Category: Health

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Blogging Health

My Deep-Cleaned Teeth

♫ All I want for Christmas is my deep-cleaned teeth.
My deep-cleaned teeth. See my deep-cleaned teeth.
Gee if I could only have my deep-cleaned teeth.
Then I could wish you Merry Christmas ! ♫

Happy Thursday December 17TH 2020 my friends. Christmas Day is just 8 days away. Next Thursday here on my blog I’m bringing back a Christmas classic – “The Legend Of Fluffy The Manx Cat”. Meanwhile on this Thursday let me share with you my experience with a deep-cleaning of my teeth. It’s my unintentional Christmas gift to myself. (I’m glad I have dental insurance.)

A couple of weeks ago I went in to my longtime Dentist’s office for my annual exam (with x-rays). I also hoped to get my chipped bottom tooth filled-in during that same appointment. (I had chipped-it while eating popcorn about 3 months earlier.) The x-rays were done all around, and then the Lead Dentist entered the room for the visual exam. After a minute or two she declared that my teeth were too dirty for a proper exam, and then she sort of scolded her team of hygienists for scheduling the exam without first doing a cleaning. (My last cleaning was 2 months earlier.)

So we scheduled 2 follow-up appointments for 2 weeks later (which was this week). 2 quadrants would be deep-cleaned on Monday, and the other 2 quadrants would be deep-cleaned on Tuesday. My chipped tooth would be filled-in following the first deep-cleaning.

I couldn’t remember, and they really had no records of me ever getting a deep-cleaning of my teeth. (It may have been sometime in the 1990s. LOL)

I’ve been going in for regular cleanings every 3, 4, or 6 months over the past 25 years or so. Apparently there’s a big difference between regular cleanings and deep-cleanings (formally known as “periodontal scaling and root planing with gingival irrigation”), and I now know that – having gone through the complete experience. My favorite part was the anesthesia which was injected with a needle-like instrument directly into the inner-cheek of my mouth to numb it. It numbed very quickly, and I felt little to no pain while my dental hygienist went to work deep-cleaning my teeth by quadrant.

The numbness lasted for about 2½ to 3 hours after injection, so that was a weird feeling around my mouth until it wore off. I had to wait for that to happen before I could eat, drink, or shave. I was almost talking like a ventriloquist as well – barely moving my lips. LOL.

I think the deep-cleaning was really more for my gums rather than my teeth. Hopefully any developing gum disease is curtailed, and it starts retreating. I’d like to keep my full set of 32 teeth for another 25 or 30 years.

Oh yeah – I forgot this part. My Dentist asked me if I knew that I still had my wisdom teeth intact. YES – I knew. I never had them removed because they have never bothered me before, and they still don’t bother me. She recommended that I consider removing them in the future. That was before she discovered that I am 53-years-old. That astonished her. She thought I was in my 20s or 30s. Really ? Teenagers get their wisdom teeth removed – not near senior citizens !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Advertising Blogging Health Life

Shingles

About 4 weeks ago I got my first flu shot in about 28 years. My last flu shot was done during my final 6 months on Active Duty in the U.S. Military. Since then I’d decided not to get an annual flu shot, as I’d only experienced a couple of flus during my entire adult life. Of course this year COVID changed everything, and I decided to get a flu shot.

When I arrived at my local pharmacy for my free flu shot (actually they gave me $10 to get it) – the pharmacist asked me if I had received the Shingles vaccine. I had not, but as a 53-year-old watching all of those television commercials on the Shingles vaccine (some of them amusing) I had been contemplating it for a few years.

So before I got my free flu shot in my right arm I got my free Shingles (Shingrix) vaccine in my left arm. I walked out completely vaccinated-up. Surely there would be no side effects …

The listed side effects for the Shingles vaccine are as follows: “a sore arm with mild or moderate pain”, “redness and swelling at the site of the injection”, “tiredness, muscle pain, headache, shivering, fever, stomach pain, and nausea”. (These side effects affect more than half of the people who receive the vaccine.)

