Happenings of a future dental student

Again

2009-02-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

I'm not doing this again.
Was funny to think I would start blogging again but I believe that I should refrain from blogging until I feel better, or even for good.

Got rid of most of the posts here.
I hope that things will be better.

Bye.

2009-02-20T12:23:00.001-08:00

I'm not struggling as badly as I was last semester.
That is much more favorable. I have two more weeks until I fly out of here for spring break. I really am looking forward to roasting like a veggie under the southern Florida sun.
I plan to crack down and finish chap four in bio.

I realize the sapping of my energy is coming directly from the people I deal with on campus. I've been extending my help and more often than not, how to get homework answers, etc to people who are only associating with me for those two things. I don't get mad, angry, etc, I just become very tired, and after a while I'm extremely lethargic and sleep for 7 hours after getting home from class like I did two nights ago. When I realize that these friends switch from friend to something less, it makes me tired. I stop answering their calls, stop giving them complete explanations, etc.

People make me tired.
Not going to extend myself anymore.

2008-10-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

I think this will be my last post on blogger.

Today I got accepted @ Nova.

I feel like... everything will be okay.

2008-06-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

There has to be something in the air, I don't know what it is... but it's making me tired lately. I think it's the nice weather. I made a fool of myself today. I was walking around the feet of a patient to observe what was going on. Patient was pretty much done though so I went to walk back and
BAM!
out of no where, the dental light smacked into my head pretty hard.
Sounded like someone hit a gong, the sound reverberated off my skull.
"Ouch!" automatically came out and I apologized while my dentist, the patient and the assistant looked at me with a blank stare. Then the assistant started laughing pretty hard.
I was so out of it and tired. Afterwards, the dentist came over and asked me if I was okay, I said yes and made a mistake by telling him I was just a little tired, I should've just said I tripped.

Got to watch a full mouth extraction today, I was extremely excited and enjoyed it. The patient told me I need to smile more when I'm looking at their mouth (they told me that last time!). I figured there's not much to smile about when there's lots of blood.

I came home and slept for a while.
I had an egg and a bagel for breakfast/lunch/dinner.

I feel like I'm hibernating though.

Lazy day.

2008-06-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to go back to the dental office. I think out of everything I've seen so far, extractions are my favorite. My dentist won't be there all next week because he's opening his own practice. When he told me that, my face went from :D to :[ because I'm not sure how far away his practice will be... but I do believe it's further than the current place he's at (hence why the :[ is appropriate).

I don't want to sound mean, but I've noticed that compared to women, when men are getting shot up and numbed, they seem to have a lower pain tolerance. Maybe it's just me, but I never saw a woman whine or cry out or groan, but I've seen men whine, wince, tremble, cry out and even gag pretty hardcore.

I never asked, but I've been wondering what dentists do if they have a terrible patient, one that kicks and screams and cries (probably a younger patient, or something). Do they calm them down? Do they reschedule them? Do they refer them to someone else? I'll have to ask when I'm back.

I realized how what the patient wants comes first though, even if it's not what they might need. One patient had a few teeth left, and they were all rotten. One even fell out right there when they opened their mouth. The patient didn't want any of them pulled even though they were moving around pretty badly. So the dentist fixed them all temporarily but the patient was ignoring what the dentist was telling them about their teeth; they kept insisting they needed to keep their teeth and didn't need anything done with them, all while ignoring the fact that the fix was a temporary one.

Ah, I'm so excited... classes coming up, more shadowing... and then going to Florida for 20 days.

2008-05-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Today was very exciting!
My dentist told me to come in again today (and tomorrow).
A patient who required a root canal today, had a bad infection in their tooth. When the doctor drilled into the tooth and pulled out the instrument, there was pus all over it -- I don't know why but seeing this sitution today appealed to me, pus and all! I thought it was exciting atleast (I bet I sound pretty weird now).
I can't get over how amazingly considerate my dentist is with the whole shadowing process. When he's around, he makes sure I'm always watching some kind of procedure even if it's not him doing it. He answers all of my questions with complete, thorough explanations -- it's so great! I also don't feel like a "shadow", I feel so included. I swear this is the best dentist to shadow... ever.
Two of his assistants and I talked today while they were doing fillings. One is going to my university this summer. If I don't need my current bio book, I'll just give it to her if I get to know her more, that way she won't have to pay 190-something for a used bio book.
Shadowing is one of the coolest experiences ever.

;]

Quick post. I'm tired.

2008-05-27T22:06:00.001-07:00

So tired.
Today I watched a root canal, few crowns, two extractions, braces being fixed on two girls, a little kid getting fillings, etc etc.
My dentist is the best person to shadow. During the root canal (and everything else) he explained what he was doing step by step, stopped and let me peek in the patients mouth and view everything. He explained why he had to do certain steps, and the consequences of not doing it, etc. He made me feel like he was catering to me, which was pretty nice and I felt extremely comfortable. When I watched two seperate dentists, I didn't feel the same way, and felt like I might've been in the way a little bit.
He told me to come back in tomorrow from 10:30 am til 1.
Crap. I don't know what to wear (I need more dress shirts...)

Been trying to locate the American Indian side of my family. I had no luck since everytime I was onto something, I have to pay 50 dollars or 9.95 for a one time search, etc. Last I heard, they were living on a reservation in Arizona, but one of the searches said the person I was looking for was dead and buried about 45 miles south of me (which scared me.. but then again, what is he doing in my part of the U.S...? It's not true, I would've heard of it.) The next step from here on out is to talk to the oldest family member I know who might know more.
I'd like to get my tribe documents or whatever the heck it is that I need to prove I am what I am... but that's not the only thing... it's time I see what makes up part of who I am.
I'd love to spend time on the reservation -- every little thing I can do to humble myself is a good thing.

