Nasty little buggers....

Friday, October 27, 2006

Nasty little buggers.... If there is one thing that I hate in my house is fleas. I can deal with the spiders although its not fair that I havent gotten my cuts from the morning peep shows yet. I dealt with the fruit flies because in a way I found that amusing. Not at the time of course, but I can laugh at it now. The occasional fly or moth doesnt bother me. Ants tend to get on my nerve but they are easily taken care of. But I hate fleas. I know they cant be avoided sometimes. Especially at this time of the year. But heres the thing. I dont have an outside animal. I have an inside cat that doesnt come in contact with any other animal other than the fish tank. If my fish have fleas then there is something drastically wrong with this picture. So this brings me to wonder where in the hell a flea came from that got on my cat. My cat is white with tiger stripes in patches. Yes I saw the little bugger with my own eyes. I had my dog for all of her 11 plus years of her life. I was there the night she was born. She never had fleas. Never. She did however have a tick now and then. Three total her whole life but I contribute that to walks in the woods. I was very particular to have her groomed on a schedule of every two months. Being a very large German Shepherd, I didnt want that hair clogging my drains. Well about 3 years ago, my neighbor moved out and a new one moved in. Mind you that I live in an upstairs apartment and we have a shared back yard. I clean up after my dog but these new people choose not to. Well now somehow my dog had fleas. And then again, so did their dog. Lets do the math here. So I went though hell and back with the groomers and the bug bombs. Repeatedly. Finally I got tired of it and forced them to leave for a day and take their animals to a groomers and I bombed the entire house. Its aweful when you have to do that. How can people stand it? Well this brings us to the present day and time. Their dog is clean of fleas because they treat her constantly and their cat is an outdoor cat but hes wearing a flea collar. Simply because Im the one that bought it and put it on him. But I do know that they dont vacumm or clean their place all that well. Yeah Im being nice about this. So last night I got to thinking. How is there a flea in my apartment? There are no other animals that come in here. Then it dawned on me. The heating vents. We have forced hot air heating. Now when Tracie lived downstairs, her dog didnt have fleas so this never happened. So here I am having recently bombed the house. See a previous post about a certain smell. And Im cuddling my cat and she has a flea on her. Well, thats just not going to happen now is it. I have these drops that you put on the animals neck to repel fleas, ticks and mosquitos. Its supposed to also kill them and the eggs. Ive used it on my dog when I would take her camping just as a precaution. Nothing like sleeping in a tent with a dog that has fleas. Well I also have an unused packet for cats because my intention was to use them on the cat that lives downstairs. Yes I take care of everyone elses animals too. Its just my heart. Its the way I am. I would feed every kid in town too if I could. So last night I decided to break out the box and read the instructions. Cats are alot different in dogs because of self grooming habits. You can only put this stuff in certain places as it is. Well on a cat, that place is at the very back of the neck where they cant reach to groom. Well my kitty loves me and will trust me to do whats right for her. But I think she saw me coming with that packet. I didnt think of it then but I remember now that in her papers when I adopted her, her previous owner used Frontline on her. Im sure she remembers what this stuff feels like and I dont blame her for running. Let me inform you that it is about 11:30 at night when Im doing this. I catch her and soothe her on my lap. Shes calming down and I applied the drops. Not the full dose but most of it. As soon as the stuff hit her skin, she went hightail off my lap. She flew out of my room and disappeared into the darkness of the dining room. I went in search of her and I was careful not to wake anyone up. Thats all I needed was for Cami to wake up and wonder what Im doing to the cat. Well I spy her under the table and shes crouched down. Im thinking shes about to attack so I left her alone. But I want to keep an eye on her in case she has a reaction to it. Yeah, a reaction. What would I do? It says that I need to bathe the animal in case this happens. Have you ever bathed a cat before? Trust me, this isnt a pleasant experience. And Im not talking about the cat. Ive never had a cat that liked water. Well Buddy liked it but I never got the chance to dunk him. To bathe a cat requires, socks, rubberbands, antibiotics and alot of bandaids. Maybe the occasional trip to the ER for stitches buts thats rare depending on the cat. Dogs are much easier to bathe. They only try to bite. A cat will try to end your life by gouging out your eyeballs. Well anywho, Sara is literally tearing up my house. Zoom to the kitchen. Zoom to the livingroom. Zoom to the bathroom. Shes not liking this at all. Im standing in the kitchen watching this and waiting for the flying leap to my face. She finally settles down under a chair in the dining room. Its one where I laid my coat so shes hiding under my dangling sleeve. She will be ok. If there was going to be a dangerous reaction, it would have happened by now. So I decided to go back to my room and chat with Jade. We got into talking about the Halloween Exchange and I didnt even notice Sara coming into my room. She hopped up on the back of my chair and laid down. Hmmm... Im guessing this means shes not hating me for doing that to her. Thats a good thing because I sleep with this cat on my bed at night. As small as she is, she takes up most of it. I wouldnt want to wake up in the morning to find a surprise. You know, like my left ear down by my foot. But at least she isnt scratching. And thats also a good thing. This morning she was her lovey dovey self. I cant go anywhere in this house without this cat cuddling against me. And while I was getting dressed this morning she was right in her usual spot. But something very strange happened during the night. Ive used this on my dog several times. The chemical concentrations are different in the ones for cats because they will try to lick it off. So it cant be all that harmful right? Well, I woke up this morning all bright eyed and cheerful. No I didnt actually. I discovered that Im allergic to this stuff.

