Anesthesia MockB's

So this morning was great, it was anesthesia mockboards....until like 5 seconds before i had to do my injections and i started getting all nervous! Do i remember all the right phrases to repeat, do i know my angles, am i using the right anesthetic, is it expired?!?! I had a moment of panic, but it turned out ok in the end! I felt comfortable with most of it. My hand was a little shaky on the IA. I just hope when the real day is here that it's as easy as this morning was! My written test score needs a little...or a lot of work!

The afternoon pt made me so grateful for ultrasonic scalers...and not because i got to blast calculus deposits off with it, but for the exact opposite reason! My pt was SUPER sensitive and didn't want to be numbed. I only tried the US on a couple teeth and he about went through the roof! So, i settled for my hand instruments alone. I have to say i didn't feel very confident in myself in some areas...i kept glancing at my sonic baby, then back into his mouth. It was a good learning experience for me though. I really don't know what I will do if i work in an office that doesn't have an ultrasonic...probably buy one with my own $$$! ha ha ha No, i just feel like it's my left arm and i coudn't live without it for too long. Plus, my pt had a facial composite on almost every tooth and quite a prominent margin on each fill...I felt like i couldn't even scale around it and he had pretty inflammed tissue. I sent him home with some Peridex to hopefully decrease the bacteria load until the dds could smooth off his margins for him. I got to wear Prof.Gall's bling for a few minutes so that made my day! That turkey!! She went and bought what the rest of us are coveting! (See last weeks VA blog). Don't worry, i will post a picture of it when i get an extra second! Ta Ta

VA #7--THE END!!

Wow, today came faster than i thought it would...week 7 means 1/2 way through our last semester of DENTAL HYGIENE! A little bitter/sweet and somewhat scaring the poo right out of me! Today was great! I took a FMX, BWX and pano on my 10:00 pt and then he was willing to come back after lunch for 2 quads S&RP...class IV baby! He was very interesting...i'll just leave it at that!

Lunch was super fabulous...we ate at "Eat-A-Burger," which is some total dive, but sooo tasty! We then finally got to experience ENVY, Kami's favorite jewelry store in Holladay. I always love to see the new glimmer on Kami and Prof. Gall, but I could never justifying buying really expensive jewelry (except a wedding ring)...UNTIL TODAY!!! ha ha ha So, I super bad want this necklace and ring that we saw there! Both pieces are made by Chopard (...listen to me like i am some jewelry guru now!) ha ha For some reason spending about $6,500 on a couple sparkly pieces doesn't seem so bad all of a sudden...except for i am poor! We tried to make a pact today that we would all buy the pendant...you know like we did in elementary with the heart necklaces that were jagged down the middle and the two different sides said "Best Friends!" Oh, tender. Anywho, girls...i might sell my body to be in the pact (or beg my dad for a really nice graduation present), but one day i will have the square...and the diamond ring might just be part of my dreams for a while! Mair, we missed you today, it just wasn't the same. I hope sleeping in was great! You so deserve it!

I will miss our VA days...well, not the early mornings, or the smells or the wacko patients or the long drives, or Dr.Paxton or Dr. Erickson....but I WILL MISS the fun times in the carpool, watching Crystal steal Dr.Erickson's jacket each week just to piss her off, the taking pictures of random commuters, name that tune, Kami calling Crystal--Rachelle, the silly resident docs, lunch-hours, listening to 99.5 all day, jammin out in the car, Kami's awesome skills and helpful hints to make me a better hygienist, and all the kicks and giggles and laughing our guts out during the day--especially when pt's no-show and we get to hangout! You guys are the best hygiene friends anyone could ask for! Thanks for livin' it up all the time and making school so bearable!! (stop getting all teary eyed--GOSH)!!

WSU February 21st.....

AM--saw a new pt, he will be a good class III. I was slow as tar this morning, i just couldn't get going. My pt was super nice though, i love sweet old men. He reminded me of my grandpa!

