This Blog updates every Monday with what's going on in the day-to-day personal life of Lauren R. Tharp. For what's going on in Lauren's professional life, please visit her official website at littlezotz.com
As you know from last week's post, I recently got 1/4th of a new tooth from the dentist on the 29th of last month. It was great! However, when I came back in on the 1st of this month to get my required cleaning... Not so great.
The hygienist was the worst hygienist I've ever had the misfortune of encountering. She was very inept with her prodding while creating my periodontal chart--using unnecessarily excessive force and a bad attitude!--and she didn't even perform the cleaning! She claimed she was "overbooked" and didn't "have time" to do the cleaning I was scheduled for. She ordered that I buy some $20 mouthwash and come back again in two weeks when she felt more like dealing with me. (What??). Anyway, foolishly perhaps, I did what I was told.
What followed that visit was a full list of horrors occurring in my mouth. I won't go into details because it's super gross, but needless to say I've been in a LOT of pain since that day. I finally broke down and called the dentist's "emergency" line over the weekend...and they said they'd see me on Monday (today).
The doc's diagnosis...?
That's right. I was told to "deal with it" and was sent home.
More specifically, I was told that the $20 mouthwash that the stupid hygienist made me buy had created a horrific allergic reaction in my mouth and that there was "nothing we can do about it." I was told that I just have to "wait a week or two for the body to heal itself." Then they tried to scam me into seeing an outrageously expensive "specialist" and still wanted me to come back for my scheduled cleaning on the 18th (the appointment the hygienist would have "had time" for). Needless to say I said "No, thank you" and not only refused to see their "specialist" but cancelled my appointment for the 18th. Forget that!!
My original dentist might be 5 towns away from where I live now, but at least he never destroyed my mouth and said "oh well" afterward! Once I'm healed up in "a week or two," I'll be heading to him. (Maybe this is what I get from straying from my loyalty to my dentist? ...But he wasn't open on Friday when my tooth broke! I didn't mean it!)
Anyway, here are a couple of great Harry Potter (and Twilight) related pictures Ramiro found for me on the Internet to cheer me up:
So that's pretty much been my week: Pain, pain, and more pain. And work, work, and more work. I recently took on a second "real" job ("real" as in it's another writing job with regular hours & a payroll and stuff like my writing job with WTR) for the month of August. Plus I'm still writing dog articles and working on my own projects on the side.
Speaking of which...
I wrote an e-book on how to do what I do! :) I had so much trouble figuring everything out when I first left my "day job" to become a professional writer, I figured I'd write it all down so others wouldn't have to go through what I did. It's going to be available for sale on my website on August 17, 2011. Ramiro designed the cover!
This is quite possibly going to be my longest entry in months. So strap in if you intend to read (and don't say I didn't warn you!). Don't worry though: I'll include lots of pictures. And some videos!
Here's what I did last week:
Monday & Tuesday
(July 25th & 26th)
I worked Monday-Friday, but on my off time, Ramiro and I watched a cute cartoon show on Netflix called Home Movies. I highly recommend it. The first season is a bit hard to watch due to the Squigglevision (I found myself thinking of it as a radio show and only looking up when one of the characters said "Look at that!"), but the remaining seasons were animated with Flash and are much easier on the eyes.
This was my favorite part in the whole show:
That song is also Ramiro's new ringtone.
Wednesday
(July 27th)
After I got off from work on Wednesday, Paris stopped by for a visit. She gave me a pen:
It's a black pen that has a cat's head on top. When you push down on the cat's head, the eyes light up and it meows. Guess who loves my new pen!
That's Robert--under utmost supervision--playing with my new pen. He LOVES that thing. He's woken me up at 6am two mornings in a row now because he was trying to steal it. I keep having to find new places to hide it. ~_~ I guess he thinks that because it looks like he does that it must belong to him. Maybe? I don't know how cats think...
Also, on Wednesday night, I bit into a particularly tough piece of meat and pain went shooting up through my face. I thought I had a piece of meat wedged up between my teeth, but when I went to floss it out, there was nothing there. Not to mention the floss went in a lot more easily than normal. I knew something was horribly wrong, but I fooled myself into believing that if I used enough hot salt water rinses and stayed off of that side that I'd be okay. Boy, was I wrong. But I'll get into that later.
