The braces are on again

Frodo got braces today. Again. Last year, he had partial braces. just the four top middle teeth in conjunction with a palate expander. (We're working on correcting a severe underbite.) The braces and expander came off late last spring, and a retainer was given to hold the current work in place until his mouth "matured". (Meaning we needed to wait for some of those baby teeth to work out and the adult teeth to work in.)

Well, the retainer only fit for about 2 weeks. Then those baby teeth started doing their thing and the retainer didn't fit right. We got it adjusted a couple times. Then the permanent teeth started doing their thing and the retainer would just pop right out of his mouth. Next thing you know, it's only a couple months since the braces came off, and we're being told it's time to put them back on again. On all the teeth this time. I wasn't ready for this. And our checkbook certainly wasn't ready for this! A couple chats with the nice gal that runs the orthodontist office, and we didn't have to make a down payment this time, and the whole price is spread out over the 18 months the braces are scheduled to be on. This boy is gonna have one EXPENSIVE smile! Maybe I'm just making up for my parents not putting braces on me when I should've had them?

He's a bit sore tonight. Either he's handling it well, or the tylenol and naproxen are working good. Maybe it's both. We made a trip to the grocery store to pick out *soft* foods. The assistant at the orthodontist office let Frodo know when she had braces, she got to have a milkshake every night.... (Thanks! Not!) At least Frodo says I make a good milkshake.

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I am in love with a song. I visited Priscilla's blog tonight and she has a post with a slide show of her granddaughter playing some drums. The song she has with the slideshow is amazing. I keep letting it play over and over in the background tonight. I did a lot of searching online to find out the name of the song since clicking on the "song info" link took me to a profile of the artist. The song is called "Praying Mantis" by Geoff Bartley. I think I might be getting myself a CD! ;)

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I went to the doctor last week. I've been diagnosed with hypertension. Does this make me officially old? I was put on a medication - hydrochlorothiazide, aka HCTZ. My headaches seem to be slowly subsiding. I had a very sedentary day over the weekend and had no headache that day. Looks like I need to start leading a life of leisure, ha ha! After a week on the med, my BP was down to 136/92 today. I like that improvement. I'm supposed to stay on it for a month and monitor my blood pressure during that time, then call the doc back to discuss. Hopefully it will keep going down!

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My little sister called me twice today. Once to tell me that our aunt had called her to let her know our grandma was admitted to the hospital today. Grandma has been living in a nursing home for about 18 months (see this post for the history as to why she's there.) It seems that grandma decided one day she didn't want to walk anymore. They checked her out and decided she had a bit of a urinary tract infection. Then she decided she didn't want to eat anymore. They had someone sit with her and feed her, but she just spits it all out. They have put her in the hospital to continue the antibiotics for the UTI, and will most likely drop a feeding tube in her if she won't eat. Auntie said we don't have to come - it's not "last days" type stuff - she just wanted to keep us updated. But I have this feeling I'll be paying a visit shortly.... I had one of my *twilight zone* moments today where I had been thinking about grandma earlier this morning, and little sis called me a couple hours later....

Then little sis called again later - it seems her youngest decided it would be interesting to shove a Lego in her nostril. She wanted to know if I knew any tricks for getting something like that out, or if she needed to take her into a walk-in clinic. I gave her my two best methods - blow the nose while keeping the other nostril closed (didn't work) and use a decongestant nose spray to help shrink the area, then blow. That didn't work either. So off to after-hours care they went. I'm wondering how the visit went.... I bet the little gal won't be sticking a Lego up her nose again! The ear might be another story though....

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My kitty is snoring. That's weird.

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Ok. I'm done rambling for tonight. Time to reque the song yet again! :D