Last day at the VA

Today was my last day at the VA hospital, hallelujah!! I really didn't mind the VA itself, but I hate the commute. Getting my butt out of bed to drive to SLC was torture. I am so glad that I don't have to do that anymore. I saw three patients today, all of them were pretty easy. My last patient was super nice, what a way to end my experience at the VA. My very first patient that I ever saw at the VA was HORRIBLE. He was so mean. My last patient was the complete opposite, what a nice guy. He is taking his dog to get it's teeth cleaned tomorrow, I thought that was cute. I will miss the VA for some reasons. I like having my patients scheduled for me, but that will happen when I work in an office. I will miss the VA staff. Connie and Katie are amazing, I have learned a lot from them. I hope that when I find a job I will love the staff that I work with. Although I am sad to leave my VA friends, I am psyched that I am DONE!!!

I PASSED!!

I found out today that I passed the clinical board!! HOORAY!! I almost had a heart attack though, the results said that I failed, but it is because they have not posted the process of care exam results yet, geez. That stupid test is ruining my life! Hahaha. I just don't understand why it is taking so long to receive the results for that exam, so dumb. All I have left to do is write my TA paper, pass of one more PE, take Alexander's test and meet with her for my end of semester meeting. I hope that I have not overlooked some silly requirement that interferes with graduation. Here's hoping. Wish me luck, I am so close to the end!

Busy day..

I saw five patients today. Three kids and two screenings. I was trying to find Julie a board patient, but I failed. I did find her three quads of a III though. Kids definitely wear me out.  The first girl I saw was a challenge. She did not want her teeth cleaned and would not open her mouth. I did end up getting her to open and was able to clean her teeth, so it ended well. I also saw my two year old niece, that was fun. She bit me a couple of times though, haha.  She cracks me up. I also saw my friend Madi's little boy. He was amazing. He did so well throughout the cleaning. I wish all kids that came in were like him! It would make my life a lot easier. Kids are so difficult sometimes. I am glad I got that requirement over with. Now, all I have to do is finish my PE's and assignments for class and I am DONE!!

Crazy patient

I decided to help out a first year student and take her crazy patient off her hands. He was super hard to work on and was only classified as a 1B/II. She was taking a whole appointment for each quad, he was tough. In first year, every clinic session is precious. I did not want her to sacrifice any more clinic session to finish this guy. He tried to cancel on me last minute, but I told him that no one else had time to see him for the rest of the semester if he did not come to his appointment today. So, he came, but was 30 minutes late. This guy has some issues. He acts half his age and loves attention. He keeps his bitten off fingernails between his front two teeth, gross. I am super glad that he came in and got his cleaning finished, he really needed it. I really tried to stress home care to him. He is not a big fan of brushing his teeth. I feel like the appointment went really well. I think he felt pretty comfortable with me. I hope that I made a difference in his knowledge about taking care of his teeth and mouth.

BOARDS ARE OVER!!!

CLINICAL BOARD ARE OVER!!!! What a huge relief! I passed my local anesthesia exam! Woot woot!! I also found out the other on Monday that I passed my National board exam! What a confidence boost right before clinicals! Everything that could have possibly went wrong, went wrong. I dropped the needle cap on the floor, I knocked the other one over, the examiner bumped me, they made me aspirate a bunch of times, I stabbed myself in the finger, and I had to redo the PSA on the dreaded left side.... I ended up using four syringes!! I thought for sure that I had failed. When I opened my result envelope and saw that blessed purple paper, it was the best feeling ever!! The clinical board went pretty well too. My patient was on time and my first submission qualified. I was crunched for time, I have no idea where that two hours went, but it flew by! I checked my patient out with one minute to spare. I messed up on probe depths, but caught it last minute. I really hope I fixed my errors. My patient's calculus was TOUGH!! It would NOT COME OFF. I have a callus on my thumb from instrumenting. He was a trooper though! I was able to give him injections all by myself. I felt like I was being naughty and giving him the shots behind my instructors back! Once I got over that, it was really cool. I can't wait until I can do that all the time.  Too bad we have to wait a month for our results! I am going to go crazy! My patient is going to the clinic tomorrow to have more of his teeth cleaned by a first year student and Jenn is going to check the quad that I cleaned. I am nervous, but hopefully it goes well!

Easy day

I saw two very easy patients today. My brother-in-law came in hoping to qualify for boards (which would have been awesome for me!) but he was a 1B. Oh well, it was nice of him to try. It was kind of nice to have a relaxing day today, but boards are next week!! I feel like I should have had a harder patient so that I can practice for boards. Oh well, if I am not ready now, I never will be. I just hope it goes well for everyone. I am not really nervous yet, but I might get nervous when it comes to the exam day!! Wish me luck!

End of Sealant Clinics

Our last sealant clinic was today. It went by really fast. The sealant clinics have been really fun and the kids are all so much fun, but I am kind of glad that they are over and I will have Fridays off from now on.  I need an extra day off, these long weeks are killing me. School is almost over, I can't believe how fast it has gone by. I am excited and sad at the same time. I am not sad about not coming to school or having homework, but missing all of the wonderful girls I have become so close with. What am I going to do without them??