Last quad of class 3

I brought my patient back who had high blood pressure.  I saw her 3 weeks ago, and her blood pressure was 170/100.  That is scary.  She has never seen a doctor or taken blood thinners before.  I referred her to a physician.  The amazing part is that she went, and she is now taking care of her health.  I got a physician's consult.  I brought her back again.  I was scared to see what her blood pressure was, but it was better.  It was 144/79.  That was much better.  She was excited about the results. I only cleaned half her mouth, and I left the other half for my peer pal.  I discussed OHI with her.  She has a hard time flossing, but she got so excited when I demonstrated the interprox brush and the soft picks.  It is these days that makes me feel like a good hygienist.

Another class 4

I am really sick of seeing class 4 patients.  This is the 5th class 4 patient I had to encounter this year.  At this point, nobody wanted him, so I had the opportunity to clean another class 4.  I was only able to get one quad done, since x-rays and OD took awhile. 
I am so thankful to have a translator in the clinic.  I spent 15 minutes discussing on OHI and describing periodontitis.  It is amazing how patients are in tune and are asking questions about their mouth.  It shows that they care and want to improve.  It made me think... I'm from mesa, az.  A lot of people are hispanic, and I am one of the few people who knows spanish.  I had the opportunity to take spanish classes, but I decided to take chinese instead.  Many of the hygienist I shadowed spoke spanish and english.  It is going to be hard to describe OHI with a spanish speaker when I go back home.  Those were just my thoughts.

VA on thursday

I had VA on wed all year, but a girl switched me.  What can I say... I love professor Mcconaughy!  I learned so much on perio and clinical attachment.  I was great to have a good perspective.
I saw a cute 90 year old man who only had 8 teeth on the man.  He only brushes once a day though.  When he opened his mouth, his teeth was completely covered with lunch... yikes.  I discussed about OHI before starting.  He was so stubborn that he wouldn't increase his brushing habbits to 2 times a day.  So, I told him to rinse thoroughly with water then.  I also discussed this with his daughter who takes care of him. 
Also, I never had a patient with high blood pressure.  He had 194/99... during his procedure.  Boy oh boy,  I stopped in the middle.  I had the doctor come over.  During his time with the doctor, his blood pressure went back below 180.  The doctor gave me permission to clean the rest of his teeth while continuing to monitor his blood pressure.  It was a scary feeling, but I'm so thankful to be in a hospital setting.

Bringing my Board patient back

One of the advantages of having Tuesday clinic is bringing back my board patient back soon.  I did the OD, and had Jen Wold check him.  I was hyperventilating!  I saw her exploring up and down.  To my relief, I only a tiny roughness that was hard to catch.  Oh... that made my day... I passed! 
The best part was that I was able to clean the rest of his mouth which was 2 quads of a 3 and 1 quad of a 2 in that appointment.  I didn't miss any spots!  How come it is soooo hard to clean one quad, and able to complete your patient in the same amount of time and not miss any spots.  Answer... stress.  Oh I don't like that!
My afternoon patient no showed... which is disappointing, but I didn't care... I passed!

Boards number 2!

So I took the other clinical portion of my boards on Saturday morning.  I shouldn't complain, because I had a Saturday and not a Sunday... but mornings are really hard for me.  I had a great patient who qualified and was so good to show up.
This is how it went... I was the last person to sign up to see if he qualifies.  He was only back there for 5 minutes, and he was back again... with the first submission.  5 other girls were still waiting for their patients to come back.  Cleaning him was easy.  That sounds really weird, but all this semester, I only cleaned class 3 and class 4 patients.  His calculus came off with no effort to put into it.  How did I get so blessed.  I only spend 45 minutes cleaning him.  However, probing took a half an hour.  He was bleeding like crazy!  If I couldn't see the probing depths, neither could the examiners.  I took him back after an hour and 15 minutes.  I explored and explored, but I couldn't feel a thing.  I hope I passed!
Lessons learned... I ultrasonic twice... and its worth it... it helps disrupt the bacteria!

BOARDS!!!

Well, this week finally showed up.  I spent the first week just relaxing myself.  I didn't bother to study, because it only made me think of boards.  I had LA on Thursday and Clinicals Saturday Morning. This is who it went... for LA
LA... so I was scheduled at 1:50, which is pretty late.  They called my number an hour and 15 minutes ahead.  Luckily, I told my patient to be here an hour ahead.  They allowed me to set up and come back for my patient.  My lucky patient was my cousin who has been my second mom while at college.  I brought her back to the chair and explained the procedure of the local anesthesia.  I barely had any time to practice.  I put the topical, and it was my turn right afterwards.  I did a right PSA first.  My angles were perfect, and the insertion was good.  I didn't have any positive aspiration.  I was so successful with the PSA.  This boost my confidence for the IA.  I did the left IA.  My angles were right, and the needle perfectly slipped through until I got to the site of deposition.  I didn't get any positive aspiration.  However, placing my needle back into the cap caused some difficulty.  It fell out my tray!!!! Yikes!!! I rest my hand against the tray to provide stability.  I told the tester people that my card fell to the floor, and I was going to pick it up and put it on the table.  I did just that.  I handled it like a professional.
The only thing that made me nervous was when the tester people went and discussed together in their huddle group away from me.  It only took 5 seconds.  They came to me and said to clean up.  At this moment, my mind was stirring... they could of either passed me or failed me.  I dismissed my patient, and cleaned up my area.  A short time later, I found out my results... and I passed!!!!  It was a good feeling.
Overall lessons learned... act like a professional.  Second, if you are used to giving shots with poor anatomy, give it to a patient with poor anatomy.  I did just that and I was successful! 

Mockbeard

Finally, it's the last mockboard!  I didn't end it in a bang, but I passed.  The night before, I was next to the toilet and had a migraine.  It was not pleasant.  A few hours later, I woke up feeling pretty miserable, but not compared like the misery I had yesterday.  My stomach was feeling ok, but my head still hurts and in a cloud, and my nose is stuffy.
What I learned.... I only missed one spot!  I felt miserable, so I didn't bother taking x-rays.  But even in my misery, I passed.  That patient was the hardest one yet! That means, I can feel all the misery at boards and still pass.  It's a good feeling.  I will take airborne all week long before boards and pray for health. 
Also, this class is so amazing!  Girls were so kind and uplifting.