Sunday, October 31, 2010
Hello, FLORIDA!
We made it! After two pretty darned long days of driving, we are IN FLORIDA! Ya-hooooo!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Naming the Gnome
We have a gnome. He is our traveling gnome, along for the ride on our Florida trip. He's a cute little gnome, but... well... he's a mooning gnome. Here he is at the World's Largest Bottle of Ketchup in Collinsville, IL.
He's sticking his butt in (literally) our pictures along the way. Heck, he even tried to stick his butt into our bed. :)
He's sticking his butt in (literally) our pictures along the way. Heck, he even tried to stick his butt into our bed. :)
We have one problem with our mooning gnome. He doesn't have a name. I like "Gunther" or "Emong" (gnome backwards, don't ya' know), Sarah likes "Garth". Jennifer threw in a "Jose" from back home. And Charlie thought "Norman". Hopefully, we'll be able to give the little guy a name tomorrow.
In the meantime, I gotta go get him out of my bed!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Tooth Update
Very simply put, it's gone.
I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday morning, he used IV sedation to knock me out, and about 30 minutes later, I woke up (sort of) without "the tooth".
OK, OK, OK... so there's a little more to it than that. I just thought I'd start out with the simple, short story.
Wednesday night pretty much sucked. The H.H. tried to give me a kiss, and just about threw me into a tizzy of pain when the pressure against my lips moved my head and made my teeth touch. I couldn't really eat much of anything because I just plain couldn't close my mouth all the way. Biting and/or chewing = teeth touching = pain. I didn't sleep much because every move I made somehow caused some sort of tooth pain. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight, but didn't care... and for me to not care about missing my morning coffee, you know it was bad.
We got to the dentist's office a few minutes early, which was OK, because I had to fill out quite a bit of paperwork.
After I went to the procedure room (I don't know what else to call it, since it wasn't really an exam room...) I remember about 4 things. 1- the dentist was quite pleasant. 2 - He started the IV 100% painlessly (didn't even feel the prick). 3 - they tied the oxygen thingy under my nose and around my ears, but I never did feel anything blowing into my nose. And 4 - I thought I was so tired I could have almost fallen asleep without the anesthesia. :)
Aaaaaaaand................. that's about it for Thursday.
I vaguely recall going over some post-procedure instructions, and then I sort of remember seeing Spongebob on the television at some point. I think I talked to the H.H. on the phone in the late afternoon, but I couldn't possibly tell you anything about that conversation. I was out - like a light - most of the day and night. The only thing I remember clearly was that I got sick sometime during the evening as the anesthesia was wearing off (ugh) and that it caused the bleeding to start up again. Yuck. Thankfully, that didn't last too long.
On Friday, I woke up expecting to be in alot of pain, and was surprised when I wasn't. In fact, though I felt alot of soreness, it was actually not as painful - in a bad way - as it had been for the past several days. I'm guessing that is a good thing, and means the tooth really did need to go.
And that's my story. The long - and long - of it.
I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday morning, he used IV sedation to knock me out, and about 30 minutes later, I woke up (sort of) without "the tooth".
OK, OK, OK... so there's a little more to it than that. I just thought I'd start out with the simple, short story.
Wednesday night pretty much sucked. The H.H. tried to give me a kiss, and just about threw me into a tizzy of pain when the pressure against my lips moved my head and made my teeth touch. I couldn't really eat much of anything because I just plain couldn't close my mouth all the way. Biting and/or chewing = teeth touching = pain. I didn't sleep much because every move I made somehow caused some sort of tooth pain. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight, but didn't care... and for me to not care about missing my morning coffee, you know it was bad.
We got to the dentist's office a few minutes early, which was OK, because I had to fill out quite a bit of paperwork.
After I went to the procedure room (I don't know what else to call it, since it wasn't really an exam room...) I remember about 4 things. 1- the dentist was quite pleasant. 2 - He started the IV 100% painlessly (didn't even feel the prick). 3 - they tied the oxygen thingy under my nose and around my ears, but I never did feel anything blowing into my nose. And 4 - I thought I was so tired I could have almost fallen asleep without the anesthesia. :)
Aaaaaaaand................. that's about it for Thursday.
I vaguely recall going over some post-procedure instructions, and then I sort of remember seeing Spongebob on the television at some point. I think I talked to the H.H. on the phone in the late afternoon, but I couldn't possibly tell you anything about that conversation. I was out - like a light - most of the day and night. The only thing I remember clearly was that I got sick sometime during the evening as the anesthesia was wearing off (ugh) and that it caused the bleeding to start up again. Yuck. Thankfully, that didn't last too long.
On Friday, I woke up expecting to be in alot of pain, and was surprised when I wasn't. In fact, though I felt alot of soreness, it was actually not as painful - in a bad way - as it had been for the past several days. I'm guessing that is a good thing, and means the tooth really did need to go.
And that's my story. The long - and long - of it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Schedule Change
Wow! I woke up in the middle of the night with the most horrendous tooth pain that radiated to most of the left side of my face. Ugh.
I haven't been taking any pain relievers since Sunday because of the scheduled video taping of the inside of my tummy... also known more harshly as the ERD scope procedure thing. My patient instructions specifically said no NSAID pain relievers, such as Motrin, aspirin, blah, blah, blah, so forth, and so on. And, being a stellar patient (stop laughing), I have been following instructions. It was fine. No big deal. Maybe a little uncomfortable now and again, but totally bearable. Until last night. Actually, until this morning. I managed to get back to sleep last night. But then... morning arrived. Getting up was a real challenge. My tooth, my face, hurt. Even my forehead and head were starting to hurt. It took REAL effort to drag myself out of bed and go to the kitchen for coffee.
