Tomorrow I need

to call my optometrist and order new contacts (my glasses are already ordered at the optician's) and then call my dentist and make an appointment for the restoration and crown on that troublesome molar, which the endodontist could not totally take care of. Apparently one channel is still calcified. She said if I ever had trouble with it, I would require some minor surgery. She wants to see me in a month, too. I also need to tell my dentist about the broken partial. We'll see what can be done about that. It is a temporary one, at least. And there is a warranty on the finished product of about six months, too. So hopefully it won't cost much more. I am reminded of the skeleton that Charlton Heston finds in the original Planet of the Apes, where the person had various aids to help his body's deficits, or the snake in The Seven Faces of Doctor Lao, who makes fun of the frailties of the human body. Between my eyes, my teeth, and my aches and pains, I'm feeling my age of late.

I just haven't felt myself lately. Partly it's my blood sugar, which has been higher since I changed from the Invokana to Byetta, and I haven't been eating particularly well the last couple of days, either. I'm going to try to be better on that. But even with just the medicine change, I'm suddenly up in the 300s in the morning, which is not good at all.

Tonight I went over to YKWIA's and watched 'The 100'. I hadn't seen it in a couple of weeks. It was a really good episode. I like the show quite well. It really keeps one's interest, going back and forth between the ark in space and the kids on earth who are the test subjects for whether mankind can survive in a post-nuclear world.

But now I'm home, and I think I'm going to just turn in. I'm still working on waking up early enough to do something around the house. If not, I usually stay home on Thursday nights, so I can work on it then. Friday's 'Grimm'. Saturday I've got a project already lined up, but I won't be taking A to the grocery, as he'll be out of town. Sunday may be the game, so tomorrow I should try to do the game notes. Anyway, have a good night.

Up and planning my weekend

I have called Brenda and confirmed that she has a doll meet tomorrow, so there will be no game. A called me and we made plans to go to the store about noon. The roads should be pretty decent; we did get a boatload of rain last night, but only maybe a half-inch of snow, although it is cold, so they could have some black ice on them. By giving it a couple of hours, we'll have better roads. We're very lucky in terms of how that played out. If it had snowed as heavily as the rain was coming down, we would have had several inches by now. It's sunny and around 20 degrees. I'm holding out for those 60s that are in the forecast for next week. I am so sick of winter. This one has been cold and the snow has just hung around for days on end. Normally we get a snow of maybe 2-3 inches, then in melts, then again, then it melts. This time it's just snowed on top of snow, although the rain yesterday finally took care of some of that.

My teeth and jaws are aching today. Apparently I clenched them in the night, and since there are precious few molars to take the strain anymore, my front teeth hurt. I'm convinced that my clenching and grinding are a factor in terms of losing the teeth. We never could find a good bite guard solution. I tried an over the counter one and couldn't tolerate it well, so we didn't do a custom one years ago when my dentist first brought it up. Of course, the acid in the diet sodas was a big part, too, I'm sure. But I'm actually thinking of taking some acetaminophen today, and I haven't taken anything at all for the pain, which has been minimal, since I threw up Wednesday after taking Tylenol with codeine. But I can't complain; it hasn't been too painful. And I'm up to tortillas with cheese and bananas as far as food goes.

Okay, I think I'll check up on some news and see what's going on in the world, then start getting cleaned up and ready to go. Have a great day!

A bit of a setback

in terms of my teeth. The good news is my gums are doing well and healing. The bad news is that there was a crown that came off a tooth, along with the filling underneath it, during the surgery. Before they can do the last of the impressions needed to do my partials, something has to be done about that tooth first. My options? Build the tooth up with a post and filling, put a new crown on it, and hope that it holds together over the long-term, or have it removed (this time as an office visit without sedation). I chose the latter after looking at the tiny nub of a tooth and deciding that it would be better and cheaper to go ahead and have it removed. So in a couple of weeks when my gums have healed some, I'm to go in for impressions, and then three days later have that tooth taken out, whereupon (in theory) they will send me home with the partials in place. So this is turning into a somewhat unhappy saga. It is especially disappointing because I was supposed to do the wax bite today and get my partials tomorrow originally, and went over there thinking it would be a short appointment that moved things forward. Instead I got bad news and had a decision to make.

Okay, today I went back to work and then went to the dentist and got the news. I picked A up and got some things from the store, then dropped him off. Now I find that I'm pretty tired. I think I'm going to lie down for a bit, anyway. Then I really should get up and take some things out to the Dumpster and recycling containers, before yet more snow comes tomorrow. I'm really trying to hang on to the idea that we're supposed to get temperatures in the 60s towards the end of next week. It couldn't come too soon.

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.

