Today I:

1. Got my hair cut at Supercuts (see the picture included).
2. Went to the public library and picked up two books and some music CDs.
3. Got some items for the fish tanks, including a non-LED bubble circle and a clip-on light for the small aquarium. The bubble light that came with the tank has all the colours that fish can see, and it's very bright, so I'm probably torturing the poor thing. I also got filters for that tank, some water conditioner, and some power strips and a thumb drive while at Meijer's.
4. Got a few clothes and household items at Gabriel Brothers.
5. Straightened up the house some.
6. Finished the game notes.
7. Managed to eat a Morningstar Farms Tomato Basil Pizza burger on a soft wheat bun. Not bad for 6 days after some fairly extensive oral surgery.

The only thing left on my list is to watch The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, so that I can send it and Suddenly, Last Summer, back to Netflix. I think I'll do that in just a bit. I need a break, as I've been going pretty strong for some time. I think I'll get some water, blow out the candles in this room, and go listen to some music or maybe read for a bit in the bedroom. :) My, it's gotten windy. It was sunny for awhile earlier today, but then the rain (thankfully, not snow) came in, and now it's quite wild-sounding out there.

Back home

after spending the night over at my friends' home so they could keep an eye on me post-oral surgery. I had to be watched for at least five hours and couldn't drive for 24 hours. YKWIA woke up every time I rolled over or made a noise, even though he was all the way at the other side of the house. I really appreciate that; I feel very loved. I'm doing pretty well. I woke up last night and went to the bathroom and thought I looked like a vampire, there was blood all around my lips. And I did have to have one more pulled than planned, so it was seven in all. (Well, six and a half, as this all started when a tooth broke off inside a crown at Christmas. Two other crowns came off, one during the impressions (and it turned out that tooth had some issues, so it was either make a new crown or take that one off), and one during surgery (but that should be able to be put back on, as that tooth was okay).) The pain's not bad, and I'm dispensing with the Tylenol 3, which just made me sick anyway. Going back to work tomorrow. Still eating soft food, but I managed a bit of canned peas just now. Once the grogginess wore off and I was up today, I got to do fun things like watch the first couple of episodes of 'American Horror Story: Murder House'. :) So thanks to Brenda, who got me there, took me to fill my meds, bought me a milkshake while we were waiting (and no, I used a spoon; straws can cause dry socket, although the cherry kind of oozed out because I still had gauze in my mouth and it was just too solid--guess I should have asked them to leave off the cherry at McDonald's), and got me back to the guys' house, and to the friends who let me stay overnight, kept watch on me, and then helped me get everything back into the car. (I had a 2-piece carry-on luggage set, my CPAP, the laptop, two pillows, a backpack, a couple of bags and a small case of things like applesauce, yoghurt, and pudding, an air mattress, and a foot pump.) I think they thought I was moving in. :) Anyways, thanks everyone. Tomorrow I return to work, but have to leave long enough for them to take another type of bite impression, and then Friday I should get my partials and should have a better chance eating real food. Yay!

PS I managed string cheese (soft mozzarella) as well. Yippee! I checked, and there are normally 32 permanent teeth in the mouth. I had my wisdom teeth and one tooth out several years ago. Then there were two that had to be taken out after that, after they broke when I bit down on something. This time there were seven, so I still have eighteen teeth. But I'm getting partials that will fill in the gaps, and it will be a better solution I think for me than costly implants or trying to save the teeth when I keep having trouble with crowned teeth anyway. And yes, while that's a lot to lose (and my penchant for drinking diet sodas may very well be a big part of it, as YKWIA insists, along with genes, my tendency to grind and grit my teeth, and the fact I never had my teeth straightened like many kids do) by my age (46), my mother lost her top teeth in her 20s not because of problems with the teeth (which as near as I can tell were small, straight, and perfect--I have my dad's teeth in my mom's small mouth), but rather by losing the bone support for them somehow. So I've kept the majority of them longer than I thought I would. The good thing about the partials (even though that has a whole set of issues, such as cleaning, etc. that come up) is that I'll be able to fully chew on the right side, where I had a couple of molars in the back missing in addition to my wisdom tooth on the bottom and so my left side has been taking up the slack, and as a result, having more pressure put upon it. This will even things out. So while it was a bit painful, it will be better and lest costly in the long run than trying to save each individual tooth, especially in terms of upkeep when I might not have insurance a couple of years down the road.