PM--finally finished my pal German. It was nice to see the 3 quads i had already completed...tissue is looking 100x better! I think his habits might start changing too...or at least i can cross my fingers and hope he will change! Isn't that every hygienists dream? THE END, i am tired and my back hurts! My ergonomics weren't the best today, ooops :) Oh, the best part of today was that Maryann taught me how to add links to my sidebar! Thanks, you are fabulous!

THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE!--VA #6

Well, now that i'm posting this for the 2nd time it will probably be less detailed than the one that i first started with....it was a crappy long day anyway! I didn't start my car early like i usually do to warm it up...running late in the first place i ran out the door to find more than just a skiff of snow covering my car! Well, that's pretty much how the whole day went... a lot of unexpecteds! We all got to the meeting place...except for Melissa. THe poor thing, she was stuck in more than a skiff of snow in North Ogden! 6 of us loaded up into kels' family wagon and went to rescue miss meliss! Her hubby brought her part way to us. Now there were 7 and our carpool was complete!

The ride down was slow, but fun! We played name that tune the whole way down and it was super fun and i think i won! (ha ha, just kidding mair!) We were in snow/work traffic and didn't make our arrival to the beloved VA until just after 9 am. Luckily Kami is a super-ninja hygienist and she got a good start on the morning for us. I helped Crystal do impressions on her VERY ornery pt. for a night guard. I think Crystal was scared of all 800 lbs of him. I would have been if i had to do his cleaning, but instead i did his alginate and ticked him off even more before she could get started. Sorry Crystal! At 10:00 i seated a pt, took BWX and gave him to kels because he was a class II and we all know i have a bagillion of those! We "ate-in" for lunch which is always a good time....what am i saying...it's a good time anywhere, as long as we're there! :)

In the PM I got a quad of a class IV and placed some periochip, so i felt a little useful for the first time all day! We got out of the VA a little early to try and make it home safe....I haven't seen snow like this since the Blizzard of '62!! Anywho, we made a somewhat traditional stop at Hire's for a rootbeer freeze and an order of onionrings...and it's a damn good thing because i would have been starving on the roadtrip home had it not been for those deep-fried, batter-soaked, dragon-breath onionrings!! They [barely] held me over on the 4 HOUR RIDE HOME...That's right, and i'm not even exaggerating. I get pissed even thinking about it! Pretty sure i could have power-walked home a little faster than that! Name that tune got a little old after 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours starting home. We tried to keep entertained by waving to other people on the road next to us...they just thought we were weird, except for the scary guy with the cow bandana and santa clause beard....yikes! Poor Maryann's little bladder...i'm glad it didn't explode. Actually, i'm surprised it didn't when Crystal bailed out of the expedition! Get this: middle of the freeway, dead stop, music pumpin, crystal gettin her groove on in the middle of I-15, all of us peeing our pants as she took the dare....She danced, now Meliss owes her some gas station nachos!!! I don't know for sure but i could almost guarantee that crystal would have done it even without a little nacho bribe on the side!

We got off the freeway to take some of Tearsa's hometown backroads. Maryann and i were able to jump out of the car, head across the street to a gas station to pee and make it back out to the car before they had even moved 15 feet....it was that bad....well, this short story is getting long! I arrived home just after 7:30. I'm ticked we even went down...especially after finding out that the Thursday group bailed all together. Hmmm, well at least we made some memories, eh girls??

Mock Boards

Well, I felt a little less scared today than i did with the first mockboard experience. It was still putting a knot in my stomach for some dumb reason though. I just don't know if that's something i'll ever get over...until the day i walk out of the WSU doors forever! My pt is so great, willing, patient, nice and cooperative! I feel bad I'm so slow...but he will have to return one more time for me to finish his last quad. His probes were a little too deep to be a true board pt, but he definitely had the calculus! It was a good experience and i felt pretty good with the score i recieved...and if i had taken the time to get some pa's i would have done even better. It's sad, but my cone-cut BWX just won't do the trick!! I looked over my requirement sheet today and i'm feeling pretty good about where i'm at. I am glad to be getting extra quads for the extra experience! Well, until tomorrow at the VA....

