Well, yesterday was my appointment with Dr. Punim for my final consultation. After reviewing the study models and x-rays of my mouth, jaws and teeth, she presented the treatment plan.
What I'm looking at is the same thing that Dr. Graham was presenting to me - removal of my impacted right maxillary canine, the 2nd bicuspid of the upper arch as well as possibly the second bicuspids on the lower arch. There was only one really huge difference:
$1,339!
Essentially, Dr. Punim wants me to come up with $1,500 up front, then $190 a month for 20 months. Plus, she doesn't work directly with my dental insurance company, so I would have to wait to be reimbursed. Dr. Graham does work directly with the insurance, so I would only have to come up with $461, first and last month's payment and monthly payments of $125 a month. So, I think my decision is made up. Personally, I don't understand why Dr. Punim's office is charging that much more for the same work.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Room of Gray Light
For those of you who have not read Stephen King's Dark Tower series in its entirety and don't want the ending ruined, stop reading this RIGHT NOW. If you have read the series, or simply don't care, continue on.
I made my way through the parking lot of the venue where my friend's band was performing. I had not seen her perform for nearly 6 years, or even really seen her since the time management and I had a falling out, but you wouldn't know it from the way we talked to each other. We did have other business to attend to on this evening, so she led me inside.
Outside, various bands were performing at this venue as opening acts for her band. Several of my friends were not only spectators to the show, several others were also performing, and I bid them all a quick greeting as I made my way through the parking lot and side door to the stage. All pleasantries were brief, though cordial.
We made our way to the stage and continued to the backstage area. However, in this case, the backstage area belied the actual size of the venue that we were in and extended past its walls. On we went, past the next act performing and loading in equipment, up a set of wooden stairs to the upstairs green room. Several more of my friends were there eating from the complimentary deli and veggie trays and drinking the usual cheap, domestic bottled beer from the cooler. Salutations were given and my lady friend and I continued on towards another door which opened to a set of stairs.
This set of stairs was not straight as the others had been, but was curved and the only light available to see was at the top of the next level. At the top of this flight of stairs were several rooms. Looking inside the first room, I noticed several framed photographs and items from the time of my birth. I looked into the next room and noticed more framed photographs and items from the months following my birth.
"Not here," my friend said. She led me on up another staircase, where more doors awaited. Each room continued to be from another time period of my existence. It was then that I realized that my friend Wanda was leading me into my own version of Roland Deschain's Dark Tower. Would I find myself trapped in here forever, or, like Roland, be forced to continue on the same path? I continued following Wanda.
We then came to a door at the top of the 39th floor. This door was unmarked and painted flat black with a brass circular knob. It was outstanding in its normalcy, except that it seemed to shrink away from anyone that wished to look at it and the general vicinity. Was this door alive and not wanting contact with anyone?
Scanning down from the top of the door jamb to the bottom, I noticed gray light escaping from the space between the bottom of the door and the floor beneath it. Wanda reached up, grasped the knob and turned to me.
"Once inside, you will make a crucial decision." Her voice sounded as though I had my headphones on, centered directly between both ears rather than coming from in front of me and from those beautiful lips. Never did she take her eyes off me. "You have two choices. One door will return you back to your old life. The other door will force you to progress in a different direction."
"Turning around to come back the way you came is not an option. Once you pass through this door, you will only see a wall behind you, and you may not remain in the room. Regardless of which door you choose, there shall be no guarantee of comfort, and both ways will still promise certain death." She smiled then and said, "Of course, this will happen to all of us."
"One door will not guarantee progression. However, this is only if you fail to learn from what you experience, but the other can only guarantee stagnation. You will have no guide and can only rely on your own desires and instincts to guide you." She turned her left hand and opened the door. With a sense of trepidation, I wandered into the room.
As she had foretold, once the door was shut behind me, it simply vanished. The only thing behind me was the wall. Looking around me, I found a room that was illuminated with gray lights. These were not the shade seen in UV blacklight bulbs, but were a constant shade of gray that was slightly darker than the gray found on naval battleships. The room was mostly unadorned. No furniture, so no way to sit and think about my next step. There were photographs, but no pictures of any perspective that I would recognize. To my right I noticed a close-up picture of teeth with orthodontic braces placed on them.
As I started to scan towards my left, I noticed the wall before me had two doors placed in it. Both were painted with a glossy, black lacquer finish. On each door was written a single word.
"Resumption"
"Progression"
I moved forward to the midway point between both doors and took a deep breath. Unlike Roland, I was given a choice of where to go at the top of the staircase.
From the "Progression" door, I heard White Zombie's "Electric Head, Pt. 1 (The Agony)" Silence came from the door marked "Resumption." I opened the door with the music and proceeded inside
To find I had been woken up by my fucking cellphone ringing. "Chris, Roshalle called out sick and I saw you were signed up to work overtime. Do you want to come in early?"
"No!" Goddamn it!
I made my way through the parking lot of the venue where my friend's band was performing. I had not seen her perform for nearly 6 years, or even really seen her since the time management and I had a falling out, but you wouldn't know it from the way we talked to each other. We did have other business to attend to on this evening, so she led me inside.
Outside, various bands were performing at this venue as opening acts for her band. Several of my friends were not only spectators to the show, several others were also performing, and I bid them all a quick greeting as I made my way through the parking lot and side door to the stage. All pleasantries were brief, though cordial.