Up at 4 am

because it's 9 hours before my oral surgery, and I'm supposed to eat a light meal at 4 am so my blood sugar stays stable before the surgery. I need to get ready and do some things around the house, but instead I think I'll go back to bed for another hour or so.

I am nervous, and not looking forward to this, but I recognise it will hopefully be better for me in the long run. I've stocked up on soft food and have made plans for a driver and for someone to keep an eye on me afterwards. I'm going into work for four hours, though, this morning, although I'll be off tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Starting to get a little nervous

This week I'm having some oral surgery at the dental office I go to. The plan is that I will work a half-day, meet my driver over at another friend's house, go do the appointment, pick up any prescriptions, and then go back to the house and stay overnight there, so that someone can watch me for a few hours after the surgery, and of course I can't drive for 24 hours, so I'll have to be off work the next day. It's been awhile since I've had oral surgery, and I've never actually had it at the dentist's itself. So I'm a little nervous. But hopefully everything will go fine. I'll take my laptop with me in case I feel like blogging, and my phone can act as a hotspot. (Well, I can blog from the phone, but I don't know how coordinated I'll be afterwards, for using a Swype keyboard. :) ) I'll be bedding down on an air mattress I keep in the car in case I get stranded, as they don't have a spare bedroom (they do have a lovely library, though). So the idea is to take the CPAP, the mattress, etc., etc., and some soft food over there. Wish me luck.

Ice packs are our friends

The other day when I was at the pharmacy I purchased two kinds of packs (2 each) that can be used either for cold or heat. One kind was a gel and another uses some other means of holding the cold or heat. I tried out the gel packs tonight. The ice packs fit in a pocket and a cloth wraparound fastened with velcro works well around ankles and knees. I kept it on my ankles for 10 minutes, my knees for 10 minutes, and finally my back and shoulders. I got under my Snuggie and at least while I had them on my feet and ankles, had the massaging cushion going. It was a little like spa time. I feel much better than when I got home, albeit a little cold (it's very cold outside and I didn't really warm up much before I started using the ice). Now I'm eating some oatmeal and trying to get a little warmer. I'm going to turn in very soon because I have to get up early in the morning around 4:30 am.

I got a thank you card in the mail from the oral surgery office thanking me for being a patient and assuring me that I could call them if I had any issues. I thought that was rather nice.

We got scant snow, nowhere near the 3-4 inches that was predicted, although the wind was very cold. I'm glad I didn't go out to Best Buy, although I'll be very poor tomorrow and Monday.

I guess that's all for now. I'm finished eating and should probably trundle off to bed. Good night.

I finally worked on the aquarium

It only took about 20 minutes. I came in from work, put my stuff down, and immediately started scooping out duckweed. I probably took out two cups of duckweed. I can't believe I told Brenda I didn't mind duckweed when she gave me a couple of pieces in with a swordtail. I guess I'd forgotten that the last time I had duckweed someone else regularly cleaned it out. :) Then I filled the tank (it took about 10 gallons, and my tank is a 29 gallon long. I treated the water with a conditioning agent and put in a solution of good bacteria. I also fed the fish. I think the duckweed was trapping some of the food, meaning they were hungry and the uneaten food could affect the water quality. I did not vacuum out the tank--that involves siphoning, which you start by mouth--not a good idea when you've just had oral surgery.

