Catch-Up..

My crown preparation on the eight of October went pretty well, as far as crown prep goes I suppose. Dr. S said it wouldn't hurt a bit, so there was no need for any numbing. Unfortunately, he wasn't completely aware as to just how badly Dr. Doom messed me up in there. My previous fillings had gone down so deep that he had to go just as deep, and deeper to get the temporary crown covers room to attach up underneath where the filling was. He tore my gums up before I got out of there, and without any Novocaine I was feeling pretty miserable for another couple days. Who knew it was such an extensive process to get a couple crowns put on your teeth. If there's any good news in the dental department, it's that we're almost done. My permanent crowns are put on November third, and I'll be taking a nice long denistry vacation.

Dave's sleep study was on the night of the fourteenth of October. I made sure he stayed mellow throughout the day, no nap, no coffee, and a big dinner. He should have been primed and ready to get a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, they expected him to go to sleep at nine pm like a normal person, and Dave's night is usually just getting started around that time on most nights. He fell asleep well enough, but he was awake again after just two hours, and couldn't go back to sleep for awhile. He slept for another two hour block at some point throughout the night, but I'm not sure it was enough to give them much of a norm.

My night was just as unusual though. Without Dave home all night, I was completely out of sorts, and didn't quite know what to do with myself. I knew I'd never be able to wake up at five in the morning when I'm usually just heading to bed around that time, but the sleep center would be closed by six am, and I needed to make sure I wasn't late picking up. I knew my best chance would be to stay awake all night, pick him up, and come home to sleep from there. I sat at Starbucks most of the night, and three Double Chocolate Javachip Frappachinos and one terrible Fleet Foxes CD later.. I was a mess, lol. It was all I could do to stay awake long enough to get us both home safely, and into bed. It threw both our sleep schedules off something awful, but we survived it.

The sleep technician on duty that night said she noticed Dave has really shallow breathing while he's asleep, but I'm not sure what that means, if anything. They said they would call Dr. Abby and she would let us know the results as soon as possible. If the driving evaluation is any indication though, we'll not be holding out breaths. It's been two weeks since the driving study and cognitive evaluation, and a week tonight since the sleep study and we've not heard a word from them about either. I'll be calling them all week and pestering them until they tell me what we should already know. I'll definitely make sure to share the results of both studies once we know something official.

About a week ago I ran into another little streak of unfortunate luck. I was cleaning my glasses like I always do, and they snapped right in half in my hands. I was shocked and upset and virtually blind for hours. It was Sunday night, and no one was open to fix them, but it turned out it didn't matter because they weren't fixable. It's no wonder since they weren't supposed to be breakable in the first place.. so it only made sense that they wouldn't be fixable after the fact, lol. I can laugh about it now, but I had a miserable few days. I tried tape, and glue, and everything I could think of, but nothing held them. Wayne, my stepfather took them to the garage and wire crimped them. I looked completely stupid, but it got me through a tough couple of days while they made me new lenses. Sadly, the repair came with some nasty side-effects of nausea and dizziness because the slightest head movement off-set them, and I saw two of everything. It was.. a headache, literally.

Because my eyes are REALLY near sighted, I have to order lenses, and it takes them a couple days to come in. The Lens Crafters here didn't have frames like mine, so I couldn't just replace the frames. I couldn't put my old lenses in a new pair of frames because they were specially sized for the frame I had. In the end, I had to get another eye exam, new lenses, AND new frames and I was sick about it for days. It was a sudden and unexpected expense I wasn't prepared for, but being blind and useless wasn't an option. If that wasn't troubling enough, the optometrist told me that I wasn't a candidate for LASIK eye surgery. Deep down I always knew they were going to tell me that, and it's kept me from asking for years, but it was still devastating news all the same. I've wanted that surgery since the day I heard about it, and now it's no longer a hope for me. Apparently, there's another surgery I could have that requires a contact lense being inserted directly into my eyeball, but something about that just sounds very.. dangerous. I've been depressed about the death of a dream all week long, and on.

For the last decade I've gotten glasses that look like every other pair I've had for four pair in a row; dark wire frames, no change. This time I decided to get something a little different. It seems that stylish plastic frames with no nose pieces are fashionable now, (despite me being certain they were NOT cool back in 1989, in the sixth grade when it was all my folks could afford. Two pair of glasses in an hour or less, and under a hundred dollars, and your child could look like Sally Jessie Raphael and be the joke of junior high, lol). Well.. they're "Hot" now, I guess? I don't know, lol. The Lens Crafters dude assured me that the pair I picked out were perfect for me, and Dave agreed. I was nervous about them for the four days it took them to come in, but now that I'm used to them, I think I like them. I had a couple cellphone camera pictures of them, but since they're all horrid and I'm much too vain to share them, you'll all have to wait until I get a more appropriate one.

The last week here locally was the big fall festival. The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival. We spent most of the day on Thursday hanging out eating warm kettle corn, and seeing vendor friends. They were all surprised and excited that Dave was walking this year, and not in his wheelchair. It was a good day. On Friday night, Mom held her annual vendor appreciation cookout and bonfire here at the house. A handful of the traveling sales-folk always come by to enjoy a home cooked meal for a change. We always have a good time. I made everyone smores for desert, and surprisingly, it was a big hit. Saturday night Catalina and Carlos took us all out to the local Mexican place for dinner to return the favor, which wasn't at all necessary, but you just can't reason with good people.

I spent the last two nights puppy sitting for the neighbors. Stella, and the brand new Japanese chin, eight week old, Triton. He's an absolute doll, and a complete heart-stealer. They've already promised the folks a puppy about a year from now. Lord help them, they need a third dog like a hole in the head, but I'm sure they'll fall in love with them and take one when the puppies come. The picture is pretty blurry, which I hate, but I'll share it anyway. Baby Triton isn't quite as camera shy as I am.

Much like any other baby.. he spends a lot of time crying.. and sleeping, lol.

That's the highlights from here for the time being. I apologize for going two entire weeks without updating everyone. With the appointments, the mild crisis, the festival, and having company here most every night this week to entertain has kept us pretty busy. When I combine the crazy schedule with a valiant effort to make sure Dave and I are in bed before three in the morning every night this week.. I just keep running out of day. Hopefully I'll be able to do a little better this week. Thank You all for joining us this evening, and as always.. until next time, Much Love, Many Hugs, and Good Night to You All.