hodgy podgy

-everyone should hold a baby at least once a day. very therapeutic! maria brought daniel in to visit. what a happy baby! he's got crazy bursts of energy though. it was nice to return him back to mom after playing with him for a few minutes. ha. i thought my arms were gonna fall off.

-i enjoy seeing diverse people of all ages. one of the best things about this job is the access to interact with hundreds/thousands of people over years to come.

-3 yr old F was quite spastic. calvin commented that if he were a kid in the suburbs, he'd already be on ritalin. even though he wasn't a well-behaved patient, he did something super cute, which was jumped out of the dental chair, climbed onto the stool in front of the computer and got into a typing position. i want to laugh at these things out loud, but it's probably not good for disciplining him.

-nice talking to coworkers to debrief over the day, even though it meant staying at the office longer. all the older women are so caring and nurturing.

-today was not the day to have a staff meeting and discuss how we can increase my patient load. i saw 19 patients yesterday. and was pooped this morning.

-God's grace evident in all my work. couldn't get T numb, but way more anesthetic than i usually use helped keep her bleeding under control. i need ears to listen.

-saw E again, and was totally fine making friendly convo. he told me about why he spent a few years in jail. he was selling drugs and made a deal for 37 thousand dollars to an undercover cop. oops! now he's in this group home and cooking breakfast for 15 men every morning at 5 a.m. way to become productive and serving others!

-J came in and exclaimed, "hey! i saw you in the street the other day. you were walking really fast!"
haha. i walk fast so i won't get shot/jumped/mugged. just kidding. i'm always running late.
it's nice to know that some of the dudes who are loitering the streets are my patients. i'm safe in kensington!
anyway, i told him to say hi to me next time he saw me. dunno if i'm going to regret that or not.

-apparently J, who is writing a song for me, is also writing a song for Diane, his nurse practitioner. it's ok. i'm not the jealous type. esp since Ty told me that he ran his fingers through her hair in the elevator the other day. umm... creepy!

-F brought her nephew in with her. i guess she was watching him. he kept talking and talking and then would get upset that Titi would snap at him and cut him off for being disruptive to our conversations. "you never let me talk!" he whined. i felt bad and my initial instinct was, "no worries! i'm listening to you!" but right after i said it, i wish i hadn't, coz i didn't want to interfere with Auntie's disciplining. after the procedure, i saw that he's just attention-starved and also a little spoiled/malcriado. he asked Titi for some gum. Titi didn't have any. he got a little angry and then told her, "i'm going to eh-spank you!" i looked at him and said, "hey!" [don't talk to adults like that]... and then quickly wish i hadn't said that either. because i don't think that was my place to reprimand him for being disrespectful. then Titi goes, "Tio's going to eh-spanking you at home!" that sets him off, he sits on the ground and starts wailing with large tears running down his face. he must be really scared of Tio's spanking. which, in people of colour culture, i'd be scared of getting beat too.

as if that weren't enough...

-S came and has two loose teeth in the front, but they're about to fall out because we can see the adult teeth ready to come in on the xray. apparently S had been complaining to her mom about the pain the last 3 weeks. mom, fed up, finally brought her in. S was hella scared and told me that her teeth suddenly didn't hurt anymore. mom wanted to have the teeth removed, which i offered to do. then S had a "no quiero!" fit. i left them alone for 10 minutes. S obviously owned her mom. i was maybe more indifferent than i should have been. sometimes i want to slap some kids. but these aren't my kids.

-16 year old M brought her baby in today. she's soooo cute and this 10 month old was dressed in a puffy black winter jacket with hot pink "baby girl" in graffiti font printed all over it. JEANS. and black and hot pink sneakers with silver glitter.
very different culture from my culture.