I waited to be absolutely sure

to eat with the new (and permanent) crown. They said to wait 30 minutes for the glue to set thoroughly before chewing. I waited four hours, till the numbness wore off (I'm pitiful trying to eat with my mouth numb, and I can't taste anything anyway) and the glue was absolutely set. So hopefully this is the end to the dental saga (for now).

Apparently when they did the x-ray on this tooth, they found the one in front of it, which is also crowned, is breaking down, perhaps because of a flaw in the crown. There's a little pit where it's allowing bacteria to get in, if I understood things. So that's going to need to be taken care of at a future time, after the surrounding tissues have a chance to heal. My insurance probably won't pay for it because it's been less than five years. Their guarantee doesn't quite work because it's been three. But since it may be a problem with the crown itself, he'll think about it and we can work something out. But that is for another day. It feels funny having the crown in; the bite is good, and the chewing ability much better, but I'd gotten used to not having it, although my mouth stayed pretty sensitive. I'm happy to report the sensitivity I had, even when the temporary crown was on, seems to have gone. Yay! Now (fingers crossed) let's hope this one, which has permanent glue, stays on.

I guess it's Monday

1. I've been out of sorts all day.
   
2. My neck and knees have been bothering me to the point that I took some naproxen and am seriously considering going to bed for awhile.
   
3. I applied for the job at the library, but never received the promised notification or code, so I'm not sure the application went through. I have a call in to Human Resources.
   
4. I just had that dratted crown come off again.
   

:(

On the plus side, I knew they were drawing labs at the doctor, but what I forgot was that was all they were doing, so no co-pay and I got in and out within about 30 minutes, so I got to work much earlier than I expected.

Also, I got a ride home. So that was good. I really didn't want to come home on the bus.

Okay, off to lie down for a bit. Hopefully I won't do my post weekend game crash.

The crown is back on

This time they sent me home with a kit where I can put it back on myself, complete with a little diagramme. Apparently my abundant saliva plus the layout of my teeth may be an issue. She really suggested that I consider a partial denture on the other side since I can't afford implants. I will definitely look into it. I didn't think that was possible given the layout of my mouth, but it is.

I didn't feel like just standing at the nearest stop for twenty minutes, so I walked down to my normal one. I've walked quite a bit this morning. I'll get to work two and a half hours later than normal, but if this thing stays on till the permanent one strives, it will be worth it.

Um, really?

An American stereotype of the British is that they have bad teeth (I can't say much, having never had braces, but then I do have mostly British genes). But as Hermione Granger's parents have taught us, the UK has dentists, and I think the stereotype is fading anyway. Well, this is apparently what a dentist will do for you for £1,000 and six hours of work on the eve of the royal wedding.

Royally obsessed: Man gets Will and Kate tattooed on teeth

(Notice that the teeth themselves are straight.) He did it to win a contest, but I don't think there was a monetary prize. The images on his teeth should last about 3 months. Hard to believe in this oeconomy anyone would pay that much for the future king and queen on their teeth--for a short time. Although, I'm sure he'll get lots of attention. I wonder if they just fade away with brushing or come off in bits? Ugh.

How a tooth let a blind woman see again

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Today was a pretty decent day

except I broke a tooth; I'll have to make an appointment Monday to get it fixed if at all possible. It's my backmost molar and I guess all those years of impacted wisdom teeth going into it (I finally got those out a few years ago, at least) and a filling were just too much for it. It does hurt a little and I'm trying to be careful when eating, chewing on the other side.

Besides that, however, I had a good time at both jobs. I found out my manager at the store is leaving to go to another one; our shift lead got promoted the other day to another store, too, so there's a lot of change in personnel. But I know the new manager, and she is pretty nice, so I think we'll get along fine.

I got my latest two books from PaperbackSwap, the first two books of the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. Yay!

My feet aren't hurting as much (apparently getting toasty warm last night helped; they almost felt normal this morning and although they do hurt now, it's more in the background than usual, about like they are when I've taken ibuprofen. So that's good. And I'm not so tired that I feel like just crashing. I even got a ride home tonight so my forays into the wintry weather have been limited.

I think I'll try out my new National Geographic DVD-ROMs. I got them a couple of days ago but I've been too tired at night to do anything. I also need to work on the notes, although we're not having a game this week because Brenda has a doll meet-up (she is into the ball-jointed dolls and makes clothes for them to sell).

Okay, that's all for now. I'll check the news and get something to eat, then try to get a little accomplished.

So tired

Yesterday I worked nearly 12 hours at the store, and then there was the grocery run of doom, which admittedly went faster than normal, but still was tiring. We're talking two full carts.

I went to bed by 1 am and then got up at 4 to work on game notes, finishing about 6. I had to be over to prepare for the game by 7, so I took a quick nap and then went on over. I finished all the preparations for the game early and fixed some food. The only hitch this morning is that a cat nipped me when I trimmed his claws, but it barely broke the skin. The others came over and we had a good session. I helped clean up afterwards and then went on home as a storm was about to break since I had to do my monthly libation tonight. Then I worked on the computer for awhile and now I think I'll get some rest. I may not go to bed just yet, but I definitely want to relax. But first I think it's time for more ibuprofen--I just ate some raisin bran and my tooth really hurts from chewing the raisins. Good night.

