A little stressed...

So, I'm going to use this little blog of mine as a bit of a rant....therapy if you will! It's gonna be a long one, so feel free to skip this one! So, y'all know that I am a senior in dental school, right?! Well, I've been staying Alpharetta for the past 2 weeks doing an externship in Atlanta. It's been great and relatively stress free being away from the typical bump and grind of the dental school. Well, Patrick and I are heading back to Augusta (school) today, and the past 2 mornings I've woken up with a nervous feeling. Ugh. I guess my mind and body know that I'm going back to that place for more crisis management. Sadly (my Dad pointed this out to me a few days ago), dental students become extremely good at constant crisis management. Dental school can sometimes feel like one big crisis that you're trying to figure out how to fix, correct, or make right. Well, I think the reason I'm feeling nervous is that I have 3 main crises coming up! The first and most troubling- I've got the biggest patient based test of my entire career coming up in just 3 weeks! It is the licensing exam needed to actually become a dentist! Actually, this would normally be alright except that it requires a very specific type of patient of which I have NONE! Non-dental people (no offense) have no idea what kind of stress this causes. Everyone in my entire class is looking for the same 3 type of patient's that fit an extremely narrow criteria. We are entirely responsible for finding these patient's on our own with no help from the school. So, here I am trying to convince family and friends (b/c it's really nice to have a reliable patient-one that actually comes- for the most important day of dental school) to let me take xrays...and I'm finding myself hoping that they have cavities!! How horrible! Well, anyway, no luck so far. (Except, of course, for a not-to-be-named family member that has to go fishing instead of helping this pregnant, stressed mama pass her dental license). Anyway, back to the crises- long story short, I NEED and I don't HAVE any patients for my dental boards. Three weeks and counting. That's crisis #1. You're thinking....there's more??!! Yes! When I get back to school....I still have a few requirements to finish WHILE also looking vigorously for board patients. No problem, we've got a little over a month, right? Wrong. I go back for one week, then we have spring break (we couldn't be in clinic even if we wanted to), then back for another week, and then it's BOARDS! Then only TWO WEEKS left of clinic after that. Crises #'s 2 and 3 are the few requirements I have left to complete. They've recently changed the root canal requirements given to us when we first began. What? You mean they changed a policy 3 months before graduation and expect us all to be able to complete it their way with no problem BEFORE graduation?? Yep. That's what I'm sayin. I love dental school. So, I thought I had all my root canal stuff figured out and almost complete, but not with the new policy! Yipee. Guess I'll be working on that while trying to find board patients. Anyway, crisis #3- this is a case that began very straight forward and then the sh*t hit the fan. Absolutely not my fault, but definitely my problem to fix (dental school again). So, when I get back to school, I'll bring this patient back in and get to start over on a very important, very REQUIRED (for graduation) portion of her treatment. Yes, I said start over. (Another dental school thing). Of course, this entails lab work on my part before sending it to an outside lab which can take up to a month to complete. People, one month is only about a week before graduation! Most people are thinking, great! You have one week to spare. Nope, not unless everything goes perfectly smooth with no bumps or unexpected problems....this basically doesn't happen in dental school....remember that whole crisis management thing?? There's a reason we're all so good at it....there are A LOT of them! This case is absolutely no exception! Of course, I thought I was done with this part before I left for my externship 2 weeks ago....I was ahead of the game! But not anymore, so now I'll be starting over on this patient while trying to create time to find board patients. Ugh! Plus (I forgot about this one) I have a presentation this Wednesday morning on a patient that took me 2 years to complete treatment. Gotta love how everything just falls together, huh?!

So, I think these are the main reasons I have woken with a nervous feeling for the past few days...I just have so much to look forward to! :) I am, however, looking forward to getting back to my fabulous dental school friends. I will miss them tremendously when all is said and done and we all go our separate ways! At least there's always those people who know exactly what you're going through. Without them, where would I be?

So, this one got a little long. Props to those of you who actually read the whole thing.....especially you non-dental folk! Here's to a better than anticipated week...who knows...maybe getting back to dental school will surprise me!