{Class II}

Today I saw a really nice man who was screened by a senior recently as a Class II.  It was crazy how it worked out...one of the girls was CA and was saying how she was worried because a pt. called the clinic to confirm his son's and wife's appt, but also said he had an appt.  So, I told her that I needed a pt., so if nobody else had him scheduled, I would see him.  I got lucky, because he was a Class II!  I was pretty stressed because I didn't think he would be able to speak any English.  Well, we were able to communicate just fine.  His English was broken, but he could understand most of what I was telling him.  He was so sweet, and was falling asleep while I was probing!  Most people with perio. are jumping all over the place! So, I was able to get through his OD, but was waiting for my turn in radiology, because it was way backed up.  Inst. Hafen just told me to start scaling because we had an hour, and I could just stop and go get xrays when it was available.  So, I pulled out the Ultrasonic (which I'm now in love with) and started on his LR quad.  Then, I hand scaled the really sub areas.  When they came to get me for radiology, I was in a zone and couldn't stop.  So, as soon as I was done scaling, I hurried and got those xrays going.  When I had my scale check, I did miss a few spots, but I was kind of expecting that.  He was the first pt. that I had to go really sub. on.  It was such a good learning experience for me, and even though I missed spots, I really enjoyed the experience.  I got a lot of good tips from Inst. Hafen and felt like I was actually doing some good for this patient!  I'm finally starting to really love clinic and not dread it!  It seems silly to dread something that I've wanted to do forever, but it's because I haven't felt really comfortable this whole semester.  I kind of felt like I didn't really know what I was doing.  I still have a long way to go, but I think it's amazing how much improvement I've made since seeing my first pt.  Yay for Spring Break!!!