April 11th...

This morning I saw an older guy that I saw in January. He was really nice and easy to talk to. I saw him in January for perio. maint. Then he wanted to make sure to come back before we graduated. He didn’t really have much to clean off, except for a lot of plaque on his third molars. I couldn’t believe this guy…not only did he have all of his own teeth, but he had ALL of his teeth!

I really prefer to see older patients. I don’t really know why. In a lot of ways it is much harder to see older patients because of their health history and all of their medications that we have to look up. But it is so much easier for me to talk to older people---even the people my own age and kids—very difficult!

This afternoon, I was supposed to see a little kid. But he didn’t come.

Then I saw my morning patient’s wife. She is a really cute lady with a full upper denture. She said that he last 2 husbands didn’t know about it and neither does her current husband. WEIRD! She wouldn’t take it out for me by assured me that she takes it out when she does her make-up. I think that I cleaned her lower teeth and did everything else in about 30 minutes. It seemed really quick because I didn’t have to check BP, probe, take x-rays, etc. It went by really fast.

Oh, and in the middle of all of this madness…Crystal and I were called upon to do a pano on some lady. A certain faculty hates us and I think goes out of her way to make us miserable. She knows that he can’t do anything but pretend like we are just happy to do WHATEVER she says. We can’t do anything right…either we aren’t bagging our instruments, putting our patients names in the computer, paying for our patients, etc. It is just getting a little old! Well, in a couple of weeks…I will never have to smell her perio. breath again. HOORAY!

Job Shadowing....

Yesterday I had the privilege of shadowing a local hygienist. She graduated from WSU about 25 years ago and has pretty much been working full time since then. I can’t really say that I was excited to watch her scale for 2 hours…but I was a little surprised at some of the other things that she did.

I found it really strange that instead of changing the barriers on the chair…she just flipped them around. Okay, maybe they are just trying to save .0001 cent! But then she wasn’t changing her gloves! Seriously this is not a matter of saving money—have ya ever heard of OSHA?!? She would just rinse her gloves off with water (no soap) then dry them off and go on with whatever she was doing---digging in her drawers, handling the patients chart, touching things at the front desk, etc. This patient’s mouth was spread all over the whole office. YUCK. I can understand that after you are out of school for a while—maybe we won’t be checking pulse and respirations anymore, but for heavens sake—change your gloves! There are some things that you just can’t skimp on!

Also, I realized that I would never want to work in this office. No one was talking (I was talking more to the patients than the hygienist), there was no music in the background…just the hygienist and her hand scalers (NOT EVEN AN ULTRASONIC) in a little room that you couldn’t even move around the patients head. When I start looking for a job I will be asking the DDS…how much are you going to pay me….do you have an ultrasonic…and is it possible to have a little bit of fun in your office? That’s all I need!

I hope that I not only pass my boards, but am able to find a great job afterwards. I am also hoping that the dentist that I work for will also allow Crystal and Jami to work there with me! We are kind of a package deal! Ha ha ha They just make my day go by much faster/better.

The rest of April 4th...

Ummm...This afternoon went a little bit better than this morning. I was able to see my Mock Board patient that I saw in January. He was 21 and had major build-up. I cleaned his LR, LL quads today. His tissue was just a flapin in the wind. I sure hope that after this great cleaning that I performed today---his mouth with start healing and then stay clean. He was really nice and I was able to have fun talking to him while I cleaned his teeth. It makes the time go by so much faster--plus we finished about 2 hours early. YEA! Another day down....only 2 more clinic days left for me! WaHOO!

SO SICK OF SCHOOL....

So there are 4 weeks left. You'd think that I could handle this! But not so! I am so sick of sitting in class, trying to have a little bit of motivation to study or perpare our final projects, paying for the patients that I am seeing, and listening to Mrs. Campbell bitch and moan! WOW! What is up with telling us that we have outstanding accounts--that we owe WSU $1 or we won't graduate. I am pretty sure that I have paid more than my dues to WSU! Is $1 really going to keep me and Crystal from graduating?!? REALLY! I can't handle her YELLING/ORDERING us around. I am personally sick of it. I will be so happy when I am out of here! I need to get out of WSU before I go crazy!

That's all for now...

BOARDS...

WOW! What a day! I can’t believe that I actually survived 8 hours of pure concentration and filling in bubble sheets. Today was the day that I have been dreading for the past 2 years. It is almost hard to believe that this day that I had pushed so far in the future has now come and gone. I really don’t know how I feel about today. Part of me is just so happy that it is over—no more studying---But the other part of me is going to be in knots until I find out if I passed.

I thought that after this test ended—that my stress would also end. But now I will be stressed out for the next four weeks wondering if I passed. I hope that my guesses were right—otherwise I might be taking this again in July! Ahhhh…

This test really amazed me. I don’t really know how we are supposed to just know everything. Really! Is this to test me on how much I know—or how much I really don’t know! I guess I can say that I wouldn’t have studied any differently! I knew what I knew! This could be a bad thing if I don’t pass—how would I prepare for the next time?!? There is just no way of knowing. Where is my visit from the “esteem team” when I need it? ha ha ha I wish that I had enough confidence in myself that others have in me!

On top of all of this other stress in my life…Eric decided to by a motorcycle. What is he thinking. I wish my life were as carefree as my husbands. He doesn’t seem to have a stress or worry in the world. Maybe I just have enough stress for the both of us! However, I don’t have to work tomorrow—and I may be doing a little bit of spending myself! Ha ha ha

Shopping Anyone???

What a day! My life consists of nothing but read, read, then read some more. I don't really know if anything I am reading is really sinking into my head. I feel like I am just reading the scriptures. I get through a chapter...but can't remember or comprehend anything that I have read. ha ha ha. I have so many DH facts just floating around in my head. I don't really know if it is possible to study or even pass this test! The more I study...the more I realize that I don't know! I am sure stressed out. I hope that I don't get to the test and not know anything that they chose to test us on...there is just so much information.

