phase 1, check

the day the bean has been waiting for finally arrived...time to get those braces off!

although it really hasn't been all that long.  it was april of last year when she got them put on, after a couple of long months waiting for it to happen:

and she only had the braces on the four front teeth on top, plus a permanent retainer on the bottom.  i think she looks cute with them on, and she really didn't complain much about them even after the appointments for tightening every six weeks.  but change is always new and exciting, and so when the anniversary of those braces came and went (after the ortho had promised that it would only be about a year for this phase), she started counting down the days to the next appointment when she knew they would finally be removed.  when you're nine, a year is a super long time, amirite?

here's the "before" shot when we arrived at the dental office:

the ortho teased her a little when he came out to greet her.  "so, are you excited to have more braces put on today?" he said.  and we all laughed at the instant look of alarm that crossed her face.  when she realized he was just kidding, she relaxed back into the chair and went back to watching the movie that was playing overhead ("trolls," in case you were wondering).

removing the brackets was a pretty simple process.  she was running a tongue over those teeth in no time, and i totally remember that feeling from the day my braces came off.  "slimy teef," as one of my friends called it.  and then they worked on removing the glue and getting those teeth all nice and polished up before starting on the permanent retainer that she'll wear for the next couple of years until phase 2 starts.

and...voila!  no more braces!

she was so excited and couldn't stop talking about how weird it was to have them off.  and we go back next week to have the rest of the retainer installed, with another appointment in ten weeks just to check on her to see how things are going.  it was a little startling to look at the calendar and realize that that next appointment would be just after school starts back up again.

ten weeks.  what sort of mischief can we get up to in that amount of time?  i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

go. to. the. dentist.

you know what's really dumb?

knowing you have something going on that needs to be taken care of, but you're too lazy/scared/stupid to just suck it up and go.

i started noticing about a month ago that one of my teeth was super sensitive to cold water.  like, even water from the tap while brushing my teeth would make it hurt a little.  i kind of just chalked it up to my weird teeth, started using the toothpaste for sensitive teeth and went on my merry way.

and then a couple of weeks later the pain started.  at first, it would just kind tingle and throb a little for awhile and go away.  it would mostly come at night, and i went "huh, that's weird" and rode through the waves of pain and kept on keeping on.

the week of brother wan's wedding, those waves started lasting longer and longer until by the time we were driving home from vegas the pain wasn't subsiding at all anymore.  uh-oh.  i finally told myself i needed to get my ass to the dentist, stat.  but i hadn't been to one in an embarrassingly long time and the one i used to go to wasn't even there anymore.  so i went through the directory of local dentists that accepted our insurance, picked one that had some great reviews and made myself an appointment.

the receptionist was sympathetic and got me through the check-in process as quickly as she could, and then i went in for an x-ray.

the dentist was super nice and explained everything she was seeing and doing, and of course it turns out that i had some sort of infection that had managed to worm its way through the beginning of a small cavity in one tooth.  so she numbed me up, drilled out the old filling to put some medication in there that would help the infection and stop the pain and put a temporary filling in there.

guess what i get to do this friday at 11:30?  oh yeah.  going in for a root canal.  YAAAAAAAAAYYYY.

calgon, take me away

whew, this weekend was a whirlwind.  like, we packed so much stuff into two days, it's kind of crazy.

we kicked off saturday with the bean's very first trip to the orthodontist.  the dentist was a little concerned with how her bottom front teeth are crowding, resulting in some thinning in her gums.  i mean, once you lose gums that shit doesn't grow back.  and so he sent us to see the ortho posthaste, and thank god the bean is still in that sweet baby phase where she still thinks a dental appointment is her jam.

it helps that they make it fun, too.  like, who doesn't want to watch fun movies and look at paw prints on the ceiling?  today it was "big hero 6."

then the ortho came in and took a quick peek to see what all the fuss was about.

he assigned one of his assistants to take her over for a full 360-degree x-ray, and the machine reminded me of the one i'd just visited for my mammogram.  happily, there was no pain involved with this process.  i did have to stand back for the actual x-raying though, because radiation.

then she settled back into the chair with a nice soft blanket.  it was chilly in the office, and the assistant was happy to bring her something to warm up from the stack of blankets they keep in the back.

so it seems that she needs to have a couple of bottom baby teeth pulled, some sort of orthodontic device installed behind the front teeth, and braces on top for a year.  she was so excited - again, it's cute that she's still at an age where this stuff is super cool.  like, she wanted to have those braces put on that day.  heh.  it'll take about a month, but it's coming.  that'll be interesting.

