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.