This morning, Jami and I made it through a little bit of studying. The most surprising part was that we really didn't eat much. This isn't like us! We must be pooped! We don't even have enough energy to eat anymore! ha ha ha I feel like I learn so much every time I study...but I just can't study for long without totally getting burned out on DH.

After we studied, Jami was nice enough to let me drag her around the mall. What a great pal! We had fun buying things that we really didn't need! I didn't realize how much I bought until I got home and looked at everything. It just kind of all added up! I am mostly proud of Jami for jumping in on the spending with me. She spent her $25 without a problem! ha ha ha. I sure hope that Brett lets you keep hanging out with me! I hope that I'm not "bringing you down". I am kind of a bad influence...ha ha ha

March 21st...

This morning I saw a lady that didn't speek any English. It made it a little difficult to explain everything to her. I kept speeking in English thinking that eventually she would catch onto what I was trying to tell her. But finally I just had Lilly translate for me. She was a huge help to me this morning. My patient had all of the classic Mexican restorations. The gold around the tips of her teeeth--clasic! She had them done 3 years ago in Mexico. They were not only ugly, but they had huge margins around them. I hope that she doesn't get major decay in these areas. She had really deep pockets which were perfect for Atridox. (Thanks Crystal for talking us all into using a medicament! ha ha ha Really, how was I going to explain $20 for 4 areas when the patient didn't even speak English.) She was also bleeding like crazy! I can't believe how much blood I had all over the place. It was all over my glasses, the chair, and her! Grose! I esp. hate it when I am spraying water in patients mouths and for some reason it just hits the tooth in the wrong spot and shoots right back in my face. YUCK!

My afternoon patient was a guy that I saw a couple of weeks ago. I just had to finish the left side of his mouth. Last time I saw him--his teeth looked aweful. He was also a heavy bleeder. I recommended chlorahex. rinse and actually using his tooth brush and today he looked a lot better. It didn't take long to clean his other half. I love it when I don't have to recheck blood pressure, probe, etc. It makes time go by so much faster. He was done in about an hour and then I had to just wait around for the rest of the afternoon.

Yea, another day down. One week until boards. I am sure looking forward to passing my test and then graduating. I don't think that we can handle being in the same class room with the same people for much longer. I need out! Only about a month left. YEA!

p.s. I am not pregnant. I have just been eating like a cow--THUS, the pregnant look--lumpy. I'm sure that after boards are over--my eating habbits will settle down! (hopefully)

Just another day...

So, it is Sunday night and I am still stressed out about boards. I don't know if I will ever be ready to take these tests. But I am ready to have them over with just so that I can quit thinking about them. I can't wait for the month of April---it will seem like such a breeze. The stress is really getting old. I wish that I was able to handle stress differently than I do. My solution is to sleep a lot and to eat even more. Really, what is this accomplishing?!?

Just to add another section to my "food journal"--today was another doozie. I just keep finding more weird things to eat. I am NOT pregnant, but am getting a little concerned at what I will be like when I am! Today I found myself eating a jar of peanut butter with a spoon. I don't even think that I like peanut butter--at least by itself--but today it has never tasted so good. I have also managed to eat popcorn, pickles, a large box of junior mints (YUMMY), chocolate pudding, etc. Is there a theme to my habits....Salty?....Sweet?....or just anything that I can swallow?! ha ha ha

I talked to my parents tonight. They were telling me how I needed to get plenty of rest and eat good food. Then they invited me up for some cookie dough ice cream. I had to turn down the offer--but I was tempted! They will probably come down tomorrow night for some birthday treats. I figure that the more people I have eat cake and ice cream--there will be less left over for me to eat! I really am crazy! ha ha ha

I asked my brother-in-law that is a pharmacist to give me some drugs to calm me down. I need more energy and less stress. I just figured that there would be a pill to do that and somehow he would just give it to me! Not so! He told me that all I needed was a good multi-vitamin. He gave me enough for 2 weeks to see if I like them before he orders them for me. They come in daily doses (4 pills) individually packaged. He was telling me that when he takes them it really boosts his energy. So I was really hopeful. Well, I have been taking them for a week and all I noticed is that my pee is fluorescent. Other than that--nothin'! Maybe they will help me from getting sick or even worse--a cold sore! Now that's positive thinking, eh?!

March 7th at WSU...

This morning I saw quite the bleeder! Oh my heck--If I would have kept him much longer he would have needed a blood transfusion! All I had to do was look at his tissue and he was gushing blood. It was quite the mess. He didn't want to be numb--so he just suffered through the cleaning. I cleaned half of his mouth, then recommended that he come back for the other half. He had a lot of build up on his teeth and I think that it will take a while for his tissue to heal on the right side--then next time I will clean his left. He was very nice--but I don't think that he has ever brushed his teeth! There was blood everywhere by the time I was done--there were splashes on his and my glasses, and all over everything else. What a mess. YUCK! Who knew that there would be so much blood when cleaning someone's teeth!

This afternoon I saw a nice class 1 girl. She was pretty clean except for the 3 inches of calculus around her lingual bar. It was kind of cool to break up all of the deposit--it was coming off in huge peices! Weird that I think that is cool, eh?!

Well, another day down! A little bit scarry to think that boards are next week. I tried to read Malmed last night--what a snoozer! It was so boring. I got a lot of reading done--but I don't quite know how much I will remember. My mind tends to wander when I read something boring! ha ha ha Who is that "Rain Man" that is able to rememebr everything he reads and is able to read the right side of the page with his right eye and the left side of the page with his left eye--YA--I wish that I could do that! ha ha ha