Orthodontics, and other instruments of torture

[slipjig3]

I had my monthly oral tune-up with Dr. Bartlett, my orthodontist. For the first time in a long time, he gave me a pleasant surprise: He removed my palate arch. Yay! I can feel the roof of my mouth again! (A "palate arch," by the way, is a coat-hanger-grade wire that travels from one side of your jaw to the other, right along the palate but an eighth of an inch away from it, exactly where you'd put your tongue to say the letter "T" or swallow. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, fun.) On the downside, I now have to wear three rubber bands instead of two, which wouldn't be a big deal, except that the new band runs from the outside of my upper jaw to the inside of my lower. And I have to wear it all the &$%!ing time: eating, sleeping, whatever. Look, kids, I'm not fond of biting rubber voluntarily, let alone on doctor's orders. Oh, and did I mention that the insurance company wrote to say that they're denying coverage for all this, to the tune of $2,000? Yep. Worst month EVER...

Speaking of which, I'm still not in a good place. Still. A good friend told me that I need to be taking care of myself, but I don't have the foggiest idea of how to do that, other than vague notions of picking up tai chi again and...umm...well, actually, that's about as far as I got. I'm realizing that I've been far too quiet for far too long, but the problem is that if I start talking about things, I may never shut up. Plus, I'm learning that my bad moods aren't as stealthy as I thought: I've heard that coworkers not in the know have been asking, "Hey, is Adam okay?"

No. Adam isn't okay.

Comments

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's better when I had braces and for a while they expected me to wear a tooth positioner that you had to bite down on all the time -- therefore, not letting you talk to anyone -- except to eat. Ha!

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Ew! Ew! Ew! Please don't tell Dr. Bartlett about this; I do not want him getting any ideas.

[paganmommy.livejournal.com]

Hey baby.. come 'ere and lemmee help you feel better. ;-)

Sorry I haven't been online, had a overdue phone call to make to an old friend. Poor thing thought I had abandoned her.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

No problem. I'll catch ya soon.

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

Believe me, you have my utmost empathy on both counts: orthodonture and not-okayness. I had braces, including far too many rubber bands, and headgear that made me look like a cyborg, and whatnot. Bleh.

And, as for the not-okayness. Why exactly are you not writing about it in your journal? I'm not asking that to be a smart-ass, it's an honest question. You can make private entries if you don't want to let other people read what's going on. But sometimes writing can really help.

If there's anything I can do, please let me know. I'm certainly having my own share of not-okayness, and maybe it might help to rant to someone who's even less okay than you are?

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Gads! :( I think you win in the orthodontic torture category...

To answer your question: The Bad Stuff involves someone whose opinion I greatly respect who would not appreciate have the gory details posted to a public forum, even one that's limited to a 23-name friends' list. At some point, I will be writing about all this; I just need to get a bit clearer on a few matters. But thank you, thank you, thank you for your concern. I very much appreciate it.

[odheirre.livejournal.com]

frown. Look on the bright side: at least you can use the rubber bands to shoot people. But, don't let them snap back in your mouth. It hurts.

Hope things get better, and feel free to e-mail me if you want someone to rant to.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Um, ow.

Thank you, Bry. I do appreciate it.