First Invisalign Trays!

Disclaimer: Invisalign isn't paying me for this, etc. You know the drill.

Today was the big day! I haven't felt that stressed out in...at least a month! I literally sat at my desk sweating all day until 1:30 finally arrived and I headed over to trap my teeth forever (or for 2 years).

It was unfortunately a lot like a regular dentist appointment. They polished my teeth and scraped them with that metal thing (which gives me CHILLS), and then put funky-smelling glue all over them. I was originally given the estimate of having 6 attachments for these things, but if my counting is correct, it's 16! 

They were placed all over, including some teeth in the front, though not my front 2 teeth, which is cool. I never believed people when I read about them not being too visible but they are really hardly noticeable to anyone who is not me.

Barely visible!

It didn't hurt or anything; she just put glue or something all over each of my teeth and stuck the attachments on. I didn't feel much so to tell you the truth I am not sure what exactly was going on. To set the attachments she snapped my aligners on and I immediately felt claustrophobic. It is literally a plastic thing squeezing your teeth, and that is exactly what it feels like. For a second I thought I wouldn't be able to deal, but for the most part that feeling has already been forgotten. The only pain I endured during this entire process was the thing they used to open my mouth pinched my gums a little, but I survived.

After that they had me practice taking the aligners out and putting them back in. I can't decide which one is more difficult. They both kind of suck. I'm starving as I write this but I'm avoiding dinner because I don't want to deal with taking them off again! I know this will get better with time but as of now, 

I have to say I was not expecting to drool so much... I'm not drooling in the sense that my mouth is cartoonishly dripping with water but it does feel similar to when I think about eating sour candy.

Also I don't know if I've been tasting the excess glue or the trays but there is the weirdest taste. AND I have a lisp. They told me this goes away quickly (along with the excess salivating) but I am having thome theriouth trouble! Singing Taylor Swift on the way home was an embarrassment to even myself. I'm hoping I get to talk enough that it goes away by like, tomorrow.

I don't know what to do with myself now that I've finally started. I feel exhausted from being so tense and nervous about it, so I guess sleeping will be a good start. I'm gonna go through 42 trays (not including the possible refinements) so I'll be doing this for nearly 2 years.

I guess I should give you my final "before" photo of sorts:

BYE TEETH...PLACEMENT

That reminds me, here is what is supposed to happen in the end!

I can't even imagine what that will look like on me, even though it is still so me. I know that is obvious, since that is an image of my teeth, but it's weird to think that they're just gonna move all that way eventually.

Anyway, I'm so excited I am sure I forgot to mention many of the things I wanted to. I guess there is always next week! I suppose I should end it here; my teeth are starting to feel like they have a headache. Thanks for reading and all that jazz; I couldn't be happier right now!

Recommended Listening: Better Days - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes (my driving to get braces theme song, thanks to timing and iPod shuffle!)

I am FREAKING OUT

It's Monday, which means this post shouldn't exist for 2 more days. I'm sure I will have a lot to say once I'm wearing my trays on Wednesday, but I need to take this moment to express the many feelings I'm having right now.

On one hand, I'm SO excited. This time tomorrow I will be wearing my braces! I barely slept last night, and I have a feeling it'll be the same tonight. I can't believe something I've wanted for so long is finally happening.

On the other hand, it just hit me that I will look so different after all this. And I'm sure it won't be bad, but I worry that it won't be very me. I've had teeth like this for more than half my life. And now here I am changing it all. I know it's a slow process and I'll have time to get used to it, but I guess I don't always hate my smile.

Some days I catch my reflection while I'm laughing and immediately sober up because, yuck, that looks terrible!

Other days I see what I assume my family sees, which I guess is what they can only describe as the endearing "Stacie smile". 

So I guess the many emotions I mentioned before come down to just 2. I am excited and I am scared, which is probably normal.

It feels like when you're on a roller coaster and you start climbing that first hill. It's too late to stop; you have to go the whole way! And you know it's gonna be so fun even if you get whiplash at the bottom of the second hill, but you're still kind of freaked out. In the end, it's worth all the hassle and waiting, even if it doesn't seem like it at first.

