Final Post Ever

Well, this will probably be my last post on this blog. I graduated Friday, April 23, 2010. It was a great day! I have loved school but I am also glad to be done! Bring on the real world!

Thanks to all my friends and professors who helped me learn and accomplish my goal.

Last VA Day Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am done with the VA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of the happiest days of my life! I had lots of good learning experiences here...but I'm so glad I'm done! I am ready to rid myself of this place. Bring on private practice!

I PASSED!!

I passed my clinical boards! Yay!!! with 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ha ha i'm happy. The only thing left to hear about is National Written. I felt like it was way harder than I expected...but I still think I'll pass.
Today was nice. Just saw a V and a 1B and a 1A. Easy, nice day for the week after boards.

BOARDS ARE OVER!!

Ok...not quite. I still have to take the National tomorrow...but psh...I'm gonna rock that! Last week were the anesthesia and clinical boards. I feel like a did really well...I did the best I possibly could have. I'm still waiting to get my score...but I feel pretty good about it!
Today I saw an easy V and IV with 7 teeth. ha ha...nice day for the week after boards.

Next up...BOARDS!!!!

So today was the last day of clinic before boards!!!! I feel really confident though. I had two patients today, class IIs and I did really well on them. I feel as prepared as I have ever felt. I just hope everything will go well on Friday and I won't have any bad luck. :D

Mockboard #3

Today's mockboard is going to also be my real board patient so I was really nervous that he would be too hard. But I did well. I missed 4 spots but only 3 counted. My probes and recession were right on so the only points I missed were the 3 spots. I got 82/100 so that's passing. I'm excited because his calculus wasn't too tenacious and even though he was bleeding, it wasn't impossible. I'm really excited. When I have the extra 30 minutes on the board I think I will have enough time to get it all. I'm excited!

VA day

My morning patient was really nice. He was 2 quads of a III and 2 quads of a IV. My afternoon patient was a quadriplegic with a catheder. His wife came and helped me and the dentist with the wheelchair transfer. He was a super happy and nice guy. Which is different than you would expect an older, paralized person to be (at least I probably wouldn't be that happy.) His wife was really nice too. She helped him with his catheder and even though I'm sure it was really embarrassing and humiliating for him, he stayed positive and fun. That is true love right there. It was refreshing to see. I had a fun time talking with him and working with him. He was 2 quads of a III and 2 quads of a V. It was a good day at the VA.

Day

Had 2 quads of a 2 and 2 of a 4.
Hard
LA
Kami helped me.

Mockboard #2

Well I was in desperation of finding a mockboard so I decided to use my class IV. He is a really nice guy and really reliable...but still a class IV. Blood everywhere. Chunks of calculus everywhere! Quite difficult. Pockets of 11! Sufficeth to say...I missed 8 spots on my mockboard. I worked for 1.5 hours and i still had 30 minutes but my patient was done and I was done. Sigh...I'm disappointed but not in tears about it. I really, really hope that my other mockboard/board patient isn't as difficult as this patient. I had good practice with the paperwork and other stuff today. I felt more comfortable with that. Exploring is still challenging to me.

Well let me start out by saying that I am so so grateful that I have my mock boards and my board patients. I really really am. I do hope that my board patient will be easy enough...and no so tenacious that I can't get it off. But I'm also worried that I won't be able to get all my classifications. I have not seen any 3s or 4s this semester and today everyone has been seeing all these classifications and I saw Ibs and Vs. Thats all I have. I'm concerned I won't be able to even get my exams. Sigh...There's nothing I can do about it. I get Vs at the VA everytime and I don't have anyone else to contact for WSU clinic.

VA day

This morning I had two patients. My 8:00 was the easiest V ever so I got him out in a jiffy. Then my 9:30 was 2 III and 2 II. But...it didn't go so well. He had really healthy tissues so they were tight but he had very deep, burnished, small calc. I missed about 8 spots )only 4 of which Connie said were major enough to count) but even with her help exploring I still couldn't find 2 of the spots. I am concerned that I couldn't even feel them even with her help. I thought i was pretty competent in exploring but today makes me think otherwise. My afternoon patient was this nice guy who would not shut up. ha ha As soon as he found out we share the same religion he would not stop talking about church. Unfortunately he started crying about the passing of his wife and from then on couldn't stop crying. He would have been an easy V but the fact that every single time I took my mirror out of his mouth he would stop talking made it more difficult. I had some good/interesting experiences today.

Nice Day

Today was great. I had a class II this morning and then my board patient came in and i took his full mouth x-rays. then my afternoon patient for 12:30 cancelled and i couldn't find anyone to take that appointment. Luckily i had a patient for 2:00. he was another class II and i finished him in an hour. I feel really good about my scaling times. I got 6 quads of a class II exam.

