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.