I suppose I will deal with this in the same way: run out of the orthodontist's office with my arms in the air, screaming.

Recommended Listening: Juniper Lane - Jane Levy (Bang Bang Baby)

Bumper Cars

Disclaimer: Invisalign isn't paying me for this, in case you didn't already realize. Also I'm going to apologize now if this one is a bit messy. 

I am writing this on Tuesday night, less than 12 hours before this post will go up. Amazingly, yesterday I was worried I would have nothing to write about this week. I spent my entire weekend watching tv and moping about how my boyfriend is on vacation, along with spending a few hours begrudgingly playing Pokemon Go. I caught a rock with arms in Windsor, so that was cool I think. I only really play while I'm bored in the car, so unfortunately my lack of an adventurous spirit means I will only ever catch those purple rats while shopping in Target. 

Anyway, A LOT happened yesterday. In fact, I think it's safe to say that too much happened yesterday. I guess I'll start with the good news, because who doesn't love some good news?!

I got the call. My trays came in the mail! I have an appointment on August 30th, which is good, except I honestly hoped I was going to be able to go today! The office I go to is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I had to suck it up and let all those 11 year olds get their braces before school starts. God I do not miss school.

Back to the point, I am getting braces 1 week from today! AHH! It feels a little unreal to be honest. My one complaint is that I haven't seen that video yet, the one where you see what your teeth will look like in the end. They've also neglected to tell me exactly how many attachments I'll be getting (if any). He guessed about 6 at my initial consultation, but I have no idea how legit that number is. I feel so out of the loop.

Now we must move on to the bad news. Oh boy! I mean, let's start with the obvious: I'm alive! Whew! Okay, that's good.

I got rear ended yesterday in front of my house.

And I only cried for 4 hours!

Oof. It seems so casual just typing it out like that, but honestly how else do you say it? You can trust me when I say I am so not calm about all of this. It actually really sucks, and I didn't even tell you the best part.

It was a hit and run! Aha!

I KNOW, I know. Luckily, I had enough brain power to jump out of my car while screaming at him and read off his plate numbers as he drove away. Plus, it turns out, when he rear ended me, he imprinted his plate into my bumper. 

The police found him and, of course, he doesn't have insurance! I love life!
So today was spent mostly with me making phone calls to a million people. My neck is killing me, and I can't say I enjoyed driving very much today. It's now suddenly very scary.
Things could always be worse, but man, I really wish this never happened. 

I am so unbelievably tired today, now that the majority of the phone calls I had to make are all done. There is still quite a bit to do, but I can hopefully, at the very least, sleep tonight. Fingers crossed that my life goes back to normal as quickly as possible so I can enjoy my new braces! There! Ending on a happy note!

Sorry if this seemed like a rough draft quickly thrown together before I went to bed, because that is exactly what it was. Normally I'd take a little more time to work on this, but I had to spend my night catching up on Big Brother...! 

Recommended Listening: Dive Deep - Andrew Belle

Mini Vacation!

Not much to report this week in the way of my Invisalign, but life does indeed go on! I ended up calling the orthodontist to see what was up with an appointment they had texted me about that I thought was canceled. They then officially canceled it and said the trays are still being made! Ugh! But she told me I should hear back in about a week, which is pretty much what I was expecting. So hopefully next week I will have more braces-related info!
Still, all this waiting is starting to be a bummer. I did pass the time over the weekend on a mini vacation in Cape Cod, complete with several servings of chili and a sunburn.

It was pretty fun, even though we usually go in June when it's way less crowded. The one plus of going so late in the summer is that the water temperature is actually somewhat bearable. I rode a boogie board on the waves for hours even while being deathly afraid of a Great White Shark coming up behind me and taking my foot. We made sure to stay near crowds of people in the water because that makes shark less likely to bite you by accident, but that also meant me nearly running over a few children as I headed to shore.

