journal #5

I was at the VA and I felt so bad for my second patient because he had relapsed back into drug and alcohol use and had been slacking on his oral home care and taking his medications. We couldn't even work on him because his BP was so high and continued to get higher with every check of his BP. He didn't want me to think badly of him because he kept referring to his substance abuse as "that thing that happened." He could hardly talk about it and he was so frustrated that he had let himself slip. I tried to encourage him but it didn't seem to help him be happy.
My morning patient I totally wanted to just knock out so I could work on him. He was so sensitive, even when I put a cotton applicator tip on his gingiva he freaked out. I gave him tons of anesthetic but it didn't help. I even gave him a Nasopalatine injection and the patient was totally freaking. But that didn't work because I couldn't even keep my bevel into the tissues because he kept wiggling and moving his body because it hurt so bad, I even tried pressure anesthesia, of course that did not work. I got through it the best I could and then kicked him out of my chair because I was so sick of him and his complaining. But of course I only got two quads complete. What an experience!!