Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice

I think everyone can agree that this has not been a good week.

I found myself glued to the internet Thursday night through Friday evening as a shooting near MIT quickly escalated into a full city manhunt. Pretty crazy.

Twitter was the fastest source of news, if you didn't mind that about 75% of it was incorrect. The amount of misinformation that night was mindboggling. Adding to my frustration, even the info on the police scanner wasn't totally accurate.

The mandatory lockdown of the whole city seemed a bit extreme, but on the other hand, no civilians got shot.

Hopefully fame-seeking nuts don't try to emulate the guy from yesterday. Every news channel was covering the hunt all day. That's a lot of attention for one individual.

My dad wanted to drive to boston and pick up my brother, which is silly because 1. They didn't want anyone going in or out of the city, 2. My brother lived in the next town over where shooting wasn't happening at all.

In other news, I had a dentist appointment yesterday to have a permanent crown put in. This was attempt #2 after the first crown was made improperly and didn't fit. But of course this crown didn't fit either. The dentist says the last time this has happened was a decade ago and he was going to call the lab personally and give them a talking to. In the mean time, I have my temporary crown back in and an appointment for attempt #3.

And on the Captain Flint front, she is looking a bit better. The medicine has definitely helped her for the pain. We spend a good hour or so cuddling each day and she seems pretty upbeat. She has started trying to hobble on the broken leg a little, giving her a peg leg gait. So her new full name is going to have to be Captain Flint the peg leg parrot. She also seems to be adjusting pretty well to living in a fish tank.

Yesterday morning began with the usual routine. Woke up around 7ish to feed the dogs. Went into the kitchen about 15 minutes later to begin making Ben's lunch. Then I remembered. I had a dentist appointment that morning at 8am. The dentist is 20 minutes away. And I was still in my pajamas.

So Ben got no lunch, I dressed in lightening speed, and drove far faster than is recommended, arriving at the dentist only 1 minute late. The hygienist was standing in the doorway waiting for me....

Things went mostly smoothly after that. Got my teeth cleaned. Was told that even though I floss, I don't floss <I>correctly</I>. I just can't win! Also, 2 more cavities. Of course.

I have another appointment today for the cavities. And then at some point when I have a job and money, I need to get crowns on my root canal teeth. I can't afford my mouth.

Today is a cleaning and studying day. I'd like to avoid going outside as much as possible because it is insanely cold out. It is warmer in Alaska right now than it is here. Unfair!

I ate pita and hummus for breakfast. I was like a little kid, I was so excited about real solid food.

My mouth hurt like you wouldn't believe when I was done. :P

But I didn't take any of the vicodin today. I hate that stuff. It makes me so dizzy and tired. So today has been nothing but motrin. It's not quite strong enough, but it's better than being a sleepy crazy person. And the fact that I can put up with the pain must mean I have healed a lot.

Tomorrow I go to the dentist for one final check to make sure everything is healing up the way it should be. They said they're also going to pull out the rest of the stitches that haven't dissolved. There is one stitch that is constantly brushing my tongue, so I'll be glad when that is gone. I keep thinking it's something stuck in my gums.

I'm almost healed! Yay! :)

Today was a failure day.

I fell asleep on the bus and a woman sat on me. I must have slid a bit into the seat next to me. Rather than poke or tap me to wake me up, she just flopped herself right on top of me. RUDE!

The metro was no better. I did my best to stay to the sides of the walkways away from the fast crowds, but I was never out of the way enough. I kept getting pushed and shoved all over. It was sad.

I tried my best to get through work, but I had a terrible time concentrating. I did manage to get a couple easy things done. I was sent home early though when I tried to give my boss my fortnightly (because bi-weekly is confusing) status report and wasn't able to make a complete sentence.

I was wearing my glow in the dark shoes today and fell down as soon as I got into my dark apartment because they were so shiny and I was so dizzy. Ben sent me to bed after that.

He woke me for dinner. Mashed potatoes again. Then my mom called and complained about my lack of food variety. Like I have a choice? I'd love a big slice of pizza or a burger, but that's not going to happen until these gums get their chance to heal.

I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. My mouth hurts so much. Will it ever get better?

Today only the bottom right hole actively hurts. Yay to healing! The other holes are tender to the touch, but other than that they are happy to sit quietly and get better.

That one painful tooth is trying its best to make up for the others though. I woke up around 5am with the most intense pain. Had to take 2 pain killers to finally fall back asleep. I'm almost out of those things. I have a refill at the pharmacy but I was hoping I wouldn't need it.

Ben and I are going to go food shopping today. I think I've regained my balance well enough to go out into the world again like a normal person. We're going to buy me instant mashed potatoes. Yay to semi-solid foods! :)

I think for lunch today I'm going to try to make some soft scrambled eggs. I really need to get back to eating real food because EVERYTHING I see looks delicious. I miss real food!

