New Year, Less Fear (or at least I hope)

 Happy January! 

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This semester is in full swing just a few weeks into the year. I am excited about the new classes that we have in addition to the few that are rolling over, like Med Pharm and Principles. A class that I am extremely excited about is Endocrine Pharmacology. In college, I took a super interesting class with my major advisor, Dr. Kristen Bohn, called Behavioral Endocrinology which focused more on hormone signaling in animal models, so I'm excited to transition over to Endocrine Pharm where it's more human-centered. So far in that class, one group gave a presentation on stress and COVID-19 which is not only relevant but extremely important. Part of that group's presentation was about how COVID has impacted children, and I was able to see that first hand with my students when I was teaching online in Spring of 2020. It was really difficult to get all of the kids on Zoom at first when my district started to phase-in virtual teaching at the beginning of the pandemic. I was constantly calling parents to update them, try and troubleshoot the online learning platform, and making sure students who were on the verge of failing, were getting their recovery work completed as best as they could. My conversations with them about being virtual differed from student to student. A lot of them missed their friends and were sad that they weren't in person and said it was boring to be home. Believe me, I understand that. On the other end, some students said they liked online school because there were fewer distractions - which is not the case in many households. I know some of the stressors on the parent's end were the fact that they had multiple kids who had online classes at the same time but not enough devices. Others were laid off, or if they were working from home, they were introduced to completely different interactions with their kids when they would otherwise just be at school. It's a lot. I know from my experience that everyone is doing the best they can, but the best that can be done can cause a lot of stress for all. I know that a lot of schools now have been perfecting their system so things can be a bit smoother than they were almost a year ago. 

My official vaccination card! 

On the same topic of COVID-19, vaccines are now being rolled out to certain populations nationwide. Tulane is allowing grad students at the medical school to receive the vaccine and I signed up immediately. I was a bit apprehensive and nervous since I know that vaccinating the elderly is a higher priority but I was reminded that getting vaccinated when I have the chance will help to reach herd immunity. This will help everyone overall, so I was convinced it was the right thing to do for me. I signed in and walked over to the nurse who was administering the vaccines. She asked if I had any questions, I didn't. She checked the syringe to make sure everything was good to go, told me to relax, and before I knew it, it was over. It hurt a little, but nothing in comparison to what I could imagine COVID feeling like. Afterward, I was observed for 15 minutes, socially distanced from others. With no immediate effects, I signed up for a 2nd appointment, and was free to go! It was quick, easy, and (mostly) painless. In the few days post-vaccine I only had a slight pain in my shoulder, but that quickly faded. From what I've heard from other young people who have gotten the vaccine, their experience was quite similar to mine. I only know of one friend from high school who had more severe side effects like headaches, body aches, and fatigue. Luckily I haven't had any of that with this first dose. I am excited to get the next and hope that it's a step forward for being able to get to a place of slightly less "physical distancing."