Out of it...

My day just didn't start out right on Tuesday. I didn't get to ride down with my girls to the VA :( I had spent the night in Salt Lake at my mom's on monday night. My mom has been sick so i went down to be with her and to cook dinner for my brothers who are apparently getting sick of microwaving their food!

So, i got to the VA and had missed out on all the past 45 minutes of fun. My day was good...a class II int the morning who was a heavy smoker and had like a 2-3 mm band of stain around the linguals of pretty much everyone of his teeth. He was a very nice man though and was patient while i tried my best to get it all off. There were a few spots on the line angle of the lower anteriors that i couldn't get with the ulttrasonic, my scalers or my polish/handpiece. When PBJ came in for my scale check she showed me a little secret for that stubborn stain. She scooped some prophy paste out of the cup with her finger and smeared it across the lower anteriors...making sure it was all smooshed in the contacts. Then she doubled up the floss and flossed the stain off! Worked like a charm! Thanks for that great tip Prof. Bossenberger! I also loved to listen to her and take notes for OHI. My pt and i had already talked about it, but it was nice to have her come in and reinforce it to my pt. She also mentioned some other hygiene aids that i hadn't just to give my pt some more options. It was great. I will love to have her experience one day. She teaches me so much and she probably doesn't even realize it! Maryann was so great tuesday too as our CA. I think she heard me mention to my pt that i needed a film developed from like 3 rooms down and as soon as i stood up she was right behind me ready to process it! Thanks maryann, you were SO SO helpful!

My afternoon was weird. I felt so out of it! My pt was a class III and i had a hard time with him...his pockets, i mean! They were deep! It's a good thing he was missing so many teeth or i don't know if i could have finished him! He was a trooper though, so we got it all done...then he got the weber clinic # from me because he is from ogden and has lots of family there and wanted them to come see us to be cleaned! YAY! We love more patients! I was sad to miss the carpool home...i heard it was quite the ride! I hope it didn't beat the day of the red-headed motorcycle boy cuz if it did i will be SO sad that i wasn't there!! I just love you girls!

Am i supposed to feel like this???

Well, i had my 1st N2O experience yesterday and i'm a little surprised to say that i don't think nitrous is something i'll ever be requesting! I wasn't a huge fan. My nose piece smelled good though! ha ha I felt a little tingley, but i think if i was on it any longer i would have gotten really uncomfortable. I don' t think i'd ever love to have that "out of control" feeling. I had a terrible headache after that lasted about 2 hours. I think i'd rather be getting an injection...but only if it was melissa giving it to me!

I'd rather be CA at the VA

Thursday sucked. Being a CA is just code for long boring day! Everyone has to take their turn though. The morning got off to a rough start...Mrs. Campbell had a cough, so i was on my own. It wasn't too bad checking everyone in, but Mrs. Neely said i needed to stay at the desk all morning. So, what?? Casper was just going to get the 2 baskets of dirty instruments sterilized and stock rooms and help students and put away the sterile instruments while i sat at the front desk incase a phone call came in?? Probably not! I ended up just going back and forth all morning trying to keep up. Lily over at midtown would yell to me when someone showed up at the desk. I really like her by the way. I think she is a lot more friendly than Irma was. So, anyway...i was excited to go to lunch because i felt so out of it. I hadn't seen Meliss and Crystal for like 3 hours and i was having withdrawls. What am i ever going to do when we graduate and i don't see them at least every 12 hours?

The afternoon was better. Calena was there to help. After i checked everyone in and made charts i was able to stock the pods and chill out in back. I helped Melissa suction while she used the ultrasonic. Her pt was quite the bleeder! I thought it was so strange that he pretty much refused to be numbed, yet he was jumping all over the place before Melissa even touched his tooth! Finally we were able to talk him into it...Melissa is quite the pro at injections. She acted like she'd done it a million times! Way to go! Her pt probably went to the hospital after for a blood transfusion, so hopefully he's ok now! ha ha So, that was my poopy day as CA. Glad that's over for a few months!

VA #5

YAY, only two more left! I don't mind the VA, it's just getting there that's the killer! Yesterday was the first official "COLD" day of the season and i had to climb through the dang passenger door on my Jeep to go to carpool because the lock on my side was FROZEN! I hate the cold! I would really love to reside somewhere that is between 80-100 degrees all year round! Well, that's beside the point, so i'll just tell about the VA! The carpool started out great, Crystal told us a story about her hubby and i really haven't laughed that hard for months....i had tears!! Thanks for the laughs Crystal!!

