Entries Tagged 'News' ↓

I don’t have any spectacular plans for ringing in the new year tonight – a quiet Caturday night with my felines will do just fine after all of the driving I did for Christmas last weekend.

Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve! I’m wishing the best for all of us in 2012.

here is my smile from last january:

here is my smile from last night:

do you see the difference?! no, probably not. but i do! i have a brand new tooth where, for the last nine or ten months, i’ve had no tooth!

my dentist gave it to me a week and a half ago, a day after my 30^th birthday. it still feels a little weird, but i’m getting used to it. mostly it feels like i have a piece of gum stuck to my teeth or something.

the appointment was quick and painless. my dentist installed my custom abutment (scary photo of my mouth, fyi) and then had to take an x-ray — which is when i took photos of my new crown sitting on the tray next to me, and scary close-up photos of my mouth and face.

then, when it was confirmed that all was sitting okay inside my jaw, they cemented the crown over the abutment. then they handed me a warranty card for the whole thing.

i am still sort of waiting for it to fall off. i’ve only tried chewing gum once since, and it felt the most weird of anything else that i’ve tried eating since i got the tooth. i’m still avoiding apples and other harder fruits and vegetables (though, honestly, i never really went out of my way to eat them before i had a new tooth, either).

i’m planning to get my second (and final) tooth implant (the other corner of my smile) next year, though i still need to contact my insurance rep and all of that adult kinda stuff.

but! thanksgiving. i’m giving thanks for my dentist, oral surgeon, and new tooth. it will be so much more fun to eat the holiday dinner because of them. jason and i are hosting some friends on saturday. i’m very much considering turning into a food blog for the next few days, by the way. i’m so excited to make a bunch of new-to-me recipes!

there is so much going on this summer, and i have so so so many things i keep meaning to write about and share photos from, but i have this sort of block in my head about blogging. i’ve been working for two this summer at work (my boss has been on maternity leave, but the end is in sight) so it’s tough to come home and want to do more web work, ya know? it’s not like i’m turning off the computer altogether when i get home – i’m still twittering and facebooking, but it’s not mandatory work like this whole business of updating a blog is.

but, anyway, as i said — the end is in sight and maybe one day soon i’ll get better at updating. i do so love to share my photos here – and it’s a good record of the awesome things i do and the awesome people i know and the awesome experiences i’ve had. life is good, it’s just really busy at the moment.

and even though i have a million other things that have happened in the last few months that i want to share (eventually), i’m going to start with the most recent, most exciting news at the moment:

jason bought a house.

i get to be in this photo because he’s sweet and, at the end of the month, i’ll be moving in with him. it’s a really nice, cute house with lots of rooms for guests and rock band and kitties and bird feeders (in the yard). we are very much looking forward to what will go down when my two kitties move in and meet his kitty.

the previous (and only) owner of the house had lived here since the mid-1950s, so that gives us a good feeling about the joint. he was about 90 years old and moving into an assisted living home. he couldn’t take all of his furniture, so we opted to keep a couple of pieces that he would’ve otherwise gotten rid of – the highlights include a couple loveseats, an extra bed for guests, and (i’m especially excited about this) a sewing machine (because as much as i love web, i will always love crafting by hand – expect updates on attempts to quilt sometime this winter) (first i need to finish a couple knitting projects…).

not including the frozen pizza we made on friday, i made our first dinner in the house last night. i like the kitchen a lot – it needs some aesthetic updating, but it’s large and it’s going a good work triangle going on. the funkiest thing in the house is amana radarange instead of microwave, though. i’m sort of weary about using it, but i suppose we’ll add that to the list i’m going to title as such: “someday-future-house-projects-that-we-need-to-prioritize-but-right-now-lets-focus-on-just-moving-in-and-getting-settled-and-enjoying-the-new-digs”.

the night that jason closed, we went to see cloud cult play at orchestra hall. i think that could be another post of photos entirely. it was a beautiful show and a fabulous ending to a very notable day, so the ticket is the first thing that has been hung on the fridge.

as much as i daydream about having clothing lines outside, the neighbor’s grapevine is covered in these little metallic bugs that i’m sure would also cover my drying laundry. so instead the clothing line poles will hold my bird feeders. i haven’t seen any little birdies on them, yet, but i’ve seen them across the backyard on another neighbor’s feeders. i have seen two little rabbits and a squirrel, though. jason saw a deer a couple nights ago, too. nature! i love it and i want it to be in my backyard.

chives that have flowered = no longer edible, right? does that whole don’t-eat-after-it-flowers thing apply to all herbs?

tomatoes that i’ll be excited to pick and cook or can in the next month. there will actually be a lot of tomatoes on four little plants.

i don’t know much about rhubarb, but i know it makes good pies. is it too late in the season for this stuff? do i need to cut it back for next spring? is this really rhubarb or is it just that weed that looks like rhubarb?

there is so much about this house to be excited about! mostly i can’t wait ’til after moving is all done to get into the front flower gardens and clean it all up in preparation for next spring! because digging in the dirt doesn’t cost money (until you realize that you don’t have all of the proper tools…).

a little over a month ago, i had a ct scan to determine whether or not and how much bone grafting i would need.

