If you read this blog back in March or so, you might remember I had some issues with my teeth. I worked up the nerve to get into a dentist (I am SERIOUSLY afraid of dentists due to a bad childhood dentist) and had a couple of fillings done. One was temporary and I was told I would either need a root canal or an extraction and told the prices. There were no pros or cons given, just prices, and I have put off making a decision with all of the other medical junk going on.
Monday, while Silas was out of town, I bit down while eating and the tooth with the temp filling actually broke. In one corner, there was no more tooth. I cold actually see nothing but the filling there. I wasn't having any pain, but I freaked out nevertheless, because I knew this would mean another visit to the dentist. I was trying to wait until after the first of the year when I would not only hopefully have the money to get it fixed, but also know exactly what is wrong with me medically. I call my dentist office and the woman that I spoke to was so incredibly rude about the situation. Basically, once again, I was given my options of root canal or extraction, and once again was given my prices for each. They wanted $800 for JUST the extraction, and then according to her I would need to have the tooth replaced with something. This option would run me anywhere from $1600-$2400 depending on whether I got a partial or an implant. The root canal and the build-up and crown would total about $1600-$1800. Oh, and no payment plans for any of these options...the most they would do is split the cost into two parts. And you know we have that kind of cash growing on the tree in my backyard like they do, right? Ugh. I was in tears because I was forced to make a decision before any pain would start and I had no clue what to do since neither option was truly financially feasible for us at this time.
So, when I talked to my best friend, April, that same day, she reminded me that she got her wisdom teeth taken out by the School of Dentistry at the University of Florida. I was willing to drive if necessary, so I spent the next day researching my options. Turns out they have a local dental school here in town that I never even knew about. I called to find out how I could get in and was told I would for an emergency visit, which this would be considered, I would need to be in line by 7:30 in the morning and hope and pray I was one of the first ten people or so to ensure I would be seen.
I made it to the dentist yesterday morning by 6:30 and was the third person there. The first guy, Dr. W., took my pressure and it was 160/103. Ha! I wasn't scared or anything. Yeah right!
They sent in a guy with an extremely thick indian accent to talk about the x-ray and go through the two options I already knew about. I told him that I knew my options and nobody has wanted to give me pros or cons to each, so I didn't really know which would be better. So, he uses dental talk to explain to me and I still couldn't understand half of what he was saying. Something about knobs and removing something, but that was about it. He finally leaves telling me that the guy will explain it again when he comes in to work on me. Silas was actually in the room with me and couldn't understand anything being said either.
So, Dr. W. comes in and goes through the options explaining thoroughly and answering all of my questions. I asked about the whole replacement bit since my other dentist said I would need it done. He said the second molars are basically bonus teeth and if it were a first molar he'd probably say yeah, but it isn't necessary with the 2nd molars and did not have to be taken care of right now. So, I guess that means that my lovely dentist truly was just after money, which is pretty stinky.
Once I made my decision to have it extracted and Silas left, I asked Dr. W. how bad it was goign to be. HE told me if I could tolerate the sights and sounds then it wouldn't be bad at all. Now, after getting me lying back and he and the other guy are basically trapping me I hear him tell me not to worry if I hear a lot of cracking noises because it is perfectly normal. OH MY GOODNESS! NOW they tell me! ACK! They had a lot of trouble getting it out because my wisdom tooth was actually pushing on the molar, which is something he warned might happen. They were having to call for tools they didn't have at their station. LOL I had warned them that the other dentist had trouble numbing me for the fillings, so he said just let them know that I need more anesthetic, which they did have to do in the middle. The tooth pretty much sectioned itself in the middle of them loosening it because of how weak it was. The wisdom tooth is actually visible now, and he said there is a slight chance that it might just grow in and occupy the space. The only major concern this causes is that I may eventually have to lose the top 2nd molar on that side because it might shift a little bit, but no biggie according to him.
So, other than the fact that he dated my pain prescription for today instead of yesterday (which thankfully the pharmacy called and got changed), I would recommend the dental schools to anyone. They were incredibly nice and straightforward in answering my questions. They were as gentle as they could possibly be in this situation.
