going to Mexico? [toothless series]

Now that my jaw is fixed, it’s time to fix my teeth! A friend who used to live in town sent me a message on myspace the other day informing me that her mother is a missionary in Mexico and gets dental work done for way cheaper than what US dentists charge. She told me that she is taking a roadtrip to Mexico in February and that I can come along with her and see her mom’s dentist. I talked to some other people and they think it’s a good idea. I also read a few stories (below) about people who have done this. I am going to go to a dentist here to get a quote and some x-rays done and then see if I can find a cheap plane ticket down to Baton Rouge (where my friend is located) and calculate some numbers. New teeth are on the way!!

• Going to the dentist in Mexico. – By Molly McCloy – Slate Magazine
  (tags: dentist brokenteeth dentalwork)
• HOWTO: Get Your Teeth Fixed in Mexico || kuro5hin.org
  (tags: dentist dentalwork)

wires are out! [broken jaw series]

I arrived at the hospital this morning at 6am and by 7am I was out of my clothes and into my hospital gown all ready to get the wires and arch bar (the thing that was holding my tooth in place) removed.

The Doctor said that since it was just an easy removal, they didn’t have to put me to sleep afterall. Instead they just sedated me. I couldn’t tell the different really between the two except that it took much longer when they put me to sleep and I felt “out of it” much longer too. But as far as surgery and pain, I was knocked out and don’t remember a thing. Also, waking up from this surgery was less stressful and scary than the first.

I was out of the hospital by 9am.

here’s a photo of what my mouth looks like now:

Look at those nasty yellow teeth. I think that is just the flash and the fact that I haven’t been able to properly brush my teeth for a month. Still a bit bloody and some dangly gums, but honestly, I don’t feel any pain! I guess I have built up a pretty good tolerance. I told my parents that all I want for x-mas is an electric toothbrush and a good winter jacket that will keep me warm and dry while riding my bike this winter. Oh and they insist that I get a helmet, which isn’t such a bad idea.

The weather is getting pretty cold here (30s-40s) and riding my bike to work and band practice is becoming more of a chore. But I’m piling on layers and sticking it out the best I can.

(funny thing: while writing this post, a health insurance company just called to give me a quote. we’ll see what comes of it, but I am more hoping that I can just get a full time position at my job.)

the cost of a broken jaw [broken jaw series]

I’ve noticed a lot of people have been coming to my blog from searching keywords such as “how much does it cost to have your jaw wired”. So I want to try to answer as many questions as possible for anyone who is, or may one day end up, in a similar situation.

I don’t have health insurance. So the cost of my accident was definitely my main concern from the moment the ambulance arrived to present day. I told the ambulance, the hospital, the doctors and nurses that I didn’t have health insurance and I even went as far as refusing them to service me if it was going to cost money. They ignored my requests and serviced me anyway telling me not to worry about it. Finally I consented because I knew I had to get my injuries taken care of.

The hospital social worker recommended that I apply for Medicaid just to see if I would qualify. I went down to the Department of Social Services to apply for Medicaid, but from the sorts of questions they were asking me, I could tell that I wasn’t going to be eligible. “Am I disabled?” “Am I unable to work for 6 months?” so I explained my situation more and got passed around to another lady who was very kind and extremely helpful. She told me that I probably shouldn’t even bother applying for medicaid and to fill out the Financial Aid Forms provided by through the hospital. She helped me calculate all of my earnings and expenditures and even faxed all the information out for me so that it would be at the hospital before my surgery.

I got approved for the Financial Aid, but I started getting a lot of bills in the mail. I called the offices and explained that I was approved for Financial Aid through the hospital. Some of the bills, for instance the radiologist bills and hospital clinic bills were taken care of right away and I didn’t have to pay anything. But others, for instance the aneasthesiologist bill, told me to mail them a copy of my financial aid card and they would see what they could do. I sent that one back to them last month and haven’t heard back from them yet. That’s the one bill I am really worried about because it was the most expensive. I go back to the hospital on Thursday to get the wires taken out completely and they will have to put me back to sleep for that, so I can imagine what THAT bill will look like if my financial aid doesn’t cover any of it.

I also got separate bills from my Doctors. I called one of them and explained my situation, but they said there was nothing they could do and that I have to pay the full amount. I went ahead anyway and mailed them a copy of my financial aid card and letter just in case the lady on the phone that day was just in a bad mood. I’m going to be pushy about it.

