IV day

Today we had our IV practical for our anesthesia class. It's funny how if you let yourself get so worked up about something, the anticipation is worse than the actual event! I think this was the case for most of my classmates and me - today was not a day I was looking forward to and it ended up being - dare I say? - fun! :) Well, one of my classmates fainted just watching someone else start an IV, but she's the same one that started crying when she had to have the nitrous for our last practical, and last year she cried when she had to have several shots for our local anesthesia course. So, I guess you could say she doesn't like to be the patient. Good thing she's going to be the doctor! lol
Anyway, I had a patient this morning who needed one of his top teeth filled. Normally, when I do a procedure one week and do something similar the next I get faster, but today was not the case! Everything went pretty well until it was time to get the tooth ready to be filled. There are bands you place around the tooth to hold the filling in as you shape it, and there are wedges you stick on both sides of the tooth if you are filling both sides of the tooth. The wedges are important because they keep the filling material from being pushed down into the gums around the teeth. So today as I was placing the second wedge to hold the band in place, the clamp that holds the band popped right out of my patient's mouth and onto the floor! Oops! :) So then I had to start over and it was still not working how I wanted it to... Finally the instructor had pity on me and modified it with one of his neat little tricks. Ah, experience... So from that point on it went well and my patient has a shiny new filling! :)

Rain, rain go away!

It's raining again. Yuck. It was raining this morning when I left for school, then it cleared up over the lunch hour so I thought I might get a run in this afternoon. Well, after I got home from my pharmacology test, it started to rain again, so no luck! It rained yesterday and earlier this week - it has even hailed several times this week! And the worst part is that the ground is so wet it just can't absorb anymore water! The grass in the backyard is so tall but we can't do anything about it because it's still so soggy! Oh, there goes the tornado siren! Lovely.
Anyway, the pharm test was difficult - it's kind of frustrating because I put more time in studying for these tests and my grade is not showing it! Oh well...
Hope you all have a good weekend!

New Bed!!!

So Aaron and I upgraded to a king size bed and we are super excited! I was very excited to pick out new bedding, however, it was very discouraging shopping for a new headboard because they are so expensive! We decided to make our own headboard (and by we, I mean Aaron :) ), so we picked out some fabric, bought a board and some egg crate, and voila! A head board! Well, I'm sure it was a lot of work for Aaron to get it to just the right height for the bed and then attach it to the bed frame, so maybe not quite voila and done... :) I'm really happy with how it turned out! I think it goes with the bedding very nicely (which is from Kohls - yay for sales :) ).

workin' girl

Since I've been in dental school I haven't worked anywhere - it's been kind of weird not working. I worked at the ambulance service in undergrad, but I quit there once I started dental school. I guess I sort of have a job through the tooth project at school, although I don't see the money! It just takes some money off of my school loans, which is still helpful.
Anyway, tonight Aaron called me up from work - apparently they were short on help for servers, so I helped out the two women who are the usual servers. I've never waited tables before, so I just did what they told me too... it was kind of entertaining to do something I've never done before! I might help out there again - maybe more in the summer... we'll see. If I get free sweet potato fries, I'm pretty sure they could convince me to come back! :)

Nitrous update...

That was an experience! I've never had nitrous before - definitely lucky in that way that I haven't had to have anything major done. Well, I had my wisdom teeth out, but I was completely under for that so I didn't have nitrous then I don't think. I think it could be really overwhelming for a patient to get a high concentration of nitrous all at once, but if you get to the right concentration it is pretty relaxing!
Kate, the "prereq" for nitrous was getting shots in the mouth which was not fun. Nitrous was much better! We have to put IV's in each other in two weeks, and I am not excited about that. I don't think it will be that nerve-wracking for me to do it to someone else, but I am not excited to be someone else's guinea pig! Or pin cushion??? :) I'm sure it'll hurt some, but I'm sure I'll survive.
On a different note, tonight we had one of my classmates and her husband over to play cards. We have a pretty easy week at school, so it's nice to be able to relax a little! It was a good excuse to get the kitchen and living room tidied up too. (Thanks honey :) ). We played 500, which is not a game I grew up with. I am so used to Pinochle that I often play the wrong card because I have a different mindset. However, the girls still won the first game so that is pretty great! The boys won the second game - I blame it on being tired... :) Nah, they are very good competition. :)
Hope you all have a great rest of the week!

happy Tuesday...

It's been rainy all morning, and I really wanted to turn off my alarm this morning and go back to sleep! However, one cannot do that when there is going to be a patient waiting for you bright and early... There are good and bad things about being in clinic more and class less - more clinic means you can't skip! :) I had a good appointment this morning - very easy, so I was done by 10. I get to see this patient again in May, which is nice because it feels more like how private practice will be. I have to say that the very best part about dentistry is meeting new patients and getting to know them. I have really enjoyed working with them and it is very rewarding when I am able to fix a problem for them. (and it's especially nice right now, because in the sophomore clinic most fillings are free! So I get to give them a new filling for free... pretty fantastic. :)). Anyways, I have radiology at 1, and then at 3 I have an anesthesia class. Today in anesthesia we are administering nitrous to each other- I'll let you know how it goes! :)

Doggie Drama

Just when I thought the dogs were getting past some of their territory/dominance/aggression issues... Chewie and Reuben got into a fight yesterday - I think it started over one of their bones. I was in the living room watching TV and then all of a sudden I heard them start fighting and I heard Chewie let out a yelp. Turns out Reuben tore Chewie's ear - it wasn't a huge tear, maybe an inch and a half. It was on the back part of Chewie's ear, so you don't even see it unless you lift up his ear. It bled some so I put some flour on it and that seemed to help. I called the vet yesterday, and they said I could bring him in that day as an emergency or set up an appt for today. I wanted Aaron's opinion so I set up the appt for today. I took him in today hoping the vet would say they could do a little local anesthetic in that area and either stitch it up or just cut off the little piece that was hanging off. Alas, Chewie had to be put under because bassetts have a large vein that runs around the border of their ear that would have to be cut into, and the vet would also have to remove a little bit of cartilage and she didn't think she could do that without hurting him. So Chewie had a little surgery today and now he is all fixed up. Poor guy. He has a little shaved patch on his ear and on his leg where they put in his IV. When we picked him up he seemed pretty groggy, and now he is laying on the carpet on the living room fighting going to sleep. He has been VERY WHINY!!! I think it really bothers him that Reuben has so much energy and he is so sleepy! I think he will give in to his sleepy urges soon and that will be good for him.