Jaws theme playing in the distance

We also (we being me and my sister Susie) got hit on by some 40 year old, and he thought we wouldn't dance with him because we were too scared. While in reality we actually just have boyfriends and some sort of standards (he could be old enough to be my dad), we let him think what he wanted. Of course since that conversation we have started singing the American Horror Story theme song whenever we have to face something kind of scary or different. Like swimming in the deep water or sharks or...dancing with some bro at the shitty bar down the street. #areyouscared

It's kind of amazing that even at 22 years old I can't help but scream with joy as I go up and over a big wave and take it all the way to the shore. My mom commented on how it felt like all the moms at the beach were looking at us and secretly judging us (they probably weren't) but I couldn't find it in myself to care too much. We stayed in the water for 2 hours, which I don't think I've done for at least a few years. It was nice to forget about all my dumb worries for a little while and replace them with the worry of getting eaten by sharks.

That sounds like a joke, but there really have been several shark sightings on beaches in Cape Cod over the last few years. We also went to a lake near our hotel and put goggles on to look at the tiny fish swimming around our feet. There was a point in the lake where there was a sudden drop into darkness and we all tried to swim over it but I panicked every single time we got too close and had to turn around. Besides the fact that there could be unknown giant lake fish in the depths, I'm pretty sure Friday the 13th's Jason was hiding down there too.

m-amas-boy.deviantart.com 

Have you ever noticed that it's suddenly fall even though they were at summer camp for like 2 days?

Of course one of my favorite things to do in the ocean is playing a game we like to call "don't look". You lay on your boogie board and face forward, waiting for a giant wave to crash over you. It's sort of terrifying. And by sort of I mean very.

I have to say I am extremely exhausted from doing so many exercise-y things and mostly not sleeping for a few days (hotel sheets are too scratchy). I'm glad I went, though. It was just really nice to get away from Connecticut for a minute, especially because it was like 100 degrees here while we were gone! WHEW.

Anyway, that's all I have for this week. I guess I'd rather keep this blog consistently updated rather than waiting 2 more weeks for something to write about. Hopefully this has been enough to tide my 4 readers over. And I'm hoping this time next week I'll finally be wearing my trays! Ahh!

Bye for now!

Recommended Listening: Where I'm Coming From - Bronze Radio Return

An Unexpected Twist!

DISCLAIMER: Invisalign isn't paying me for this. They don't know my life! I GUESS I'm not that embarrassed that IRL people are reading this.

So, yesterday I got a call from my orthodontist, which of course I didn't answer because I didn't recognize the number. He left a vague voicemail so I called back and got the busy signal for like 10 minutes, which was fun and not nerve wracking at all. And then I finally got through, wondering what on earth this could be about.

Anyway, in case you haven't figured it out yet, we no longer have to wait until August 16th for news! Maybe you didn't realize that was even a thing! This is good not only because I am dying waiting over here, but also because I really had no idea what I was going to write about this week. I feel like a liar saying "this week" because in all truth it's August 2nd as I write this, and my next post hasn't even gone up yet. Is that too much behind the scenes info? Whatever, this is how it goes!

You're probably wondering: what is this unexpected twist?! Well, it turns out, they are now thinking I will only need 1 tooth pulled instead of 2.



I MEAN okay, it could still potentially be more than that, but he says "for now" (forever???!) that is the plan. We're gonna get rid of one of my smallish teeth on the bottom left and I'll feel like garbage for 2 days and that'll be that!


So now that he got my okay on that plan, he ordered the trays or whatever it is that they do, and I must wait for them to arrive to schedule my next appointment.


I know I should be happy, but UGH, waiting. So from the time this posts, we'll be waiting 1-2 weeks more for the trays to get there. I'm hoping they come in on a Monday and I get to go in Tuesday or something. Then after 3 trays, just to make sure I'll actually go through with this (spoiler alert: I will), they're gonna pull the tooth.


