Tuesday, January 13, 2009

one of those days again.

tuesday. i dread tuesdays because of the paeds outreach. im not particularly good with children. and my very first patient was a bit of a pain. i was traumatised. n it takes like 45 mins on the bus to reach the place. n if i hav something in the morning in dental hospital i will have to have lunch on the speeding bus. anyway, after tuesday i always always feel such a relief.

n today started with radiology interpretation. it was like such a long long long session. my dear kiran was yawning on a minutely basis beside me. n it was infectious. very soon me n other people started doin the same thing. at one point i was carried away. the tutor was talking about trauma and kept showing us some posh radiographs (posterios anterior, occipitomental n wadever while my brain contains not very much more than simple periapical and bitewings). then a coffee break. i thought i might be ok after tat. the seminar went on with cysts. omg cysts AGAIN. she was showing thousands of slides and i was sure most of the people knew the answers but no one was bothered enough to answer anything. it was 12.15 when we finished and kiran n i woke up and rushed to wythenshawe for paeds. lunch on the bus again.

so, i kept on telling kiran that i wasnt in the mood for children. why were we so attached to the course. thats really no way we could skip the session cause the poor kids with toothache will be left alone. its not like u can sleep in and skip your lectures. u are the dentist and they are the patients. you just need to turn up no matter what.

then sure enough, things went a bit wrong. my 3 years old patient needed a fluoride prescription and i was quite sure it was 500micrograms for kids of tat age. then i started writing:

sodium fluoride 2.2mg (fluoride 1mg)tablets
500micrograms a daily
to be chewed or sucked.

thinking the pharmacist will divide the tablets into halves for the patient, i happily asked for signature from the tutor. then the tutor came in n i just got really really really screwed. "how could u just randomly write things?!" well i wasnt really randomly writing anything. i really thought the tablets only came with 1mg fluoride and nothing else. n doctors in malaysia always always split the pills and ask me to take half or one and a half. then i tried to explain but she was really really mad and started scribbling on the prescription sheet.

sodium fluoride 500 micrograms tablets
to be chewed or sucked.

well it still didnt make a difference to me. if u can split the pill n if it will come up the the same amount of fluoride whats the big deal then? u have to be flexible sometime in life dont u?

then she started saying "what were u doing when i was doin the induction? i told u all!". so i went like"mmmm on induction day, u were not around." i supposed i said the wrong thing again. she was like well shdnt u already know this thing anyway. ok ok. my fault.

n then. next patient. a small cavity was done on the E and she asked me what would i use to fill it. so i went like, since its small n shallow and its on primary tooth, i would use GIC. then she went like "NO, COMPOMER with GIC lining!". i didnt quite get it why. i was confused the whole day. then the patient was having a few cavities and the tutor was tellin the mom the gal had a good mouth n wont need to come back---->i was ultimately confused. i confirmed with her again if the patient didnt need to come back and she was like "no". then the patient was about to leave and she was suddenly saying, "heyy i was just thinking, your gal has got a few holes so i think u shd come bac." well, i was like zzZZzzzz.

then a mom came in with a very very cute little gal. they are from philipine. n my nurse was tryin to be very nice and friendly. and the conversation was, to me, just so hilarious.

nurse: heyyy so hows your Xmas and new year?
mom: oooo, i celebrate chinese new year n it is on 26th jan.
nurse: really? chinese new year?
mom: yea cause im chinese we have our calendar.
nurse: oooo...so when is your Xmas then???
mom: mmmm....well...25 dec...

hahahhahah tat was just funny. tat made my day. kinda wiped away the shitty things from the whole day.

i was laughing on the bus with liam, farah and kiran and they went on talking about carrot-and-stick stuff. i am hte carrot and kiran is the stick in this partnering business. it was a good laugh.

shitty day. but really, when i step out from the hospital, i don bring the shit home. life is more than just dentistry isnt it?

1 comment:

h.3.l.3.n said...

uh huh.. dentistry IS tough coz u hav to deal with patients AND tutors and u cant cant skip..