Is it really over?

I don't like change!
I do get excited about some things that I don't have to do now that school is done. Mostly I'm excited that for a little while I can sleep in. That seriously is the most exciting thing to me. But besides not having to  wake up early to travel and not having to take more tests...(lets hope wreb doesn't dash that hope) I really am going to miss the program and school. I'm thinking if I don't find a job, I just may take up residence in op 1 or 2 when the dentists are gone and practice there!
I most of all will miss getting to spend time with 30 sexy beasts (as Jody puts it so well). I have loved getting to know everyone and work with them and laugh and stress and want to cry and sometimes want to scream and then eat food, lots and lots of food with everyone, and freak out about giving injections into raw chickens and then into real mouths, and lasering hot dogs and working on patients that drive you crazy and then patients you love, and then stressing some more and then laughing more. It has been some of the best two years of my life!
I really am getting more sad about the prospect of being done with every passing day. So if I'm a sobbing wreck at the banquet...thats why. Its cause I love all you guys and hate that we can't all find a job in the same office and spend the rest of our careers together! I suppose if we all moved to california we could really do that!

the second to last day at the VA

Well, everyone thought it was our last day and we had to keep reminding them that we are the lucky group to go 2 weeks in a row at the end....so we would be back!!!
It was a good day. I felt like I had interesting situations that I was able to learn from.  My first patient wasn't able to lay back becuase of osteoporosis so I got to work leaning over or standing. It was alot easier in most places to work standing up. The next patient had good subgingival calculus but since he wasn't started till 10 am I only did 2 quads. The dentist was very friendly and loved my x-rays! They were really good x-rays:)
In the afternoon I had a patient that had had head and neck radiation for throat cancer. It was cool hearing his story. Sadly, his teeth have suffered badly as a result of the radiation. He had caries everywhere. They were slowly putting his mouth back together. He had really good homecare but had a difficult time keeping the up with it all. It was sad, but he was such a nice guy.
All in all a very interesting day!

Oh board results!

Well, I along with most of the class had a heart attack at the results sent to us. Luckily karlie read me the email....I skipped right over it and down to those awfully chosen words...Exam results:FAIL. After hurried phone calls and much confusion I realized that I had indeed passed the clinical portion!!!! Then there was much rejoicing!...and screaming! What a relief to find out. I passed! I passed! We all passed!!!! (I'm including Julie in this!!!)

NCUR

Well, the day that we present our research has finally arrived.  We labored diligently on our project and failed to fulfill our hypothesis. And luckily that is research! We worked on trying to create and image using Augmented Reality. We worked to download the program but were unable to due to our lack of advanced computer skills. I tell ya, I didn't even know what it was asking us for!  Although we weren't able to render an image the research was pretty interesting!
So we presented on Friday morning- Karlie,Jodie and I. It was alot more exciting than I expected it to be. We were able to talk to a few different individuals and explain what we did and the more we talked about it the more excited I got. I really is cool technology.
It was interesting to see all the other posters and other schools attending. There were subjects on all sort  of topics. It was cool.

Shadowing

This week I shadowed another dentist up north. It was a good experience, I actually wish we could see more than just 2 offices.  I was actually able to observe a senior from last year so that was nice because I was able to talk to her about the transition from school to working and what things were a big adjustment. She said the biggest change was viewing the paitent in terms of billing needs and treatment plans and not a class II for a requirement. Also, working up to speed and seeing all the patients in a timely manner. I'm alittle concerned about that! I suppose everyone else has done it in the past and we should be able to follow suit.
I really liked being able to see the differences between offices and what things I really liked and what I didn't love. Hopefully I can find a job that suits me well!

Anesthesia Board

Well....I Passed!!
Today was the anesthesia board. We started the day at school by 7:30 so we could have a clinic tour and orientation. I think someone forgot to give us the clinic tour. So we waited around till the orientation. I thought it was actually pretty helpful. After orientation we had a birthday party and yummy cake for marianne and then snuck up stairs to the waiting room.
Then we waited and watched.
At 10:40 they called me back to set up and said they'd start back up again at 11. Bonus, I was in my old unit! I went and retrieved Karlie and tried to breathe.
When I finally started the procedure I went in with all correct angles in Karlie's perfect triangle and got a positive aspiration. I've never had a positive aspiration! So I withdrew my syringe and got  a new setup. This time I was at site of penetration and realized my window wasn't up so I withdrew again.
The third penetration I finally got it but when at site of deposition said penetration and they had to correct me:)
I don't really remember much after that point. I assume I did the PSA correctly because after cleaning and much fretting I got the courage to pick up my envelope. Inside was my success memo (it didn't look so purple upon initial viewing)!
On to bigger and more stressful things...clinicals tomorrow. UGH!

I found a board patient!!!!

FINALLY! I found a patient. I held screenings this morning and my first pt qualified!! He's super nice. All thanks to Marianne! She's my life saver!  Julie and Ashley are too. I was busy taking x-rays when my other patients came and they were nice enough to see them for me. We seriously have the best class!
I also saw a class III this afternoon! He was a smoker and I feel like I was able to give him some good info about its consequences and what he can do. He said no one had spent so much time explaining and examining before. That made me feel good! I still don't really know how to help them quite besides encouragement though. I only got one quad done but I think I'll be able to finish next time.
So the day itself went really well but I make myself sick thinking about boards. I can't wait for the next week to be done and to be able to enjoy the rest of school. I'm getting sad about graduating...well leaving the class! I will miss everyone! But I will not miss boards!