As the days wore on the flowers started to droop, but in my opinion, that’s when they became more photographically interesting.  I really liked how the petals started to stick out in all directions and create new and interesting shapes.

This image was focus stacked and then cleaned up in GIMP…

Focus stacked with 6 photos

And because I think seeing a ‘before’ shot allows you to see why you would put in the time to do focus stacking, here is the first photo of the six that were stacked…

First photo of 6 to be stacked [Canon Rebel T2i, 180mm f/3.5L Macro lens – f/4 1s 100iso]

 Status Update

If you have been reading my blog the last few weeks you may remember that I mentioned that I was going to get some BIG dentist stuff done shortly and that I was looking forward to my new smile.  Well that BIG dentist appointment was yesterday….

Holy Crap Novocaine hurts!!!!  Well the initial needle in each place does anyway — I’d forgotten just how bad shots hurt. Man oh Man.  And let me tell you, I had to chant in my head, “Beautiful Teeth, Beautiful Smile” while they were drilling away to keep myself from freaking the hell out.  I think the meditation I’ve been doing helped, but wow did I really volunteer for that traumatic event?!

I think that was the worst of it, I go back in two weeks and I’m hoping there won’t be more Novocaine, but there might be, I should have asked.  Maybe I’ll call tomorrow and inquire, just so I can prepare myself.

As to the ‘WHAT’ did they do… I cracked my two front teeth when I was a kid, and unfortunately for me they were my permanent teeth… so for the majority of my life I’ve had cracked front teeth with a composite-type filling on them.  For years they looked just fine, but the last few years the composite was starting to erode down and I just didn’t like my smile anymore (I was really self conscious of those two teeth).  Well since I cracked them I did have a root canal on one of them back when I was a kid too, so one of them was always a little off color wise.  Anyway, I finally got up the nerve, after several years of avoiding it, to call up a dentist and make that appointment to have my front teeth repaired again.

On the consultation visit (two weeks ago), I was told that the root canal would have to be redone as well because there was still stuff in the canal.  In addition, I needed work on three molars, one was chipped because I apparently grind my teeth in my sleep and the other two were cavities along the gum line (one was a cavity where the filling had fallen out years ago and needed to be repaired).  And there were a few other suggestions that I’ll probably do in future appointments.  But for now those 5 teeth are the ones I’m talking about now.  So my two front teeth, one molar on each side on the bottom, and one molar on the top…

Five teeth, that means 5 shots, plus I ended up getting a few more throughout the procedure because they wore off and I was starting to feel the drilling.  I lost count of the shots actually, but the initial injection of each was REALLY painful.

After 3 hours, I had a repaired root canal, two temporary crowns on my front teeth and three filled in molars.. a VERY sore jaw, and a numb face (mostly my lips — my tongue had regained awareness sometime during the 3 hours), even my nose was numb.

Can I just say I LOVE technology?  Whenever they took a break to get set up for the next procedure, they would set my chair upright and I’d grab my phone and text my husband.  It was so comforting knowing that he was just a keystroke away (even though he was out of town and several hours by plane away).

I had my prescriptions for pain medication and antibiotic by noon yesterday, and that pain medication was NEEDED!  I found out quickly that room temperature liquid, preferably water, was my friend.  At first, I ate little snack packs of applesauce at room temperature, then I moved on to room temperature cream of wheat… today I ate a wheat flour tortilla with margarine really slowly to help with the queasiness I was feeling this morning.  Then on to blended potato soup (something I premade for myself in anticipation of my jaw hurting) – still at a much lower temp than I would normally eat it.  And currently I’m embarking on pasta and broccoli (again at a much lower temp than usual).  I’ve reduced my pain medication significantly and hope to not need it after tonight, but will continue the antibiotic through the end of a week as prescribed.

Overall, I’m amazed at how resilient my body is… I mean lets face it I’m not a kid anymore and I’m no longer bulletproof, I tend to take longer to heal.  But I think the greens I was eating the last few weeks really helped me recover faster.

Was it worth it?  Well the temporary crowns look better than my teeth looked upon going in yesterday, and I’m told that the permanent crowns are going to look really great… so yeah I think so, but I don’t think I really was prepared for the voluntary trauma and I’m glad I didn’t have nightmares last night.  Would I do it again, yes, I think I would.  The scary part for me before going in was that crowns are a point of no return… my front teeth are now stubs, and if I didn’t like the crowns I was screwed.  I’m hopeful that since the temporary crowns look pretty good that the permanent ones will look really good.  I’ll let you know in about two weeks. 😀  In the meantime, I’m going to continue to get plenty of rest & water, and to slowly reintroduce myself to foods that require chewing.

TLDR;

1. No matter how prepared you think you are for major dentistry, you probably aren’t
2. Novocaine shots hurt!
3. Meditation, chanting in your head, and remembering to relax and breathe are vital to not freaking the hell out during the procedure.
4. Technology is awesome, texting loved ones during procedure breaks can really calm you down.
5. Pain medicine is very helpful!
6. When the swelling and pain subsides, you have a lovely smile, and a healthier mouth. 😀

Until next time…
~nic