(HA! Coffee! That was an entirely OTHER disaster, with an overflowed new coffee carafe and a huge, 12-cup mess to clean up!)
Anyway, the point is, I was in pain. So.... when I got to work, after being near tears on the way there, I called the dentist, and the person who answered the phone mercifully said "can you be here in 20 minutes?"
You bet your butt I was there in 20 minutes. As it turns out, the filling and the tooth had cracked, thus causing the resurgence of pain. Brandon tilted the chair back, and got out the needle loaded up with Novocaine. The plan was to numb the area, and try to pull the tooth. After a couple of shots, my face was getting numb, so he tried to push on the tooth to see if IT was getting numb. It was not. So, out came the needle again, and I got a few more shots, and he tried to push on it again. Again with no success. While my FACE got really numb, the tooth got a little numb. Eventually, we thought it was numb enough to give it a try, so.... he tried to give it a tug. I felt it. OUCH!
Long story longer, he stopped, and called an oral surgeon who will use IV sedation and will extract the tooth more painlessly for me tomorrow morning at 8:00. Now I just have 12 more hours or so to freak out about it.
Thankfully, I have prescription pain medication to help me get through those 12 hours.
I haven't been taking any pain relievers since Sunday because of the scheduled video taping of the inside of my tummy... also known more harshly as the ERD scope procedure thing. My patient instructions specifically said no NSAID pain relievers, such as Motrin, aspirin, blah, blah, blah, so forth, and so on. And, being a stellar patient (stop laughing), I have been following instructions. It was fine. No big deal. Maybe a little uncomfortable now and again, but totally bearable. Until last night. Actually, until this morning. I managed to get back to sleep last night. But then... morning arrived. Getting up was a real challenge. My tooth, my face, hurt. Even my forehead and head were starting to hurt. It took REAL effort to drag myself out of bed and go to the kitchen for coffee.
(HA! Coffee! That was an entirely OTHER disaster, with an overflowed new coffee carafe and a huge, 12-cup mess to clean up!)
Anyway, the point is, I was in pain. So.... when I got to work, after being near tears on the way there, I called the dentist, and the person who answered the phone mercifully said "can you be here in 20 minutes?"
You bet your butt I was there in 20 minutes. As it turns out, the filling and the tooth had cracked, thus causing the resurgence of pain. Brandon tilted the chair back, and got out the needle loaded up with Novocaine. The plan was to numb the area, and try to pull the tooth. After a couple of shots, my face was getting numb, so he tried to push on the tooth to see if IT was getting numb. It was not. So, out came the needle again, and I got a few more shots, and he tried to push on it again. Again with no success. While my FACE got really numb, the tooth got a little numb. Eventually, we thought it was numb enough to give it a try, so.... he tried to give it a tug. I felt it. OUCH!
Long story longer, he stopped, and called an oral surgeon who will use IV sedation and will extract the tooth more painlessly for me tomorrow morning at 8:00. Now I just have 12 more hours or so to freak out about it.
Thankfully, I have prescription pain medication to help me get through those 12 hours.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Teeth, Hormones, and Other Random Stuff...
Well, I'll start with teeth. I'm going to have to lose a tooth, and it's really freaking me out. I didn't realize it until now, but I have a "thing" about my teeth. I don't know why. It's not like they're all that fantastic... they're a little crooked, and my jaw is misaligned. But I guess I have a hangup about teeth. For some irrational reason, I seem to value keeping all of them perfectly in tact, even though they aren't perfectly that way now. I have more silver in my mouth than in my jewelry box. OK, OK, OK.... it might not be quite THAT bad, but I sure don't have the greatest, most cosmetically perfect, choppers. But suddenly I feel like they're each more valuable than gold. I'm going to have to do some SERIOUS work on this... I'm having the "bad" tooth pulled next Tuesday. I expect I'll cry. Alot.
Which leads me to talk about hormones. Hormones. Those little chemical thingies in my body that cause so much upheaval so very often. And also those little extra thingies in the little extra pills I'm taking now that are saving my sanity, I do believe. It's been almost 30 days since I started taking the hormones, and I have started SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! Ya-HOOOOOO! I haven't consistently slept well in nearly three years, so this is a truly amazing thing.
As for the other random stuff, well, I don't know. It's easy for me to ramble, so I make efforts to not do so. I miss my mom fiercely these last few weeks. I can't wait to meet my new great-nephew, Oscar. I am glad to be busy at work because it makes the days go by quickly. (Especially since Jennifer is out on vacation all week!) And I'm constantly amazed by both the kindness of people in this world, and the harsh cruelty of those same people.
I could go on. But I think that's enough from me for now.
Which leads me to talk about hormones. Hormones. Those little chemical thingies in my body that cause so much upheaval so very often. And also those little extra thingies in the little extra pills I'm taking now that are saving my sanity, I do believe. It's been almost 30 days since I started taking the hormones, and I have started SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! Ya-HOOOOOO! I haven't consistently slept well in nearly three years, so this is a truly amazing thing.
As for the other random stuff, well, I don't know. It's easy for me to ramble, so I make efforts to not do so. I miss my mom fiercely these last few weeks. I can't wait to meet my new great-nephew, Oscar. I am glad to be busy at work because it makes the days go by quickly. (Especially since Jennifer is out on vacation all week!) And I'm constantly amazed by both the kindness of people in this world, and the harsh cruelty of those same people.
I could go on. But I think that's enough from me for now.
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