Drama at the VA...

What an eventful day! Wow--where do I start. Well, lets start with me waking up at 5:00 this morning--that sure wansn't pretty. Anyways, I was clinic assistant at the VA today. I was there with Amanda, Heather W., Brittany, Lisa, and Corbin. I was hoping that I would get to see a patient--but instead, Amanda thought that it was her job to tell me what to do every second. It is really hard for me to listen to this! She told me to suction for her--but I needed to get ready first. Then she said, "You do know how to get ready, don't you?! You need a mask, glasses and gloves!" Really--I didn't know that! Thanks for the info! I really wouldn't have minded helping her (or anyone), but be nice! I don't treat you like crap--you don't treat me like crap. Isn't that how it goes?! I guess not! Then I had to listen to her yell at her patient and call him "Mr." the whole time. Poor guy! Well, by the end of the appointment, her patient with alzheimers got up to go to the bathroom--and he never came back. So, I guess Amanda went to look for him--then she didn't come back. Next thing you know--the cops are there asking for descriptions of Amanda and this patient. Amanda came back a little while later and wasn't really yelled at--but was told that she needed to pay more attention to the health history and should have kept this condition in the back of her mind. Well--our came the rain! Amanda was crying for the rest of the morning. (I only feel safe typing this because I know that Amanda will never read my blog--because even after a year of seeing eachother everyday--she still doesn't know my name!--HELLO!) Anyways, the VA security and the Salt Lake police got involved in finding this guy. And as of 4:30 today when I left, they still hadn't found him. I guess you could say that was the most exciting part of my day!

I was able to see another class 5 this afternoon! Great! It was more good experience.

I missed being at WSU with my friends! I'm sure that they had a lot of good laughs--and all I was listening to was crying. Boo-Hoo for me! ha ha ha.

Until next time...

What color are your scrubs....

So--some may say that I didn't get much done this morning--and well, they (he) is right! My patient came in expecting to get in and out--quick. Well, come to find out--she might have been the perfect mock board patient for me. So, after much discussion, we decided that there was no way to tell without x-rays. So, after I offered to pay the $8 myself--my patient was fine with this. Only one of her quads qualified. So, we had decided that she would come back one day and I would scale three quads, then the next week she would come back in for my mock boards. I would be so excited about this--except--my patient was kind of rude about it. I hope that she will come back in on the days we scheduled. I think that she was a little mad at me that I didn't clean anything today. She hasn't been cleaned for 8 years and she had major calculus. On her lingual anteriors--it was a sheet! She was very jumpy, so next time when she is numb, I will probably feel more comfortable! I still need to work on explaining things to my patient. I had a hard time telling her what was really going on in her mouth without confusing her. I found myself saying calculus, and other words that she wouldn't know. I don't really think that I am very good at explaining--especially the part that I wanted her for my mock boards. She kept hinting that she heard that some people will pay their board patients, etc. I told her that some people have resorted to that, but that I was lucky that she was in need of help and that she called when she did---it worked out good for both of us. She was a little bit annoyed with me by the end of the appointment.

So, I promised that I would be more productive this afternoon. But my patient decided not to come! But lucky for me, as I was waiting at the front desk for my patient, another lady walked in and wanted to schedule an appointment. I told her that if she could wait for about 15 minutes to make sure that my patient wasn't coming, then I could see her today! It worked out great! She was a super nice lady--and it didn't hurt that she had a huge mouth. It was so easy to see what I needed. I found myself telling her to close her mouth a little bit sometimes. She was a class 5 patient that was really concerned about her oral health. She said that she was so worried about recession, she finally bought a sonicare toothbrush that will turn off if she is pushing to hard. It was nice to talk to someone who actually brushes! Her appointment went really smooth. I enjoyed talking to her and cleaning her teeth.

So I was a little upset today--the only question I got asked by Shane was what color were my scrubs? My scrubs were GREEN I really think that he is color blind. He was telling me that they were gray like his. I think that he just wanted to be twins and wear the same color. Maybe next week we can color coordinate. ha ha ha.

Oh, and I would just like to start a little petition to get Shane to stay in our pod. I know that I could get at least 2 other people to back me up on this. Why would we want to cause all of this confusion about what instructor we are going to have next--lets just keep them the same. Sound good?! Okay--it's official. Shane--you are stuck with us!

p.s. Ummmm....what does ARBY's stand for? I'm thinking that it has something to do with roast beef? Let me know.

Today was "Dyno-mite!"

So, today I had my first no-show patient. Oh, but wait, he came 2.5 hours late! How fun was that?! So today I got to call everyone that I know--and many people that I don't know. Then, I walked around campus handing out brush-up's and my card. Hopefully someone will call me! When my patient finally did come, I was able to do his full-mouth x-rays. He was kind of a challenge because he didn't have many teeth to bite with or to take x-rays of. It was my first bad x-ray experience. But somehow I finished--without any retakes. YEA!

