Status RX

Oh how much will I NOT miss doing that....

Anyway, I am sitting at Cedar City's library writing to the world about my life as it currently stands. I do not have internet or cable so that pretty much sums up my evenings. It is a good thing I work late and have friends I can call every night-thanks Korbin. Well, I sent off my license application last week. I lost my success card for local anesthesia (what a flaky thing to do!) so I had to send off for another one. So I am thinking I will get my license in 3-6 weeks. I did not pay the $75 extra to process my application faster, the world is just going to have to wait:) I have a job starting out 3 days a week. This office is in Cedar City behind the Smith's grocery store. Once their new office is finished I will work more. Their new office is at the south end of town by the south elementary/discovery park/walmart. It is supposed to be really great. I am looking forward to a new office.

Today I observed one hygienist who works 4 hours a week for each of the 3 dentists (so she works 1 &1/2 days). We get 1 hour per patient period. That is great for recall and for new patients! I am pretty excited about it. I get to say how long I need for SCRP. If I need 1 &1/2 hrs for one quad or half mouth then I tell them. The million assistants are so great. They were so nice to me and knew I was the new hygienist and introduced themselves to me etc. The dentists are pretty laid back and very approachable. I think I could be happy in this office (the official name of the practice is Cedar Dental Center--CDC ha ha ha). I cannot believe how lucky I am to be working with two great hygienists who are both active in ADHA! I honestly did not think that they would be members, to my surprise they are! I do not think I could have fallen into a better job. I do mean fallen in. What are the chances that the first dentist I talked to needed a hygienist and that the office staff would be so great and have hygienists that are as concerned for the profession as I am! I better knock on wood and cross myself and any other superstitious/religious thing I can think of to ward of any jinxs of the day. I really hope that this office is not too good to be true!

I wish all of the world's hygienists good luck in finding the office that is best for them! May doors be opened and connections made that enable you to work in the atmosphere that will strengthen your already wonderful hygiene skills!!

People crack me up!

As you know there is a patient (now known as Wilt) out there in this big world who has E.D. Well he does not seem to be able to stop bragging about it. I have known some men with E.D. and they try to keep the condition a private matter. This patient is just begging for the opportunity to share. He came in for his Viagra. His insurance company allows 6 pills every 28 days. He wanted more but did not want to pay $10 a pill for them so he left. About an hour later his mother called asking the pharmacy why we could not give him more. I was floored. This 40 year old patient's mother was calling us....about his hard on pills....wow! The short story is that Mom's still care about their children's little problems. I am not sure if I should laugh or be disgusted by Wilt and his incessant need to talk about his libido(he talked to me about that in a recent phone call) and his girlfriend who he cannot keep up with.

I am loving life after school. I have seen 2 movies--in a movie theater! I have plans to go to Davinci Code with Kody J tomorrow night and I am already marking the calendar for when Nacho Libre comes to town! I have read 2 fiction books, visited with long time friends and worked my heart out. It has been great! I am looking forward to recieving my license one day soon. But, then again this break is kind of nice! I hope everyone's summer is going great.

Class of '07 let me know when you are coming to Cedar. I will try to get Shakespear tickets the same nights y'all are here. It will be fun!

Too Much Information!!

I am working at my favorite pharmacy! I love each one of the 6 Pharm Techs and the 4 pharmacists! It has been a great couple of weeks. I am not used to working so hard. The pharmacies that I worked in during my time in Ogden were not as busy and this one! It has been so fun talking to the life-long patients. It is so great to see a few patients who were on their 'way out' waiting for organ transplants and received them. They look so healthy and strong compared to the last time I saw them! It is such a great feeling to be working in the health professions!

One drawback to the health profession is that people feel they must share everything with you. I have heard some 'hum dingers' in my time at the pharmacy. The latest was a male patient who was getting some Viagra and I guess he was a nervous talker because he would NOT shut up about the methods his girlfriend used before resorting to the little blue pill....man I could have lived a thousand lifetimes without that kind of info! I will forever look at him as the man with a problem I know too much about! I am not sure what compels people to express such private matters to their health care providers but they do. Sometimes I wonder how much worse it is to be a nurse or doctor. I am sure they have heard it all! and I do mean ALL! I am honored to be working in the health care field. I chuckle at night at the great and not-so-great stories of other people!

For all of my fans (ha ha ha) I wanted to let you know I was offered a job yesterday. As soon as my license gets here I will be able to start working a few days a week. The office I am going to start in has 3 dentists and 2 part time hygienists all in an office with 8 operatories. So there is not a chair available for me to use full time yet. They have a new office under construction that will accommodate me full time in a few months. I am excited for this opportunity to start off slow, working my way up to full time. I have a few weeks until I am able to work hygiene and so I feel some road trips coming up--now that I am rich with my $0.60 raise I got in the pharmacy ha ha ha!

