An update

Dear friends, fambly and odd strangers passing through,

My denture saga continues after a brief pause.  Tuesday I have an appointment for another adjustment and to determine if I need to have the rest of the lower left tori removed as it is too painful to try to eat.  In addition, the tori on  the roof of my mouth makes the dentures "high center" on the silicone liner!  So I am not yet able to take a bite through something such as a sandwich.  :(  Oh I want a tenderloin sammich!

I am determined to have a positive outcome, as are my patient and kind dental care providers.  I am not yet comfortable smiling spontaneously.  That will come.

I am preparing for the next steps.  I need to secure financing for the house.  I have an inspection for insurance in the next 8 weeks.  Both of these things mean I must clean and organize everything!

I will be enlisting friends to help.  You, my peeps, are a marvelously diverse group of folks with such a variety of skills and knowledge bases.  I will need help sifting through my financing options, searching for and securing every grant that I qualify for, finding a boilermaker that can help me evaluate my existing heating system, sorting and packing stuff in the way of projects, clearing out the basement and the occasional "atta girl"!  

My dear friend Nikki's saga is intersecting with mine and she will be staying here for awhile.  I am confident her presence will aid in my goal to get organized and knock these projects out.

More updates soon.

Smile has arrived

I picked up my teeth yesterday.  I have so much gratitude for all the helping hands that got me to this day!  Today was my first full day adjusting to the prosthetics.  My mouth feels very full.  The bulk has changed the shape of my lips and surrounding area.  It kind of makes me look younger.  Or maybe it is wishful thinking?

My speech sounds a bit funny, lispy, esses and hard consonants are challenging!  I have been reading aloud to the dogs in order to practice.  It's funny because invariably they hear me talking and think I must be speaking to someone who got in the house without them realizing and so they go barking off in search of the intruder to whom I am reading!!!  Perhaps they would think I was reading to them if it were children's books, like when Dick and Jane get their dog Spot!  

I was able to chew noodles and veggies in chicken noodle soup today without gagging.  This is being a painful experience, not bad compared to my sciatica or recurrent meningitis episodes.  Just painful enough to keep me hyper aware.  Thankful I was able to save some pain meds from the extractions.  I am going to call to get an adjustment in the morning.  Persistence pays, practice makes perfect and the squeaky wheel gets the grease; if I combine the three adages I will have a winning smile and a functional mouth in no time.

#OpSmileAtTheWorld has begun!!!  Today because of my smile I got two head nods while mowing and four chatty folks at the store.  Six opportunities for human engagement that might not have happened without my goofy grin.  One of them was a homeless person who told me he could tell I was keeping cool 'cause I wear no socks.  An interesting interaction, socks are dear to homeless men.  You never know when a smile and cheery conversation will turn someone's day around.  I will post more pictures soon.