Blogs are So 2008

Hello readers and welcome to my blog! I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself and give you a little background as to why I wanted to start blogging. My name is Claire Wheeler Love, and I am a licensed pharmacist in Lexington, Kentucky. My father is also a pharmacist and started his own “drugstore” in 1958 when he was just 22 years old. Growing up in a family business, I was inspired by his hard work and dedication to his family, his community, and his business. I decided to follow in his footsteps in hopes of continuing his traditional, neighborhood pharmacy well into the future. After graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in 1993 and 5 years working in a chain pharmacy, I finally joined him in the family business. Within a few years, I discovered the art and science of pharmacy compounding and how rewarding it was, both professionally and personally. If you aren’t familiar with what “compounding” is, keep following the blog as I will be sure to include that as one of my topics to cover very soon. Anyway, I am exactly like my father in that I need to do things my way so in 2012 I bought out the compounding portion of my dad’s business and opened my own compounding only pharmacy directly across the street. We both consider it to be a “sister” pharmacy, not in direct competition with each other, just in case you’re wondering. The type of prescriptions we fill and the OTC products we sell are very much an alternative to the norm, the “outside of the box” things that many don’t know exist at all. But that is changing all the time as patients are more and more seeking natural approaches to traditional medicine. But I digress and am sure will cover more about that in future blogs as well. Anyway, I’m not sure just how much I have to say, but I do think of things all the time that I want to get out and need a bigger forum to do so.

A little story about me: My past consists of spending about 30 years of my life inside a local dance studio studying jazz, tap, ballet/pointe. (Kind of explains the blog name The Dancing Druggist, huh?) In fact, my family used to tease me while I was in pharmacy school that I would be the only pharmacist tap dancing on the counter or wearing a tutu to work! Well that first part just might come true since I recently started taking tap classes again. Anyway, the last 10 of those years were spent sharing my passion for dance with students through teaching class and choreographing pieces for them to perform. Why do I tell you this, you may ask? What on earth does it have to do with pharmacy? I tell you this because dance was such a huge part of my life and allowed me the opportunity to develop another passion…..teaching others. Now that I have spent over 25 years as a pharmacist, I have found so many similarities with my dance training, especially through the creativity I get to use through compounding. Pharmacists teach…all the time. They teach their patients how to manage their disease states, they teach their patients how to maintain health, and they teach their patients practical things like how to use their blood glucose monitor or how to treat a common cold with OTC meds. Looking back, I see that pharmacy was a perfect fit and I hope to teach my readers a thing or two through this blog.

My 23 year old son says that “blogs are soooooooooooo 2008”, but I don’t care. I have things to say and do that best in written form, not on camera or via podcast. There are topics that I want to convey with you, my followers, in an effort to inform, educate, and empower. And sometimes I may just rant. I am sorry about that ahead of time, but sometimes I may just need to do that. Everyone does on occasion, I suppose. Most topics will be health related, mostly things I see in my own practice today or have seen in the past, but you never know when I might deviate from that formula and surprise you by writing about my cat. Who knows? By no means do I consider myself a writer, nor am I trying to become some kind of internet blogger sensation. My hope is just to enlighten and perhaps even entertain those of you who chose to read it. I may not change the way you view these topics, and I’m not necessarily trying to, but if I can make you think about it even for just a few minutes, I will personally feel like I have accomplished something and done my little part to contribute to my little part of the world we live in. I want to personally promise that I will always be upfront and honest with you. Anyone who knows me personally, knows that this statement could never be truer. I am the type of person who tells it like it is, even if it is not what you want to hear. Now for the mandatory disclaimer: “Nothing you read here should be construed as medical advice. It is for informational purposes only and I encourage you to consult your own healthcare professional.” Did that sound okay? I guess I will have to put that statement somewhere on this site, huh? But seriously, it is true. I may know a lot about some subjects, but I don’t know everything and I certainly don’t know anything about your specific health challenges. So please don’t go to your doctor and say “Claire said on her blog to take this” or “Claire said on her blog to stop taking this medication because it is bad for me”. I can’t emphasize this enough…Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this introduction. I look forward to writing many more The Dancing Druggist blogs!