dear pat and all,

someone recently said on pedschat (forgive me i forgot who) said that LLLL
leaders tend to do very well on the exam, but the percentage taking the exam
that ARE lay counselors is rather low and that they want to increase that. i
think the reasons so few take the exam have less to do with the exam than with
the outlook of LLLL and how much use the added knowledge/credentials would be
to them if they were not moving out of volunteerism into a professional
position of some kind.

and, as i study A & P (as i have been calling it; anatomy and physiology) and
"the biologic specificity of human milk," i find that, yes indeed, there are
things i did not know before, but i don't need to be an HCP to understand
them. i have a medical dictionary and i often wish i hadn't cheated my way
through chemistry and studied instead, but it is not too hard for my aging,
befuddled brain to comprehend. i take it as a hint that i am pursuing the
right path when i find this area of knowledge to be something i have to give a
lot of thought to in order to fully understand what i am reading, but find it
fascinating and informative. my best friend the midwife said, oh, what ARE
they making you study that stuff for, you don't need it anyway." but we do
need to know, as much to understand how to manage actual situations as to be
able to do a good job in bf advocacy.

leaving the serious mode, i had to pass chemistry to take college biology,
which i aced.

carol b.