Last day of WSU clinic!

Wow. It's so weird to me that today is the last day of clinic. I am done seeing patients here. CRAZINESS. The day went smoothly. Both of my patients showed up. I saw my morning patient 3 months ago for SRP and it was really nice to see the improvement and see that he is actively trying to keep his teeth cleaner. We had a fabulous potluck lunch together with 13948173498 bags of chips. It was awesome.

My favorite line of clinic today:

Perry: What else do you need?
McCall: One more 1A patient.
Perry: Well, have Emily hop in your chair!

Very funny, Perry. :)

I can't believe I just have clinic check-out and my end-0f-year meeting with Professor Alexander on Monday. It's been an awesome program. It's been grueling and exciting, fun and awful at the same time. I'm so proud of us all for making it through!

We're done ladies!

Last VA day!

Today was my last day at the VA hospital! It was a really great day. I really didn't want to be there but I'm glad I did. All three of my patients that I saw were the nicest guys. It was a really fulfilling experience being able to talk with them while I cleaned their teeth. My last patient built some building down in Texas for .... wait for it.... the guy who OWNS Dr. Pepper. I was stoked. We bonded over our love for Dr. Pepper and how it is the nectar of the gods. Hahahaha. The VA has been a great learning experience for me. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to be there for a while.

PASS!

I passed the National Board, LA written, and the clinical portion of WREB! There is much rejoicing! WOO HOO! Now I just have to wait to hear about Process of Care and take my LA clinical on April 19th. CRAZY! I'm so stoked to graduate I can't even explain it. FINALLY. No more school. Dream job licensure: almost obtained. WORD.

I do have to say... I'm not thrilled that we have to take a final for Professor Alexander's class. But it's the last thing that I need to do so I suppose I'll deal with it. :)

Soooooo tiredddddd

Holy moly. Today I am exhausted. I'm obviously really, REALLY ready to be done with school. This morning I saw a class 5. I finished at 9:05 a.m. Then the lovely CA Julie told me Mr. Solomon wanted me to see his friend who was a walk-in. So I saw him. He was a class 5. I finished at 10:00 a.m. Then I sat..... and sat.... and sat..... I'm getting faster so that's good but I hate sitting around in clinic waiting for lunch to come around or clinic to end in the afternoon.

One more week of clinic ladies! I have my last VA clinic next wednesday and then my last Weber clinic Thursday. Then I just impatiently wait for graduation to roll around. Then I impatiently wait for Weber to post my diploma on my transcript. Then I grab my transcript, high tail it to DOPL, and impatiently wait to get my license. THEN... I impatiently wait to find a job. Sounds.... fun? Lots of impatience.

NCUR clinic day

This morning I saw a class 2 patient and then scooted off to NCUR to present our research. It was an interesting experience. This afternoon I saw a lady with just her lower anteriors. She is trying to hold on to them. Hopefully she'll be more diligent with her home care. I went over OHI with her a bunch. I am officially done with PEs and quad requirements! All I need left is one more Arestin experience. I was going to do it yesterday at the VA but they are out of Arestin. Boo! It feels good to almost be done!

Productive day

Today was a good day. In the morning my patient was a class 4 but I already saw one so I gave him to Tori. I saw her class 5 instead. I was able to do injections on the class 4 though so now I only need 1 more! Woo!

In the afternoon, I saw a 1A and a 1B. The 1A was super easy. The 1B was easy too. I was able to do a sealant and air-powder polish on the 1B. He was a 15 year old boy... that wanted to go on a date with me. Sheesh. Apparently I really do look like I'm 16. Hahahaha. Yikes.

WOO

Sing praises! Our lovely Julie came in to me today while I was being an oral pathology TA and said, "Hey, i just found you a board patient." EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! So exciting. So I booked it out of there (Sorry Perry) and took x-rays on her and checked her calculus. She is the nicest lady. I have complete faith that she will show up AND she doesn't need local anesthesia. It all fell into place perfectly. I am so full of gratitude. I love that we all try to help each other out through this program. I love you girls!

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Today was super frustrating. Ugh. My morning patient didn't show so I called her about 8:30 and she said she thought I told her 9:30. Yeah, since 8:00 sounds so much like 9:30. So I told her to come in anyway. She brought in a demon child with her. The kid would not sit still. He kept pounding on my keyboard and playing with the nitrous machines and the blinds. (I'm in the nitrous storage unit.) I could not wait to get her out. She didn't even care that the kid was wreaking havoc.

This afternoon my patient was superrrrrr nice but a class 5. Which means.... I STILL DON'T HAVE A BOARD PATIENT. AHHHHHHHH. My board is march 17th. It's march 1st. That gives me 16 days to find a perfect board patient, get her perfect x-rays, and have her perfectly confirmed by instructors. ACK. I might have a heart attack if I don't find anyone at the screening tomorrow afternoon. Pray for me!

Last mockboard

Well, mockboard #3 over. It didn't go well.

Good news: I passed. (barely).

Bad news: She was a jerk. ANDDDDD.... *drumroll please* she had to leave early. that means every single one of my mockboards had to leave early. I have had super bad luck. She was a very unpleasant woman. She wouldn't let me get her numb. She wouldn't let me use the ultrasonic. She barely let me touch her because "I was hurting her." Oh yeah, she also had pus pouring our of the buccal of tooth #30. Bleh. Her phone kept ringing. She kept answering it. She kept asking me if i was almost done yet. Then, she finally said (35-40 mins into the appt) "I'm done. This hurts." To which i yet again told her, "if you'd let me get you numb...." I convinced her to let the instructor check her before she left so I wouldn't get a zero but she wasn't happy about it.