The listed side effects for the Influenza vaccine are as follows: “soreness, redness, and swelling where shot is given, fever, muscle aches, and headache”.

So I got the double-shot of vaccines late on a Friday morning, and by that afternoon I got the sore arm with mild to moderate pain. No redness. No swelling. I got tired. I had muscle pain. I got a mild headache. By that night I was shivering. It was generally a sleepless night. (I never got the stomach pain or nausea.) The side effects continued all day on Saturday into Saturday night. I actually slept really good on Saturday night into Sunday morning. When I awoke all of the side effects had subsided, and in fact I was no longer shivering – but sweating. The sweating continued for a few hours, and then it too was gone. I had about 48 hours of side effects, and then I was back to normal.

I’ll take those side effects over getting Shingles over the next several decades or the flu this season. The Shingles vaccine is actually done in two doses. My 2ND dose will be in February.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Driving Health Travel Weather

Miles

I’m currently on-track to drive just a little over 300 miles this month for the 3RD month in a row. That’s an improvement over April and May (during the peak of the pandemic) when I drove a mere 120 miles and 173 miles respectively. The anomaly months since the pandemic began were June and July when I drove 1,175 miles and 1,227 miles respectively. (Of course I also drove to and from South Alabama while on vacation.)

I’ll finish 2020 with less than 6,500 miles driven – well below my 2015 to 2019 annual average of over 10,200 miles.

I hope to get back to driving in a more normal year in 2021 with a few fun road-trips in the mix. I may also drive almost 3,000 miles to and from North Texas next November. I usually do so every 2 to 3 years, and I last did so last year.

And now for a different type of miles – my walking miles as per my Fitbit. In 2019 I averaged 17.27 miles per week. In 2020 I’m down to an average of 14.95 miles per week. I need to get more exercise in by walking more. I also need for it to cool down a bit here in South Florida. We typically drop into the 60s (20°C and below) in the morning for the first time in 5+ months in late-October / early-November once our 7-month dry season becomes fully entrenched. Once we start feeling the 60s I can get out early in the morning and walk around my neighborhood or drive down to the city park and walk laps around the asphalt track.

It’s all about moving from here to there whether it’s on 4 wheels or 2 feet. It’s all about the miles.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Driving Health Home Life Travel

Spring Season Finale

Greetings my friends. Thanks for checking-in and tracking with me. Happy Thursday June 18TH 2020. It’s the start of another weekend of blogging here at #CountUp – because weekends begin on Thursday mornings. This weekend is special though, as it’s my “Spring Season Finale” (hence the title). What does that mean ? That means it’s time to take a break from social media after 15½ weekends of non-stop blogging and 63 posts in a row.

This Spring season of blogging began on Sunday March 08TH 2020 – just as the global pandemic was gaining steam and forcing us into seclusion in our own homes. I had just returned from a Pastors’ conference of 5,000+ strong in Orlando as well as a MercyMe / Jeremy Camp concert in a packed sports arena near Fort Myers.

This past Monday and Tuesday I drove 21 and 22 miles respectively (to and from my workplace). That 22 miles was (incredibly) the most miles driven in a single day in over 3 months. I actually filled-up my car with gas that day for the first time in 50 days. I had previously gone 48 days between fill-ups.

This past Tuesday was also a rare 3-mile walking day for me (as per my Fitbit). It was the first one in over a month, and only the 9TH one since the global pandemic began. (3 miles is a little over 6,500 steps for me.)

So once this weekend is over I’ll be walking more, I’ll be driving more, and I’ll be getting more natural Vitamin D – outdoors. I’ll be driving about 1,700 miles (round-trip) after this weekend. That’s about the number of miles I’ve driven since February 01ST 2020 ! I’ll share the details with you when I return after the 04TH of July. #RoadTrip

But this weekend is just getting started. I’ll be back tomorrow (Friday) for an all-new RETRO from 2000. On Sunday I’ll share God’s Word with you. And then on Monday it’s my brand new Top 10 music chart. After that I’ll be on hiatus for almost 2 weeks.

I’ll catch you tomorrow. Have a great Thursday !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries