off retainer
. . . Well, shit. Goddammit. I lost my retainers this morning. Put them, stupidly, into my hoodie pocket for the bike ride down to the dentist's office—which had to be rescheduled from May because they were closed at the time due to COVID-19. Had this fucking pandemic not been going on, that dentist appointment would have just been a stop on the way to the office, in which case I would have carried the retainers in my shoulder bag as I have always done in the past, and this would not have happened. Instead, thinking I did not need the bag, I just put the retainers (inside their case) in my right-front hoodie pocket. It was the last I saw of them, realizing they were gone only once I was called back to the chair where I had my cleaning.
Seventeen years now, I had managed to keep those damned retainers without losing them. That in itself is an accomplishment, almost a miracle. Granted, I virtually never took them away from home: if I went on a trip, I did not take them. Pretty much the only time I took them out of the condo was when I took them to the dentist's office to ask them to clean them. Which was my intent today.
I should maybe have known better regarding the security of that pocket, but I'm still going to go ahead and blame COVID-19 on this. It wouldn't have happened if not for this fucking pandemic!
As it turns out, it was five years ago [same link] that I last went to see my orthodontist, to see if I needed to replace the retainers after one of the wires dislodged but which I could still always put back into place to fit over my teeth. The guy told me then that I didn't really need to replace them just yet. So, I guess you could also say: they were kind of falling apart anyway.
There's a lot of downsides, though. A replacement five years ago would have cost me $250. It will probably cost me more than that now. Gateway Dental has since moved their location from Seattle Municipal Tower—I used to love their views from the 16th floor—to the ground level on the 2nd Avenue side of Wells Fargo Center, and I only discovered today, they no longer share the same office space with that orthodontist. And when I called them after I got back to ask about getting a replacement retainer, I was told the orthodontist they had to refer me to was not open. I should call back and get clarification: not open just today, or not open at all yet due to COVID-19?
I looked up orthodontists closer to me, found one that appeared to be open, but still had to leave a voice mail, and I have not heard back. This is all very annoying, because my understanding is that I should not go too long at all without using the retainers or else my teeth will start moving again. I don't want that fucking five grand I spent out of pocket in 1999 to go to waste. I need to preserve my Five Thousand Dollar Smile!
I was a tiny bit freaked out by that dentist's appointment, by the way. It meant I would be spending an hour indoors where there were plenty of other people, which I have not done since March, excepting Shobhit—who has been working full time at indoor retail all along. Now, to be fair, everyone at the dentist's office was wearing a mask . . . with the very odd exception of one man who came out to the front desk briefly and I assumed to be one of the dentists there. What the fuck was up with that? Oh, and there were two other patients waiting in the waiting room, one of whom kept lowering his mask to reveal his mouth any time he spoke to the receptionist. And at one time he just kept it lowered for several minutes while filling out his paperwork. That man was a moron.
Now, chances are my risk of exposure was still rather low. Granted, the extra PPE on the hygienists was clearly meant to protect them, in a place where by definition the patients, at least while in the chairs, had to keep their mouths uncovered. And that was what I kept thinking about: what about these many patients, all of them in there with no masks on? In retrospect, in their defense, I don't think they had patients in any chair space right next to each other, and every chair was already separated by a chair partition. My hygienist had on two layers of face masks which were themselves under a plastic face shield. I kind of wish I had all of that to wear.
That said, it's probably for the best that Laney's and my Happy Hour this evening is still via Skype. Last month we talked about meeting at a park outside and social distanced, or even at the table in the common area outside her apartment at her building, when we met again for Happy Hour this month. But, we had no idea then that infection rates would be spiking again—including in Washington State—and when Laney texted this morning to confirm Happy Hour via Skype, I chose not to say anything about the in-person idea, and just confirmed. It's best to be cautious, and from my end especially for two reasons: Shobhit and I hung out with Danielle and her kids for the Fourth of July last Saturday (social distanced and never in the house, but still); and again, my dentist appointment this morning. I'd feel better about seeing Laney in person again if both of those things were at least two weeks in the past, especially since she is in her sixties, and is a heart attack survivor, both of which put her in higher-risk categories.
Anyway. Should I tell you anything about last night? I made grilled cheese sandwiches and salad, both of them very good. Shobhit and I watched a few episodes of Designing Women, also pretty good. I rented the Chris Fairbanks comedy special online and watched that while making the dinner before Shobhit got home from work. I also made chai, and even though I drank it before 7:00, I am still blaming it for my not getting to sleep until nearly midnight. I'm glad today is my off day for exercising. Although I did ride my bike to the dentist and back.
Speaking of which, they did put the requisite fluoride covering on my teeth. She didn't say anything this time about not having anything hot to drink for X amount of time, but I looked it up when I got home, and it says minimum four hours, preferably six. That took me to 1:00! And I wanted my London Fog Tea Latte. I just went ahead and made it at 11:00. Who cares? Is that going to fuck up my teeth? I mean, fuck it!
[posted 12:45 pm]