I need to go to the dentist

I broke a tooth some time ago and it's really bothering me now, expecially if I bite down even slightly on that side. I'm having to chew on one side of my mouth. As soon as I know my schedule for next week I'm making an appointment. One can only take so much ibuprofen. Of course, this probably means a crown, and they're expensive, but thankfully I have my flexible spending account.

More hours mean more pay

but it was still nice not to be working at the store today, the only day I've had off during the work week. Tomorrow I do my regular Saturday shift, then Sunday I'm off for the game, and then I work Monday. But I'm off Tuesday and Wednesday.

At some point I need to reschedule a cancelled dental appointment for two fillings. I'm having some pain and I'm not sure but I may have chipped a molar. I have such large fillings in most of my molars that it's pretty easy to break a tooth. That may mean another crown.

Today was spent doing interlibrary loans, putting literacy project books on the cart for the clinic, printing off patient surveys, and generally preparing for our big open house at the hospital. I don't go (I did once. I discovered I'm uneasy around crowds and clowns. I never had trouble with clowns until I was surrounded by about seven the one time I volunteered for the information booth. They wanted a pin I had. The lack of personal space and creepy old men in face makeup really unnerved me. I know they meant well, but still....) That is actually one real hazard of my job. You never know when a clown is going to insist on hugging you.

I also spent the day being harassed by ants in my cubicle. It's rained quite a bit and they're coming in one by one. I picked up some ant traps from housekeeping, so maybe that will help.

I'm going to have to go into work early on Wednesday because they're having a free birthday breakfast for those of us with recent or upcoming birthdays. The directors serve the food and our administrator makes omelets. Considering that's the day before I get paid and my food situation is already looking sad, it will be welcome.

Speaking of food (or lack thereof), I weighed myself, and I have officially lost 20 lbs since about September. I weighed 291 at my heaviest; now I'm 271. Go me! Go lots of peanut butter! D said I could be the spokesperson for the Peanut Butter Diet much like the Subway guy is for healthy sandwiches.

I've been playing a lot with iGoogle this evening. It's a personalised form of Google that allows themes and various widgets where you can choose the content you want displayed and customise everything. I have Twitter, Google Docs, Google Talk (a chat client), Google Calendar, a picture-of-the-day from National Geographic, my Gmail account, my Google Reader feeds, a to-do list, a clock, and some miscellaneous stuff, just on the main page. There's other tabs for games, news, politics, etc. My theme changes according to time of day (the sun is shown during the day, at sunrise/sunset, it turns orange, and at night it shows the moon. Anyway, it keeps all sorts of applications that I use daily at my fingertips (and no, I don't twitter at work, since it is in essence mini-blogging).

The picture to the right of this post is of my Yahoo! Avatar. I played with it a bit and have been using a square icon of the face for some of my profiles, such as at Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Okay, it's almost 12:30. Time to go to bed early for a change. Good night.

Sorry I haven't blogged

The night before last I just crashed by 9:30 pm, then yesterday I did the same after catching up on my Web 2.0 class. This time I had to set up a wiki and make changes on the class wiki. I set up two, one public one called Rabid for 2.0 and then a private one I'd like to get the game members into and doing some collaborative stuff (won't bother linking to that; you can't read it). We're using WetPaint in class and it's very easy, much easier to edit than the limited wikis I've worked on.

I was sad to see that Arthur C Clarke died. He'd apparently had post-polio syndrome for decades and died after suffering from breathing problems. Still, he was 90 years old, and had a long life. He will of course be known for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I remember reading Rendezvous with Rama as a child, whereas I've only seen the movie 2001 (something I should rectify). I also enjoyed his Mysterious World series when I could catch it.

Well, I'm between jobs for the day right now, having had a crown put on at 3 after gettting out of work at the hospital. It's time to get ready for job #2, for truck night at the store. Overall I'm going to work the same amount of hours this week as usual, but not in the long stretch like I normally do on Saturday (10 hours at a time); I'm working 2 tonight, 4 Saturday, 3 on two of the weekdays. So I'm kind of looking forward to having a Saturday for a change.

I do seem to have broken my toe last Friday night. I stubbed it badly and although the swelling's a little better when I wake up in the morning, it hasn't really improved. I'm going to call the podiatrist tomorrow but my understanding is there's not much to do for a toe (especially the little toe) than put some ice on it, take some pain reliever like ibuprofen, and wait. The dark bruising has gone away though. It was feeling better this morning and then I propped a door open with my foot. Right, so I hadn't had my smart medicine today, okay? :)