Childhood dream....shattered.

   I like going to the dentist, I'm pretty sure I always have.  Okay, there was that one time when I was 5 and I went to the dentist and Dr. DeMercy walked in and I screamed, but hey, he's like 6' 10", can you blame me? Anyway I like my dentist and the hygienist team, they are wonderful. Actually, Dr. DeMercy is the reason I wanted to be a dentist growing up.  His daughter,  Amanda, now works with him and she is great! 

   Anyway, all this to say, I love my dentist and for as long as I can remember I wanted to be a dentist.  Now I know my path has not gone in that direction yet, but deep down I was still hoping a little bit that I might one day be Tierah Ellard DDS.  Well, I went to our dental clinic here today to help with the sterilizing and observe some procedures.
 
  I was SO excited!  So I dressed in dental team scrubs and headed off to the dental clinic at the Hope Center.  I get there and Roses, the lady I will be working with shows me the sterilizing room and I help her set everything up and get ready for the day.  After about an hour of sterilizing the dental instruments and learning about all the tools that are used for pulling teeth and doing exams and cleaning and all the wonderful going ons of dentistry Roses tells me I can go observe in the procedure room. 
 
  I think I might have squealed!  :) I was excited.  Anyway, I go in and my friend McCall is helping one of the dentist with a little boy, and they are numbing his gums(nothing to exciting), but my friend Nadine is helping another dentist pull teeth!  So I go over there and watch as the dentist is pulling the teeth of a lady who is probably about 60 - 65 years old...my stomach lurched a little bit (its a good thing it was several hours after breakfast).  This lady is obviously in some pain because her teeth are so rotten and her gums are swollen and it is not a pretty sight.
 
  So I grab her hand and just hold it while Glyn(the dentist) continues to pull her teeth.  The more teeth he pulls the more nauseous and light headed I feel.  Finally they are done pulling teeth, so I patted the lady's hand and walked out of the room to be met by Roses, who had a concerned look on her face and asked me if I was okay;  to which I responded "I think I'm going to throw up." As I'm rushing outside to get some fresh air! 
 
  Well, I didn't throw up, or pass out, but my face was as white as a sheet and I scared Roses a little bit.  And I can say with certainty that I no longer want to be a dentist!  I went home to the ship a few minutes later with one of the dentist(the color had still not returned to my face) but all was okay and I don't think I'm going to visit the dental clinic again anytime soon.

  I also have so much more respect for our doctors and dentists in the world today, they must have stomachs of iron!  But, I did have fun, and it was a good lesson learned, don't watch other people pull teeth, and I got to wear scrubs(I still am wearing the pants hehe). 

These pictures were taken after I came back from the clinic.  So I have color in my face again.