My Dental Health

If you've been around for long, you probably know that I've spent the last dozen or so years trying to get my dental health sorted out. I spent a lot of years without dental insurance / as a single mom struggling to make ends meet and unfortunately, there was never money to do what I needed to do with my teeth. About fifteen years ago I got an estimate that it would take $13,000 to completely fix my mouth and to be honest, that was pretty accurate.

Once I got my Social Security Disability lump sum payout, I got busy sorting out my mouth. Things didn't go well. I had a lot of complications... it ended up being more expensive and more painful than I could have ever imagined. I LIKED my dentist but there were some decisions he made that probably weren't the best for me... things that probably should have gone to an oral surgeon instead of being done by a regular dentist.  We had discussed my pain situation at length in advance and he was fully aware of what medications I was taking. He called and talked to my pain doctor and they sorted out what meds I could take for the dental procedures. I confirmed with my pain doctor that he had talked to the dentist and that the dentist had permission to prescribe additional pain meds as needed. This is very important since I am on a Narcotic Agreement with the pain doctor. I literally cannot take anything for pain without his permission.

Then in the middle of a very painful complication from an extraction, when my pharmacist called the dentist to verify the prescription he had written for me, he told her that he had "no idea" I was on the other pain meds. This was a complete lie. I was so frustrated... it's hard enough to keep from being labeled a pill seeker when you have chronic pain and then the dentist makes me look like a drug addict... so I stopped working on my mouth for awhile because I honestly just couldn't face the pain and worried that it wouldn't be treated appropriately. I was afraid to be in pain and not be able to have it treated appropriately - or be refused at the pharmacy. Then my mom got sick and I just flat out didn't have the time to spend recovering from the next dental procedures.

SOOOO... finally last October I got my wits about me and went to a different dentist to get things finished up. I had one more major procedure to go through before I could get fitted for partials and finally, after all those years, have a mouth full of teeth. My dentist recommended an oral surgeon because I had so many complications in the past. I did my pre-op visit, we were all ready to go and.... two days before my last procedure was schedule... the oral surgeon was in an accident and broke his femur. He was out of work from October through February! You really can't make this stuff up! I struggled for a while trying to decide if I should go with a different office but... I trusted this guy. I had already gone through all the preop (and more importantly, PAID for the pre-op) and by the time I realized it was going to be such a long wait, we were already close to Christmas and then our trip to New Orleans. The LAST thing I wanted to do was go to New Orleans while recovering from oral surgery!

At any rate, in March I was finally able to get an appointment and have the last bit of surgery done. The Oral Surgeon was UH-mazing! The procedure was so fast that it was over before I realized he had really gotten started. The pain was completely bearable, I had no infection, no complications... it could not have gone better. I probably had about 3-4 days where I was uncomfortable but I was well enough to go to Marvin's the very same day as the surgery.

I have about half the teeth I should have so it is not easy to chew... I'm living on yogurt and softer things but I can manage just about anything... it just takes longer. I went in two weeks ago and had a mold made for my partials... I went in this past Monday to have the next fitting and in two weeks they will have the whole thing completed. I CANNOT wait to go out for a big, thick, juicy steak! I will probably gain twenty pounds in the few months after my teeth are ready and I don't even care. I'm just so glad to be past this. Now... of course, I still have some teeth that need work and there is still some additional expense (and pain) ahead. Chewing with half a mouth puts additional stress on teeth so there will be more work ahead, it's inevitable... but I'm glad to be past the worst of it.


So be prepared for lots of selfies with big toothy grins! I'd love to hear about  your dental experiences, bad and good, especially with partials since that is a whole new world for me. I also wanted to sort of set aside the stigma involved in all of this. I wasn't able to take care of things when I should have and there's no shame in that. I did my best to get my boys raised- mostly on my own- and I prioritized their well-being over mine. I'm sure I'm not the first mama to do that. I also imagine I'm not the first person to be terrified of dental work. It has taken me a long time and I'm really glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Shop around, the second dentist was far less expensive than the first dentist I used in my town. He also made me feel more confident. Be honest with your dentist about your fears and past problems. That made a huge difference for me. And if you can't afford it all at once, just keep plugging away. That's what I had to do and I'm glad now that I did. I'm also grateful for the support from my mom and dad along the way - driving me to procedures, helping with expenses I couldn't afford, etc. And to my fella who helped me recover from this last procedure.

I hope you're enjoying my return to blogging! Thanks for your support, it makes me WANT to blog!

Check. Check. Check.

Happy Birthday to my brother Bryan. There's no way I look ten years older, right? 

I spent twenty minutes trying to figure out how to put a check mark in the title of this blog. The fact that my vision is so blurry that I can't focus well enough to read instructions re-emphasizes my need for one of those check marks I earned... I made an appointment with the eye doctor! For next Tuesday!