My mouth was absolutely killing me last night. I am allergic to NSAIDS (Ibuprofen and the such) so they gave me a prescription for Vicodin. I took one pill and it zonked me out for three hours. When I woke up it was past time for another pill, so I went ahead and took it at dinnertime. We had spaghetti and my child-sized plate full took me a good hour to eat. LOL I guess it must have been too slow to eat with the med since I was extremely nauseous the rest of the night. I had to stay in bed in order to get it to be bearable, and my head was hurting worse than my usual migraines. I woke up at 3am and surprisingly my mouth felt fine. I still had a killer headache and decided against taking another Vicodin and instead took my Excedrim Migraine. Awesome stuff! I feel almost back to normal this morning.
So, that's it for now. I have to update on Jacob's ENT appointment sometime soon. For now though, I am off to go to garage sales with my mother, aunt and a couple of cousins. Should be fun!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
I'm a horrible blogger
Goodness. I have not had the time to get this blog updated lately. And I have been horrble about commenting on anyone else's as well. I have been so busy lately!
School is going well. Jacob has been doing well. We have our days where it is like pulling teeth to get him to get anything done, and other days where everything just flows. We took today off since he has some major nerves about his ENT appointment. We are hoping that the tube will be able to easily be removed in the office. Keep your fingers crossed!
Joshua has made such progress the past couple of weeks. He was pretty resistant to doing school for the longest time. I was really starting to have doubts that I was doing right by homeschooling him, but not quite willing to just throw him into a neighborhood school that would likely just "deal" with him and the different challenges teaching him poses. However, I think things are really starting to click with him now. He has been showing me throughout the day that he knows his letter sounds and not just the letters. We have been using Starfall website for phonics work, and it seems to be just what he needed. He is actually makiing the connection now that the letter sounds can make a word. Yesterday he read cat, rat and van on his own.
We went to the mall last Friday so my mother and I could get in some walking. They have a play area and by the time we made it completely from one end of the mall and back to it, there were no kids. It didn't last long though, and it became quite busy. One child, probably about 4 or 5, was pretty hyper and rough. His father fussed a bit, but that was about all. The boy actually came over to Joshua and hit him a few times because Josh was sitting on something that he wanted to be on. Joshua didn't really react the first couple of times, but about the third time he came to me crying that the boy was being mean. I had watched the entire thing and since the father obviously was not interested in taking real action, told Josh that if he did it again he needed to look at the boy and tell him to please stop being mean to him. Sure enough, not even 10 seconds later, the hitting began again and Joshua promptly looked at him and said plain as day, "Please don't be mean to me". All was well until later when they were running around chasing each other and the boy decided to shove Josh from behind. I told him next time to stop running and turn around and tell the boy again to stop being mean. We didn't have another incident, and after about ten more minutes it was time to go. I was proud that he didn't hit back and came to me and then once he was told how to react in the situation, he did it.
To top off the good news with Josh - he spent all day Monday coloring. And HE was the one that initiated it! This probably sounds silly to anyone who does not know Josh. To those that do know him, you know how amazing this is. Josh does NOT like to color or write or do anything that might be messy. My MIL bought him a Disney CARS ColorWonder set for his birthday. He showed no real interest in it once he found out it involved markers and coloring. However, something must have happened when he woke up on Monday....he came to me and asked me to open the package so that he could color. I must have looked so confused when he came to me. LOL He spent all morning coloring pages. At naptime he asked to color some more, so I let him. And then later in the day he shut off the computer in favor of coloring. *shock*
In scrapping news I have been busy creating LOs. Since the last scrap post I have been accepted to a couple of new teams. I now am on Melissa Hiroti's (aka Phoenix) and Melissa Goerke's teams. These ladies have such pretty designs and I am so excited to be designing for them. Once I update my personal gallery I will be sure to post the link. :)
Bella Gypsy are retiring all of their kits at the end of this month. You might want to check them out. Everything ranges from $.50 to $1. So grab them while you can! Here are the links to their stores:
A Cherry On Top and Elemental Scraps
I suppose that is all for now. Hope everyone is doing well in blogger land. :D
School is going well. Jacob has been doing well. We have our days where it is like pulling teeth to get him to get anything done, and other days where everything just flows. We took today off since he has some major nerves about his ENT appointment. We are hoping that the tube will be able to easily be removed in the office. Keep your fingers crossed!