I need to stop listening to the radio...

Monday, October 23, 2006

I need to stop listening to the radio... Current mood: amused On the way to school this afternoon I had the radio on and flipping through the channels. I wont mention the station that I settled on because well, I dont get paid to advertise for them. But it is a station where they can get away with alot of stuff. The DJ that was on read off some horoscopes. Since I am a Gemini I decided to listen to see what corny thing it would say. "Gemini: Go out and find someone with a padded toilet seat and ask them why." I nearly smacked the sidewalk. I was laughing so hard. Then it dawned on me. Hey!! I have a padded toilet seat.

Where did my tongue go?

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Where did my tongue go? Here we go for part two of my harrowing tale of the dentist. It was scary. It really was. Someone hold my hand. Well we have a slight issue with this visit. How will I pay for it? Well, there is one way and that is to take a loan out from the Bank of Dad. Im a good girl and I always pay him back. I needed this done now. I didnt have a choice. So I asked very nicely. Actually I didnt. He called me up and asked if I had gotten my tooth fixed yet and I told him no. He asked why and I told him that I had to save up some cash and then make the appointment. He said to go on and make the appointment and "let him know". Okay. So I called the dentist office and set up the appointment for a week later and I called him back and "let him know". He said ok and hung up. Yeah these are our usual phone conversations. So I had the appointment set for Tuesday at 11am. Saturday, Cami got sick at camp and she was running a fever and we had Monday off from school. No biggie. Tuesday rolled around and The Caminator is still sick so she stayed home from school once again. I couldnt bring her with me to the dentist so I had to call and cancel the appointment. They made the change for me for Friday at 9am. Friday rolls around and I dropped her off to school and took the express route to the dentist office. Meaning she was dropped off at 8:45 and I flew like a bat out of hell to make it on time for the appointment. I get in and sign the book. Five minute wait and they called me right in. They placed me in that same chair I was in last time and I got to stare at that same picture of rotting teeth again. Oh joy. The dentist I had last time was with another patient. The one that came to me this time was a young female that was just too damn perky. Yeah, Im happy to be here too. She puts the chair all the way back and looks in my mouth. Oh, did you have that temporary filling put in while here? Ummm yeah. Oh, its not written on your chart. I can tell this will be fun. So now she sticks a q-tip loaded with goop on it and swirls it all over the left side of my mouth. She then immediately comes at me with the needle. Oh shit. My fave part. Raise your hand if you feel any discomfort. Well in my past experiences, the goop stuff is supposed to sort of numb you a little before you do the needle right? Well she didnt give it time to. So yeah, expect some discomfort and expect me to raise my hand and well, I dont know what I will do but it might hurt. What happened next totally perplexed the hell out of me. An experience that I have never had in my life. I actually have to laugh about it now because I dont know why or how she did it, but it worked. She grabbed my cheek. Her fingers on the out side and her thumb on the inside and she pulled it away from my face. Ok, thats to be able to have clearance to put that needle in. She then shook the hell out of my cheek and then put the needle in. I had no feeling of it entering between my jaw bones. Usually going between the jaw bones is the worse pain ever. And then they wiggle the damn thing around. Hurts like hell. But the way she did it, I didnt feel anything at all. Ok so my arm wasnt raising and you get to live another day. Good job indeed. Yes it was very amusing and then she tells me to sit tight for a few minutes and to raise my hand when I could no longer feel my lip. This took all of about 5 minutes and I pretty much lost half my face. I can only feel half of my tongue though. That is the weirdest feeling. One side of my tongue felt like it was the size of a volleyball. She comes back and pinches my lip and nope, I didnt feel a damn thing. So then she lays the chair all the way back again and her assistant comes over to join in