Speaking of which, I'm healing pretty well. The gum tissue is growing over the socket and I'm up to fairly non-soft foods like bagels, although I'm avoiding hard things like, say, tortilla chips. I have had very little pain, yay, and I only took two Percocet out of the whole prescription. I've finished the Z-pack of antibiotics and don't seem to have had any ill effects. (There was concern on the part of the doctor and pharmacist because this drug (azithromycin) is related to clindomycin, which I'm allergic to. But I can take erythromycin, which is also related.) I'm also allergic to penicillin, Lortab, and latex, so I'm a problem child when it comes to going to the doctor or dentist. (Please don't plan my demise from bread mould, okay?)

Happy Groundhog Day. If one came out today here it might have seen its shadow during a brief sunlit period, but it was mostly cloudy. More importantly for me, I suppose, is that it's Imbolc, the beginning of the Celtic spring, and which is sacred to the Goddess Brigid. I meant to get some mead the other day as a libation, but couldn't swing the logistics of getting to the liquor store during other errands, so I'll probably lighting a candle as a means of acknowledging Her. She is often associated with a sacred flame, and the Saint Bridget, which took over her dominion in the new faith, was worshipped at Kildare where there was a sacred flame devoted to her. The Goddess is associated with poetry, smithwork, and healing as well. Clooties, small bits of cloth, are tied upon trees near holy wells as a means of praying to Her or asking for healing, even now, although they are these days they are mostly directed to the saint.

That's all for now. Hope your week got off to a good start.

I'm at the library

hoping I just downloaded the driver my Ethernet adapter needs to work so I can get back online at home. The snow was treacherous getting over here; the main roads look okay, but the secondary roads haven't been touched and the sidewalks--well, almost no one's even walked on them. I'm going to go up Eagle Creek View Lane and see if I can get to work easier than going down Richmond Road.

I've had very little pain since the first day of surgery; I haven't even had to take ibuprofen, so that's great. I got the game notes finished last night. Once I get home tonight I'm going to tackle the aquarium (but I have to go to Kroger and get more pasta, Indian food, and soup first). The graphics card is working well. I don't know if that started the issue with the connexion or not; I went to sleep for a couple of hours and came back and suddenly it wasn't connecting. I've also done some cleaning around the house.

Anyway, wish me luck on getting things back online. Have a great day. And if you're getting this snow, stay where you are if you can. At least we just got snow; a lot of people also got ice.

I feel pretty good

I had a nice long rest, and I didn't have to get up and take any pain pills. In fact, I'm not really in enough pain to warrant them at this point. Yesterday I wasn't really hungry (I guess that meal at Long John Silver's stayed with me), so I just had a few bites of ice cream to settle my stomach for the medicine. It did hurt to eat a little then. Today I am hungry, so I've graduated up to soup, some minestrone. I'm chewing the pasta and vegetables on my other side, but my jaw isn't hurting at all like it was yesterday, at least while chewing (there's a faint pain afterwards, and of course, if I accidentally brush against the outside of my jaw, that hurts). But generally, I feel great, just still kind of tired, even with all the sleep, like my energy's being sapped; no doubt it's all going into healing. And I haven't really tried talking yet. I'm tired enough that I will stay home from the hospital; it was kind of conditional depending on how I feel. But I definitely feel I'm on the mend.

I had oral surgery today to take a broken tooth out

and it went well. I guess I was in the office a total of 40 minutes and the procedure took 15. They thought they might have to cut it out in pieces because it had had a root canal, but they just had to drill a bit and make a couple of incisions and it came right out. I paid out of pocket for nitrous oxide (my insurance doesn't cover it) because I was nervous and it really helped me relax. The local anaesthetic has worn off and my jaw on the right side is just a little swollen. They have me on Percocet 5 for pain (I can't take Lortab; it makes me itch and a little manic) and a Z-pack of antibiotics. The latter is a little iffy. It contains azithromycin, a drug related to eurythromicin, which I can take, and clindomycin, which I'm allergic to. I've never had it before. So we'll see. In the meantime, I stocked up on soft foods (I have ice cream in my house for the first time since August of last year). Tomorrow we're supposed to get a snowstorm so I didn't want to get caught without food. I got some soup and pasta to get me through.

