finding the funny

Sometimes finding the humor in the little things is the best way to make it through your day.  Usually, that is easier said than done.  Luckily, I have been able to find the funny this week.

On Friday, my friend Tiff had a birthday.  After clinic was over, there were cake and balloons waiting for her in the student lounge.  A handful of us sat around enjoying cake and chatting for awhile.  Eventually, our attention turned to the helium balloons.  Yes, we are all grown adults that will soon have doctorates.  But there is something about a helium balloon that makes you turn into kid again.  You really want to inhale the helium out of the balloon and talk in funny voices.  And because we are all consenting adults, we did just that, and laughed until we cried.

Today, I had a patient come in that required some extractions.  Due to his extensive periodontal disease, it was supposed to be a relatively straightforward procedure.  There wasn't a lot of bone left holding the teeth in place, so it wouldn't require much work to get the tooth out.  I had a good grip on the tooth with the forceps (seen below) and was slowly wiggling the tooth out of the socket.  Despite the tooth being pretty loose, I still felt plenty of resistance.  That meant I still had a few minutes of applying gentle, slow pressure to expand the bone some more.  Or so I thought.  Next thing I know, the tooth is flying through the air and rolling across the floor.  The patient's wife was sitting nearby (I normally don't have an audience, but she requested to come up with him) and asked, "Was that the tooth?"  Indeed it was.  I turned back to my patient with a stunned look and the forceps still tightly grasped in my hand.  Sure enough, there was an empty socket where the tooth once stood.  And it was oozing pus.  I don't know if this is even possible, but I wonder if the pressure if the infection in the bone forced the tooth out.  Maybe I loosened the tooth just enough to release the pressure of the trapped infection and shoot the tooth out.  I had a good laugh and went about extracting the tooth next to it.

Finally, I went to the gym tonight.  (Side note: I made it onto the gym's website!  On the main page, there is a cycle of picture that pop up.  I am in the one labelled "FITT Challenge Party July 2011", on the left side.)  Zumba was the class being offered tonight and it was being taught by Jenn, the gym owner who usually teaches just the boot camp/muscle classes.  I like her style as a trainer.  She knows exactly when to kick you in the butt to get you to work harder without causing you to hate her.  She yells a lot, but in a good way, kind of like a drill sergeant.  It motivates you.  She is fond of phrases like, "DO IT!" followed by a growl or "YOU'RE NOT COUNTING...COUNT OR WE DO IT AGAIN" or "SMILE!  YOU NEED TO SMILE!  WHY AREN'T YOU SMILING?!?".  If she isn't yelling, she is saying hilarious things that make you bust a gut while you are trying to work hard.  Anyway, tonight she was teaching the dance class.  Compared to the muscle classes, this class is more fun and relaxed where you just dance around for an hour.  Jenn did a great job "softening" her teaching style to fit the more chill atmosphere of Zumba.  And yet there were still traces of drill sergeant Jenn.  Instead of her usual phrases, she was yelling, "BE SASSY!" and "SEXIER! DANCE SEXIER!".  It just made me laugh.  Being yelled at to dance sexier doesn't quite work the same as being yelled at to do more reps with the weights.  But I have a good time no matter what.

And those are those are the little funny things that have made me laugh this week.  It feels good to do that every once and awhile.