on the fun. In the mean time the two were chatting about a party that one went to that weekend and how blitzed they got. Interesting conversation and I really could care less but did they have to ask me questions while doing it? You know damn well that my mouth is stuffed with cotton rolls and you have your hand in my mouth. How the hell am I supposed to answer? Do dentists have a required class to understand the language of grunts? She then wrapped my tooth in a metal ring and proceeded to drill out the temp filling. Done easy enough and her assistant was quick with the sucky thingy to get up all the pieces. And to my amazement, nothing shot out and landed on my face. Isnt that what usually happens? Im actually liking it here. Now comes the fun part. The amazing chemical process unknown to the average person of how to mix a new tooth. Inside this metal ring, she placed a small hard ball of something that smelled bad and pressed it in with one of her metal tool thingys. Then she added a liquid. The assistant had this blue laser light thing and flashed it against my tooth. Then a different liquid was added and then the light thing again. This happened one more time. She held the light there for a little longer and then the metal thing was removed. Walla a new tooth. Amazing. Except it was a huge flat, round block. I know what comes next and thats the carbon paper that I need to bite on and grind. Nope. I was wrong. She proceeded to hack away at making the hills and knolls of my upper tooth to match this one. Her assisnt was very helpful with that sucky thingy again. Then she made me chomp on that carbon paper. One small adjustment and it was all done. I sit up and there is a nasty taste in my mouth from the chemicals that were used to create the filling. I think the assistant saw the look on my face because she handed me a cup of mouthwash. I swished and I remembered that there is no spit bowl. Didnt matter because she shoved the thing in my face from the last time. It is such a cool little thing. Like a mini funnel with a suction hose attached. Nifty if I may say so myself. So now Im allowed to leave. I go out to the desk to get my bill and head out the door. Oh and I was told not to eat anything on it for at least an hour. Why would I shove food in my mouth when I dont even know where my mouth is? I have half a tongue for cripes sake. Ok, Im game. I wont do anything for at least an hour. I get home and I call Girlie to let her know that my mouth is all fixed. Here is the fun part. I discover that I cant find my ear either. So I cant tell where the phone goes against my head. This is going to be fun. I have never been this numb ever from a dentist visit. This is going to be a doozey when it wears off. So Im on the phone with her and I need a drink. I was told not to eat but damn I need a drink to get the bad taste out of my mouth. So I get up and pour a drink into a cup. I take a swig. There is a problem. It didnt go in my mouth. My shirt must have been thirsty too. Well this just about sucks. So I grab a straw out of the cupboard. Yeah, so Im sitting there on the phone with Girlie while sipping my drink from a straw and wondering where the hell my ear ran off to. She found it amusing. But let me tell you, when that stuff wore off, I was thrilled to find the other half of my tongue. An hour or so later my ear decided to return to the side of my head but my jaw was hurting something fierce. For three days my jaw ached. And just think, I have three more cavities that need to be done. Two being teeth in the front of my mouth. I know come Christmas time I will be singing that all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

The Root Canal Of All Evil....

Fill 'er up....

As some of you know, a couple of weeks ago one of my teeth decided to break and take off on me. I was brushing my teeth like every morning, and I felt a crunch. I spit out the contents of my mouth and there was what was left of a filling and part of my far back molar on the bottom. Just wonderful. Mind you that I dont have dental insurance so this should be a fun ride.

Now the last time this happened, I went two years without getting them fixed. I had two break at the same time. One on each side of the bottom. But because I wasted all that time, they turned into some very expensive root canals. Which I had both done at the same time. One of the crowns had to be done all in gold. Yeah I got the bling but you cant see it. Its all the way in the back.