VA #5

Only 2 more VA days to go! ....What even happened yesterday? I couldn't remember my patients from the day as we were leaving the clinic. I did have a massive headache and was sweating to death though! I saw 2 different class III pts today. I got a FMX done in the morning and the pt was great! I always feel so bad when i do FMX, especially with the sensor on the digital xrays, that thing is huge! My afternoon was a little challenging and so i only finished 2 quads. My pt was ornery. I usually try to break the ice and get some conversation going, but that's kinda hard to do when you are the one doing all the talking! I think i was a little intimidated by him. Plus, the room i was in was like 98 degrees and i was SOO uncomfortable. I took bwx after scaling his right two quads. When kami came in to do my scale check she looked at the xrays (i hadn't really even glanced at them yet). She pointed to the xrays and said "what do you think about this?" Immediately i noticed the radiographic calculus deposits...and there were quite a few of them. MY STOMACH DROPPED. For a split second i knew i was toast, but then, i realized the deposits were on the left 2 quads, the ones i didn't get to! I told kami and then we just laughed because she could tell the absolute terror in my eyes when i saw all that deposit there! PHEW! She thought that was pretty funny! And then our whole VA group got a good laugh out of it at the end of the day when we were all sharing our crazy stories of the day. Well, it's a good thing the right side bwx looked so good! I actually felt like i had accomplished something!

WSU February 7th...

Well, today started off a little rocky. My pt called me last night saying he was going to the dr because he thought he broke his arm. He told me he would call when he got home to let me know if he was coming to his appt or not....no phone call, so i guess not! I snagged a pt from dr ellis. He was a very nice young man...probably 24. His mom was there with him. Well, it wasn't long before i knew i wouldn't be treating him either. His BP was pretty high. It runs in his family, but he hadn't ever had a problem with his bp. I called the Midtown health clinic and scheduled him an appt there, so he will be returning in a few weeks for his cleaning. He and his mother both seemed concerned, which is somewhat nice to know....most of the time when i tell a pt they need to see a dr they go into that phase of denial and think they are invincible, then i never hear from them again. I think i'm safe by saying i will see this one again.

My PM was the pt I OD'd in last week. He's a good class III. I finished 2 quads and a LA experience! YAY! I felt a little more comfortable today with injections than i have the last few times. He was a BLEEDER! I have to admit i have never filled a biohazard bag full of soaked gauze before...and then there was today! He may need a transfusion after that! I felt pretty good about my skills until crystal busted hers out! She kicked my trash.I wish i could OD, do a FMX and scale 2 quads of a class III all in one appt....and she did way awesome. One day i will have her speed! My afternoon pt agreed to come back next week for mockboards, so that is a load off!

My day ended well, a night at home with Brett and a new episode of House, MD! My poor little fulcrum finger might just fall off though!

VA #4--HUMP DAY!!

"I have been reduced to the status of PLANKTON!" I think that is the funniest line i've heard all year--Thanks Kami! Well, what happened to today? I can't even remember who i saw this morning. I think at 8 we only had one pt. Nobody wanted to go out in the snow---including me! I saw a pt at 9. A very friendly class V with great hair, and a very nice smile! He was pleasant to work on and so personable! Come to find out he owns 2 salons in Orem and has been doing hair for 38 years!! Crystal heard and came in to chum him up for some extensions! I think he had her sold on the idea! The morning ended ok with some of Heather's cinnamon rolls in her belly....if only all the CA's took care of us like her! ha ha ha

Lunch was full of laughs as usual. The burnt popcorn turned out to be a hit....and then a game. I think i chipped Dr. Guptas front tooth with an unpopped kernal! Woops! The afternoon was as desolate as the morning. I think only 2 or 3 pts even showed up. I saw another classV. That about does it for that requirement! So, the rest of the afternoon was spent chatting and laughing and playing "name that song/band/album" with crystal as the DJ on the ride home! WOW, today was hump day! Only 3 more VA's!