Joshua has made such progress the past couple of weeks. He was pretty resistant to doing school for the longest time. I was really starting to have doubts that I was doing right by homeschooling him, but not quite willing to just throw him into a neighborhood school that would likely just "deal" with him and the different challenges teaching him poses. However, I think things are really starting to click with him now. He has been showing me throughout the day that he knows his letter sounds and not just the letters. We have been using Starfall website for phonics work, and it seems to be just what he needed. He is actually makiing the connection now that the letter sounds can make a word. Yesterday he read cat, rat and van on his own.
We went to the mall last Friday so my mother and I could get in some walking. They have a play area and by the time we made it completely from one end of the mall and back to it, there were no kids. It didn't last long though, and it became quite busy. One child, probably about 4 or 5, was pretty hyper and rough. His father fussed a bit, but that was about all. The boy actually came over to Joshua and hit him a few times because Josh was sitting on something that he wanted to be on. Joshua didn't really react the first couple of times, but about the third time he came to me crying that the boy was being mean. I had watched the entire thing and since the father obviously was not interested in taking real action, told Josh that if he did it again he needed to look at the boy and tell him to please stop being mean to him. Sure enough, not even 10 seconds later, the hitting began again and Joshua promptly looked at him and said plain as day, "Please don't be mean to me". All was well until later when they were running around chasing each other and the boy decided to shove Josh from behind. I told him next time to stop running and turn around and tell the boy again to stop being mean. We didn't have another incident, and after about ten more minutes it was time to go. I was proud that he didn't hit back and came to me and then once he was told how to react in the situation, he did it.
To top off the good news with Josh - he spent all day Monday coloring. And HE was the one that initiated it! This probably sounds silly to anyone who does not know Josh. To those that do know him, you know how amazing this is. Josh does NOT like to color or write or do anything that might be messy. My MIL bought him a Disney CARS ColorWonder set for his birthday. He showed no real interest in it once he found out it involved markers and coloring. However, something must have happened when he woke up on Monday....he came to me and asked me to open the package so that he could color. I must have looked so confused when he came to me. LOL He spent all morning coloring pages. At naptime he asked to color some more, so I let him. And then later in the day he shut off the computer in favor of coloring. *shock*
In scrapping news I have been busy creating LOs. Since the last scrap post I have been accepted to a couple of new teams. I now am on Melissa Hiroti's (aka Phoenix) and Melissa Goerke's teams. These ladies have such pretty designs and I am so excited to be designing for them. Once I update my personal gallery I will be sure to post the link. :)
Bella Gypsy are retiring all of their kits at the end of this month. You might want to check them out. Everything ranges from $.50 to $1. So grab them while you can! Here are the links to their stores:
A Cherry On Top and Elemental Scraps
I suppose that is all for now. Hope everyone is doing well in blogger land. :D
Friday, October 13, 2006
Who said Friday the 13th was bad?
Yes, my little Joshua is actually a Friday the 13th baby. ;) And a planned c-section on Friday the 13th, at that! LOLHAPPY BIRTHDAY, Josh! I love you and am so proud of you!
Credits: Bella Gypsy's "A Boy's Life" kit.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Finally! My endocrinology appointment
Ok, he went by the blood test and ultrasound results from back in April. That was BEFORE my dietary changes and the huge changes in my cholesterol and such. He has no idea what those results were showing, so everything we are doing right now could completely change after my bloodwork later this month.
I am a pre-diabetic, which I knew. My thyroid is 1 1/2 times the normal size (the goiter) but he wants to repeat the bloodwork for all of that before deciding what to do. The nodules that showed up on the ultrasound are small in size, common, and sometimes not really nodules when you are dealing with Hashimoto's disease (an autoimmune disorder that runs in familes and my mother happens to have). He is in agreement with my primary doctor that this is likely something I have, and it explains why before when I was placed on Synthroid that I would flip flop between hypo and hyper thyroidism. From what he said, if I were a normal person (yes, that is what he said ROFL) then when they would give me the Synthroid my body should have used what it needed of the hormone and then stopped producing any extra, but my body did not. So, mine would simply keep doing it and this caused the hyper-thyroid results. The reason everything balanced out with my pregnancies is that the baby is half dad's genes, so therefore it helps to control my levels and symptoms. Since I am no longer having pregnanices, my body is giving me issues again. Further testing will prove it one way or the other, but the reasoning made perfect sense when he explained it to me.
