Extractions: The Day After

I woke up this morning after a good night's sleep.  I was pleasantly surprised at just how well I slept.  I was even able to sleep on my side which helped.

I got out of bed and begin to get ready for the day.  I was able to get jeans out of the closet and walk into the kitchen before I got sick.  I felt very nauseous.  I got back in bed and let the feeling pass.  At that point it was time to take more pain meds so I go back up and went back to the kitchen.  

It was at that point I realized I wasn't going to be able to go to work today.  I was really bummed.  Today was the first day school was in session this week and I couldn't go.  I wasn't in any pain, but the meds were making me sick.

I requested a sub and sent my principal a text letting her know I wasn't coming in and then went back to sleep.

Andrew worked in LR today so I was home alone all day.  He brought me breakfast before he left.  I managed to eat a piece of toast and eat a tiny bit of milkshake from Sonic.  It took me thirty minutes to eat the piece of toast.  I still can't really chew in the back of my mouth so I was tearing it into tiny pieces.  I was having to force myself to eat because I was feeling sick the entire time.

I have pretty much slept all day.  Every time I was awake and tried sitting up I felt sick.  

This girl has been right by my side all day.  She can tell I haven't felt well.

Andrew text me this morning to see how I was feeling.  I told him I was just trying not to throw up.  Even though I felt like I would feel better if I did, I was scared of unlodging a blood clot and getting a dry socket.  We decided I would skip my next round of pain meds and see what happened.  

I woke up around four this afternoon feeling much better.  I still don't feel great, but now it is more of a weak from hunger kind of bad.  Eating is a chore.

I tried to eat more mashed potatoes earlier for lunch but it just wasn't happening.  I thought maybe I could eat some chicken nuggets and french fries tonight.  It just sounded good.

I managed to eat 2 nuggets and 4 or 5 fries.  Eating is a lot of work right now.  More trouble than it is worth it seems. I probably could have eaten more but I kept feeling like food was getting stuck in those holes and it was grossing me out.

Maybe I'll try mashed potatoes again later.

I'm going to get tired of mashed potatoes.  I may have to learn to like applesauce.

Several people sent me text messages today checking on me.   Thank you all for those.  

On a completely different note, today is my sweet niece's second birthday.

Happy Birthday Sydney!  Aunt E loves you bunches!!

Before I end this post I want to ask you to join me in prayer.  This morning one of my school's buses was rear-ended by a van.  Our bus driver and students were not harmed thankfully, but one of the people in the van didn't make it.  I don't really know any more details than that.  You can read the news story here. 

This story breaks my heart.   Please join me in prayer for our students and bus driver, but especially for the family members of the people in the van.  

Four Less Teeth

Notice anything different?

My sweet and amazingly talented friend Miranda gave my blog a makeover.  I absolutely love how it turned out!  She captured my vision perfectly.  Simple and feminine.  I can't say enough good things about her and the work she does.  

It was a great surprise to come home from extractions to discover she had installed everything.

Extractions.  

Glad those are over.  

I slept really well last night which was a complete answer to prayer.  I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about everything.

I went through my normal routine of having toast followed by my quiet time.  My quiet time was an exceptionally sweet time this morning.  God knew I needed to feel his sweet spirit surrounding me this morning.  

I showered and got ready for the day and then sat down to eat again.  I wasn't sure if I would feel like eating at all for the rest of the day so I wanted to eat while I could.  So yes I enjoyed pizza at 10AM. 

The thought of trying to eat later scares me a little.  The thought of removing my gauze later scares me.  Right now I can't tell that there are teeth missing because I have a mouth full of gauze.  

After I ate I took my anxiety pills and tried to read a little bit in my book.  Anything to take my mind off things.  When I couldn't stand it any longer I went into Andrew's office and asked if we could go.  I was ready to get it all over with.

Our dentist is just four blocks down the street so it wasn't a long drive.  

Andrew prayed over me and then it was time to go in.

I snapped this picture right before walking into the office.

I think I'm hiding how terrified I am pretty well in this picture.  You would never know I was just crying.  Plus can I just say good hair day! 

 It's the little things.

Everyone in the office knew how nervous I was about today.  They were so incredibly sweet from the moment I walked in the door.  I could not ask for a better dentist and staff.  

