Health

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Back at the Dentist

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Ching under Health, Invisalign.

BRIAN: You told me these were virtually indestructible. I proved you wrong.

DR. P: You sure did.

Brian’s new crown broke less than 24 hours after they were installed. I’m not sure what happened, but I noticed them while we were eating Marble Slab and walking around the Bradley Fair pond that Sunday. The very next Monday, Brian called the dentist to tell them what happened. Instead of getting an emergency appointment, he figured he would just go the same time that I was scheduled to return for new teeth impressions for my Invisalign (which was yesterday). I’m going to tell you about the Invisalign in a bit, but let me tell you about Brian’s teeth first.

Brian initially thought that they would have to take the crown off and replace it with a new one, which would take a couple of hours. As luck would have it, Dr. P was able to fix the chip by simply reshaping the crown. However, that made the tooth smaller than the one next to it so it didn’t look right. The dentist then than to shape the other tooth to make them even. On the plus side, it didn’t take two hours for them to do all of that work. Brian actually finished before I did. Here’s the end result.

As for me, I originally thought that I was completely done with the Invisalign trays for my top teeth and only had one more month left on my bottom teeth. Unfortunately, I have one stubborn bottom tooth that’s not tracking properly so they had to take new impressions and they’re going to give me new aligning trays. While they’re at it, they’ve decided that they want to tweak one of my top front teeth so it’s even straighter. Meaning, I have to keep my Invisalign braces for a few more months. Instead of being finished with my top braces (which I thought I was several weeks ago), I get new ones of those too. I’m not sure how many more, though.

On the plus side, the dentist had to remove my aligning buttons to get new dental impressions and they won’t put buttons back on until I get the new trays. That’s nice because then the trays aren’t as tight making them easier to put on and take off; and, I won’t have weird buttons on my teeth for a while. The down side is that it may be a while before I’m done with my braces.

Although, from the sounds of it, it doesn’t look like I’ll ever be completely free of these trays. The appointment before the one yesterday, when I thought I was almost done, the dentist said that I would have to wear my retainers every night for the next five years even after I’m done with my braces. This is to keep the teeth from shifting back to where they were. Just as Brian and I don’t ever want to be fat again, I don’t want my teeth to ever be crooked again, so I’m certain that I will be heeding the dentist’s advice and strictly following their instructions.

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Brian is Handsome Again

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Ching under Health, Life.

Here’s Brian with his new porcelain crown installed.

Ah, much better! Anyway, crowns while you wait is just one of the many perks of going to Wichita Family Dental.

Besides being located within walking distance from our place, being open every other Saturday (so I don’t have to miss work for most of my dental appointments), and offering Invisalign (so I don’t have to be referred to a different dentist for orthodontics), they now have free bottled water and cookies in the lobby and they also have free wifi so you have something to do while you wait (besides just reading outdated magazines).

They also offer every flavor of toothpaste imaginable. It makes for more pleasant dental cleanings at check up time. I love, love, love our dentist.

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Hillbilly Brubaker

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Ching under Health, Life.

All I have to say is, I’m really glad we have dental insurance. As handsome as my husband is, he is downright ugly with bad teeth. LOL. Who knew that teeth could make so much difference on the way you look? Okay, so my mom did. Thus, the investment she’s made on her smile that’s equivalent to a brand new luxury car.

As for me, I had no idea it would make this much difference. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Take care of your teeth so you don’t end up looking like this guy when you get older. Either that or get really good dental insurance.

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No Zumba for Me Today

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Ching under Health.

They did a special blood drive at work today in honor of Preston Crane. I’d never donated blood before, so I really didn’t know what to expect. Every time I’d tried to donate blood in the past there was some kind of issue and they wouldn’t take my blood. I believe the first time I weighed less than 100 lbs. Another time I tried to donate blood, they wouldn’t take it because we’d just returned from our honeymoon and we happened to stop in Mexico.

I’ve been fighting with my weight the last few years so being underweight was no longer an issue. Just didn’t have opportunity or a good enough reason to do it. This last time, Joni asked me. I really had no reason to say no. Except Brian was very worried because I have pretty low blood pressure and your blood pressure tends to drop when you donate blood.

When I went down to the Wellness Center, which had been taken over by the Red Cross for the day, they had me read an informational booklet, asked me some questions, and had me answer some questions on the computer. Willie also took a blood sample from my finger to check my iron levels (15.1) because they won’t take your blood if you don’t have enough iron. Then he took my blood pressure, which happened to be higher than normal this morning: 100/60. I think it’s because Brian forgot to put the coffee pot in the coffeemaker and made a mess in the kitchen this morning. LOL.

Willie was fantastic. He managed to find a good vein (something that is a challenge for almost every nurse I come in contact with) and got it on the first stick. It took only seven minutes to fill the bag, which I thought was pretty good. I felt good until I suddenly felt lightheaded. It happened pretty quickly, but after the episode I had at YaYa’s last year I knew what to expect at least. I told them what I was feeling and immediately the top of the bed went down so I could be horizontal and then the bottom part went up so my legs could be propped up. They had also had me move my legs like I was riding a bike to get my blood flow going.

After a small cup of water and a little can of OJ, I got off the bed so they could move on to the next person. I was still feeling pretty weird though, so I stuck around. My office is at the far end of the building and I didn’t want to go up there until I was sure that I could make it. Within a few minutes of sitting around in the chair I felt weird again, so I went to the women’s locker room to lay down on the bench. Jodi, our wellness specialist, came to the locker room to check on me just to make sure I was okay. She also brought me a towel for me to rest my head on. She took my blood pressure which was around 87/58 or so at this time.

After I ate a small bag of raisins and drank another cup of water, I felt well enough to go back upstairs. Jodi was nice enough to walk with me to make sure I didn’t faint along the way. I felt pretty sleepy for a while after donating blood, but I guess that’s natural when your blood pressure drops. I was able to work upon returning to my desk. Isaac came to my office and talked to me about some stuff. I think some of the issues we’re dealing with at work helped to raise my blood pressure back up. LOL. I actually felt pretty normal by 11 AM. When you have abnormally low blood pressure like me, work stress can actually be good for you. Ha ha ha ha.

Anyway, Willie said no workout today. Isaac said he was able to run in the afternoon the last time he donated blood in the morning. I was convinced that I could still workout. I mean, I could take it pretty easy in Zumba if I wanted to. Brian was adamant about not working out, though. So yeah, no Zumba for me today. We should be back in business tomorrow, though. I’m ready to do some serious sweating!