We made our way to the stage and continued to the backstage area. However, in this case, the backstage area belied the actual size of the venue that we were in and extended past its walls. On we went, past the next act performing and loading in equipment, up a set of wooden stairs to the upstairs green room. Several more of my friends were there eating from the complimentary deli and veggie trays and drinking the usual cheap, domestic bottled beer from the cooler. Salutations were given and my lady friend and I continued on towards another door which opened to a set of stairs.
This set of stairs was not straight as the others had been, but was curved and the only light available to see was at the top of the next level. At the top of this flight of stairs were several rooms. Looking inside the first room, I noticed several framed photographs and items from the time of my birth. I looked into the next room and noticed more framed photographs and items from the months following my birth.
"Not here," my friend said. She led me on up another staircase, where more doors awaited. Each room continued to be from another time period of my existence. It was then that I realized that my friend Wanda was leading me into my own version of Roland Deschain's Dark Tower. Would I find myself trapped in here forever, or, like Roland, be forced to continue on the same path? I continued following Wanda.
We then came to a door at the top of the 39th floor. This door was unmarked and painted flat black with a brass circular knob. It was outstanding in its normalcy, except that it seemed to shrink away from anyone that wished to look at it and the general vicinity. Was this door alive and not wanting contact with anyone?
Scanning down from the top of the door jamb to the bottom, I noticed gray light escaping from the space between the bottom of the door and the floor beneath it. Wanda reached up, grasped the knob and turned to me.
"Once inside, you will make a crucial decision." Her voice sounded as though I had my headphones on, centered directly between both ears rather than coming from in front of me and from those beautiful lips. Never did she take her eyes off me. "You have two choices. One door will return you back to your old life. The other door will force you to progress in a different direction."
"Turning around to come back the way you came is not an option. Once you pass through this door, you will only see a wall behind you, and you may not remain in the room. Regardless of which door you choose, there shall be no guarantee of comfort, and both ways will still promise certain death." She smiled then and said, "Of course, this will happen to all of us."
"One door will not guarantee progression. However, this is only if you fail to learn from what you experience, but the other can only guarantee stagnation. You will have no guide and can only rely on your own desires and instincts to guide you." She turned her left hand and opened the door. With a sense of trepidation, I wandered into the room.
As she had foretold, once the door was shut behind me, it simply vanished. The only thing behind me was the wall. Looking around me, I found a room that was illuminated with gray lights. These were not the shade seen in UV blacklight bulbs, but were a constant shade of gray that was slightly darker than the gray found on naval battleships. The room was mostly unadorned. No furniture, so no way to sit and think about my next step. There were photographs, but no pictures of any perspective that I would recognize. To my right I noticed a close-up picture of teeth with orthodontic braces placed on them.
As I started to scan towards my left, I noticed the wall before me had two doors placed in it. Both were painted with a glossy, black lacquer finish. On each door was written a single word.
"Resumption"
"Progression"
I moved forward to the midway point between both doors and took a deep breath. Unlike Roland, I was given a choice of where to go at the top of the staircase.
From the "Progression" door, I heard White Zombie's "Electric Head, Pt. 1 (The Agony)" Silence came from the door marked "Resumption." I opened the door with the music and proceeded inside
To find I had been woken up by my fucking cellphone ringing. "Chris, Roshalle called out sick and I saw you were signed up to work overtime. Do you want to come in early?"
"No!" Goddamn it!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Update
If you're wondering why I haven't put any posts here, it's simply because (1) I've been incredibly goddamn busy and (2) I haven't had any news to report regarding braces, surgery, etc.
My next appointment with the ortho is coming up in 2 weeks or so and will be my final consultation before I start treatement with her. We're going to have to see what's going on because of all the problems that I've written about before. I do have a cleaning on Wednesday, but I don't think that's going to be all that important to this blog.
As for busy-ness, I've finally finished reading Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series and I'm re-reading it. If you've not heard of it, you should check it out if you like stuff like "Lord of the Rings" or other fantasy stuff. I've also restarted taking Karate after a 12 year layoff. (This was due to finances and time conflicts, nothing more.) http://itosu-ryu.us Check it out here! There's other developments on the horizon, but I don't want to spoil the surprise.
So, check back in about 2 weeks when I finish my final consultation with Dr. Punim. That's all for now, but I've also decided I'll also put up other random posts of various things and goings on. Watch for it!
My next appointment with the ortho is coming up in 2 weeks or so and will be my final consultation before I start treatement with her. We're going to have to see what's going on because of all the problems that I've written about before. I do have a cleaning on Wednesday, but I don't think that's going to be all that important to this blog.
As for busy-ness, I've finally finished reading Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series and I'm re-reading it. If you've not heard of it, you should check it out if you like stuff like "Lord of the Rings" or other fantasy stuff. I've also restarted taking Karate after a 12 year layoff. (This was due to finances and time conflicts, nothing more.) http://itosu-ryu.us Check it out here! There's other developments on the horizon, but I don't want to spoil the surprise.
So, check back in about 2 weeks when I finish my final consultation with Dr. Punim. That's all for now, but I've also decided I'll also put up other random posts of various things and goings on. Watch for it!
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