They asked if I thought the anxiety meds were helping and I when I said no I was still incredibly nervous they immediately made the decision to give me the gas as well.  I was so incredibly thankful for that.  It helped put me to ease.

I asked Andrew to come back with me.  He didn't really want to watch the procedure since he is having a tooth pulled next month.  I can't say that I blame him.  I wouldn't want to watch it either.  I asked him to come back long enough to be with me while they numbed me up.  I needed him to document the process.  He ended up staying the entire time.  I can't even tell you how thankful I was to have him there.

He and Dr. Arnett talked about their boats while we waited on me to become completely numb.  It was a nice distraction.  That's actually how we came to choose Dr. Arnett as our new dentist when we moved.  He and his family have a boat just a few slips down from ours.

My brother had a tooth pulled several years ago.  He told me that for him the worst part was the sound.  Because of that I had myself all worked up over the sound.  I was probably more worried about that than anything else.  It didn't help when Dr. Arnett told me I would feel a lot of pressure and hear a lot of noises.  

He started with the top right tooth.  He wasn't joking about that pressure.  It felt like he was trying to relocate my skull.  I may have moaned a little at the pressure.  But Dr Arnett, his assistant, and Andrew kept assuring me that I was doing a good job.

Of course I had my great coping mechanism.

I'm a shirt clincher.  I love that Andrew captured this picture.  I do this even when I'm just having my teeth cleaned.  Andrew said he also noticed that I would draw my feet up and kind of curl my toes when the pressure was the strongest.

The top teeth were the hardest to get out.  Those are the two where I heard a noise.  It sounded like he was cracking my teeth.  The top ones have two roots instead of one like the bottom.  When he pulled the top ones out one of the roots came out with the tooth, but the other broke off and stayed in the bone.  They had to take the drill and drill out the bone to pull out the root.   Apparently the cracking sound was the tooth breaking off the root.

And Andrew watched all of that.  He is an AMAZING husband.  

Hearing Andrew describe it was much worse than actually living through it.

The bottom two came out with no problems and no noise.  They came out much easier and much quicker.

I wish he would have told me when the first tooth was out.  I thought I knew but it was hard to tell.  I had no idea what he was doing with the drill at the time.  I've had so many cavities filled that that part didn't bother me.  

I also kind of wish I could have kept my teeth.  I'm sure they would have let me, but I didn't think about it before and I couldn't really talk afterwards.

Twice during the process his assistant squirted water in my mouth and told me to swish it around.  I have no idea how to do that when your mouth is completely numb.  I've never had work done on both sides of my mouth where everything was numb before.  They would tell me to bite down or open and close my mouth.  I had no idea if I was doing what they asked or not.  At one point I reached up to touch my mouth to see if my lips were closed or open.  I couldn't tell.

I'm going to have to send them a thank you card.  I felt bad at the end because I wanted to smile at them and say thank you, but I couldn't do either. They are such a phenomenal staff. 

Andrew brought me home and helped me into bed before going to pick up my pain meds.

Taking pain meds wasn't easy.  I have to really work to swallow and I have never taken pills very well anyway.  Andrew broke it in half for me and I attempted to take a drink of water.  The second half took some work to get down, but I knew I needed to take them.

Overall it wasn't too bad and I'm certain that is because I was being covered in prayer by family and friends.  Thank you everyone for the prayers and the encouragement.  

I loved receiving this text right before Dr. Arnett started working.

I'm currently laying in bed resting and watching Friends.  The perfect way to heal.  

Ready for healing to take place and braces to go on and start to close up these gaps.

I'm not sure I will feel up to updating via video tonight, but will definitely do it tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow - I think we might actually get to go back to school tomorrow.  A little nervous about that.  I have lesson plans made that won't require much from me so I'm hoping I will make it through the day okay.

Oh one other thing.  I can't use mouth wash for the next two or three days and I'm not supposed to brush anywhere near those gaps.   So if you see me and I have bad breath, I apologize in advance.  I'm going to do the best I can.  

My Current Smile's Last Day

Tomorrow is the big day.

I will be having four teeth extracted.  I'm scared.  Yet at the same time I feel like I'm making it a bigger deal than it really is.  I love my dentist and know he will take good care of me.  

I plan to take an anxiety pill before my appointment.  I've never taken anything like that before.  I'm hoping it will help me relax.

