Clinic+Mother-in-law= BANANA BREAD

Yes...Today was great.  I show up to clinic and to my surprise, my dear patient, aka: mother-in-law, hands me this HUGE loaf of her homemade special banana bread--> that's one way to start off a clinic day right!  Like I said before folks, nicest lady...on the PLANET earth.  She seriously is the best.  I was able to scale all four quads of her class V mouth today, which felt really nice-- still chip, chip, chippin' away at all of those dang requirements... I definitely feel like I can do this.  If I can run a bazillion miles on my 2 legs in a day/week/month/year, I can accomplish anything.  That is my new motto.  So-- bring it clinic!  Instructor Demmings was awesome today in helping me find new ways to make things "easier".  I need to remember the simple things, like adjusting the overhead light, telling my patient to move their head instead of me craning my own, switching chair positions, and experimenting with new instruments.  This is one of my goals for the next few weeks....remember the SIMPLE things.  Also- I was happy in that I passed off 2 PE's today.  Phew-- feels good to have something accomplished when I walk out of those doors.  I'll take what I can get-- and I'll continue to stay positive each and every day-- cuz gosh dangit. . . . .   I'm a lucky gal.

my stor[e]y.

Yesterday I saw my teammate again..Loren Storey :)  YAY!  It was great to be able to finish her up :)  She was a sweetheart and actually was falling asleep on me.  It was hilarious.  Her mouth would close and so I'd poke her with my scalers to wake her up.

jk- jk-- I'd nudge her, or spray a tiny bit of water into her mouth to "awaken" her senses.  We both cracked up a bit.  But....it was awesome to get another 1B out of the way.  I'm chipping away at those requirements little by little.  I still want to make a goal to speed up my scaling time, however, I am pretty impressed with myself and the rate I have been going.  I have a long way to go...of COURSE.  But-- it's getting better day by day.  I really want to focus my time these next few weeks on indirect vision.  You'd think I'd have it by now-- nope!  those dang maxillary anteriors still get me.  BOO!  But-- all in all, clinic isn't as awful as I once thought it was.  And life is pretty stinkin' awesome.  I feel so blessed to be in this program...I've wanted this my whole life--> so now I need to embrace the time where I'm actually in the heat of it...with some pretty rad people to boot.  Yep-- class of 2013 rocks socks.  Holla!  

Monday comes after sunday..

...and we all know what Monday means.  Clinic.  Eeek!  However, this past Monday was a great one-- not the kind where everyone and everything is like . . M--OooOo..nd..Ay....-->  blaaahh!  It was like...MO :)  NDAY!  :)  Mond :)  ay monday!!  :) :)  Ok.  Worst exaggeration ever.  I was actually nervous because I was seeing my mother-in-law and didn't know what to expect.  But why am I so dumb sometimes?  I already know that she is the most kind, cheerful, and non-judgemental person on the entire PLANET people.  But.  I was still nervous.  Until she showed up and I saw her smiling face..then my heart beat was a tad bit more normal :)  She seriously is the sweetest.  (And it was hilarious..the first thing she said when she sat in her chair was, "Everything is so purple!")  And after I got thinking about it- it really was!  Our lab coats....my blood pressure thingy-ma-jig...the disclosing agent..the purple paper that boringly sits on the cupboard, the napkin holder thingy around their neck...I mean..come on people.  Barney does NOT reside here.  However, she thought it was hilarious, and so did I :))  Anyway- back to the story.  So I first started off by taking a FMX on the poor woman.  And boy was she a trooper.  Her poor little mouth handled it so well, and she had tori, too, which probably didn't feel like cotton candy on her insides.  oops.  Anyway- but she was the sweetest about the whole thing---> which was so nice because I knocked off a set of bwx from it, and 14 PA's...other good news was I had ZERO yes ZERO retakes.  Phew :)  I did the whole FMX with Schick, which I thought would be a lot more challenging than it was.  I finished in about 35 minutes!  YAY!  I think one of the things I'm always most nervous for are x-rays.  B/c I just never had experience with taking them before coming into the program-- but so far I've been impressed with myself.  Anyway-  It was soooooooo good to chart her mouth because so far I've only see 1B's..with hardly any work done.  But she had lots of fun stuff inside.  Restorations, tetracycline stain, vaneers (sp?), crowns, amalgam, and roots.  A LOT of exposed root surfaces.  I hadn't ever seen anything like it-- it was so awesome!  Anyway- so of course, Demmings and I "talk over" her classification, and I dumbly say, "uhhh...class 1B?"  Ha- the look on the instructor's face quite plainly said, "NO!"  She was definitely a class 5 because of all of that recession!  (i thought a class 5 had to have lots and lots of calculus..but i guess not. which will make scaling her EASY CHEESY!)  Anyway.  So now i have a class 5.  And I can't wait to scale her class 5 mouth.  And now this blog is like 5 hours long.  So I'm done.  BOOM!  

7 days ago...

Uhhhhh.  Once upon a time last week I saw my 2nd patient of the semester-- and I may or may not have forgotten to blog about it.  Anyway..it was one of my favorite teammates Loren.  Ohh she's a treat.  And it went well!  I started the appointment by taking 4 BWX--> no retakes baby!  I was so nervous because it was the first time doing x-rays since being back in school, but it was a success.  Then I continued on to chart her pretty little mouth, and probe her pearly whites.  The first scale check was approaching in 20 minutes after OHI, and I was determined to finish one quad...So-- I began.  And right when I started, I was immediately wondering if I had made a bad choice.  20 minutes?!  I don't think I'd ever scaled a quad in 20 minutes!  But..alas- it was a success.  I finished sweepin and swipin my scalers all over the place, and had the scale check.  Boom.  No missed spots.  This just goes to show that I don't always need to "explore" and go over and over spots to make SURE I got it all.  That just wastes precious little time.  I just need to stay confident and quickly move on.  Anyway- the day was grand.  And life is grand.  And hygiene school is grand, when I experience a grand day.  Yep- that's it.

...back in business baby!

Yes, Yes I know. . Christmas break FLEW by!  However, it's good to be back-- I saw my first patient of the semester this week---> her name was Stacia.  Oh-- and she was my sister :)  It was so fun to be able to work on someone that I knew because it was comfortable and I could feel confident in myself.  I was able to do a quad scale last monday, and today i FINISHED her mouth. . YAY!  It went so well, and it was SO nice to be able to actually complete a patient.  Yes!!  Scaling felt a little awkward at the first, but the more and more I went, the better and better it felt.  Practice makes perfect. . It is exciting to know that we are actually seeing real patients now, yet it is quite scary, too.  I'll be happy when I get quicker at doing everything..but things come with time, and I just need to remember that!  Well.. that's all for now folks.  Holla!!