If it weren’t for the financial aid, I can estimate that my hospital bills since the accident to present day (including going back in to get the wires taken out) would round up to around $3,000 – $3,500. I’m really grateful that I got approved for financial aid, because I know my teeth are going to cost a lot as well, and there’s no way to get around paying the full cost of that.

It sucks that medical care is so expensive. Especially when you don’t have the luxury of insurance, a savings account or a full time job. But I am finding many ways to raise the money for my teeth and I am more than glad to share them. I know a lot of people don’t like to do this (me included) but just tell people about your situation and you will be surprised at how generous people can be. I know I would do the same for my friends if they are ever in a crisis, so I am so grateful for all of the amazing friends and family that are giving me support and helping me out.

Collect Aluminum Cans. Depending on where you live, you might be able to get more money from your cans. You can get a lot more from copper, but I find it easier to just go around on recycling day and pick out as many cans as I can from my neighbors recycling bin or to pick up cans on my commute to and from work, or even going around the trash cans at work and finding cans. Also, ask your friends to save cans for you. Especially if someone is having a party.

Donation Cups. I made some donation cups with a picture of myself that I took right after the accident and a little description about what happened and placed them in local businesses downtown. I’ve only put them in a few places. These are trickier because you have to keep up with them and remember where you put them all. I used tin cans from all of the soups I was eating, but a better idea is to use the containers that Chinese Restaurants use for soup. This way you can cut a hole in the top and people can deposit the money through there. There’s less of a chance of people taking money out of your can.

Paid Emails and Surveys. Since I was out of work for a while, I had plenty of free time to kill around the house. I joined many of those “get paid to read emails and do survey” websites. While I come to find out some of them to be scams, others are actually pretty legit and I received payments from one of them. I will compile a list later about which ones I use and which ones to stay away from.

I have also been working on a zine about my accident which will include everything from details of what exactly happened to me to the things I ate and how I felt. Basically it will include much of this blog plus extra stuff and more details.

That’s all I can think of for right now, but I’m pretty sure there are more things I am doing. Feel free to email me with any questions you have at babetoothless@gmail.com

back on the bike [broken jaw series]

On Monday I got my wires cut. Tuesday I returned to work. Wednesday I returned to commuting by bicycle. My energy isn’t nearly what it used to be, and a ride that usually took me 7-10 minutes now takes 15-20. But I’ve been lucky that the weather has been nice for the most part. Other than that, I’ve been getting around by bus too. Mostly just to and from band practice.

My fixie is a bit more damaged than I thought. My friend, Brandon, came over to look at it yesterday. He’s the guy I bought the bike from. The fork is bent but he’s going to see if he has an extra one to replace it with. He’s also going to put shorter cranks on it too. I’m excited to get back on it again, but a little nervous as well.

My car is still sitting immobilized in front of my house. Some guy wanted to buy it from me over a month ago and he keeps putting it off. So I need to re-list it on the swap shop and craigslist, or just call one of those guys from the junk yard to come get it.

I get all of the metal taken out of my mouth next Thursday and then that will be the end of the Broken Jaw Series.

If anyone has any questions about anything, please feel free to comment and I’ll respond with an answer. I’ve noticed a lot of hits to my blog from keywords of “broken jaw”, “wired jaw”, “what to eat when jaw is wired shut”, etc.

Speaking of food, I’ve been able to open my mouth more and more each day and I’m getting a little cocky when it comes to yawning and try to open it a bit too much. I ate pizza last night and the night before had yellow curry with tofu and drunken noodles. It’s still a bit hard for me to chew. The way they reset my jaw: My back teeth are aligning fine so chewing with my back teeth is no problem. But my front teeth don’t line up anymore which makes it hard for me to cut with my teeth. This could be because of my gnarly snaggle tooth which looks like it will fall out sooner than later or maybe my muscles and jaw are still too tight that I can’t move my mouth enough to make them align. Well hopefully one of those is the case and that eventually I’ll be able to use my front choppers.

vomiting through the wire [broken jaw series]

I thought I could go the whole time without having to experience this, but 2 nights before I go in to get my wires cut, I had a HUGE migraine. I’ve never had a migraine this bad before and it made me feel nauseous. I ended up vomiting into a bowl off the side of my bed. It was pretty tricky and I read and heard stories about people having bad reactions to their pain medicines and sleeping with wire cutters next to their bed in case of such a situation. But I fought through it and puked through the wired jaw (plus I don’t have wire cutters). It’s a normal reaction to just open your mouth wide and heave with all your might, but believe me, when you are puking with a wired jaw, you learn a totally new way to throw up: With one hand holding my hair out of the path of projectile liquids and the other holding my left jaw to prevent it moving too much.

