Odds and Ends

I do have some good news.  I found a board patient!  I am so relieved by this.  That was something that I was really worrying about and to know that she is reliable.  She came in the last clinic day of January.  My peer pal cleaned her upper right quad for her board and passed with 100%.  The left side of her mouth was left incomplete.  This was good for me.  Her upper left quad has at least 10 solid clicks and I will add #18 and 19 to fulfill the last couple of clicks.  She doesn't speak English, but if my peer pal could do it, so can I.  I will also be cleaning the rest of her mouth for requirements.  She is a class III!  Right now I have 30 quads of a class III, so I am getting close with my requirements there.  I thought I was going to have a mockboard patient, but the guy won't get back with me.  He canceled the night before the last mockboard due to family issues, which I understand.  Well, I thought he would have been willing to come in for this last one.  I just wish he would let me know either way.  That way I know if I need to start calling people for screenings on Friday.

I have a couple of stresses on my mind right now.  This Thursday we have our local anesthesia mock board.  At the end of clinic on Thursday we talked about what is expected for LA mockboard.  I went home sweating out of sheer terror!  I haven't given injections since my first VA day back from Christmas.  I will review the injections, depths, penetration sites and what to say.  Hopefully all goes well.

I am also taking my national board this Saturday.  I have just spent today studying for 6 1/2 hours.  Am I finished studying for the day, you ask?  Oh, no I am not.  I will probably hit the books for a couple more hours tonight.  I did feel good after my study session today, though.  I hope that I continue to feel more and more confident over the next couple of days.

My husband asked me tonight if it was a prerequisite for getting into the dental hygiene program to have a lack of confidence and constantly question my abilities.  I told him yes, because I know that each of us has uncertainties and questions ourselves.  Maybe during the interview process, they could smell it on us.  I know that I tried to come off as confident, but maybe I wasn't confident at all and that was just what they were looking for.  An insecure person lacking self confidence.  All fingers point to me!