A Week Later

 I'm a week post my extractions. I'm trying to start eating some more solid food. I'm in pain still. My body is reacting very badly to the antibiotics. I'm in some high discomfort because of mouth sores. My dentures are starting to get loose.

So, yeah, it's not the best day. It's not the best one week anniversary. 

I joined a support group and that seems to be helping. I know this isn't going to be easy for a while, maybe not even easy for a year. I know I've actually been spared from some of the things that can happen. I didn't get the horrible swelling and I didn't get any bruises. Still, this kind of sucks.

Annoyance

I'm 3 days out from teeth extractions and I'm in pain. I'm progressing, but there is only so much I can do. I need time to recover. I need time to accept this and learn it. I just need time.

What I got instead was an annoyance. I've had a mailbox on my house for years now. They only let people in my area who are very badly off have one of those and apparently that no longer includes me. This is very frustrating, especially with a mouth full of holes and stitches. 

There is nothing I can do about it though. 

New Start

 Today was very long. I had to be up at the dentist's office by 8 to do impressions. Then a few hours later, I had my extraction procedure. I'm still numb and my mouth won't stop bleeding. That's common after this kind of mouth trauma. I have to go back tomorrow to find out if things are as they should be.

I would not have made it through today without my roommate. He got me scripts for me and stayed by my side as I was more or less panicking.

For a Friend

 This is a link to my friend's GoFundMe page. She's worked very hard to get to this point in her education and this next step is going to require some outside assistance. If you can, please go read her story and maybe drop a donation her way. It would make a big difference to her and eventually a big difference to a lot of people given that she plans to help people in her career. 

Thank you.

Persistence Pays Off

I called the insurance this morning and talked to someone who seemed to know more about what was going on. They even gave me a more direct phone number to reach their office. The person I talked acted like they understood what I was going through. I'm not sure if they said something to the people in charge or not, but by the time I called the dentist's office to see if they had any news, everything had been approved.

Better yet, there was a cancelation on Monday so I'm getting in very quickly. Monday is going to be a rough day, and the start of a long recovery, but at least things are finally happening.

I almost talked myself out of calling the dentist's office today because I had called them yesterday. I'm so glad I did though because otherwise I might be waiting another week or so before they could even fit me in. 

Still Waiting

Insurance is dragging its feet about my approval. I've been trying to stay on top of it, but outside of calling them, there isn't a lot else I can do. 

I'm trying not to despair, but I need this to happen. I'm in a lot of pain and I need something to change. I'm also doing what I can to manage the pain, but there is only so much I can do. 

So I wait.

Really

Yesterday we had an electrician come by, which didn't turn out to be such a big deal. Today we had to take the car in to have the AC looked at, which also seems to have worked.

And then tonight the toilet started acting up.

I mean, just.....REALLY?

Look. I know the last two repairs were easy and not THAT expensive, but they were still stressful and still cost money. If you've been on the blog for long, you know I don't have a lot of money.

My spoons are gone. They're all expended on the impending medical issues I'm going to have to deal with. That's where my thoughts are and I don't have room for a lot of other stressful things right now.

So, universe, can we please just not?

Easy for Once

Years ago, like, in the early 80s, my grandfather ran an electric line out to his rickety old barn in the back yard. All of these years, that's still been there . . . just waiting to cause problems.

Well, the rickety old barn is on its way to falling down and we realized that it was probably for the best to disconnect the electric line. After all, this is fire season. One of them.

Anyway, I called Ol Boy Electrician and asked how long it would take him to stop by. He said it would be two weeks, but then when I mentioned that we happened to live just up the street from him, he said he could stop by on his way home today. 

He did just that and it turns out disconnecting the line was pretty easy and not that expensive. In less than an hour, our problem was solved. So yay. 

I mean, we still have the looming issue of a barn that might topple over, but at least it won't cause as many problems as it would have otherwise.

The Current Hell

Okay so this is the situation I find myself in. None of the dentists in my town take my insurance. Because of that, I have to travel over 40 minutes (one way) in order to go to a dentist who does take my insurance. 

This means, any time there is a problem, any time I'll need some kind of help, any time they need even the slightest thing from me, we're on the road.

So far, every time we've taken this trip, something has gone wrong with the car. This means that I'm not only stressed because of the dentist situation, I'm also stressing out about the car. I know that there will be more trips to the dentist in the next several weeks. I really need the car to act right.

In Limbo

The medical procedures that I have to have done need to be pre-approved first. Right now I'm in that waiting period of not knowing what will be approved and what won't. 

I'll be notified by letter. I'm not sure when this will happen. They told me it usually takes about three weeks but I'm hoping it isn't that long.

In the meantime, I'm trying my best to get as much information about what will be happening as possible. There is a lot of info out there, which is helpful. It feels like it's all I talk about now, but it's going to create some major changes in my life. I'm trying to prepare.

In the meantime, I wait.

Taking

It seems that I am to have a medical procedure and again, like all the ones before it, it will mean something is taken from me. 

It's a weird thought, that they'll take things from you. At one point you are a whole person and then little by little, more and more is removed from you. 

The other times this has happened, I went through a level of identity crisis. I'm guessing that will happen again. 

In a complete of months, there will be less of me. 

Busy Week

We have a lot of appointments this week and may have a lot for the rest of the month. It just depends on how things go on Tuesday. 

I've been doing my best to educate myself about the situation I'm going into. I've learned a lot. I'm nervous but less so, perhaps, than I was before I started this whole adventure.