The final final exam

I went to St George early this morning to take my final exam before I can officially call myself an RDH-the law exam. It was surprisingly easy! I finally got a break! The drive between Cedar and St George is one of my favorites. The beautiful red cliffs mixed with sagebrush and pinion is so beautiful to my eyes. I love the feel of the sandstone and the smell of the sage. There is a lot of development in the area which saddens me a little. I will miss the beautiful vistas, but cannot blame a person for wanting to live there and experience them on a daily basis. I am thankful I live in Cedar because it is not nearly as hot here as in St George! Cedar is perfect for a small town girl who is looking for a little bit bigger town like me.

I may be fortunate enough to stay here. I have been toying with the temptaion of Boise. I told myself I would come to Cedar and see what it had to offer. Well, I am here and I think I like what is being offered. I really need to receive my license so that I can start working and then I will know for sure if the offices here are great or not. I also need to get up to Idaho and see what the Gem state has to offer me. Basically I am still deciding what to do although Cedar is offering me some tempting situations.

Finally, I want to thank anonymous again. Not only did they wake me up, but they have started something that I will always remember. As you can surmise I have an army of great friends! I am so thankful to them for standing up!!! I did not know I was so lucky! All of you who have called, blogged, emailed, and written me snail mail (my favorite way of communication-thanks Tatiana) I want to thank you from the deepest crevice of my soul. Your words and friendship mean so much to me. I hated what anonymous said and my bubble took a hit, but it was worth it because of the wonderful things I have learned from YOU!. Now my bubble is shiny and stronger that ever thanks to all the kindness shown to me! I will never forget it!! I hope each one of you knows you have a true friend in me!

Home Sweet Home

I recently moved from the hometown of Weber State University to the hometown of Southern Utah University. Once I passed Payson traffic lightened up considerably. There were about 6 vehicles within 2 miles of each other. It was heaven. I was approaching one of the many overpasses and noticed that two real cowboys were herding cattle over I-15 for summer grazing. The cowboy's were moseying on their horses. I smiled to myself and said 'yup, this is what I call home!' I love farm folk. There is no need to stress and rush through the day. Everything will get done sooner or later. Somethimes the slow pace can be agrivting if I do not remember the busy alternative.

Another thing I love is the smell of a hard honest days work (a mixture of alfalfa, cow, and tractor grease) is one of my favorites! Freshly cut alfalfa feilds are the best! I love the cool air moisture rich air that carries freshness throughout the field. Then about 15 sneezes later I remember why I do not indulge in the scent often.

So while country livin has it's ups and downs I am glad to be home even though I will miss a lot of people--thanks everyone for being there for me!

Truth hurts

I read the anonymous comment left on my previous post the night before my WREB exam. I did not sleep all night. I was worrying about taking the exam and then my self esteem took a hit. I admit that I have had a negative attitude lately. I admit that my feelings have been hurt. I admit that I am ready to leave school and enter a new door. I admit that my current room is ready for me to leave. I admit that it is hard for negative people to obtain and maintain jobs. I admit I may have come across as harsh in my last post, but after keeping it as a draft for 48 hours and I still felt the same I decided to post it. I did not intend for the post to be negatively aimed at anyone. I was venting MY OWN hurt feelings and the events that caused me to allow them to be hurt. I want to apologize to all of you who allowed your own feelings to be hurt. It was not my intention to hurt you. I do appreciate the wake up call. I have been changing myself to become the greatest tooth scaler in the West. I now realize that I have changed too much. The changes are due to my own self defense mechanisms. I am surrounded day in and day out with beautiful, thin, intelligent, perfect young ladies. In order for me (who is the opposite of each one of those descripters) to cope, I have changed. It has been a hard two years. I have not changed for the better. I need to recheck myself and prioritize my life. I guess I owe anonymous a thank you....to bad you did'nt leave your name.

PS. I am not confident in my WREB experience. I guess I will be hanging out at WSU a little longer:(

PPS. The comments may be offensive but I will not delete them! So read and be offended:)

Closing the door...maybe slamming it ;-)

It has arrived! I am scheduled to walk at 1 pm. I am not as excited about walking as I should be. I am seriously tempted to stay home in my pjs. I guess I feel that walking does not even come close to celebrating all the hard work I did to get here. To most not walking is unthinkable, but I have thought about it. Just so you know I will be there with a smile on ready to walk across the stage and shake people's hands who really couldn't care less.

My dental hygiene graduation banquet was fun. My family and I dressed up all fancy and we looked amazing. I was so nervous about the evening. I was worried about saying the right things. The program listed me as the one to welcome everyone. I waited and waited to be able to start the evening. Each time I asked if it was time I was told to wait a few more minutes. Then PB started the night. For some reason I allowed my feelings to be hurt. Then I recieved a nomination for the Dean's Leadership Award from PB. I know she had the folders for 30 minutes before the banquet started and then throughout the hour long dinner yet she did not take the time to sign it. Again my feelings are hurt. I am really frustrated with the lack of professionalism that was shown to me when for the past two years all I have heard is Mary Ann you need to change to become more professional. I am really tired of trying to please the WSU professors. I know they tell us that they will miss us but I do not feel the sincerity in their words.

It is time to close the Weber State University Dental Hygiene door and open the one to my real life. I am excited to leave this room and all that is in it.