THEN... as I'm walking her out she turns to me and says, "so you want me to come back in a week?".... *jaw drops....* WHATTTTTTTT? needless to say, I told her my schedule is full for the time being but I'll put her on the resource list. yikes.

I missed 3 spots of calculus and missed a recession spot. But I passed so all is well.

Now, time to find a board patient!

Long day at the VA

Oh man... I feel like the days I spend at the VA just keep getting longer and longer and longer... I saw three class 5 patients at the VA today. One of them had a TON of stain. I hate stain. I'd rather work on a whole mouth full of calculus that one tooth with lots of stain on it.

I was also able to give injections for some of the doctors. I was really glad because I am SOOOO behind on my injections. Hopefully I'll be able to get them all in. Eeeeep.

I still need a board patient. Send good vibes my way!

LA mockboard day

LA mockboard is over! woo hoo! my peer pal was a fabulous patient. I hope her schedule allows her to be my board patient too. It went great! Except I failed.... why you ask? I touched the edges of that stinking prop card. GRRRR. my technique was fine though. I swear, if i fail my LA anesthesia board because of the prop card issue i'll have a come apart. It was a great experience to do the LA mockboard. It made me feel so much more confident in my injection technique abilities.

My afternoon patient was a really nice guy. He is Leigh's patient that she graciously let me see because my afternoon patient cancelled on me. He was a class 3 and super nice. Worst perio breath ever, but super nice guy.

All in all, it was a good day. I'm just peeved about the prop cards (a.k.a the spawn of satan)

Crazy week

Wow, this past week was insanely busy. Thursday clinic all day, Friday sealant clinics, and Saturday give-kids-a-smile day. Lots of hours put in. I have got to tell you, I do not particularly enjoy working on children. (You pretty much all know this by now anyway.) I have learned that I definitely don't want to do dental hygiene in a pediatric dentist office. I can handle working on a child every now and then, but all day would send me over the edge. However, it was great to see how many kids we helped out on Friday and Saturday. It really warmed my heart (during the time period when children weren't screaming.... haha just kidding... kind of.)

I take my national board soon. Gotta buckle down and study!

A learning day

Today has been pretty good. I learned a lot on my patient this morning. Professor Alexander taught me how to use a chin cup accessory fulcrum while scaling the buccal of the upper left. FABULOUS. She also taught me how to tweak my gracey in even more than i was before to get deposit off around crowns. I feel awesome about it.

However, my afternoon didn't pan out. I was supposed to see two kids but they no showed. Boo! I did a screening instead, but she wasn't mockboard material. Oh well!

Oh mockboards, how i loathe you

Mockboard day has been crazy. Being a student examiner was easy, breezy. Taking the mock LA written exam wasn't bad. Scheduling the actual LA written was a cinch. Lunch was yummy.

Then....

My mockboard patient was twenty minutes late. Stress. I took the 2 PAs I needed on her, sat her down and BAM! " I have to leave at 2:00."..... WHAAAAAT? So I take her blood pressure, don't even look in her mouth, hand her over. After all of the checks it was 1:15 before I could start working on her. Double stress. I sped through her, and got her out by 2:00. Yikes. I missed 2 spots of calculus and 2 years off of my life. Hahaha.

It didn't work out at all the way I'd planned but what can ya do? At least it was just a MOCK board. I'm glad it's over! Thanks to the instructors for being speedy and understanding!

Finally found a mockboard!

Just in the nick of time I found a mockboard! My afternoon patient qualified. I'm glad she did because I had to put up with the child that she brought that was destroying everything in sight. Children... ugh. Blast. I told her she can't bring the kid. Hahaha. The kid opened up a tube of toothpaste and squirted it everywhere and then painted it everywhere with the fluoride brush. oh my word. But i have my mockboard! I'm so excited!

VA craziness

Oh VA... how I've missed you... kind of. Haha. First day back at the VA: success. My first patient was one of the most entertaining old men I have ever had the pleasure to meet. He informed me right when he sat down that he really liked to talk. Boy, he wasn't kidding. Example of one our our conversations:

67 year old man: So, emily. I have a serious question for you.

Me: Ok...

67 year old man: Do you like....... ADVENTURE?????

Me: *awkward laugh* ... why yes, i do.

67 year old man: THEN DO I HAVE A MOVIE FOR YOU!

Me: Oh yeah? What's it called.

67 year old man: (very seriously) ... King of the Grizzlies.

Me:.... wow, sounds pretty fantastic.

Honestly, he was hilarious. He literally made me get a piece of paper and watched me write down all of the things I "MUST" look up on the internet or watch. He told me many, many, many stories about fur trappers and indians... and peanut butter. Apparently, the origin of peanut butter is fascinating. Who knew?

My afternoon patient was also very nice. Not as talkative, but good nonetheless. Very exciting day back.

Here's to another semester of VA experiences.

first day of the last semester of dental hygiene school!

I got through my first day of my last semester in the dental hygiene program! Woo hoo! My day went really well. I was super speedy today. I wish I'd found a board or a mock board patient, but I didn't. I'm super stoked for my pod though! Kristie and Stefanie both found people! Now they can spread the love to me. :) hahaha.

Anyway, I feel really good about how my day went. My first patient might have qualified to be a mock board but he was wayyyyyy grouchy and "wanted to have as quick of an appointment as possible" so I figured he wouldn't take the bait. My afternoon patient was the cutest old lady ever. She reminded me of my grandma.

We can do this ladies! We're almost done!