My mouth stopped bleeding today, so that was nice. The anesthetic wore off though, so I've had to take the max pain killer dosage. That's not so nice.

I spent much of the day alternating between sleeping and watching bad day time tv. The only thing they advertise on tv during the day is yogurt. It made me ashamed to eat my yogurt lunch. But it was fancy-pants greek yogurt, so I'll try to get over it.

My greatest accomplishment of the day was changing my clothes. It was a lot more challenging than you'd expect.

When ben came home, he fed me (I was really hungry) and then we watched Ponyo together. I don't think I liked ponyo very much. It was pretty scary at times. And freaky the rest of the time.

Ben got me ice cream for dessert. Because he is the best and sweetest ever. I'm lucky to have him taking care of me.

I think I'll be going to bed soon. I'm just waiting for my current pain meds to wear off so I can take the next dose. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night full of hurt.

Also, I have a little bird sitting on my boobs.

Tomorrow morning, I get my wisdom teeth pulled out. I'm kinda really terrified.

Yesterday I developed a runny nose. By the evening, I couldn't stop myself from sneezing. I took some medicine for it, which stopped the sneezing but not the nose running. It also put me to sleep pretty early.

This morning I felt a bit like death. Ben said my head wasn't hot though, so I went to work. One nostril is runny, the other too stuffed to breath. And I have a sore throat too.

I drank some hot tea, which made my throat feel much better. It also briefly opened my nose up.

I wonder if this is related to my wisdom teeth, which still hurt like you wouldn't believe, or if I'm just really unlucky and am getting sick at the same time. I can't afford to be sick right now. I have too much work to do!

I may go home early today though, if I can finish everything up. I feel sore all over.

I survived the dentist today. Barely.

I had 4 cavities to fill. It was not a fun adventure. And 2 hours is far too long to hold one's mouth open.

The dental assistant brought me a blanket because I was shaking. When I told her I wasn't cold, she said it was a security blanket. She brought it because there's a note on my file that says I am terrified of the dentist. I don't know if I should be happy they care, or embarrassed at being such a wimp that they had to write it down.

The dentist chided me for not flossing my back teeth well. I told him that my teeth are so tight back there, I can't get the floss in. He said that was no excuse. Then he tried to put metal rings around my back teeth. And couldn't get them in. So he tried to floss the teeth to loosen up the area. And the floss BROKE! I was like, "I told you so!" But my sense of victory was short because he then had to stab me with sharp deadly wedges to spread the teeth apart. It was painful and bloody. The dentist had to numb up half my face to keep me from crying.

Oh! And I cried from all the numbing shots! Tears were running down my face, it hurt so much. He must have used the widest needle in his kit! And my cheeks and gums are still sore where he stabbed me.

He told me to use anitcavity mouthwash and to floss and brush every day and MAYBE I'll only get one cavity a year. Do you know what's really unfair? My husband has NEVER had a cavity. And he never flosses or uses mouthwash. Why did I get such lousy teeth?

It's a good thing my job gives dental insurance. I didn't pay a thing. It was kinda amazing. Even when I go to the doctor I have to pay something. But the receptionist was like, "Ok, well we ran this by your insurance ahead of time so the whole thing was approved. You don't owe us anything. Have a nice day!" Not owing over $700 did improve my day slightly.

So next step is to have the oral surgeon look at my wisdom teeth. That's in 2 mondays. After this last set of cavities, I can't help but feel like getting my teeth pulled would be less unpleasant. At least I'll be knocked out! Thankfully there will be no teeth pulling at this appointment though. It's just to look at my x-rays and determine how to go about it I guess. The dentist said for sure they will want to pull the bottom left ones, which are pretty bad. But if I am getting any wisdom teeth pulled, I think I'm going to ask for them all pulled. That way none of them can ever bother me ever again.

When I got home, I tried to eat soup, but half my face was still numb so I mostly dribbled it down my chin. Once I had enough to stop my tummy from grumbling, I took a nice long nap. I can feel my face again. It's sore where they stabbed me to numb me though, so it hurts to move my face. Looks like soup again for dinner.

Went to the dentist today. I thought I was going to get some cavities taken care of but instead they cleaned my teeth. The amount of blood on the hygienist's fingers was disconcerting. Now my mouth is sad and sore and tastes like blood.

After over an hour of tooth picking torture, they took a billion x-rays of my mouth. Then the dentist came over, looked at the x-rays for a few minutes and says basically, "Yup, you've got cavities."

I have cavities on cavities and cavities on wisdom teeth. Oh, and they want to rip out my wisdom teeth. And put very expensive crowns on my root canal teeth. The cavities will cost a bit more than $1000. The two crowns will be a bit over $2000. And I have no clue what the wisdom teeth could be. (And I don't want to know.)

*cries* I hate my teeth.