she dropped her shopping list in Target but didn't know when.  She walked around Target scanning the floor for the shopping list and even asked one of the workers if it was turned in.  No such luck!  I can imagine I would feel like there's something I forgot to buy or left behind and then I remember it once I got home!

Yelp

A lot of times I know the general area of the place in looking for but I still use Yelp to find the address, phone number or even the store hours! It's so useful and quick! Thanks for all the great recommendations Yelp!

Asian food

Sometimes you just crave Asian food. It's great that I live so close to so many yummy Asian places. My stomach thanks me too.

Responsible patients

One of the things I try to instill in my patients is being accountable for their time & my time.  I remind them to call the clinic if they need to cancel the appointment, call if they're going to be late or call if they need to reschedule.  I'm always happier to accomodate the patients who called ahead of time instead of missing their appointments, no call/no show and then calling the clinic for an appointment bc they ran out of medication.

My house

I love driving up to my house and being greeted by the cheerful yellow/white color, the vibrant japanese maple and all the blooming roses.

Medical Assitants/my own

It's a small thing but having 1 medical assitant dedicated to vital & triage my patients is a 300% (if not more) improvement on my clinic life.  I am SO thankful to have one today.

Alex Hui Wu

I'm not much of an exercise person but today Alex asked me to go running with him so I said, Sure! Now, I'm not a super slow runner but I'm thankful that Alex stayed with me even when I wanted to slow down or walk and was simply happy that I went with him.  Towards the end I was feeling kinda lame about how slow I ran but Alex didn't make fun of me or say anything mean or negative.  Actually he said the exact opposite of what I was thinking, like he knew what was going on in my head!

AND now he's cooking us dinner!!

edit: our dinner!

Only a few reasons why I'm thankful for him today and every other day of my life.

my patients

Today i got to discharge one of my patients bc his A1c was 6.4!  He's a junior pastor at his church and as he shared some of his stories with me, I could see that he was on the verge of tears bc he was so happy.  

My cute niece

In honor of her baptism today I am very thankful for this adorable girl!!

impromptu raging

"Back in the days" when I was younger my friends and I partied up a storm.  Vegas on a weekly/monthly basis, clubbing in Hollywood, West LA, downtown or the westside.  Dancing til 130, late-night eating til 230, waking up at 6 and then working at 7am.  Tonight was a throwback to those days but a reminder that we're OLD.  But it was fun getting together and hanging out and another reminder that that's all I need to have fun, my friends.

Unexpected surprises

I don't know how it got there but I opened my drawer at work and saw this note! It was the perfect surprise to start off my day :)

drug companies

A majority of my patients are given free medication from the drug companies based on their low-income status.  These patients are usually very grateful and actually take the medication bc they know that it's difficult to get.

Today, our clinic was given a Coaguchek XS machine to start POC INR testing instead of venipunctures each time.  Also today, I spoke to one of my INR patients over the phone who consistently has problems with the lab despite all my efforts to make things run smoothly for her.  This only validated our need for POC machines in the clinic.

THANK YOU to all of the big pharma drug companies for donating your medication and other supplies to our clinics, we can offer better comprehensive care because of it!

late starts

Today Alex started work at 9am while I didn't have to be at work til 10!  This meant that I was able to make him breakfast, coffee and pack his lunch for today!  It's a small thing that I haven't been able to do for him since he's usually sleeping when I leave for work.

Kaiser Permanente

Today my better half officially starts a new chapter in his career.  One filled with 5 days of work/week and nothing more.  We have been fortunate to be able to work at Kaiser since we were in school and to get Per Diem positions at Kaiser once we graduated.  But now Kaiser will be Alex's primary job and thus he cannot work more than 40hrs/week (unless they want to pay him overtime in which he will probably gladly work it)!  I'm so excited for him!

Annual passes

We're at Disneyland!!! The end.

DVR

Having worked at Kaiser last night and then again today and knowing that I have work tomorrow makes sitting at home on the couch watching DVR a blessing.  I'm very thankful that I can record, rewind & fast forward through my favorite shows from my uber-comfortable couch. Nap time!

spring break (again)

It's so interesting how kids don't get sick during spring break or during summer vacation.  I'm very thankful that the kiddos are not sick this spring break & enjoying the non-outpatient pharmacy areas of the world.

Yao Hua Wu

My (younger) brother in law is quiet and often keeps to himself but he has a big heart. I'm glad that he lives with us and gets to share in the randomness of the house and witness Alex's randomness with me.

I'm mostly thankful that I was his friend first and his sister-in-law second.

Being heard

Monday I had a BAD BAD day in clinic. I was so frustrated by the problems that keep on arising time and time again. I ended up telling the clinic managers who looked into the issue and set up a schedule to fix my problem(s)! FINALLY!!

It's nice being heard and being treated as an equal.

Spanish skills

This weekend I was 'tricked' into attending Easter mass in Spanish. I verifed with the parish office (who spoke English) and once we were there we verified with one of the parishoners who was also waiting for mass to start. The mass ended up being 75% in Spanish and only 25% English but I was able to understand most of the mass. I also had to use my Spanish at the Walmart in Calexico earlire that day.

Today I was at the Hispanic market and was able to order the meat I wanted and understood what the workers were saying bc I spoke Spanish.

Prayers

Four months ago, my family was blown away by the news that one of my aunts has lung cancer that likely spread to her liver.  Everyone in my family took it hard; I've never seen my aunts & uncles cry like that in turn making my shed my own tears again.  We took the news, internalized it and took it a way to bring our family together.  We've been trying to visit my aunt whenever possible to keep her spirits up, give her strength when she needs it and everything and anything else she may need from us.

My cousin told me today that her medication regimen is working!  Her tumors have diminished and others have shrunk!  She is always in my prayers and I'm so happy to hear the good news.  I am thankful for everyone who has kept my aunt in their prayers.