Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2021-12-09 07:34 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2021-12-09 07:34 pm
Entry tags:
Heat Pump! (Again.) Also teeth.
On Monday, the mini-split head above my desk stopped blowing air, closed the vent, and started flashing its power light. I went to the manual. The manual said that I should go to the external unit and make sure that nothing was impeding the fan. I requested Belovedest to go do that when they got home (but then went out myself and took a look). Neither of us saw anything Wrong. So Belovedest went downstairs and turned it off and back on again at the breaker, and the heads started blowing again.
That night, about 4 am (I noticed, because I was Awake due to my body deciding to have Opinions about something) the mini-split in the bedroom closed its vent and started blinking. I said a few words to myself (quietly) and requested that when Belovedest saw this in the house chat in the morning, that they please go ahead and Call The Professionals. Because when something happens once and the easy remediation is to reboot, go ahead and reboot. If it happens twice, right after you've rebooted, it's time to ask an expert. Especially if it's a Heckin' Expensive System that was just installed.
So that was Tuesday morning, and Wednesday afternoon a tech showed up. He made sure that it had not been caused by someone having set their system to Cool Mode while all the others were in Heat. While I admit that thought had crossed my mind because of a coincidence of timing (Alex having recently got out of a too-hot bath before the first evening blink), I was only vaguely inclined to wonder the first time -- but I'd poked my head in and *checked* and theirs was blinking too and I am pretty sure I asked if they'd recently done a thing -- but I was extremely confident that Alex had not done a thing *again* at four the fuck in the morning with no light under their door.
Having confirmed that all the remotes were set to Heat, and Alex hadn't so much as rolled down the cover to get at the advanced settings, our dude went outside to reset it with the emergency reset entity (also for non-emergency use when we do not want to go down the basement and Disturb the Catte) and see what he could find.
What he found (after fucking around out there and also putting a temperature probe on the vents of the big head and the head in our bedroom, and petting Escape Calico and telling her she was beautiful) was that we'd had an (outdoor) Leak! So there was not enough refrigerant in the system, the heads were never getting up to temperature, and it was shutting down. Woe! So he was going to fiddle with the flares and make sure they were tightened down and the system would hold a vacuum.
After Some Time, and it had grown fully dark, I ventured outside with a pair of mitten heaters. He had just been on the receiving end of some refrigerant spray, and was Having Emotions about that as I approached. We chatted a little, he happily accepted the pocket warmers, and I went back inside. Belovedest arrived home.
The upshot: the tech will present his findings to the company, it's within warranty, and someone should give Belovedest a call so a daylight expedition to inspect all sixteen flares between the heads (four per head) can be mounted.
And then teeth.
Part 1:
so the other day I poked my tongue around to near where the healing place from the molar removal was, and I found what I thought was a blister: small, rounded, painful when touched. I poked it with a finger and discovered that it was not a blister. It felt hard and poky. So, back to the dentist with me.
Getting the angle right to look at was really something, as it was in the very back of my mouth, upper side, facing my cheek. Once they got that set up, though...
It was in fact what I thought it was! A bone chip! The dentist (not my usual at this practice which is Belovedest's usual, but her husband) said we could wait and watch for a couple months to see if it came out on its own, or he could dive in there right then and he could remove it; same cost to me ($0) because it was clearly a side effect from my recent procedure with them. I of course opted to work for it Right Now.
I was prepared for many of the things. I have in fact used tweezers to pluck an emerging bone shard out of another part of my gums. This was vaguely horrifying. I was numbed. There was slicing. There was prodding.
"All right, I'll just file this down a little so you maybe won't get any more," the dentist said cheerfully, or words to that effect. And there was filing and scraping. On my literal skull bone. What the actual hell. My. Skull. Filing. Down. My. Skull. WTF.
Gyaaaahhhhh.
That part is now healing up fine.
Part 2:
Impending Surgery
So earlier this year I had a cleaning on my upper left quadrant. That got close to a crown in my upper right quadrant. That neighboring tooth started wiggling, which was extremely distressing. I went to Belovedest's dentist, because at that point I had two crowns that were fucked up and my usual (apple care) dentist Does Not Touch Crowns.
Dentist B said that she would open it up and take a look, but either they would be able to cement it back into place or they would not be able to. They pulled the crown off the stub and discovered that the tooth underneath, where the post was seated, was starting to go. So at this point, she said, there were a number of options but we would have to get an oral surgeon involved and my best bet was going to be an implant.