BOARD PATIENTS!

WAHOO!!!! I found my mock board for Feb 4 and then another patient for mock in Feb 28 and Boards!!!!! I'm so excited!!!! It is going to work out so well!!!!!!! (I hope) But I am so happy. My board patient has huge clicks of calc so hopefully I can get it all off!!!
I saw a class IV today, a Ib and a Ia. It was a good day!!!

VA day

So I was pretty nervous to start back up at the VA because of my last experience last semester. But today was great. Connie is great! She is so helpful and she explains things how they really are in the real world. She also helped me understand the perio classficiations for the boards a lot better. She is great and is really willing to help...but she is also thorough which I like. I saw 2 class V patients today. They were both pretty easy. I'm getting kind of nervous that I don't even know how to scale anymore....because I haven't seen any "real" calculus since early November. Tomorrow is my class IV so that will probably kick my butt. ha ha

New Semester

Its the beginning of the end!!!!
I'm so excited to be done...but I must admit I was not looking forward to starting this new semester.
I am extremely stressed about finding board patients. I had 3 screenings today and they all turned into 1bs. So thats kind of frustrating because I can't find any other patients to bring in. Everyone on the recall list is taken. Its crazy.
Luckily, history is on my side and fate will find me a patient...hopefully.

Last day for the semester!!

Today made up for last Thursday. I don't even want to get started on how bad of a day Thursday was. Lets just say I love the VA because its more of a real life experience...but I think all of us are having problems with certain personnel there. I left the VA crying. It was bad. and unprofessional. and rude.
Today however, was great! I saw a husband and wife. They were so cute. They were spanish speaking but both in english classes. So we spoke to each other in Spanglish and we were laughing so much. ha ha it was so fun. They were awesome patients. Both class V. I'm glad this semester is over...but I have next semester to look forward to/dread. I'm gonna spend the first 2 1/2 months looking for board patients!!

Flustery Day

Everyone had a bad day for some reason. ha ha I blame it on having a lab this morning. I think it makes us all complacent and then we can't get into a rhythm for the afternoon. (Plus I got a parking ticket for NO reason today and they won't excuse it.) My patient this afternoon was ok. Class II. Tons of bleeding but light calculus. I just feel like it took me 3 hours for patient treatment and I didn't get very much done. I spent half the time with the stupid charting and xrays. My patient had an STD so I was freaking out about infection control (although I think I did very well at covering my freakingoutness.) I was very professional while I was conducting the HHX in my opinion. I did do one thing that I am worried about. I was ultrasonicing and I was around a crown and my fulcrum slipped and my ultrasonic scraped across the crown on #6 and scratched it. I felt really bad. It was a complete accident. I think I slipped because there was so much blood. But no matter how many times I stopped to suction and apply pressure, it kept bleeding.
In lab this morning we practiced with the VelScope and wheelchair transfer. ha ha!!! Talk about fun! I haven't laughed so hard in clinic ever as I did with wheelchair transfer.

I'm glad its over.

Don't let the title confuse you...I really did have a great day! I just don't feel all that hot...so thats why i'm glad its over. I had a class IV this morning! The guy is so so nice! I only did one quad today even though I'd have time to do 2. I could just tell he was done. I would be too if I were him. He was really bloody and we worked hard. I did a PSA, MSA, and ASA on him so that was cool! I feel really confident in injections. My afternoon was great too. She was 2 of a III and 1 of a V. She was very nice and complimentary. She and her husband kept saying they couldn't believe how gentle I was. Thats a nice compliment...I just hope its not cuz I'm doing a crappy job. I also placed arestin in two areas on her today!

Another Great Day

My bestie came in today and she was great! I passed off a few PEs and finished her up in one apt. It was great. Then my afternoon patient was 2 quads of a 3 and 2 quads of a 5. He was also really nice. He had a ton of tobacco staining and I got it off with the ultrasonic. I did NOT want to pull out that air powder polisher. I think that thing is UNETHICAL!!! ha ha sorry Kami or anyone else who likes it. I actually think it does work well...but patients hate it and it leaves everything all salty. It kinda hurts...at least it hurt me when we did it on each other last year.

Productive day

Today was a great day! My first patient was my patient from last week...the really nice one. I finished her up and did my subgingival irrigation on her. Then my afternoon patient canceled so my wonderful fiance came in!!!!!! I was able to do so much with him because some of those PEs I don't want to do on strangers for many reasons including...it takes a lot of their time and sometimes they may think I am not proficient in certain things. I guess thats a stupid reason...because they know we are students...but I still want to look as professional as possible. I did Oraquix, CRA, and diagnodent on him this afternoon. It was great. He is a great guy and I love him so much for sacrificing his homework time to come up and be my patient.