Now I'm wondering who's calling me at 1:20 in the morning, restricting their number and not saying a word.

...

2008-05-19T07:08:00.001-07:00

I dislike the feeling of sitting around, waiting for something to happen.
My summer classes don't start til' June 23. I miss being in class, I really do. So... I am thinking about getting a part time job to fill in the empty gaps, one within walking distance.

I've been working out since I've been back from FL, and while I was away, my mom bought me a new bike. Now... I've done a lot of flying around on planes, a somewhat-okay amount of international traveling, I've lived in a few overseas places, I'm pretty mixed and knowledgeable on many cultures and other sundry things... but I never really learned to ride a bike in all of my years growing up. I've been riding my bike, cleaning up my diet, and working out at the gym lately, and it feels pretty good. I'm wanting to shed atleast the 10 lbs I gained last semester (bagels and starving didn't do good things to me). Tonight it's time to lift some weights again.

Jo and I drove by Nova Southeastern University dental school last week.
It both excites me and makes me feel sad.
Excites me because it's the only place I want to be, and saddens me because I wish I were there already. When I think of this (every other second), I think of taking on more classes... maybe I will... Maybe.

2008-05-04T12:44:00.001-07:00

Pulled off all A's. I figured I'd get one B though... I didn't. Still have my 4.o.
Enough about GPA's, no more!

We're staying at a lil beach house place right on Pompano beach for the next week. Our view is beautiful and I can hear the waves crashing outside the balcony window.
I jumped into the waters yesterday and got uber-owned by some waves. I tried to jump one but it slammed into my stomach and sent me like... 15 feet backwards and washed me up on shore. Not only that, once I was on shore, more waves came in and kicked my butt and sent me spinning around in circles on the sand. I sucked badly and got owned by the ocean. When I got inside and undressed, I realized I brought half the ocean's sea shells with me... and it sounded like a bead factory exploded once I took off my things. SHELLS fell and scattered everywhere... on the bathroom floor, in the tub... hiding where shells normally don't! Shell fragments stuck to my forehead, my scalp, fused where elastic had been against my skin -- I could've been a new version of creature from the black lagoon or something. I literally threw half a pound of shells away that where stuck to me and hiding in my clothes.
I believe I also got my salt intake for the next year or so.

I'm having a great time, bathing in sunblock and avoiding the rays of Mr. sun.
Turtles are nesting here at night too -- so cute.
Never noticed how sleepy the beach makes you though.

I hope everyone else is doing well, school-wise, life-wise, job-wise, etc etc.
Going to rent a movie with Jo and veg; forget about the rest of life for now.

-Mima

2008-03-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

Went to the dentist yesterday. The insurance offices were closed last week and they couldn't verify my insurance.

There's nothing like your dentist jabbing metal instruments as deep as he can into your gums to see if you bleed or not. (of course I think anyone would if you jab them in as hard as they were -- ouch).

He was extremely nice though, asked me if I was going to school (yes), what I was studying (biology), etc. He said "Oh so then you'll go to med school?" I said "No, dental school actually" which is when he started talking about the career, DAT, experiences, etc. He told me to contact him anytime I ever had a question about dental school and such. I asked him about shadowing, he said I could absolutely shadow him whenever I felt like but that he preferred to get me in on a less busy day. He then continued on to say "When you do apply to dental school, I will write you a letter of recommendation, telling them about your progess in the dental setting, how many hours you shadowed" etc. So I guess when the time comes, I won't even need to poke and prod for a LOR. I made a decision to not transfer to a different undergrad college (Nova)
I contacted head of admissions at Nova and he basically said that being in Nova undergrad would not help my chances of getting into Nova dental school (like it would for UF). Oh well.

Going back to the dentist next friday. Had xrays and oral exam yesterday, next week I get my teeth cleaned... can't wait (that's not sarcasm).

Anyhow.. anyone hear about the new "discovery" that excessive texting and emailing now = a mental illness.
I thought it was a joke when I heard about it but it's an actual artical in the American journal of psychiatry.

Read it and scoff for yourself!

2008-03-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

So, I got a B on that last test and it brought my average in the class down to a B as well. I keep thinking about how a test and quiz are dropped at the end of the semester so I know it will be that one, and the last quiz. I just think there was so much information that didn't all click with me at first.

Anyhow, Nova emailed me saying they got my transcripts today. Yay. Hopefully they'll email me more soon enough telling me about the next steps.
Nothing too interesting, I've been surfing a lot on student doctor network.

Tomorrow is extremely exciting, I have a dentist appointment and I can't wait... exciteddddd.
K, I'll post something worthwhile next time

Completely fricken brain dead

2008-03-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 7ish am and laid in bed. I finally started studying at 10AM and didn't finish studying til 10:20PM. I took a few small breaks to eat and snack... but I had to stop because my brain wasn't understanding anything anymore.
It's the longest I've ever studied and I still didn't dent or even REACH the the third and final chapter on hormones.
Tomorrow I have all day to study just like I did today.

P.S.
Today is the 1 year anniversary where some huge life decisions were put into place and I began to LIVE... and not just exist.
I haven't had a better year or time in life than I have had this past year.
I can't wait til this semester is over.
I have some amazing things to look forward to... Jo's graduation, my summer classes and seeing whether I go to NOVA SE university this year or next year.
I'm so happy.. but oh so (#*&%(#% brain dead.

Night.