Anywho, this brings me to the here and now. I really dont want to have to go through that again so I have to get this done asap. I dont have the cash though. My usual dentist is pretty much out of the picture because I cant afford him. So I opted for one of those national clinics that we have here. Yeah sucks that I have to do this but its the cheapest spot in town.

Seems my whole family goes there now as well. Cami gets her teeth done there and she doesnt cry. But I will warn you, I am afraid of dentists. Well not the people temselves but that long needle that they just love to jab in and wiggle around to cause you to grunt and wet your pants. Oh yeah, raise your hand if you are feeling any discomfort. If Im to the point that Im raising my hand, it means that Im about to bite yours off.

So off I go and Im sitting in the chair waiting for the dentist to do his thing. Nope, not yet. I have to get xrays done of my mouth. Oh joy. My second favorite part. Getting those little plastic things put in my mouth and told to bite down on them while they cut into every inch of my gums.

Twenty minutes of that and Im pretty much raging but my mouth hurts too much to speak. I think they do that on purpose. Ya know, so you dont tell them off so the people in the waiting room can hear you. Im really not that bad of a patient. Really Im not, but when I say something hurts, it hurts bad. And this hurt.

I go back to my comfy lounge chair where they leave me to develope the xrays. Im staring at all the drills and tools. I dont see a spit bowl though. This could be interesting. What dentist office doesnt have a spit bowl? Isnt that the main thing to have there? This brings back memories of watching and early Bill Cosby HBO special where he talks about a dentist visit and hes right on the money with it. Watch it if you have the chance. Funny as hell. My fave part is the spit bowl. "Oh look!! A rainbow!" Gets me laughing every time.

Also on the wall for my viewing enjoyment are some posters of people with really bad teeth. Yeah thats what I want to see while Im here. Anywho, heres comes the dentist. Hes a young guy and kinda cute. But what can I say, I can only see hair and eyeballs. Why cant I have one of those face masks too? Oh yeah, then they cant get into my mouth. Can you tell Im really not liking this experience? I know whats yet to come and Im not thrilled.

Well he puts up my xrays on a little screen attached to the center pole of all that wonderful equipment thats going to rip my mouth apart later. Well he shows me all the stuff that has been done to my mouth in the past. I have honestly never looked at my xrays before at any other office. OMG you should see this. This is really cool. If they ever need to identify me this way, they would have a field day.

He then shows me the image of an old root canal that I had done when I was 12. There was never a crown on it and there should have been. Oh well, too late now. He also shows me that there is a small pocket at the end of one of my roots. This is also evident into my sinus and he thinks it causes me sinus pain. Ummmm wrong. I dont have any pain there. So he then shows me one of his own xrays with the exact same problem and the exact same tooth. What are the chances of that? My mouth matches the dentist. Im actually serious here. He himself is having that tooth redone because the absess is causing his old root canal problems. Well mine doesnt hurt so leave it alone.

He then puts the chair all the way back and starts poking me in the mouth with those sharps tools and calling out codes that only a total idiot knows. Well that makes me a non idiot because I dont know them. He pinpoints the tooth that needs to be repaired. He tells me that it will be an easy fix and that he will put a temp filling in and I will have to set up another appointment to get it filled. Ok by me. Im saved from the drill today. Whew.

So he cleans out all the loose old filling that is left and puts a temp in and tells me not to bite on it for at least an hour. Ok no problem. I say this only because the damn thing tastes so nasty that I dont want to close my mouth anyways. And get this, he then squirts my mouth full of mouthwash and uses that sucky tube thingy to suck it all back out. No spit bowl. Now thats service.

So I go out to pay and they tell me its $156 bucks. Just for all that. And they havent filled the tooth in yet. They tell me that will be another $190. Well the lady sees my shock and offers me a special coupon that is good for free consultation and xrays if there is major work to be done. Whoohoo this is my lucky day. So that $156 is paid for by a coupon. Who woulda thunk that would happen?

But the fun part comes next. She then prints out this huge list of all the stuff that needs to be done. I know I have three small cavities. Ok thats on the list. But the dentist wants me to have that root canal looked at by a specialist and my total cost will be about $2500. Yeah imagine that. Like that will be happening any time soon. Just fill the tooth and let me handle the rest later after I rob the rich to give to the poor. The poor being myself.

So I set up the next appointment for a week and a half later for the filling. Can I handle having that nasty tasting temp in my mouth for that long? We shall see.