He did a thorough exam, including some quick neurological testing. I passed with no problem. He checked my goiter well, and then we talked a while.
He believes I have Metabolic Syndrome in addition to the thyroid autoimmune issue. He is basing this on the extremely high cholesterol tests (again, before my changes were made), the high glucose test readings, the way my weight is distributed (mainly my belly seemed to be an issue though I am huge all over). He has put me on Metformin, which is a drug they use for diabetics, but have found it helps people like me. He described two other drugs that we may eventually use as well. This one is supposed to have weightloss as a side effect, but my mother said it never helped her any. LOL Guess we will see. He said that this would help explain why I didn't lose any weight just from the diet changes. He also cleared me to exercise again, so hopefully that will help, and as he mentioned could be a factor in that as well.
I go in next month for a dietician consult and then the beg of Dec I will have another appointment with him and I guess he will decide what to do about the thyroid at that time.
Just before he left he asked about that weird liver test that the lab did and that my doctor never ordered. He said it came back abnormal and that it is a test for cirrhosis of the liver, but at the same time my liver function tests were normal, so he was really quite confused about that as well. He mentioned repeating that test, but they didn't mark it down on my lab slip. I may call to ask about that or wait and see what he says in December.
I think that was about it. Not really anything I didn't know already, and like I said, everything could still change after I get the bloodwork done in a couple of weeks. Of course, the meds being added was new too.
I am a pre-diabetic, which I knew. My thyroid is 1 1/2 times the normal size (the goiter) but he wants to repeat the bloodwork for all of that before deciding what to do. The nodules that showed up on the ultrasound are small in size, common, and sometimes not really nodules when you are dealing with Hashimoto's disease (an autoimmune disorder that runs in familes and my mother happens to have). He is in agreement with my primary doctor that this is likely something I have, and it explains why before when I was placed on Synthroid that I would flip flop between hypo and hyper thyroidism. From what he said, if I were a normal person (yes, that is what he said ROFL) then when they would give me the Synthroid my body should have used what it needed of the hormone and then stopped producing any extra, but my body did not. So, mine would simply keep doing it and this caused the hyper-thyroid results. The reason everything balanced out with my pregnancies is that the baby is half dad's genes, so therefore it helps to control my levels and symptoms. Since I am no longer having pregnanices, my body is giving me issues again. Further testing will prove it one way or the other, but the reasoning made perfect sense when he explained it to me.
He did a thorough exam, including some quick neurological testing. I passed with no problem. He checked my goiter well, and then we talked a while.
He believes I have Metabolic Syndrome in addition to the thyroid autoimmune issue. He is basing this on the extremely high cholesterol tests (again, before my changes were made), the high glucose test readings, the way my weight is distributed (mainly my belly seemed to be an issue though I am huge all over). He has put me on Metformin, which is a drug they use for diabetics, but have found it helps people like me. He described two other drugs that we may eventually use as well. This one is supposed to have weightloss as a side effect, but my mother said it never helped her any. LOL Guess we will see. He said that this would help explain why I didn't lose any weight just from the diet changes. He also cleared me to exercise again, so hopefully that will help, and as he mentioned could be a factor in that as well.
I go in next month for a dietician consult and then the beg of Dec I will have another appointment with him and I guess he will decide what to do about the thyroid at that time.
Just before he left he asked about that weird liver test that the lab did and that my doctor never ordered. He said it came back abnormal and that it is a test for cirrhosis of the liver, but at the same time my liver function tests were normal, so he was really quite confused about that as well. He mentioned repeating that test, but they didn't mark it down on my lab slip. I may call to ask about that or wait and see what he says in December.
I think that was about it. Not really anything I didn't know already, and like I said, everything could still change after I get the bloodwork done in a couple of weeks. Of course, the meds being added was new too.
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