Summer....??

Day of 2 of summer school went well, minus the bike ride to school (only because i'm terribly out of shape). 

I've begun to really notice just how much UG is in my blood now. My new room has 3 giant blown up black and white photos of sophie, mia and christina over my fire place. Over my bed is a beautiful painting that my roommate Jenn did of a photo i took at STAO in Mafubira. Between my windows is my beautiful ebony wood Africa. Over my desk are more photos and my Isaiah 54:17 piece that hung over my bed for 7 months in Jinja and now hangs over my desk. On my bulletin board is a note from Katie given to me as i was hopping into a car to head for the airport and come back to Canada. There is a painting that my friend Steve did for me at Christmas of my dear Soph, and countless other UG related items.

Today in my disease condition and illness experience class, we had to come prepared with a variety of supports and resources available to someone suffering from a chronic illness. The majority of people chose Alzheimer's or Diabetes. I chose HIV/AIDS. 

In my pharmacology seminar we were discussing P-Glycoproteins and how they related to CYP3A4 and what they do in the body. (Am i losing anyone yet?) Besides being ridiculously interesting -for real- P-glycoproteins act as pumps in some tissues and when a drug is given and that drug enters to cell to modify the nucleus or DNA, P-gp's pump that drug out. Its called the MDR1 in the human genes. Pumping drugs out of the cell before they can do their work is bad....obviously. This is the case with many small cell lung cancers which make it so hard to treat. 

P-gp's are bad news for HIV/AIDS patients. THe p-gp pump is activated when drugs like Indinivir enter the cell and the drug is pumped right back out. The T helper cells can't access the drug and viral load increases.... Or something like that--- don't take my word for it. 

So my prof tells us about grapefruit juice and how it reacts badly with many heart meds but it has been shown to DECREASE P-gp's in patients with HIV therefore making their ARV's more effective. Neat. 

Anyway- its day 2 and i'm consumed with homework already. Yesturday i did homework and prep work from 2 to 7 then took an hour break to visit a friend then worked till 930 then went to bed at 10. AHHH. 8 weeks is going to FLY by. 

I start another rotation of clinical this saturday on a medical floor. I'm really really REALLY excited to start acute care and learn new skills! 

Break is over- time to hit the books again!