This afternoon, I saw Napolean Dynomite's cousin. Just kiddin! But he could have been. This guy was 33 years old and lookin for love! Well, any love would have to be secondary to his tai-kwon-do. ha ha ha. I couldn't wait to start cleaning his teeth so that he wouldn't be able to talk! He said that he only brushes about one time a week--but his teeth haven't fallen out--so he must be okay, right?! NO! I was actually surprised that he didn't have a lot of calculus. I just don't get it--he hardly had any fillings, doesn't brush his teeth, and still didn't have a bunch of calculus. Lucky guy! There were a few areas of concern, but overall he looked okay (his mouth). ha ha ha. I was so happy to be done.

Oh, and did you know that the only bone facial bone that doesn't touch the maxilla is the mandible. Who would have thought!

My back hurts...

Today I saw my first patients at WSU. My first patient was a Spanish lady that I had never met—and I still don’t know well because we couldn’t communicate during her visit because she didn’t speak any English! Ahhh. I was so nervous that she was hurting, uncomfortable, or just even that she wouldn’t pay the $38 for her visit! She was actually a really nice lady—and a class 2. I was so nervous to begin with—and then, Shane asked me if I wanted to count her as an exam. I guess I’ll have to do them sometime—so I said yes. It seemed like I was in slow motion. I was taking x-rays, disclosing, probing (for half of the appointment), and cleaning—and it seemed like it was taking forever. She was bleeding more than any patient than I have seen so far, but I got her done. I only had 4 errors—one of which Shane couldn’t even get off. I was glad that I just bit the bullet and did the exam.

I really like Shane. I think that he does a really good job as an instructor. He taught me more “real-life” things today than I learned all last year. He was constantly asking us questions as we were cleaning our patients. The questions he was asking should really help us get ready for our boards. I am glad that he is more hands on. It seemed like last year our instructors would stay away unless you had a problem. But he is there coaching us and asking us questions along the way, which I find very helpful.

This afternoon, I saw my Mom. I saw her 6 months ago and wow—she looked much better today. She was a class 2 last time I saw her—and today she was a class 5. I liked cleaning her—but when I see family, I almost feel guilty if they bleed or if I can tell that they are uncomfortable. She kept gagging on the water when I used the ultrasonic. It didn’t seem like there was any water in her mouth when she would complain that she felt like she was choking. She also has tooth number 1! I have a hard enough time getting the distal of number 2! But everything went well. I actually only had one mistake on her. I was happy that I was done and even happier that it went so well. I still don’t feel like I am very fast—and sometimes not all that accurate, but hopefully as the year goes on—I will do better.. I sure hope that my husband feels like rubbing my back today—I must not have had very good posture because I am dieing.

VA...

So, my VA experience was quite the eye-opener. I saw a 55 year old man that had spent 4 years in the service--and now--he was basically crazy. He was telling me about all of the bad dreams he has and how he is on tons of medications (one of which puts him to sleep). So, as I cleaned his teeth--he was sleeping. I might have just thought that he was closing his eyes--but no--he was actually snoring!!! Everyone in the VA hygiene clinic could hear him. It was so loud! The only times that he would wake up is when I would tell him that he was biting my fingers and needed to open wider. It was silly! Oh, and he was the first patient that actually made me sick to my stomach. When he opened his mouth--wow--it had Arby's roast beef, along with many other things, all over! As I picked the roast beef out--I thought that I was going to throw up! I had to turn away and take a few deep breaths! But my patient didn't know--he was SLEEPING! This man classified as a 5--but I really felt like it was a lot worse than that! I had a hard time cleaning him and his teeth were all just rotting out of his head. My favorite part of cleaning him was in the end when the dentist came in and told me that I did a good job in front of my instructor--oh, and I felt good that my patient now had clean teeth. Well, until next time! Ha ha ha.

First Real Day...

Today was my first "real" day to work on patients. A couple of days ago I was able to go to the VA to be the clinic assistant. Well, in the afternoon, an extra patient came in and Prof. Bossenberger-James asked me if I could see him--and I was nervous--but I said yes. It was quite the experience. The VA overall was quite the experience. I think that I will actually like going to the VA. I'll write more later

First day of clinic....

So, today was our first day of clinic. I am so glad that we had the time to work on eachother a little bit so get back into the swing of things. I felt like I had never touched an instrument before. Ahhhh. I am really exited about our clinic group and instructors. I am really excited to learn a lot this year--but at the same time I feel so much pressure to already be so good--and my skills are not where I would like them. I am so nervous to see my first patient next week. I hope that everything will go well. Hopefully I have all of the right instruments in my sets and remember how to work the computer and document everything in the charts. I don't know why I am nervous--I guess sometimes waiting and wondering about it is worse than actually seeing the patient and getting it over with. I think that I just need to go with the flow and quit freaking out. I am sure that everything will be fine and I will be able to actually be a good at this in the end! Plus, we were told that the instructors are on our side--that they are here to help us. So if this is true, then we should all be fine. ha ha ha. I'm sure that next week will be full of excitement!