That was back in October, I think. And the next appointment for a consultation with the oral surgeon was ... December! *jazz hands*
In the interim, I managed to pull the temporary crown and the post entirely out. On a Skratch Labs power bar, which I was eating because I needed breakfast before shopping and it sounded both edible and Safe. While Belovedest was on a Zoom call withjenett. They cemented it in more securely, so at least it's not wiggling.
So I saw the oral surgeon today. They did some imaging (first round was standing, second round was seated and god damn that machine was not built for either seated people or fat people) and talked about options. Fortunately, enough people around me have been through the implant process that I am generally well informed about it.
I looked over the costs. I winced.
The only appointment they had left this month is ... Tuesday! *even more jazz hands*
They are not going to try and sedate me. This means I can drive myself. Since my pain tolerance in my mouth is Not Good, they will likely send me home with a prescription for afterwards. They'll give me antibiotics on account of they'll be messing around in some very delicate places and you really don't want an infection there, kthx.
Upon getting out, I called my dentist (B), because they wanted to know when my surgery would be so they can make "The Appliance" so I will be able to go around and smile at people. Not that I'm showing my face in public these days! A couple rounds of phone tag later, I was just pulling in to a parking space at the mall when Dentist B's office called back and asked if I could come in Right Now to get the impression done. Why yes, yes I could. And it was less than ten minutes later that I zoomed upstairs and checked in with the receptionists and chatted about How Things Were Going. And then I was back with one of the assistants doing the mold, chatting merrily away. He's getting his thirteen-year-old daughter AirPods this year, because she didn't lose the inexpensive (relatively) cordless ones from last year. Much to his surprise. We finished the cast. He turned aside to grab the samples for shade matching, and turned back to find me "smiling" with my top lip drawn up.
He was not expecting that in the slightest, and cracked up laughing. I did as well. But that is the general position they want your lips in for shade matching, right? ? ?? :D
It was the end of the day. We're all a bit punchy.
I get to pick up The Appliance on Monday afternoon. Surgery is Tuesday morning.
So. Argh.
This portion of the program is going to cost upwards of $1500 after counting in the retainer-thing. So it is crowdfunding time. (This is with two forms of insurance, but replacing a front upper tooth is apparently a luxury item in this fucking country.)
We are still somewhat financially overextended from October's portion of this nonsense, which hit the FSA and a card that's still getting paid down. We're fed and housed and such, and Mama is helping, but if anyone happens to have some spare change kicking around that is not for food and housing and medical, I would appreciate some help. My PayPal is azurelunatic at gmail. (I also have a venmo linked to a private address.)
That night, about 4 am (I noticed, because I was Awake due to my body deciding to have Opinions about something) the mini-split in the bedroom closed its vent and started blinking. I said a few words to myself (quietly) and requested that when Belovedest saw this in the house chat in the morning, that they please go ahead and Call The Professionals. Because when something happens once and the easy remediation is to reboot, go ahead and reboot. If it happens twice, right after you've rebooted, it's time to ask an expert. Especially if it's a Heckin' Expensive System that was just installed.
So that was Tuesday morning, and Wednesday afternoon a tech showed up. He made sure that it had not been caused by someone having set their system to Cool Mode while all the others were in Heat. While I admit that thought had crossed my mind because of a coincidence of timing (Alex having recently got out of a too-hot bath before the first evening blink), I was only vaguely inclined to wonder the first time -- but I'd poked my head in and *checked* and theirs was blinking too and I am pretty sure I asked if they'd recently done a thing -- but I was extremely confident that Alex had not done a thing *again* at four the fuck in the morning with no light under their door.
Having confirmed that all the remotes were set to Heat, and Alex hadn't so much as rolled down the cover to get at the advanced settings, our dude went outside to reset it with the emergency reset entity (also for non-emergency use when we do not want to go down the basement and Disturb the Catte) and see what he could find.
What he found (after fucking around out there and also putting a temperature probe on the vents of the big head and the head in our bedroom, and petting Escape Calico and telling her she was beautiful) was that we'd had an (outdoor) Leak! So there was not enough refrigerant in the system, the heads were never getting up to temperature, and it was shutting down. Woe! So he was going to fiddle with the flares and make sure they were tightened down and the system would hold a vacuum.
After Some Time, and it had grown fully dark, I ventured outside with a pair of mitten heaters. He had just been on the receiving end of some refrigerant spray, and was Having Emotions about that as I approached. We chatted a little, he happily accepted the pocket warmers, and I went back inside. Belovedest arrived home.
