LAST WEEK OF CLINIC!

I'm going out with a bang...I have 3 clinic sessions in a row!  I would have had four if I had been able to come to clinic on Friday, but I have a wedding.  Tuesday, I saw Jennifer K-Z  and Marco.  Jennifer was fun...I knew her from my credit union days.  She was cake.  Marco has been a class 3 in the past and the poor soul still has 10mm pockets between his 2nd and 3rd molars, but he presented with marked improvement over the last time I saw him and I was able to complete him in one appt, so I called him a class V.  He was one of my favorite patients so I was glad I was able to finish my WSU clinic days with him as a patient.  Today Im a CA at VA and tomorrow I come to VA for my last clinic day of the semester!  Of ever!  Oh my lan!  I picked up my cap and gown yesterday...crazy!  I am so excited to have reached this time and I'm grateful for the support of those who have encouraged me through the years.  I am stronger and better because of you. 

The Mind is Willing But the Body is Weak.

Well my body is screaming, "I'VE HAD IT!", right in my face.  And it's manifesting in all sorts of fun ways.

Plague #1:  Esophagitis.  I woke up at 12:30am, a month or so ago, with a dull ache (much like the sensation of swallowing your food before you have a chance to chew it appropriately) that spread from my neck to my diaphragm and jetted to my left arm.  Initially, I was concerned that it was a heart thing so I saw the school physician.  After applying pressure at various areas along my chest her brow furrowed and she innocently asked, "Have you been experiencing any stress lately?"  Haha!  Huh, well, lets see.  Is it possible that in some realm of my life, I have been experiencing some smidgeon of stress? (short pause, as if pondering...then KAPOWEE!)  ANY STRESS???  That sweet doctor had posed the question in such a tone as if to suggest that I would have to rake my brain in order to come up with something.  Of course I was experiencing some stress...I was in the thick of Boards!!!  My body was drunk on stress!  She put me on a medication commonly used for GERD, and the sensitivity went away within the week.

Plague #2:  Random loss of appetite, with accompanying nausea.  Throwing up for no reason.  Not fun.

Plague #3:  A "pretty" little boil made its debut on my side, right along my bra-line.  A boil.  Really?  Who gets boils?  Missionaries in Brazil, maybe??  I only mention its precise location because the constant abrasion makes it particularly bothersome.  Ever-present, it serves as a reminder that my body desires to punish me for the stress I put it through during my Board exams.  It's finally gotten to a stage where it isn't irritating to the touch, but it needs to be looked at I think because it's still erythemic, indurated, and raised (what's the cool word for raised?).  As far as I know it's taken up permanent residence.  Soon it will be receiving its own mail.

Plague #4: My retromolar pads started throbbing!  (That sounds funny).  I felt like I had popcorn kernels stuck between the pads and my second molars for weeks.  Man, that hurt.

Plague #5: A flood of cankers (apthus ulcers, professor ;) ) perused my mouth for those same two weeks.  Oddly enough, they only manifested on the right side.  I can't figure that one out. I think plagues 4&5 were linked to my toothpaste moreso than my stress response.  Has anyone else experienced a similar effect with Crest tp (the type with baking soda)?

Plague #6:  An insatiable appetite for sugary beverages, particularly sodas.  That's **no-no-number-one** in my world.  What is my deal?

Plague #7:   A painful little sore on the tip of my tongue that I can't stop playing with.

Plague #8:  A cold sore in my right commisure.  Why is all this crap happening on my right?  I can't remember the last time I had a cold sore, but in all fairness, I assumed one would be coming at some point.  I just didn't know when.

Plague #9:  A full-on cold, with slight temperature increase.  Not miserable enough to keep me from typing this painfully long blog entry (sorry readers) but enough to keep me from seeing my patients in clinic today, which I'm not happy about.  I've met all my requirements, so I'm grateful I don't have to worry about that, but I'm really trying to build my speed.  I had three people scheduled today and I strongly suspected my afternoon patient would have some thick deposits (I was secretly hoping for some fun quality time with my triplebend).  Alas, it was not to be.

So in retrospect, these really can't be considered plagues.  I know this.  I also know that there are those among us that have experienced worse, and my heart goes out to those individuals.  But this is my sob story, and I hope that it humors you to some end.  I'm chuckling my way through it.

I have to say, though, my body and I have a pretty good relationship.  It carried me through when I needed it most.  I wasn't worrying about all this stuff while I took my exams (with the exception of plague #1).  My body was kind enough to find a notch of time between boards and graduation to release the tension its been feeling.  I guess I can't blame her.  I put her through a lot of grief the last couple months.  She deserves a rest.  You did good body...You did good. 

Welp, I planned on using the day more efficiently

Today my goal was to work on my speed.  I intended to schedule 4 ppl for one day...and I had 3, but one cancelled so I was left with two 1Bs.  Bummer.  I still urged myself to hurry and I had my second patient out the door in an hour!  Exciting!  My morning patient was my brother in law!  I was able to complete my last sealant experience requirement on him, which was nice.  Today has been super chill and I wish I could have been busier but it is what it is.  You know what sounds grand?  A smoothie.  I cant wait to go home! 

