we can do hard things.

Trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel starting school in August was way too overwhelming to even comprehend.  I honestly felt defeated and like this day would never come.  I officially am now 1/4 Dental Hygienist and my very first semester of hygiene school is COMPLETE!  It is by far thee BEST and most gratifying feeling I have felt yet.  8 finals in 4 days, 40+ hours of studying in one week, and study groups galore, yes, it is in fact possible.  Pretty sure after I finished my last final on Tuesday I fist pumped the air and screamed the entire way home.  Whoever said Dental Hygiene school was a social life killer, hard, competitive, sleep depriving, emotional, expensive, time consuming, a roller coaster ride, stressful, and the absolute best experience of your entire life . . . . Yeah, if that's not the understatement of the year, then I don't know what is?!  I have learned more than I thought my brain was ever capable of  retaining. And I have become best friends with the most darling, corky and hands down amazing girls and Lloyd a girl could ask for.  My teachers, for a lack of better words, are the bomb.com.  They never fail to put a smile on my face, even in the most chaotic and stressful times when all I feel like doing is curling up in a ball and dying.  I have no doubt in my mind that I am supposed to be here in this program at Dixie.  I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  Here is my life in a nutshell the past 4 months.  I feel like this picture sums it up quite nicely.

I really didn't learn much this semester.:)  Except, I can do all of this now: probe, explorer, motor polish, IOEO, vitals, scaling, medical history, hard tissue charting, perio charting, calculus detection charting, plaque index charting, disclose, tooth brushing and inter-dental techniques, fluoride, draw and carve teeth, take x-rays and develop them, distinguish the correct working end between my scalers, curettes, graceys and universals,  make care plans and I own the most expensive pair of glasses(magnification loupes) known to man.

We chose this saying as our class moto.  Mrs. Dickey says it ALL the time.  It definitely is very fitting and helped us survive and keep sane during our first semester.:)

Bring it on spring and summer semester Dixie State Dental Hygiene!