I saw a class III in the morning! YAY!! He only had 8 bottom teeth--BOO! It was a good experience though. I don't think i've really scaled lower anteriors that have had such deep pockets as the ones i did yesterday. Thank goodness for that dull Gracey 1/2! I think Melissa and I had pretty much the same scenario of pt's because hers had the exact teeth mine did and she also almost extracted on accident! ha ha ha...But my pt didn't spit a fountain of water all over my leg like Melissa's did! Lucky!!

The afternoon started off pretty sketch...Mine and Crystal's pts both no-showed, so PBJ scurried to find us some teeth...no such luck. Thanks to generous Melissa she shared her Cl. III pt with me and i was SOOOO grateful to her for that! He was a very nice man and didn't care how long he had to stay. And, he had the most beautiful baby blue eyes ever! I was a little distracted for a minute! And Kels was very generous as well and shared her pt with Crystal, so it ended up being an ok afternoon and we were all able to get a few requirements in! Oh, and i'm not a periodontal file virgin anymore! Busted those out for the first time yesterday and they are quite handy!

The day i gave melissa a Hematoma...

So, i think this was our last anesthesia lab and for some reason i felt like i did better the very first day than this time...maybe cuz friday i gave melissa a hematoma! I felt really bad...it was even on the MSA of all injections! I don't know if it was a payback for the one she gave me or what, but i felt bad! i just wish we could have gotten them at the same time so we could have had a cute picture together! ha hah I won't miss being numb for a couple hours every friday, but i actually do enjoy giving injections. I'm excited that we will be able to start giving them more when were in clinic to help us practice for boards! yeah!

Breezin' by..

Well, i was just looking at my calendar and i can't believe the semester is almost over! Yay, and Yikes! I feel like there's a lot left to do in the month left. Anyway, our lab in clinic this week was interesting. I liked how we pretended to be placing medicaments in the typodonts...seems pretty easy, right?!? Yea, i bet it really will be hard...i don't know if i could really place that periochip interproximally on a pt who can't flap open their mouth like a typodont! We'll see!

I was a little on edge this afternoon. I had my class II pt coming and i only had to finish 2 quads, but she also had to leave at 2:25 to pick up her kids from school. It didn't help that the dds didn't get back into the building until 12:50. I was way excited that Prof. Gall let me do her lower injections! It took me a while to do her lowers, and after scale ck i only had like 20 min to do her upper quad. Prof. Gall said the calc was pretty heavy so if i wasn't able to finish she'd probably need to come back. Well, i must have been pretty determined because i didn't want to bring her back for the third time just to fine scale a quad. I buzzed through and as i felt around with my explorer after i thought i had done ok. I always wonder though...those instructors can find every last piece of grainy deposit! I got my scale check and had only missed one spot! I was very excited! So, my pt got out the door in time and i was a happy girl! One more requirement down! I was super excited when prof. gall called me and melissa super scalers...that's probably the only time i'll be cool enough to be grouped with melissa cuz that girls got sweet skills---and not just with her numchucks! ha ha

VA # 4

Tuesday was a productive day at the VA for me. I saw two young men...one was 23 the other 25. I decided i like seeing people my age because i feel like i can relate to them more, or i can just think of more things to talk to them about than some of the older pt's. I guess it totally depends on the pt, because i absolutely adore some of my older pts too. Anyway, they were both class II's and i sure needed em. I was nervous a few weeks ago that i would have a hard time finishing my requirements, but the VA really is helping! PBJ is so nice and i enjoy working with her there.

My afternoon pt was the 25 year old. He was very kind. I reviewed his hhx and my heart just ached for him. He had lupus--an autoimmune disease and Raynauds disease--when you have bad circulation. He had a few other things and was on quite a few meds and i was so sad for him. I just thought to myself that's just too much for a young person to have to deal with. He seemed a little shy about his conditions, but we got through everything ok. I have never seen such diffuse redness in gum tissue. It was from a combination of homecare, and meds and his diet. We had a good OHI discussion and as a hygienist (wanna-be) i just hope he can take the new knowledge and info and really put it to use. OKAY, Dr. Gupta came in to do my pt's exam and my overhead light buld EXPLODED!! It scared the crap out of me---and the dr, and my pt! It's dang good thing dr gupta was the one in his mouth with an instrument or i probably would have put it through his lip or palate! It was so loud and my heart was pounding for like 10 minutes after. Thank goodness for those plastic light covers or we would have all been splattered with light bulb schrapnel (not sure on the spelling)! So i was minus a light now and we ended up moving operatories so i could finish my work. In all, the day was ok...long, as usual. Only 3 more to go! yay!