from there, she went to her saturday math and science class while i headed home to grab supplies for our first cookie booth.  we were scheduled at the local walmart for a couple of hours, and one of our parents had offered up the use of their EZ-up tent so that the girls wouldn't bake out in the sun.

the time flew by, and it was fun watching the girls do their best to hawk their wares.  in the end, they sold about a hundred boxes and had a great time doing it.  this year, my co-leader and i had scheduled plenty of parent back-up, making it extra easy for us to make sure everything was running smoothly while staying in the background.  this meant that we didn't forget to get at least one selfie.

from there, the bean went off with my co-leader's daughter to head out to rockin' jump for some playtime.  i had a little bit of downtime to kind of relax and unwind a little before heading back out to meet up with my co-leader again.  this time, it was to help her provide volunteers for the local wine walk in the downtown area.

the old lady and i were tasked with the job of sitting at the corner and making sure that no one left the area with wine in their glasses.  but because this is sleepy, conservative glendora, it was a pretty laid-back job.  in fact, i don't think we even had to tell a single person anything other than where to go for more wine.  the giant "no alcohol beyond this point" signs helped a lot too.  we ended up spending our whole shift just sitting there shooting the shit and laughing our asses off at the antics of the few animated folks who busted a move to the music and tripped over curbs and things.

my bed was extra comfy that night after all that activity.  whew.  and we still have almost an entire MONTH of cookie season left.  not to mention, the bean is about to kick off a month of fundraising for school via their annual jog-a-thon.

help me.  or just send me strength.

from disney to dentist

thanks to a teacher inservice day right after MLK day this year, the bean had an extra-long 4-day weekend.  and per usual, we squeezed in as much fun as we possibly could during her free time.  mere hours after finishing that cooking workshop, we hopped right back into the car and headed out to the local roller skating rink to join our girl scout service unit's annual cookie kick-off party.

it was a much different scene for my girl this year, since she's put in a good bit of time practicing on roller skates.  she was much more confident and skated with ease, doing lap after lap after lap.

when she finally took a breather and came in search of a snack, i handed her a dollar and steered her in the direction of the vending machine.  granted, the choices were anything but healthy, but she tried her best to pick something that wasn't completely junky.

it was at this point that i realized that my kid is somewhat...sheltered?  because when she turned to me for help after trying to make her purchase, i found this:

big LOLs.  i can probably count on one hand the number of times she's ever even seen a damn vending machine, so i shouldn't have been surprised that she had no idea what to do at one.

the next morning, we got up early and went down to disneyland for a few hours.  i'd been hoping that it'd be relatively quiet, with most kids in school and it being officially "off-season."

it wasn't, of course, because it's disneyland.  we managed to get on a couple of rides and grab a fastpass for indiana jones...except that it had broken down when we went back at our scheduled hour.  whatever's gone wrong is typically fixed pretty quickly, but we didn't have the luxury of time on our hands and instead went to tomorrowland terrace to grab some star wars-themed lunch.

my "first order specialty burger" looked like this:

it was okay, but i hadn't realized it didn't have cheese.  bah!  i can't eat a burger without cheese.  well, i did, but only because i'd already coughed up the dough for this one and didn't have time to wait in line to have it fixed.  at least the fries were tasty.

and we'd opted for the "light side" drink - a lemonade spiked with sour apple flavoring and served with these yogurt "meteors" that i thought might have been a bit like boba (because duh, star wars).  but instead, when you sucked them up through the straw they popped instantly in your mouth and were really...weird.  it did come with a little light-up millennium falcon though, so it was all good.

we capped off the day with a dental check-up for the bean.  with fun flavors for the fluoride treatments, pink goggles and a movie right over her head, this is an appointment she always looks forward to.  hopefully she never develops a fear of the dentist.

we were both pleased to hear lots of praise from both the hygienist and dr. eddie himself on how well she brushes, because who doesn't love compliments?  and for something like brushing your teeth?  sweet!  this turned into a "no cavities!" announcement (yay!), but ended with a referral to an orthodontist (boo.).  normally, they don't suggest orthodontia until all the baby teeth are out, but in the bean's case she has a bit of crowding in the front which is resulting in a bit of thinning out in her gums - enough for the dentist to be a little concerned.  once that happens, it's hard to bounce back since gums don't grow back without a ton of work.  ugh.  and so we'll be seeing the orthodontist in two weeks to see what they suggest.

all we can do is hope for the best.  we'll see.

tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme

the bean's week has been super busy as she gets through the last week of summer school and prepares for a nice, long two-week trip to visit her beloved grandparents in texas.  it's been a crazy packed schedule that has me like this in the mornings:

we kicked it off with a visit to one of her favorite places...the dentist.