Since I have no idea how eating will go with four teeth missing and I'm getting braces as soon as I'm all healed, I decided that today was clearly meant for eating anything I want.  From what I can tell I'm going to be living off of mashed potatoes for the next few months.

My dad and granny surprised me and took me to Las Playitas for lunch today.

It was yummy as always.

It's an extra bonus that I was able to get out of the house.  Today has been our third snow day in this round of icy weather.

I'm documenting this journey through adult braces in every way possible.  I'm posting pictures on Instagram, I'm blogging about it, and I'm even keeping a video diary.  My first video is up on Youtube now.

Somehow documenting everything with the hope that it will help someone else with the decision to get adult braces helps make everything a little easier.

Today is the last day I will have this smile and all of these teeth.

Tomorrow I lose the fourth tooth from the front on both sides top and bottom.

 (Disclaimer: I was wearing a hat.  They made me take it off)

Birthdays, Dentist, Friends, & Shoes

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever. Life has been so busy lately. I can't even keep my days straight. I don't want to forget some of the things that have been going on so I thought I'd better stop for a minute and write them down.

This past weekend I got the opportunity to play photographer. I had so much fun with it. A sweet friend and coworker's little boy turned three. She let me crash the party and take some pictures. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed taking pictures. Ever since the husband bought me the new camera I've been dreaming of turning photography into a side job. Of course I have a long ways to go in learning how to use my camera and about photography in general. I have a gift certificate to take a class at a local camera store, but I'm doing a Beth Moore Bible study on the only night they offer the class.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the birthday party. The birthday boy and his mommy.



I went straight from that birthday party to another birthday party. The Weavers were celebrating August and October birthdays. It was a sweet time with family.





The husband has been out of town for the past few days. The SAN (whatever that is) came in so he had to go to Dallas. Last night I occupied myself by having dinner with a sweet friend. We ended up sitting there talking until the place closed. Oops! I really enjoyed it. Too busy talking to take any pictures.

Today I had a dentist appointment. If you have been reading this blog for awhile you know that I absolutely hate going to the dentist. Today I was getting a filling and having my tooth shaped for a crown. Andrew had planned to take me, but then had to go out of town. I opted for the gas this time. I'd never had that before. I liked it! It really helped to keep me calm. The dentist was really great. I didn't feel a thing. :) I have to go back the first week of November to get my permanent crown and another filling. Oh joy!

I finally joined pinterest. I'm not sure I see what the big deal is. I have always saved things in folders in my favorites. This isn't any different other than I can see what others like. Just haven't been able to jump on this bandwagon.

I have however jumped on the Toms bandwagon. I have two pairs of Toms and two pairs of Bobs (Skecher's version of Toms). I actually prefer my Bobs. In my opinion, I think they are better made. I've been trying to convince the husband that I need these...

I also like these


One pair at a time. :)

I've Got The Fever!

It actually feels like fall outside today. I walked out of school and was hit by this wonderfully cool weather. Then it started misting. It was perfect. Felt like fall.

But this kind of weather does something to me. As soon as I got in my car I put on my Christmas music.

Yes, you read that right.

I stand firm in my belief that it is never to early for Christmas music. I had to listen to "Baby It's Cold Outside" by James Taylor. LOVE IT!!

I wanted to come home and curl up with a bowl of chili and a good book.

Instead I came home had a grilled ham & cheese (which was very yummy) and curled up with a huge stack of papers that needed to be graded. :) Missing three days last week is kicking my fanny.

I have to miss to class periods tomorrow afternoon too. I made a dentist appointment because I've had a toothache since Saturday. You know it hurts if I'm voluntarily going to the dentist. If you know me at all you know that I despise the dentist. I cry every time I have to go, even for just a teeth cleaning. I'd rather get a pap smear every day of my life than to ever have to go to the dentist. I hate it that much.

Hopefully there isn't anything too major that is causing this awful toothache.

Since I've already wondered off from my original thought, I'll go ahead and throw in today's challenge from Katie. She is asking us to share our favorite vacation.

That's a toughie! Any vacation is a good one in my opinion. I have loved all of our vacations for different reasons. I have to say that I really loved DC. It was the first vacation Andrew and I took by ourselves since our honeymoon. It was a lot of fun and educational too!!