BOARD EXAMS

Let me list, in proper order, the exams of which have given me the most amount of stress and anxiety.  1 represents the most stressful.
1.  National Board Written Exam
2.  Process of Care
3.  WREB Local Anesthesia Written
4.  WREB Local Anesthesia Clinical
5.  WREB Clinical Dental Hygiene Exam

I am anticipating the results of my National Board Written this week and I'm reasonably confident that I passed.  I hope that is safe to assume.  The first half of the exam was a little scary and I didn't like that there were so many pharmacology questions but the case study portion of the exam saved my tucus, I think.  That was pretty straightforward.

Process of Care sucked.  I really don't know what to anticipate.  I feel there is a 50/50 chance of passing it.  I didn't like the format and how subjective the test seemed to be.  The huge annoyance with this exam is that we have to wait until we have taken the WREB clinical to get our results for POC.  So I have 30 more days to wait on my stupid results.  At least I know that this is the least important Board to pass on the first shot.  If I fail, I just pay $25 and take it immediately again.  It would be no fun, but pretty atraumatic.

Of all my exams, I felt the most confident coming out of LA written...and I passed.  I was grateful that this exam ended up being fairly stress-free.

LA Clinical went really well, as well...but I was really nervous going into it after failing my mockboard.  I passed on my first go, though, so I was pretty excited.  I left immediately for the airport to pick up my brother-in-law from his mission.  After the adrenaline wore off, I was seriously in shock.  I couldn't believe I was through with one clinical and that I had done so well.  I kept telling my family, "I passed!  I can't believe I've taken my first clinical board!!!"  I'm sure they were sick of me by the end of the night.

Once I found my patient, I had zero stress about taking my clinical board.  I probably should have been stressing a little more because I was 10 minutes from having to submit my patient for his scale check and I was still scraping calculus off his molars.  I would have much rather spent a solid half hour finding nothing, but I guess it was what it was.  I PRAY I passed this.  It would be such a holy annoyance to have to take this exam out of state.  Please oh please oh please say I passed.

In other news, I saw Linda this morning and cleaned her UL class IV quad and her LL class III quad.  No errors...felt good!  She didnt like the ultrasonic much, so I went light on that.  It has been a good day, so far.

THANK THE ROYAL HEAVENS

I found a patient for my clinical board exam last friday during screenings.  I was so grateful to Emily for looking him over while I finished up my previous patient.  We were concerned that his pocket measurements were too deep so I ran to the store to purchase him antiseptic mouthrinse and some good toothpaste.  I very thoroughly described the methods I wanted him to use to brush over the next week and we scheduled him for today to look for improvement.  This patient is amazing.  He came early to his appointment (which makes me hopeful that he will be dependable the day of boards) and his mouth looked 75% better than at the screening.  His gums were less inflammed, there was less bleeding on probing, his PFI had decreased considerably, and he was in the perfect position to be an ideal board patient.  We took forever on his xrays because try as we may, we couldnt keep an UL molar PA from looking elongated...and this was with Professor Alexanders help!  Oh well, it wasnt too extreme.  Hopefully it wont come back to bite me.  He was perfectly comfortable with me cleaning his UR quad, even without LA.  Another plus!  He stayed wide open the entire time and was super cooperative.  No errors!  I am set!  Hooray!

Linda cancelled with the front desk and I never got the message so I was without a patient for the afternoon.  I ended up putting Tori in the chair and cleaning her up.  Professor Alexander asked me if I thought she needed to do a scale check.  I said no and she was alright with that!  What a complement to Tori and me.

Next week...Boards and lots of hair falling out.

1B Day

Today I knew it was going to be a light morning. My friend Rachel came in for a cleaning.  She was my first patient in the program last year and I remember her coming back three times in order for me to finish her.  Today I finished her in 20 min.  Haha.  I'm glad she was able to see my improvement.  I was hoping my afternoon patient would be a class III or board worthy.  She hadn't seen a hygienist in years.  Unfortunately, she too, was a 1B.  If I would have known I would have scheduled them together in the morning!  Oh well, easy day.  I need to remember to give my explorer an extra twist on LL premolar mesials. 

Tri-Mockboard

I was surprisingly calm when my patient tried to back out of his appointment for today.  I reminded him of the significance of this exam and he agreed to make it work, thank goodness.  Unfortunately, he still came late.  I was planning to take a couple PAs before sending him to the front to meet with the student examiners, but I I had to throw that out the window.  Fortunately, I was able to get through his HHX super quickly and didn't lose any scaling time.  I don't think Maren was as lucky, poor thing!  She was in a similar situation, but her patient never showed.  Stupid undependables.  Anyway, scaling went smoothly, thank heavens!!  No errors, and only a few probe readings that didn't mesh (which is actually quite peculiar for me...usually I'm spot on with probe readings.  Curious.).  I was pleased with the day, overall!  Heather and Ashley, who evaluated my patient pre and post tx commended me for the challenge my patient posed.  I'm really grateful to have increased my skill level.  I've passed all my clinical mockboards and I feel ready for Clinicals...if I manage to find a patient ever!