Then Wednesday I have an appointment with the dentist to figure out my dental plan from here. My only stipulation: no more teeth come out before we put some more in. I'm chewing on one side. They can't take that away from me or I'll be living on broth and oatmeal. Also, since we've determined that I don't heal well, I don't want to pull any more teeth. I want them to take what's in there now and make it work. I realize this makes me a difficult patient to deal with but I'm living with too much pain with the things we can't fix to willing go into a dentist's office and let him cause me MORE pain.

So eye doctor, check ... and also... the financial kind of check.
Dentist, check... and another check.

I also called the library to see if they have started back up with story time so we can take Cosette. They haven't but they will soon. Cosette is really young for organized activities but... on the other hand she's a smart girl, she does good with sitting still when it's expected of her (out to dinner, per esempio - for example). She might think it's awesome or ... she might completely flake out. I think it's free, though, so ... check but no check. Austin definitely wants to take her to the library to check out books. She's a bit "enthusiastic" with turning pages sometimes so we would have to be careful what books she chooses but I like that he wants her to go to the library. Is it overboard if I say, "he's such a good daddy" again today?

As I'm writing this my mom has gone through the first procedure which she said was no problem at all. I've had interstitial cystitis since before Cody was born so any probing of the urinary kind is always going to be painful. A full bladder is painful in a way that folks without IC would not believe. I'm glad it wasn't uncomfortable for mom since she still has to deal with the gastro stuff this afternoon with a long drive down and a long drive home. The urologist sees some stones, we hope they are just the everyday kind of stones and not anything hairy scary. More wait and see on that. If there's anything else more to share from her second appointment today I'll update here and on Facebook. Based on last time, I don't think we'll know much today.

When Little Kitty snores it makes the same sound my phone makes when I have a text... just a little buzzing/hummy kind of sound. He's such a little old man sometimes... and other times he's an inconsiderate teenager. He's actually 5 years old so I don't know what that translates to in human years.

I'm still in the thick of a fibromyalgia flare. I'm not a doctor or meteorologist but I could have told you that there were storms brewing to the South without even looking at the news. As a matter of fact, I thought to myself, "this is such an unusually oppressive bout of aches and fatigue... I wonder what the weather looks like?" The struggle is real. I can tell that extreme weather is coming by my hair and my arthritis. I know, I know... those storms are way out there (at least they were yesterday)... but it already has changed the atmosphere over us. (by the way... learning Italian makes me want to misspell words like "atmosphere" to "atmosfera"- dear spellcheck, I am not an idiot, I'm just trying to be bilingual.)

 I didn't sleep well last night. I have seen three fleas on Little Kitty over the course of the past week and have been aggressively treating him - but not the carpet or furniture because I don't want Cosette or Oliver to come into contact with anything harmful to them. I comb him through carefully several times a day with a special flea removing  comb that I scrub with soap between uses. I bought the flea medicine for the back of his neck (I'm afraid it didn't get all the way through his fur like it's supposed to). I've even added a flea collar. I haven't seen a flea anywhere but on him but the thought of it is making me itch like crazy. I took a benedryl out of desperation which made me sleepy but unable to sleep.

Then the fibro / arthritis flare is ramping up my muscle spasms which... are not as fun as you might think ... so I'm having to consistently take the muscle relaxer that works great and is better at easing pain than even the strong pain meds because it loosens those tight muscles BUT the muscle relaxer makes me so sleepy. NOT... I could take a great nap sleepy. No... it is the dreaded "my eyes are too tired to focus on anything, my brain doesn't process works correctly but there is no way in the world I can go to sleep" sleepy. Which really intensifies that fibro fatigue.

I tried to go back to sleep this morning since I kept dozing off on my Italian lesson. I'm working on verbs so it's sort of easy because I know what the root word is and I just have to remember the right ending like...
I give - do
You give (singular) - dai
He gives - da
We give - diamo
You give (plural, like "y'all give") date
They give - danno
It takes a bit of concentration but it's not like learning absolutely brand new words. Unfortunately concentration was = to me falling asleep. So I put my things aside and covered up to be able to sneak a little more sleep while the house was still quiet and then.... Little Kitty took this as an opportunity to sit in my lap and groom himself. Ever tried to sleep while a cat is loudly grooming himself in your lap? The smacking and slurping... the wiggling... every now and then deciding I needed some grooming myself so I would doze off and then  BAM! sandpaper tongue slicing through my skin!

But at the moment... the house is quiet. Austin's at work and my parents are at the hospital. The cats are enjoying the midday sun on the porch and Oscar is tucked under a blanket beside me. Since I managed to check two things off my to-do list today, maybe I should add "take a nap" to the list and then check that one off too! Love and hugs, everybody! Hope you're having a great day!