it's so funny to me - she's the only person i know who's this excited to sit in this chair and get her toofs checked out.  i'm not sure if it's the flavors she gets to pick from for her fluoride treatment (bubble gum, cotton candy, mint, etc.), the prize box at the end of the visit, or maybe it's just the fact that she gets to watch fun movies while laying back in the chair as she gets worked on.  this time, it was monsters, inc.

yesterday, i picked up MIL from the airport and then surprised her at school when we both came to pick her up.  she was so excited, and then even more so when we surprised her again with a fun playdate at the trampoline park with some of her favorite friends from school.  they hadn't seen each other since the last day of first grade.

and then she got her daily swim lesson in before coming home to take a quick shower, have some dinner and then head back out for this:

she's been practicing her piece for the recital nonstop.  i've literally had the theme song from "beauty and the beast" in my head for a solid six weeks, people.  good gracious.  and she was nervous and excited to be the very first one to perform:

she killed it.  here's a little snippet:

she was so proud of herself when she told me last week that she had been chosen to play the song solo AND as a duet with her teacher.  while she did a great job with it by herself, i had to admit that it did sound extra pretty with the added notes and flourishes during the duet.  and then she was brought back up to play it again at the end of the recital - which meant that she'd played her song multiple times over that hour.  a little overkill, perhaps?  i was super proud of her, but felt a little bad for the audience, who'd had to hear the same song FOUR times.  yikes.

we spent the ride home giving her ideas for what she could learn to play next.  my vote?  the theme song from "pirates of the caribbean."  although i'm not sure if i really want to have "yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me" stuck in my head for weeks at a time.  huh.

what time do i go to the dentist? TOOTH-HURTY.

i had the craziest day ever yesterday.

i'd spent a good chunk of the night before tossing and turning from a toothache that i'd just noticed earlier in the day. it had begun as a quiet stinging sensation that grew into a throbbing, unbearable pain. i tried to self-medicate with advil, which held the misery at bay for a few hours, but it didn't work too well.

so as soon as my dentist's office opened for the day, i called and begged to be seen as soon as they could fit me in. luckily, they brushed off my excuses for not having come in for my regular check-up when it was due several months ago and told me to come right in. 

they took one x-ray of where the pain was concentrated, and after a teeny-tiny bit of gentle chastising for not coming in sooner, i was handed a referral card and given directions to a local endodontist. 

as i drove, the pain was so bad i was literally crying from it. i've never had a root canal before and didn't have any idea what it entailed really, but at that point i honestly didn't give a crap. i just wanted the pain to end. and 15 minutes later, i was sitting in a different chair. 

after reviewing the x-ray i'd brought from my dentist and taking one more for the endodontist to examine, he put me out of my misery and administered a good bit of local anesthesia. thankfully, the numbness took effect right away and the pain disappeared. of course, with that distraction gone, my nerves were frazzled all over again in anticipation of what was coming next. 

the endodontist came back and explained that he would do some deep cleaning of some issues that had been hidden by the wisdom teeth i'd had removed a few months ago. after he was done with that, he would be able to determine whether it was worth doing a root canal or simply removing the tooth. 

now, although my threshold for pain is rather low in most other aspects of life, when it comes to dentistry i can handle a pretty high level of discomfort. in years past, novocaine wouldn't take effect on me and would wear off before the dentist even began whatever procedure i was in for. so i got used to just sucking it up and going without any anesthesia for most visits. i was told by more than one dentist that my tolerance for whatever together they were administering was higher than most of their patients. um, gold star for me? i guess. 

i just laid back with my eyes closed, enjoying the numbness and lack of pain.  i really have more of a problem with the sound of the drilling and the weird smells that fill the air. like, it smelled like corn chips. wut? i mean, were there some freaking fritos hiding back there or something? so odd. 

don't ask me why i took this. whatever...i think it's pretty funny. i look goooood. 

when it was all done, i managed to remember to ask if I needed to limit physical activity. after my wisdom teeth were taken out, i had to refrain from exercise for a whole week. but with the hollywood half coming up - tomorrow! - i really didn't want to have to sit it out. 

happily, he said that he didn't see any problem with me running tomorrow.  he was prescribing some antibiotics and pain meds and just warned me to avoid the painkillers before the run because they'd make me drowsy. instead, he handed me these if i was in any pain:

yay for fat doses of ibuprofen! 

i have to go back next week to finish up the root canal-ing, but i don't care. i feel good and the pain is gone! 

