A Young Wife’s Tale

David and I became active on his company’s health insurance Saturday. We had been on the contract company’s health insurance, and the last two months we were on COBRA. I’m really happy to be on the new insurance. The benefits are a lot better.

Now we just need our insurance cards. David’s out of a few prescriptions, and I’m anxious to get on the health insurance company’s website to search for a new rheumatologist.

There’s a couple at our church here in New Jersey with a daughter who has multiple health problems, including lupus, seizures and a form of arthritis. As it turns out, they took her to David’s rheumatologist, the one who doesn’t think he has psoriatic arthritis.

A few months ago, we decided to workout together at Maegan’s gym. I rarely do cardio. I like my low impact Pilates. I arrived at her place and we chatted for a few minutes while I raided her pantry because I can’t workout on an empty stomach. Then, we drove to the gym. We went to the front desk to get a guest pass and realized that they were closing in 12 minutes.

So, what did we do? We ran upstairs and used the elliptical machines for 10 minutes. When we left I decided I really needed to eat dinner, so we stopped at Chic-fil-A.

Once I hit the exit ramp, the car started shaking really bad. The back door has a terrible habit of not closing all the way, and I thought that the exit had knocked it open. It felt like maybe the speed and wind were dragging it. So, I’m on the exit ramp. I pull over to the right shoulder. I get out and slam the back door hard. I get back in and pull forward five feet and realize it wasn’t the door. I could smell rubber.

Here’s a picture of me wearing my night guard. It doesn’t prevent me from clenching or grinding my teeth, but it minimizes the damage.

It started when I was in college. My jaw would just lock up and I wouldn’t be able to move my mouth. It started happening more and more frequently and for greater lengths of time. Then I started having a little pain. I went to my dentist who made me a night guard.

I got worse. The pain became so bad that it was difficult to eat things like sandwiches, pizza, steak, apples, carrots and anything you have to bite in to. My parents’ health insurance did not cover any treatment of TMJ Disorder, so every doctor visit and even the night guard they paid for out of pocket.