Peroxide heals all...

Well, according to my afternoon pt, gargling with hydrogen peroxide will heal just about anything and everything that ails you. I wasn't too excited to see this pt. He was yet another class V and i'd seen him last year and wasn't very anxious to have him back in my chair...but, whatd'ya do?? This man has been smoking for years and when i mention quitting or cutting back he tells me that his body is fine because he swishes and gargles hydrogen peroxide everyday and that takes O2 all throughout his body. So, apparently this guy thinks he's invincible. I told him he needed to see his dds in MARCH for an exam because he had a couple of "suspicious areas"...well, as of today NOVEMBER 3, he hasn't seen a dds and by golly, the peroxide hasn't healed his decay either. I found a fistula on the tissue next to #6 today. It also had a 10 mm pocket that we've been recording for the last couple years. I took a PA and it looks like a huge perio abcess. He told me it didn't hurt and so he thought it would be ok. So, i had Dr. Hopkin talk to him about the importance of seeing his dentist about it. AND...do you know what he said? I guess i'll just have to gargle with extra peroxide now! AAGGHHHHH.

I have a really hard time with people like this. Why do they even care to have their teeth cleaned if they aren't doing the other up-keep that they need to stay healthy. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get it taken care of and the next time he's in it will be hangin by a thread. Anyway, sometimes i guess you just can't win em all, huh?

My morning pt was very nice. She was someone i was given by midtown, so i was crossing my fingers for a possible board pt...but she ended up being a good class II. I need those, so that was good...although i only finished 2 quads. I feel like a turtle sitting next to melissa who i busting out class II's in one appt. Hmmm, one day i'll be a super-hygienist like Melissa. One day....i'll know how it feels! Thanks for always showing us up Miss Meliss!! ha ha ha (didn't you have like 25 PE's done already?!) Anyway, it seemed like a long day, but maybe that's just me! OH, and am i just a wuss, or does anyone elses hands ache the morning after clinic or VA. I need to work on some hand strengthening techniques. Anyone have any good ones??

Daylight Savings SUCKS

Well, there are a few reasons yesterday seemed like the longest day ever at the VA. #1--I left my home when it was dark and i didn't get back from the VA till after dark. I wish we at least had windows in our ops down there so we could at least dream about being outside! And, #2---we had no CA. That was crappy. There is so much for a CA to do at the VA. I hope that never happens again.

My pt was "Lawrence the Cheetah" if you can remember from last week's post! He wasn't scheduled till 10, so i was able to help the other girls w/ xrays and probe charting...then at 9 the desk said one of our 8:00 pts was here. We didn't realize there was someone who had been looked over. I felt way bad. He was a really nice guy and not the type to put up a stink about waiting for 45 minutes. ANyway, luckily he had been partly cleaned already and i just had to scale 2 quads. I tried to hurry because my next pt got there right at 10. PBJ helped polish him so i could get started on my other pt. She was kinda the CA i guess! We kept her very busy today. Poor Crystal got way sick and was puking and out for the rest of the day after her first pt. PBJ was doing triple duty. She saw a pt in the afternoon, acted as the CA, and was able to get around to all of us for OD and scale cks. Wow, that lady is amazing! So, anyway, Lawrence only growled at me a couple times today and it was a much more pleasant experience than last week! He had recovered from whatever he had that was causing all the phlem! ha ha I felt so scatterbrained after though because i only had a short lunch and felt like i had been going 90 all morning. I can't believe that one day i'll be seeing pts every hour. YIKES!

My afternoon pt was amazing. His attitude and outlook on life left an impression on me that i will never forget. This man was 69. He was in a really bad car accident when he was 25 and 85% of his body was burned. I didn't want to pry, but he was very open about it all and i got the whole story by the time he left. I have never met a happier person in my entire life. He was in the hospital for 7 months and doesn't remember a thing, which might be a good thing. I can't imagine the pain and everything else he must have gone through with all the surgeries and grafting they had to do. He said he was pretty much left on his hospital bed in England to die. Actually in the newspaper there, the story claimed he died. And that's what everyone still believes to this day...even the friend in the accident with him. For some legal reason he wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about it which is really weird to me. Anyway, this guy was a crack up! He was joking with me and singing along to all the country songs on the radio with me. He was just happy to be alive and would never let any trial in his life change that! This was a really good learning experience for me. He had really limited opening in his mouth, so taking xrays was interesting and try to scale the distal of 15! It's a dang good thing he had such great homecare or i would have been in trouble!! ANyway, he made my day and really challenged my skills!