I didn't think to ask about using my CPAP after the oral surgery until after their office had closed, but I found a page online that were surgical directions from another practice that said that it was fine. I hope so, as I don't want a dry socket. I'm pretty sure that I used my CPAP right after my wisdom teeth were pulled, and that was a more serious surgery, as I had sedation and five teeth were extracted (I had another tooth that had issues at the time.)

I got up early and went out to Best Buy, which is near the oral surgeon, and returned the graphics card and got another one that was better and fits in the AGP slot. I figure since the current card is in that slot, I may have better luck. This card supports not only Windows 7 but also dual displays and HD. So it should work for awhile, assuming I get it going. I looked at memory but I wasn't sure if they would work because they were rated by speed of the processor and I couldn't remember what I have. I checked although the computer has a speed of 2.67 gigahertz, the memory speed is 533 megahertz. I'll have to do a little research and see what's available for that. Some geeky guy came up to me (not an employee) bragging about how he had 4 GB of memory in his computer and that he loved this stuff. I'm not sure but I think he was hitting on me. He definitely didn't attract me, and I kept the conversation short and decided to go before I missed my bus.

I then took the bus (to the next stop, but it kept me from having to walk over the New Circle bridge) and had Long John Silver's fish and chips with cheese curds and a milkshake. I figured if I was going to be on soft food for awhile, I'd live it up beforehand, and I had to make sure I ate before surgery (that's a switch, I know, but I wasn't being sedated and they didn't want my blood sugar to drop). The guy who made my milkshake made too much so he brought not only the mug (with whipped cream and cherry on top) but the rest of the cup that goes in the mixer. All in all it made two and a three quarters mugs of milkshake. :) Okay, I know, I didn't really need a milkshake, but it helped settle my nerves a little.

I still had about an hour before the procedure and so I went to K-mart, which is just a couple of buildings away from the surgery centre. There I used some of the money I'd gotten from the return of the graphics card to buy three towel sets (my friends will rejoice; they've kidded me for years for owning pretty much one towel), a screwdriver set (mine have evaporated, and I don't want to use a multi-tool on the new graphics card), and a new shower liner (mine is five or six years old and needs to go on to shower liner heaven). Oh, and I bought a dispenser for hand soap. The towels were just $2.99 and then $2.49 for the hand towels and washcloths, all in all I spent $43. I did look at bedding but I didn't see any I liked. (Although I see Martha Stewart was replaced by Jaclyn Smith). So I had a huge bag to carry around. I went ahead and put the graphics card in there, too. By the end of the day I had my gauze/post-surgery kit in there, and a library book they'd put on hold for me (one of the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher). Then of course I also had my medicine and then in separate bags the food and drinks I'd purchased at the pharmacy.

By the time I got home I was ready to take some Percocet (before the numbing wore off completely) and sleep a bit. I got into the comfy chair and had a massage (there's a massaging cushion I keep on it) and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then some friends called to check up on me and afterwards I moved to the bed and the CPAP machine. So I've had a four-hour nap. But I feel refreshed.

I have several things to work on (notes, the fish tank, and the house) and I've taken off tomorrow from both jobs in case I have much swelling or any aftereffects. If I'm doing okay I'll try to get that stuff done. I'd love to go see The Lovely Bones but I'm not sure I want to get out in the snow tomorrow, and it's not like I can eat popcorn or anything. :) I may just hole up here and do what I can, whatever I feel up to. I might even get to read a little. I've not completed one book since the beginning of the year, and January is almost gone. I have a Charlaine Harris book out from the library that needs to go back next Monday and it's very popular so I can't just renew it. I need to read that before the Jim Butcher one.

Okay, this has been a very long post. I'm going to see what I want to do now. I'm not used to having an evening to myself. I don't feel like doing much physical (and I took another Percocet because the first wore off), so I'm a little relaxed and sleepy (even my feet feel better), so it might mean watching TV (which I never do) and then later working on the game notes for awhile. Oh, and I should check my RSS reader; it's probably got a lot of news in it. But just in case I don't blog anymore tonight, have a great night. And there's that graphics card....