Kharma

Ever heard of kharma? As far as I know, it is the idea that the good that you do will come back to you, or the other way around. I am wondering if my kharma got messed up, or if it in fact, was right on.

Yesterday was my last day of school for the year. I was very excited to be finishing on time when most of my classmates will be working on their patients through the summer. I had picked up some extra patients for the week even though I was finished with my requirements. One of my classmates recently broke a tooth and asked if I would take his Thursday afternoon patient so he could have it fixed. While I was tempted to go home at 9:30 after my morning patient, I decided I would help him out.

I worked on my research project all morning to keep me busy. Finally, at 1:00 I brought the patient back and began working on a large post-root canal filling. While anesthetizing I had the distinct thought, "The oral surgery people never put their fingers in the patient's mouth when anesthetizing. I should probably start doing that. I never have problems, though." The patient wasn't quite numb enough for me to place the rubber dam clamp on so I reached for my syringe (practically empty, too), to put a few more drops of lidocaine to ease the discomfort. That was when my kharma went all wrong (or caught up to me, not sure yet). I stuck myself! With only a few drops of anesthetic to give, just so I could put the rubber dam on (which I abandonded).

I hoped it wasn't an official stick until I took off my glove and saw the drops of blood ooze out of my finger. I quickly washed with soap and water and notified my instructor. I finished the procedure without any further problems and notified the patient's son so he could translate for her what had happened. Luckily, they were very kind and understanding and submitted to the blood test.

I had to then report with the patient's blood to the student health center where they took my blood. I HATE giving blood and have passed out doing so on numerous occasions. Although I am getting much better, the nurse took a very long time in my right arm, only to notify me that she missed. *sigh* That always happens with me! I felt nauseous and tears in my eyes as well as anxiety over trying again in the other arm. I had almost told her before that my left arm is usually better but didn't. Oops. They always say, "Oh no, this one looks great" but my veins must like SCUBA, too, because they always dive. Kind of like dolphins, they tease you but are always just out of reach.

Anyway, the left arm was really pretty painful and I was already pretty unhappy by this time. They gave me the cheap bandaids that rip more skin off then help stop the blood and offered me some orange juice. The other awesome thing about giving blood...I don't like OJ. Ugh.

I left annoyed by the hassle of it all. So far, the test results of her blood have come out negative. I am not too concerned about catching anything. But, I can't help but think, "No good deed goes unrewarded." Yeah, right. Or maybe my kharma has really just caught up to me. Maybe I am being punished for being so happy to be done when the rest of my classmates are miserably still in the clinics the duration of the summer.

Good way to end the year!