tooth implant #1 (and likely #2, as well) is in a spot where my sinus cavity needs bone or whatever to support it. since my previous tooth was a tiny baby tooth, the cavity had been falling sort of inward. this meant that i would not have enough bone to support the necessary post implant for my soon-to-come new tooth. kind of awkward to explain since i only sort of understand it. it sounds scarier than it is, i know now — i had my bone graft yesterday.

my doctor told me that he may not be able to do both the bone graft and post implant in one surgery, which would be regrettable for time and pain and all of that jazz. i just simply might not have enough of my own bone to support the post while the graft heals at the same time. luckily, though, good news in the end — he did both parts of the procedure yesterday! this means i’ll probably be healing for most of the rest of year and maybe get my final tooth sometime in the fall. i have a check-up in two weeks to make sure it’s all healing nicely.

although i thought i’d be knocked out like i was when i had my one wisdom tooth removed, i was simply on a sedative that made me sleepy. i was listening to the whole conversation my doctor and the nurses had about their personal mattress preferences (mixed reviews on the sleep number bed) and opened my eyes a couple times, but otherwise i just chilled. i heard drilling noises, but didn’t feel much pressure or anything else. (i probably could’ve used this sedative when i had my frenectomy a few years ago — i burst into tears towards the end of that procedure. embarassing, but i am good at crying at just about anything.)

afterwards i was wheeled into a little, private recovery room where i laid down and had a fluid drip for about a half hour. it would’ve been a nice time for a nap, but i also kind of just wanted to go home. after making sure to ask about my sweater and toothbrush a few times (i was really nervous about forgetting something), they took out my iv, got me sitting up, then wheeled me out to meet jason, who had pulled his car up. we stopped at walgreens for my prescriptions, then came back to my apartment.

i really like that my doctor called me later in the afternoon to check in on me and remind me to keep putting the ice pack on my face and to drink a lot of fluids.

i came home with four prescriptions: anti-bacterial mouthwash, an antibiotic, special ibuprofen and vicodin. my whole left cheek, including half of my nose, was numb for most of the evening. jason doted on me though he was expecting me to be much more whiny. either my tolerance for pain is high (which i’ve always thought it was), or the drugs are helping to keep me quiet. i mostly just laid around with him all night. we watched “the king’s speech” and “the social network,” leaving only three of the academy award’s best film nominations from this year that we haven’t seen. (i have my doubts that we’ll get around to watching “toy story 3″ anytime soon.)

the photo was from last night, before heading to bed. my face looks a little less puffy today, i think, but smiling is still difficult. i’m feeling a bit nervous about over-excising my cheek muscle so near my sinus cavity. it’s probably a good concern to have.

everything considered, this whole experience has (so far) been much easier than i anticipated. i would still rate the tooth-pulling as the worst part, and that’s over pretty quickly!

Did you know I am really bad at updating this thing? And did you also know I have about 15 drafts that I started in 2010 and never posted? Someday I should post all of the weird and wonderful things I’ve done… I need to get better at over-sharing, even if just a little bit at a time.

Here’s some over-sharing to begin with! I am missing many of my adult teeth.

(Do you have any phobias about teeth discussions?)

In fact, when I smile, what you think may be my lateral incisors are actually my canine teeth, just shaved down a little bit. Apparently the orthodontist of my youth didn’t want me looking too much like a vampire (though that really would’ve helped during my brief goth phase).

I only ever had one wisdom tooth extracted.

And, until just a few days ago, both of my first molars on my top jaw were baby teeth that have been managing to hang in there (yes, pun intended), despite the fact that they were primarily made up of fillings. This year I’m beginning the process of getting them both replaced with dental implants — one at a time. Late last week, I had the molar on the left side of my mouth pulled (it is/was apparently in worse shape than its counterpart). I was quite nervous beforehand, but this actual procedure took less than a couple minutes and then I got to stay home in my jammies for a few days, living on pudding and mashed potatoes. Not too shabby.

I’ve decided I probably shouldn’t post any of the real gory photos (like the one I tried to capture of what I’m affectionately referring to as my “tooth-hole”), but I was curious as to how the implants would change my smile. The photo above is the widest smile I could make myself give on cue, before anything was pulled, and it looks virtually the same as the photo after I got my tooth pulled:

But! I have this retainer with a fake tooth on it to wear for the next few months. It’s purpose is mostly to make sure the rest of my teeth don’t do any moving before my final implant happens, since my tooth-hole is far enough back in my mouth that barely anyone will notice it’s there (or not there?). Wearing this retainer feels a little weird, but it does make an impact on my smile:

I can feel that “adult” tooth on my cheek, but I’m sure I’ll get used to that. I’m also getting used to excusing myself to the restroom to take out my tooth. The end result will be nice: I’m sort of excited to brighten up the corners of my smile! One less thing to be self-conscious about.

Of course, this process isn’t over yet: my next appointment is in mid-March, when I get a CT scan. Since my implants are on my top jaw, they are awfully close to my sinus cavities. The CT scan will determine more specific details about needing bone grafts to help “root” the final implants. I’m not yet that nervous about this need, because I know I’ll be completely knocked out for this and then I’ll get to go home to wonderful drugs and more pudding, but I’m sure I will be in days to come.