Week 6- Thursday October 4, 2012

Today was the first day I actually had no issues with patients cancelling or no-showing!  YAY!  I am exhausted though.... 
Morning:
I was able to see a patient that my peer pal saw as her board patient!  I wasn't sure what I thought I would get as far as classifications go, but I knew it shouldn't be too bad since it had only been 7 months.  Boy was I wrong!  He definitely wasn't as bad as he was for boards, but it was still tough for me to remove some of the calculus.  In fact, I missed some areas :(  This appointment made me question if I really know what calculus feels like because I couldn't feel it when I was told to try.  Bummer.. 
Afternoon:
I found this patient on the recall list when I was trying to fill a different day.  I made this appointment and was a little nervous she wouldn't show up because she was concerned about missing her lunch time at the home she lives in.  To my surprise, she confirmed her appointment and showed up... late of course.  The juniors were observing the clinic this afternoon, and lucky for me, the one in my pod followed me through the whole appointment and helped throughout the whole thing!  My patient had many medications which took a long time.  She agreed to have a full mouth x-ray, but gagged, cried, and sweat during the whole thing.  She didn't have a bad attitude, and she tried to be compliant during the whole thing, but her mouth was small.  I struggled!  The junior observing me knew it too.  My instructor ended up giving my patient 4 of the 14 PAs for free.  My patient, to my astonishment, felt very bad about it and was willing to try yet again.  She really was such a trooper but very difficult to work on.  When I started probing, I was hoping she would be a mock board patient.  Although she hasn't been seen at the clinic for 8 years, she didn't have enough calculus to qualify.  I started scaling right away and noticed she had a lot of calculus and it was going to be a struggle to get it all off.  I was grateful to have a good patient for my observer to see!  I ended up missing 2 areas of calculus, but given how much she had, I was very proud I only missed that much. 

One day, I will be able to see a patient like I did today and actually complete them without any missed areas.   That is one of my goals. . . one day!