moral of the story? GO TO THE DAMN DENTIST NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT SUCKS. 

i am INCREDIBLY photogenic.

i finally got a couple of my biggest fears behind me: being out completely under and having my bottom (majorly impacted) wisdom teeth removed.

two things pushed me to get it done - one being the dental appointment for a checkup and cleaning that i ended up postponing because i was supposed to have had this done over the summer. the other was the fact that MIL was at the tail end of her visit and she'd volunteered to come with me, be my driver and take care of me through the whole thing. how awesome is she?  

when i called to make my appointment, i found out that i could either split it up into two visits: one for the x-rays and consultation and then another for the actual surgery. or i could simply do both in one appointment and just get it all over with in one shot. well, duh. as much as i dreaded it, i went with option B. 

the office was in a nondescript business park in diamond bar. 

i tried to joke around and laugh it all off, but in truth i was pretty petrified. my anxiety was at an all-time high, i'd had to fast in preparation for the anesthesia, and i'm truly terrified of needles. i kept thinking of how the bean had endured being put under at the dentist's office when she was so tiny, and i just kept telling myself that if she could do it, so could i. 

the first part was easy. the x-ray machine was giant and i had to bite down on a plastic stick and hold still while the machine rotated around me and took the x-rays. the image was already up on a monitor when i came in and sat in the chair. 

can you say "freaking out silently"?

the oral surgeon came in, briefly discussed what would be happening next, and then i was filling out a plethora of forms and signing a bunch of acknowledgments. the next thing i knew, i was being shown into another room where nurses were busily prepping for my procedure.

i had one monitor stuck to my belly, on on either side of my chest and my arms were strapped down. the nurse knew that i was stressed over the needle and the anesthesia, and she assured me that they used a small gauge needle...the kind they use on little kids. that made me feel a lot better, and it showed in my blood pressure. they'd had to check it three times because it was higher than normal due to my anxiety. 

the doctor strode in, got a quick briefing on my stats and wasted no time in sticking me with the needle and inserting the IV. it stung just a little, and with the worst (to me) part over with, i relaxed considerably. he was pretty breezy and asked me about my kids, and the last thing i remember is telling the room how old my girls are. 

so...i don't even remember taking these. 

clearly, the needle poking was still fresh on my (foggy as hell) mind.

i vaguely remember snapping these as i was moved to the recovery room. i'm not quite sure why my pose of choice was a thumbs-up, but there you go. 

yo, i am friggin' adorable. 

i'm not sure how long i was lying there before the nurse helped me up and out towards the car where MIL was waiting for me, right outside the door. but wait...here's a couple of gems MIL snapped for posterity. she later said she'd contemplated taping a video, and i'm so sad she didn't. that shit would've been comedic GOLD. 

"hey guys, how YOU doin'?"

in the car, i apparently thought it was important to continue the selfies as MIL stopped at target to get my meds and some other necessities. 

something else i seemed to think was a great idea was to hop onto twitter. hey, at least i was entertaining. plus, this answered the burning question posed by the surgeon: am i a happy drunk or a surly, sad one?

we won't even address some of the craziness i put on facebook, let alone the handful of emails i found later. again, i'm oh so happy that I was able to entertain some of you. 

thanks to MIL paying closer attention to the post-op instructions than i possibly could, i got these for soaking up the ickies instead of nasty ol' gauze pads. 

also, DRUGS. 

lastly, knowing i'd been fasting since the night before, she picked up some nice, soft mashed potatoes and gravy for me. honestly, my MIL is the best.

much of the rest of that day was spent on the couch in my stretchy pants, snuggled in a soft blanket and dozing on and off (mostly on).  the next morning at the bean's soccer practice, i threw on that sexy ice pack and sat my ass in a chair. 

day two. swollen cheeks and throbbing mouf. fabulous. 

day three - AKA my very best chipmunk impression. 

day four was more of the same. 

day five brought some improvement.

happily, day six saw me looking almost normal again. 

and today, i head back to the surgeon's office for a checkup to make sure all is well. the swelling is right around 97% gone, the pain has lessened to a dull ache on the left side, and i'm able to eat most of what's in my typical diet. 

i'm still holding out some hope that the weight i gained back from my bronchitis loss will have gone away again with the wisdom teeth extraction, but we'll see. i was banned from any sort of exercise for the last week, and i'd already taken it easy the week before since coming home from the nike half. i'm feeling über flabby, ugh. 

good thing i have a 5K tomorrow! unless i get told otherwise, i'm gonna hit it hard again starting this week. after all, i've got tinkerbell half in january. 

here we go again!