{Here we go...}

Last Tuesday was our official first day back in clinic seeing patients.  I'll be honest....I was super nervous about it.  I kept thinking about it all weekend, and trying to remember how to do everything.  I feel like I forgot just about everything over the summer.

I brought in a pt. off of the resource list.  I only ended up getting an OD and BWX on him, but he is my mockboard!  Yay!  I couldn't believe it!  Now, hopefully he follows through so I don't have to worry about trying to scrounge somebody up for that.  I was feeling down on myself for only getting through an OD, but then I thought about how lucky I was to get a mockboard pt. on my first day.  I probably could have scaled at least one quad, but he is already going to have to come back twice, so I just got him out of there a little early.

My afternoon pt. was somebody that I did an OD on last semester.  Prof. Perry still wanted me to do probing and see if I could do some x-rays.  He was a Class 2 at his last appt., but we didn't have any x-rays then because he couldn't pay for them.  When Perry saw the x-rays and the amount of radiographic calculus, he told me he would be a perfect board patient.  It made me kind of sad though, because we can't ethically keep a pt's tx on hold for that long.  So, hopefully I will find somebody just as perfect when it comes to board time.  My pt. was extremely sensitive while probing.  I actually had to put topical on to try and help with the pain.  So, he decided on LA for scaling.  I ended up doing the UR quad.  I could have done more, but he was pretty tired by then.  I have him scheduled to come back on Tuesday to hopefully finish him up.  Since he has to be numb in his last three quads, two of which are the lower ones, I don't know how that will go.  We shall see.  I really enjoyed doing his cleaning.  I used the Ultrasonic, and got SO much calculus off with it.  I loved that!  It was so neat when I was done and went through with my explorer and felt how smooth it was.  I really realized how much I love the Ultrasonic.  I think it's because I know how to use it now.  I hated using it last semester because I didn't know how to use it properly.  It's a wonderful tool!  I'm really excited to see what his tissues look like when he comes back in.

I also had the VA on Thursday, and had quite the experience with my morning pt.  She was a 1B, but insisted on being numb in all four quads because she is so sensitive.  So, needless to say, the appt. took WAY longer than it needed to.  It was a good learning experience for me though.  My afternoon pt. was a sweet older man who was a Class 2.  That went great!  So far I have been enjoying the VA.  It's a good feeling to help out those veterans.  I just hope I can start getting some Class 3s under my belt!  I'm about there with my Class 2s, and I don't think I'll have a problem getting Class 5s either.

So far I'm really enjoying Senior year.  I love how much clinic we have.  It makes me excited to know that with each clinic session, I am getting faster and gaining more knowledge.  I also love all the senior instructors.  They are so great to work with, and so helpful.