July Fly By

Pardon me, but I seem to have lost track of time...do you know where July went? The last date I have solid memory of was July 5th, when Jeffrey started his first rotation and I had my first day back to school. Since then Jeffrey's seen multiple lung transplants and open heart surgeries, I've filled my first cavities, my parents have come to visit, Jeffrey's aunt and uncle and cousins have come to visit, and, as I mentioned before, we've completely lost our ability to keep track of what day it is.

School is feeling less and less like school and more and more like the professions we came to school to learn. The dental clinic at school is a funny animal. Somehow it makes me constantly busy, yet leaves me feeling like I haven't accomplished enough at the end of each day. Jeffrey often equates his days to pledging a fraternity in college. (He's had to apologize for things that aren't his fault and answer questions that stump the residents.)

Still, somehow, through all the confusion of this new chapter of our road toward and M.D./D.D.S., we are still glad that we're here.

Speaking of chapters, I'm technically supposed to be reading chapters in my book about dentures because (cruel and unusual punishment of dental school #496...) we have a "reassessment exam" on Friday in that class. That means that we're basically re-taking the final from that class that we took last semester...you know, in case we forgot everything over the summer. Some of you out there might be thinking, "Oh, that's a really good idea..."

But you would be wrong. It's really mean. Really, really mean.

Reasons I can't study for that test right now, in no particular order:

1. Blogging. (Duh.)

2. It's Shark Week on Discovery channel. The other 51 weeks of the year, I totally root for the underdog (and by underdog, I mean the adorable, tiny seal pup trying to escape the jaws of, well, Jaws), but during shark week I am 100% behind the shark getting a meal. I have watched shark week so many times over the years that I think I'm starting to recognize some of them (the sharks, that is, not the dorky marine biologists), and yet somehow I can't take my eyes off those toothy monsters (again, the sharks, not the dorky marine biologists). I must have a serious tooth fetish. A dentist who loves shark week...you can't make this stuff up.

3. Reading. I love reading. I had to be told as a child to go outside and play with friends because I would have just stayed in with my little books all day if not for some coaxing by my parents. I don't know that I read a single book for leisure all year last year (due to my extensive required reading on "The Theory of Prosthodontics"), but I rediscovered my wordy friends at the public library this summer after I took the Board Exam. At that time I was reading 2 or 3 books per week off of my ridiculously long "need to read" book list. I've scaled it back to 1 per week now, and I really hope I can hold steady with that throughout this year. It feels really nice to use the non-science side of my brain.

4. I keep thinking about my patients. Things I forgot to tell them, things I need to do when I see them next, things I need to ask my faculty about, things I need to write in their charts...it goes on and on. I've even started dreaming about choosing shades for their false teeth. So essentially, I can't study for school because I keep thinking about school. Ridiculous.

5. (In whiny voice) "I don't waaaaaant to!"

So I'm not studying for denture class, but I am looking over a few notes because tomorrow I will probably be pulling some teeth! Oral surgery rotation begins for me Monday afternoon at the clinic downtown.