The upshot: the tech will present his findings to the company, it's within warranty, and someone should give Belovedest a call so a daylight expedition to inspect all sixteen flares between the heads (four per head) can be mounted.
And then teeth.
Part 1:
so the other day I poked my tongue around to near where the healing place from the molar removal was, and I found what I thought was a blister: small, rounded, painful when touched. I poked it with a finger and discovered that it was not a blister. It felt hard and poky. So, back to the dentist with me.
Getting the angle right to look at was really something, as it was in the very back of my mouth, upper side, facing my cheek. Once they got that set up, though...
It was in fact what I thought it was! A bone chip! The dentist (not my usual at this practice which is Belovedest's usual, but her husband) said we could wait and watch for a couple months to see if it came out on its own, or he could dive in there right then and he could remove it; same cost to me ($0) because it was clearly a side effect from my recent procedure with them. I of course opted to work for it Right Now.
I was prepared for many of the things. I have in fact used tweezers to pluck an emerging bone shard out of another part of my gums. This was vaguely horrifying. I was numbed. There was slicing. There was prodding.
"All right, I'll just file this down a little so you maybe won't get any more," the dentist said cheerfully, or words to that effect. And there was filing and scraping. On my literal skull bone. What the actual hell. My. Skull. Filing. Down. My. Skull. WTF.
Gyaaaahhhhh.
That part is now healing up fine.
Part 2:
Impending Surgery
So earlier this year I had a cleaning on my upper left quadrant. That got close to a crown in my upper right quadrant. That neighboring tooth started wiggling, which was extremely distressing. I went to Belovedest's dentist, because at that point I had two crowns that were fucked up and my usual (apple care) dentist Does Not Touch Crowns.
Dentist B said that she would open it up and take a look, but either they would be able to cement it back into place or they would not be able to. They pulled the crown off the stub and discovered that the tooth underneath, where the post was seated, was starting to go. So at this point, she said, there were a number of options but we would have to get an oral surgeon involved and my best bet was going to be an implant.
That was back in October, I think. And the next appointment for a consultation with the oral surgeon was ... December! *jazz hands*
In the interim, I managed to pull the temporary crown and the post entirely out. On a Skratch Labs power bar, which I was eating because I needed breakfast before shopping and it sounded both edible and Safe. While Belovedest was on a Zoom call with
jenett. They cemented it in more securely, so at least it's not wiggling. So I saw the oral surgeon today. They did some imaging (first round was standing, second round was seated and god damn that machine was not built for either seated people or fat people) and talked about options. Fortunately, enough people around me have been through the implant process that I am generally well informed about it.
I looked over the costs. I winced.
The only appointment they had left this month is ... Tuesday! *even more jazz hands*
They are not going to try and sedate me. This means I can drive myself. Since my pain tolerance in my mouth is Not Good, they will likely send me home with a prescription for afterwards. They'll give me antibiotics on account of they'll be messing around in some very delicate places and you really don't want an infection there, kthx.
Upon getting out, I called my dentist (B), because they wanted to know when my surgery would be so they can make "The Appliance" so I will be able to go around and smile at people. Not that I'm showing my face in public these days! A couple rounds of phone tag later, I was just pulling in to a parking space at the mall when Dentist B's office called back and asked if I could come in Right Now to get the impression done. Why yes, yes I could. And it was less than ten minutes later that I zoomed upstairs and checked in with the receptionists and chatted about How Things Were Going. And then I was back with one of the assistants doing the mold, chatting merrily away. He's getting his thirteen-year-old daughter AirPods this year, because she didn't lose the inexpensive (relatively) cordless ones from last year. Much to his surprise. We finished the cast. He turned aside to grab the samples for shade matching, and turned back to find me "smiling" with my top lip drawn up.
He was not expecting that in the slightest, and cracked up laughing. I did as well. But that is the general position they want your lips in for shade matching, right? ? ?? :D
It was the end of the day. We're all a bit punchy.
I get to pick up The Appliance on Monday afternoon. Surgery is Tuesday morning.
So. Argh.
This portion of the program is going to cost upwards of $1500 after counting in the retainer-thing. So it is crowdfunding time. (This is with two forms of insurance, but replacing a front upper tooth is apparently a luxury item in this fucking country.)
We are still somewhat financially overextended from October's portion of this nonsense, which hit the FSA and a card that's still getting paid down. We're fed and housed and such, and Mama is helping, but if anyone happens to have some spare change kicking around that is not for food and housing and medical, I would appreciate some help. My PayPal is azurelunatic at gmail. (I also have a venmo linked to a private address.)