I go back to the Doctor tomorrow morning to get my wires cut!

physically healing but not so much mentally [broken jaw series]

so I guess my jaw is healing pretty well. It doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it did in the beginning. The only times it really hurts is in the morning when I wake up with a pounding headache because I think subconsciously, in my sleep, I am trying to open my mouth or grind my teeth. I haven’t been having any of those weird teeth-falling-out dreams. I guess they feel pretty secure with those wires attached to them. My road rash and my busted lip are all healed and you can barely tell I looked like a monster a few weeks ago.

But as my physical health increases, I’m sad to say that my mental health on the other hand is descending downwards. I haven’t really left my bed in the past few days and who knows when the last time I took a shower was. I end up sleeping until noon or 3pm and I find myself taking frequent naps and having no motivation at all to do anything. I don’t even play dress up anymore. AND not to mention, I’ve been more grumpier than usual.

I guess I can blame it on my period, but I know that’s not it.

I went out one night last week because I thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of the house and to see my friends. Turned out to be a pretty bad idea. I saw lots of people I knew, and that made me happy, but it also made me really embarrassed, frustrated and overall depressed because I had such difficulty trying to communicate with them. The music was loud and I had to repeat myself and try to make my voice audible, but it just took so much energy. Especially when I ran into people who had no idea about my situation and I had to recount the whole story.

So after that, I kind of just became an even bigger hermit and stayed in bed as long and as much as possible. I was going to try to return to work this week too, but after that night, I just felt so embarrassed that I told myself I didn’t want to see anyone else until the wires come off.

And all of these medical bills keep coming in the mail and collecting into a pile of “stuff to deal with ‘later’…” on my desk. Not even knowing when ‘later’ will be.

I know this is totally the opposite of radical self acceptance, but sometimes I just have to accept the fact that I’m sad and depressed, not confident, ashamed and embarrassed. I know I shouldn’t let something like this embarrass me or hold me back, but I know this is how I am dealing with it for the moment and I am working to change it.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

help fix my teeth [broken jaw series]

That little tiny one (where you can see a gap between it and the bottom teeth) broke completely down to the gum on the back side of teeth. For the first week or so, the nerves were exposed and the pain was excruciating. I tried putting oral anesthetic on it which helped before i got the wires on, but then, application proved impossible when i couldn’t open my mouth. so i took lots of painkillers instead.

The bigger tooth next to it with the giant chip on the bottom is the tooth that came out completely. In the Emergency Room, that is the tooth that the Doctor shoved back into my face, except not all the way up and it looked all snaggly and made me look like a meth head from west virigina (no offense to either, really). When I went into surgery for the wires, the Doctor shoved it up so it was aligned with my other front tooth and that looked much better. When I looked in a mirror after the surgery and saw that it looked kind of okay, I started crying because I was so happy. But unfortunately, there isn’t much likelihood that the tooth will survive and the Doctor said it could be a week or even 2 years before it dies.

So right now, it seems that I will need two root canals or get implants. Either way, it is going to be expensive and I don’t have dental or health insurance and I can’t afford to go into any more credit card debt.

I am asking my friends and family to spare some change if you can. I know we’re all struggling, believe me, none of my roommates OR my bandmates have a car, including me, so I know how tight money is.

But if you find some spare change in your couch or if you see coins, aluminum cans or copper wire in the street please pick them up!

PLEASE if you are having a party, please let me know and I will be there the next morning to clean up all of the ALUMINUM beer CANS. (aluminum cans only!!)

I also have a paypal account set up if you would like to donate. The email address is: babetoothless@gmail.com

every penny helps. thanks in advance. i love you all.

the backstory: part 2 [broken jaw series]

I get to the Emergency Room at around noon or 12:30. It isn’t until 2:00 before they call me back to a room. By that time, my mom has arrived and has been keeping me company, although somewhat of an irritation due to her constant worrying. I can’t take hearing her ask me the same questions over and over again and having to answer them over and over again, so I lay down on the hospital bed and take a nap. I wake up 4 hours later and my mom has left and has been replaced with my dad. We wait for a couple more hours until they finally take me to get a CAT scan. The whole time they were comparing the x-ray that was taken the night of the accident and the x-ray that the dentist took that morning to see if there definitely was a fracture and it wasn’t just a shadow on the x-ray. THe CAT scan confirmed the dentist’s assumption and they finally sent me home with a disc of the CAT scan images and told me to call the oral surgeon in the morning to schedule an appointment with him.

