What a day

Today was a rough day from the start.  My little boy came down with a temperature of 103 degrees yesterday.  He had also been complaining of a stomach ache at his preschool.  Trevor went and picked him up yesterday and I met them at home a little later.  Well, we were vegging on my bed watching a movie.  Zach, my little boy, had quite a bit of water and was eating some pretzels.  He tells me, "I need to frow-up."  And about 2 seconds later he proceeds to "frow-up" all over himself, me, and my dry clean only bedspread.  I know that with him feeling like this, either Trevor or I am going to have to stay home from work/school with him.  Come to find out my husband has a really busy and important day for today and really can't miss.  So, that leaves me trying to find someone that doesn't have kids at home during the day to watch Zach.  I left a message with my professor, but she never got that.  I called first thing in the morning today to let them know the situation.  I did get a little guilt trip about not being there for my pod partner.  So, I proceed to make another million phone calls to see if anyone can help us.  Long story short, (too late) my husband ended up staying home with him and missing his important day at work.  It is really hard juggling school and home life.  I need to realize that I am first a mother and then a student.  My husband felt that I was putting my schooling above his job.  My education is very important to me, but my family is more important.  Trevor kept saying that by me missing one 3 and a 1/2 hour morning was not going to keep me from graduating.  He is right.  Anyway, I made it to school and did what I needed to do.  It was an informative day and I learned a lot about the differences in scalers and curets.  I can't wait to start using them.  We actually got to sterilize them today.  Watch next clinic day!  Sarah is coming to scale you!

Finally...

I feel like I understand something.  We practiced using an explorer on each other today.  I actually felt like I understood how to adapt the sharp end to the tooth as well as decipher which is the correct end to use.  It feels so good to feel like I get it.  I don't know about everything else, but exploring I do!  I had a lot of fun going subgingivally to check for calculus.  Woo-Hoo for explorers!

Probing

Well, I caused Tanya to bleed a little bit.  But is went better than I thought it would.  It was really hard to not apply too much pressure while I was entering the sulcus.  Each time I did, I felt like I had a lite grip on my probe, but yet my patient would flinch.  I felt bad for getting her a couple of times.  Trying to enter the col area was complicated.  There were times that I felt that I was there, yet my teaching assistant would tell me to contour to the tooth more.  I know that I will get it.  I just need to go home a practice on my typodont.  I also need to practice taking blood pressure on Trev.  I hope that he enjoys how much time we are spending together with him being by guinea pig!!!  Have a great day everyone!

Fulcrum

We had a fun day today!  We have been able to practice on each other the last couple of clinic days.  On Monday we practiced taking vital signs on each other.  I tell you, blood pressure is hard to do.  I really struggled with that.  I need to bring my blood pressure cuff and stethescope home to practice on my hubby.  It is great to have a built in guinea pig!  Today we were learning how to use the dental mirror inside the mouth.  I thought learning these things would be so easy since I have such a long dental back ground, but it isn't.  Learning to fulcrum for all the differen areas in the mouth is harder than I expected it to be.  I just need to practice, practice, practice.  I think I am finally getting into a routine in the clinic though.  It feels good to finally feel like I know how to start each day there.  I can't wait for it to be just second nature and to not have to think about what needs to be done next. 

Today we were also practicing extra oral exams on each other.  This is where we palpate each others faces and necks to check for lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there.  It is fun to be part of a profession that looks out for a person's overall health.  We aren't just concerned with the teeth or mouth, but the person as a whole and we want to help our patients maintain great health for their lifetime.

Taking Vitals

I need to be more on my "A" game.  I wasn't prepared for what we were doing today.  I had forgotten to look at my module for the day to see what was going to take place.  Well, I didn't get my unit set up and felt pretty dumb when Prof. Costley came over and asked why I wasn't prepared.  The module specifically said to have my unit set up for a patient before class started.  I hadn't done that.  You can be sure that I won't make that same mistake twice.  I don't like feeling like I have disappointed Prof. Costley.  She is going to make or break me passing for the next year.  It is better to impress her rather than make her question my unpreparedness.

On to my day.  We started out by practicing going over the health history sheet.  Stefanie and I were practicing on each other again.  They informed us that the health history portion of the appointment could possibly take the entire appointment time.  Now, mind you, my appointment time at first is going to be 3 hours!  Heaven help me if I take three hours to go over health information with my patient.  Hopefully, if that happens, I get a nice person that won't be mad that we didn't even get to the cleaning.  The reason that may happen is due to the need to write down what the patient says regarding questions that were answered with a "yes."  Also, if they are on several (or lots) of medication, I have to write down each and every one and look them up in my drug reference book.  That in and of itself is very tedious.  I understand why we need to do it though.  The health of our patient is in our hands and I have to be very careful because of the oral side effects of drugs. 

We also were able to practice vital signs.  I really struggled taking Stef's blood pressure.  I brought my stethescope and BP cuff home to practice on Trev.  Hopefully he doesn't mind me squeezing the crap out of his arm several times in a row.  I just want to be able to get it before we go over the Vitals PE next week.  I want to be able to walk in that clinic and feel like a pro at taking vitals on my patients.  This time I want to be completely prepared!

Blurred

I'm not sure if it is a good thing that my clinic days are all starting to blur together.  I am blogging about Wednesday, September 1st on Monday, September 6th.  I can't really remember what took place on that day other than passing off a couple of PEs.  It is always a good feeling to see progress in whatever you are doing.  That is how I feel with my clinic days.  Each day that I can pass off a PE takes me one PE closer to my goal.  I am finding it hard to remember every detail of how to set up or take down my operatory.  I must do better at reviewing the PEs that I have already passed off.  I know that I will get into a routine and each of these things will become second nature to me, but for right now I feel like I need to review, review, review to make sure that information is in my brain. 

I still don't feel like I am getting a routine down with my school schedule.  I am feeling overwhelmed with everything that is required of me.  Some of the things I am learning is a review from my 7 years of dental experience.  Those things are coming back to me like riding a bike, yet there are new terms and directions that are brand new that I don't quite understand yet.  I know that it will come. I just can't wait to start scaling Trevor's teeth.  He has already committed to be my first patient on November 22!  So, let the count down begin.  That will be a great day!

One more thing.  I got the CD of our family pictures this past week and just want to share some of the cute pictures that were taken of my family.  Yes, I am bragging about how cute we look.  But isn't that what a family picture is?  I think so.