Thursday
(July 28th)
Thursday was Ramiro's birthday! Woo! Sarahe (his sister) bought him this fancy cake:
Very pretty. And I hear it tasted good too. I haven't eaten any sugar (except from fruit) in 3 years now thanks to my Hypoglycemia, so I didn't get to try any for myself. I liked the polka dots though. :)
Ramiro had a very laid back birthday. Just the way he likes it. And with the help of Tylenol and soup, I was able to handle the pain in my tooth (even though Ramiro offered to take me to the dentist, I didn't want to on his birthday!!) and tough it out until...
Friday
(July 29th)
On Friday morning, I took a bite of cereal and screamed. The pain was immense! I was crying. That's when Ramiro put his foot down and said, "That's it. You're going to the dentist."
I called my dentist. Gone on Fridays. I called Ramiro's dentist. Gone on Fridays. Finally, I called Sarahe's dentist. He was willing to see me! Thank goodness. I was so grateful.
I hadn't been to the dentist since 1999. And I'd never had any problems with my teeth (except of the retainer/braces variety). This was my very first toothache! I've been through a lot of pain in my life, but this was definitely "up there" on the pain scale. It made me feel a bit closer to Ramiro in a way. He's had all sorts of problems with his teeth. (I was also really happy to have him "coach" me through this--having someone who really knows what you're going through is a big help).
Want to know what I did?? Okay, check this out... You know how your molars have four points to them? Here's what happened to mine:
I broke off the cusp on my second-to-last upper-left back molar! My tooth broke on that piece of meat! Can you believe that? How random.
The doc was able to build me a new cusp. That part of my tooth is now made out of a glass/quartz/resin composite. I have a fancy tooth!
The doc was also very impressed with my teeth. I had zero cavities (man, I hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that...) and he said that other than that one tooth, the rest of my teeth looked really strong/good. Like I said: Random!
After I got out of the dentist's chair, I felt SO much better. I felt great!
Our friend Ray was supposed to come over that day after I got off from work. Ramiro offered to cancel with him, but I was like "Naaaaaaaaaaaah! I feel great! Let's do it!" So we had Ray come over as planned.
And then the painkillers wore off. ~_~
I felt really sore and somewhat nauseous. I ended up having to take a nap. (Sorry, Ray). I felt really cruddy. It's nice to have friends that you can take an "I feel so horrible right now" nap around and they understand. haha. Fortunately, I woke up again before he left and we all watched a movie and joked around together.
Saturday
(July 30th)
On Saturday morning, I gave Ramiro a cool haircut. And then we went out on a date. He looked very handsome:
That's him sitting across from me at Fuddruckers. I had a bit of trouble eating my meal (I always get a cheddar cheeseburger with no bun and sweet potato fries) 'cause I was still having trouble opening my mouth wide enough to get bites of food into it. My tooth is fine now, but my mouth/jaw is still sore from where they injected the painkillers! Despite the pain, my meal was delicious.
Then we went to see Harry Potter 7: Part 2 at the movie theater next door to the Fudds. Now, I hate to be one of "those" people, but... The book was better. I don't know. My friends on Facebook are probably going to get on my case about this ("Blasphemy!"), but I really didn't think that the final movie lived up to its hype. It felt lacking somehow. I expected to be bawling all over the place (like with the book!), but I was just kinda "eh."
My dad was there too (he's the one taking the picture), but he doesn't skate.
Here's a picture of me skating on one foot:
I was already starting to put my foot down when Dad snapped the picture, but I still look pretty baller, right? (Humor me. That's pretty much the only skating trick I can pull off).
Sunday
(July 31st - Harry Potter's birthday!)
I finished writing/editing my first e-book. Well, the first e-book with my name on it (I've ghostwritten a couple). That's right: I've been writing an e-book. That was my big "secret" project that I was hinting at in my past couple of posts. It's called The Newbie Writer's Guide and it's going to be released for sale on my website on August 17, 2011 (my one year anniversary of becoming a professional writer). You heard it here first! ;)
And that's what's been happening in the life of Lauren R. Tharp. Thanks for stopping by! See you next Monday!