My girlfriend called the next morning at 8:00am and got me the next available appointment which was 2 days later on Thursday. On Thursday morning, one of my co-workers was kind enough to give me a ride to my appointment since my car has been dead for the past month and I was too nervous to ride my bike to the hospital. The Doctor looked over my CAT scans and looked over me and said that I would need to get my jaw wired. I was able to schedule it for first thing tomorrow morning.

I had to be at the hospital at 5:45 and was scheduled for the operating room at 9:45. The day was kind of a blur, so my recollection will be brief.

I remember waking up to “okay lynn, breathe with your mouth…. breathe with your mouth……. lynn….. we need you to breathe through your mouth… come on lynn” and finally I opened my eyes, crying and gasping for air. I remember there being an insane amount of pain in my mouth. One nurse said “does it hurt more than before or less?” I thought to myself “What kind of question is that???”

“MORE!” I said realizing that my jaw really was completely wired shut. I couldn’t open my mouth at all. A few hours later, they sent me home with painkillers and an ice pack.

And this brings us up to date. My most recent appointment was a week ago and the Doctor said my wires will be cut on November 26th. Then, a week later, they will come off completely.

Waffle House [broken jaw series]

Over the weekend, I went to Waffle House and ate grits for the first time in my life. Cheese grits to be exact.

I’d gone 18 years of living in the South successfully avoiding the consumption of grits until that day. I refused to eat something that was used as the acronym: Girls Raised In The South which was plastered on over sized sweat shirts sold in Cracker Barrel. I refused to eat the tiny grains of hominy that would burn my hand every morning as I served endless bowls and fake smiles to ungrateful gluttons when I worked at K&W Cafeteria. I just couldn’t let myself eat them. I had way too many bad associations with grits.

But to my surprise, they were more perfect than I could ever imagine; a kraft single neatly placed on top of the grits that hadn’t even melted yet.

I added some Tabasco Sauce and dove right in. The consistency of the grits were perfect for eating through the wire. I’m sorry I ever doubted anyone who looked at me crazy when I looked at them crazy when they asked me if I’d ever had grits.

how to eat through the wire [broken jaw series]

I wanted to post a little update about the food I have been eating while my jaw is wired shut. My jaw has been wired for a week and a half now, so I’ve been experimenting with a lot of different things.

The first couple days after surgery I really wasn’t hungry at all. I had to take penicillin, which were in pill form, so my girlfriend crushed them up with the good ol wooden pestle and mortar, that I bought while I was in the Philippines a few years ago and have never used, and shook it up in a bottle of Ensure (coffee latte and creamy chocolate flavor). I found the Ensure drinks to be a bit difficult to drink only because they were so rich and produced a lot of phlegm which was weird at first and I didn’t quite know what to do with it since I’m so used to hocking them up and spitting them out. So, I could be heard in the bathroom doing all sorts of weird things and noises as I tried to get the phlegm between the little gap between my teeth.

Of course, I have been eating a lot of soups. Broths are the easiest because I can just suck them up through a straw. My parents gave me their blender, so I started experimenting with that. My girlfriend made some Tom Kai Ga and I mostly just sipped on the coconut soup. We put minestrone in a blender and that was pretty good as well. The thicker soups were harder to eat only because they were extremely messy and my face would be covered in it.

My mom made me some rice soup. She made a huge pot of rice that she cooked extra long so the rice would be mushy, with lemongrass. I only had one bowl but I made a video about “how to eat through the wire” while consuming it.

One of the best moments so far was when I got some egg drop soup from the chinese place downtown. The egg was thin enough for me to suck through the gaps in my teeth. I’ve always loved egg drop soup since I was a child, so this gave me just another reason to love it even more.

My girlfriend made some organic macaroni and cheese last night and put it in the blender and it was sooo delicious. I have gotten pretty good at sucking and swallowing little chunks of food. We also put a cookie in the blender with some ice cream, soy milk and ensure and that was pretty tasty too.

Time to eat some more mac n cheese!