I guess I don't really have much else to say. This did feel like enough information to warrant its own post though. Sorry if this week has been a let down; the creative process is hard! Also I am lazy. And honestly Pretty Little Liars is on in 10 minutes.

See ya next week! (Hopefully this boring post won't scare you away!)

Sincerely,
Stacie, with no added emotions

Recommended Listening:
Love Like This - RY X


PS. This post is crazy! It won't let me change the font size. Or maybe it's just the preview lying to me. Sorry if this is tiny text. Sorry if it's normal and this is the weirdest PS ever.

Scanned By Robots!

DISCLAIMER: Invisalign isn't paying me for this. I don't know them, they don't know me, etc. Literally just taking this opportunity to tell you all about my dumb life. Also, if I know you IRL, please know that I am extremely embarrassed that you decided to read this.

After another week of waiting around, the day finally arrived; less consulting, more...robot scanning.

All throughout my work day I felt a weird mix of anxious and excited, like I might vom but it was okay because I am doing a life-changing...thing. There was no more research to be done, because apparently no one seems to want to talk about the initial scanning of your teeth. ALLOW ME.

When 3pm finally rolled around I gave my mom (who in case you didn't know, works in the same office as me) a quick goodbye, grabbed the 2 chocolate cupcakes I got for my boyfriend's birthday, and headed out the door.

Ten minutes later, after a confusing maps app mishap (hahahaha), I got to the office and was pleasantly surprised to see there were no cars parked out front. I had been especially worried about parking because last time the 3 (3!!!) spaces (in the street no less) had been taken.

So anyway at this point I'm feelin' good; I grab my cupcakes and walk in hardly knowing what to expect. I then found out there was just one lady working and no customers, which was good because this appointment was one of the weirdest experiences ever??? It's definitely not something I needed a bunch of strangers seeing.

I had to fill out a bunch of forms and make my fairly large down payment, all while explaining that yes, there is an office closer to my home, but I work around the corner. I know! Crazy!

Next she brought me in the back where we did a few x-rays. One is that giant machine that spins around your head for a few seconds, which I've had to do at my dentist's office plenty of times. The other took a picture of your bite or something, and held you in place by your freakin' ears. WTF. She put the plastic things in my ears and I awkwardly laughed because again, WTF. But in like 3 minutes or less that part was over.

After that we walked into a more open area with a bunch of chairs and fake photos of the outdoors on the ceiling tiles. I was treated to the lovely view of some palm tree branches and motionless clouds for most of my visit.

Anyway, we had to take photos to show my face shape or something; I didn't actually ask. She took some of me standing in front of a light board, and I immediately smiled when she told me, "Don't smile for this one." Then I sat in the chair and had to pull my mouth wide open, like when people go sky-diving and their mouths are like

And she took a few photos of just my teeth, and promised not to upload them to Facebook.

Finally came the last and probably weirdest part of my appointment: THE SCAN. While she set it up she told me there's a new smaller one that they have at the other locations, but we were stuck with a big heavy thing where she had to individually scan every single one of my teeth. Yikes.

As it started up it sounded like a rocket launch, complete with a robot voice talking about my jaw and these weird rainbow lights. I meant to ask if those had a purpose or if they existed to make the scanner seem more fun, but A) that seems like a dumb question, and B) my sense of humor gets misinterpreted a lot and I am too prideful to seem dumb in front of anyone.

So for like 10-15 minutes, someone took pictures of each of my teeth, ("Wow, you have a LOT of teeth!") while it blew air into my mouth. Sounds fun, right?

While my jaw was a little sore after, it really was an easy process, more time-consuming than anything.

And now I wait. In 2ish weeks I have another appointment for some more consulting about getting teeth pulled and all that other fun stuff. Plus I think I'll get to see the video of how they want my teeth to look in the end. I feel like I might die from waiting so long but I guess I do want it to be done exactly right, so I will deal.

See you in a couple weeks!

Sincerely, a slightly less nervous and slightly more optimistic Stacie

*The scanner doesn't look like this, I promise

Recommended Listening:
Death Dream - Frightened Rabbit