I PASSED!!!

Today was a big day!!! We all found out that we passed our National Boards!!! Caitlin, Sarah Beth and I all got the same score and I will tell ya that we kicked the boards butt!! Yay! In the middle of the day we were at school and some of the girls found out that they recieved their scores in the mail. So many girls were calling their parents or spouses to check the mail for them to find out what they got. I really wasn't too anxious to find out because ignorance is bliss and I still had a whole night ahead of me in clinic. I didn't want to know and be distracted during clinic. I went throughout the day hearing that all the girls had passed so far and Caitlin and I were still waiting to find out if we had passed. During clinic I did not think of it at all. It finally hit me when we were about a mile away from our house. My stomach sank and my heart started to pound. Caitlin couldn't drive any faster. I had the keys in my hand all ready to jump out of the car and open our mailbox. As soon as Caitlin stopped the car I jumped out while my legs are shaking like crazy I opened up our mailbox. I handed all the mail to Cait with great anticipation. I hopped in the car and opened up the envelope to see that I had PASSED!!! Caitlin didn't want to open hers till she got inside. When she opened hers and saw that she passed the house filled with excitement!! What an accomplishment. That was the hardest test I have taken in my life. A whole 6.5 hours of cognitive torture. Now I am able to take my clinical boards on May 1 and May 21. I only hope and pray that I will find the patient's to qualify and willing to go to Phoenix with me so I can test. One might think that after I take my national boards then I am good to go. I still have so much to do. I have projects, papers, finishing my requirements in clinic, take my mock clinical board exam, and find patients to qualify for clinical boards. I am so close yet so far away! I really have enjoyed school and I have grown so much because of it. I really have impressed myself with the motivation and determination I have gained from this program. It has been a rocky journey but I have loved the majority of it.

I have posted a couple of fun memories from my Dental hygiene journey. There are so many wonderful memories but I only posted a few!

This was one of my favorite patient. I had so much fun conquering this mouth and getting to know this patient. He was such a great guy. He was very self conscience about his teeth and I was able to help increase his self esteem by cleaning his teeth. He was able to get a job was so grateful that I spent so much time educating him on how to keep up with his oral hygiene. This is what hygiene is all about. It is amazing what a beautiful smile can do to someone. I love what I do!

For our community class we are able to go out into the community and educate and provide services to those who are less fortunate than us. We get to go to the elementary schools, go to the women's prison, apply fluoride varnish to children at head start, go to the periodontal residency, nursing home, elementary schools to clean teeth, educate high school kids about tobacco use and do oral cancer screenings, and provide cleaning services with Miles for Smiles. I think that community is my favorite class. I love going out into the community to better educate and serve them. To teach at the schools we had to come up with our own lesson plans and games. We put together some activities where the kids can get involved and they have loved it. This has been one of my favorite rotations.
This is one of my favorite games that we get to do with the second graders. We teach the second graders about brushing their teeth.
For the first part of the semester we all were studying for our national boards non stop. About 8 of us girls went to Long Beach to take a crash review course to prep us for our boards. It was a long weekend being in class for three days straight eight hours a day. Eventhough we were in class all day long we were able to have a good time. Thank you Dental Hygiene Seminars for helping us pass our boards!! During the lectures the speakers would have us stand up and give our neighbors a back rub to stimulate the blood flow! :)
Jenna , Katie, and Melissa. The other part of our class went to Dallas during our Winter break.

Our Long Beach group.

This past week my parents were able to come down to Vegas so I could clean their teeth and my two nephews, Wyatt and Simon's teeth. I loved being able to clean their teeth. They were so excited to come down and so was I. It was such a great visit from them.

Simon and Wyatt were such great patients!!

Love my girls. It's not all about studying. We do go out and have fun every once in awhile.

If we are not studying we are eating!! That is what I have to blame for all my weight gain these past two years. One of our favorite study spots was Denny's because they were open 24 hours. We would be so hungry sometimes that everything sounded so good and we never knew what to order. Ordering was sometimes as difficult as studying.

Gotta love our Denny's study sessions.

Whenever we would study at home Mandy would go through our cupboards and come up with some delicious Indian dish. We loved it when she would cook especially when we were at her house because she had all the famous spices she liked to put in her dishes.
Oh the clinic's very own Bellagio. I was clinic assistant one night and the clinic coordinator had left this beautiful tower of instrument cassettes for me to wrap and get ready to sterilize that night. He left me a wonderful note trying to get me excited for what was to come.
One of our rotations is the Tobacco Bus. We educate high school aged kids about the affects of tobacco and perform oral cancer screenings on them. I love this rotation. It is amazing how many kids smoke marijuana. Crazy.
Me and Victoria on our Tobacco Bus Rotation. Well that is just a glimpse into the life of a dental hygiene student. I should graduate on May 17 and I am so excited for that day to come!! I remember when I was a junior and the seniors were talking about their graduation and passing their boards. I thought the day would never come. Now I am living it today!!! I am so excited to get done with school and go into the real world!