With the Invisalign treatment, there’s an additional pouch that I needed to bring every time we went out. It may take up space especially if my bag is small. It was a hassle at first, but it got better as it became a habit. The first few days of wearing the Invisalign, I kept thinking of just settling my meals at home. But of course, that’s just a wishful thinking because eventually I will still have to head out and experience the inevitable.
Here’s what my pouch contains:
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Dental floss
Mouth wash
Rubber bands (for my Invisalign treatment)
Invisalign casing
I have consulted a few friends who did braces in the past, and somehow all of them did the traditional metal braces. The advice I was given was to bring a bottle of mouthwash, in case the public toilet isn’t ideal for brushing my teeth. At least with the mouthwash, I can do a quick rinse and wear my Invisalign back. It indeed was very good advice as it did happen to me at the local coffee shop and hawker center.
Somehow, most public toilets I went to were clean enough to brush my teeth. It was awkward at first as my very first experience was at the Singapore Zoo. A young girl, around primary school age, kept staring at me when I started flossing my teeth and brushing. It was a very uncomfortable situation but I try to take it that kids are just being curious at why I’m doing this in a public place.
Initially, I thought the frequent visits to the toilet before and after meals would be a hassle, but it wasn’t. I started the Invisalign journey with the mindset of having better dental hygiene and the trouble would be worth it. I have seen myself flossing often and brushing my teeth as best as I could. Not that I didn’t brush well previously, but I just want to make sure what I’m doing now doesn’t cause any teeth issues like decay.
My experience thus far has been good. Getting the hang of this new habit and ignoring everybody’s stares. Overseas experience coming soon in the year 2024. Wonder how it will be considering there’s street food to eat.
Finally back from a month-long holiday and I’m ready to start my Invisalign journey! The first thing on my to-do list was to extract two upper wisdom teeth. My upper row of teeth is a little crowded and the wisdom had to go. As I looked forward to my extraction appointment in excitement, I was actually a little scared because of my dentist’s phobia.
I was thankful that my appointment was 10 am in the morning and I got to rest the entire day after I’m back home. The dentist and her assistant were nice as they calmed me and assured me everything would be fine before, during, and after the procedure. They helped make my experience less traumatizing considering I had a bad experience visiting the dentist.
The whole extraction procedure went smoothly and faster than I expected. In a few minutes, I was out and ready to head home to rest for the day. I didn’t feel any pain till the numbness wore off. It was a little stinging pain for a while and that’s it. I didn’t need any painkillers and I’m back to eating normally.
17 October – Invisalign Day!
The day I have been looking forward to finally arrived. The usual cleaning of my teeth with Dr Jessica before we started with the Invisalign fitting. It was a little longer than I expected. But everything went well as she updated me on what she was doing during the procedure.
I have two little metal to hook the rubber bands on my Invisalign. I also have some little bumps on my teeth in order for the aligners to hold on tight while I wear them for a minimum of 22 hours a day! The only time I took it off will be during meal times.
Received a total of 59 sets of Invisalign. Was given a schedule to change a new set of Invisalign each week. It will last till 19th December, and I’m guessing they’ll give me a new schedule after that. I’ve forgotten to ask, will do so during my next appointment if I ever remember.
Wearing it for the first day was a little uncomfortable. My teeth felt tight and constrained in the little aligners. My Jaw was a little sore, not sure if it’s from the Invisalign or that my mouth was opened for quite a while during the dentist visit. Removing it by myself at home for the first time for dinner took me a long time. I stood by the sink and was trying to pry open the Invisalign. I get a little frustrated when it doesn’t want to come off. But was a relief when I managed to remove them.
It was difficult to chew on my food now with all the little bumps and metal rods in my teeth. It felt weird and I was scared I broke something. Thankfully Dear was understanding of my plight, and we’ve been having smaller pieces and softer meat as I slowly get used to my new routine.
I don’t really floss my teeth, but now I have to start a regular habit. After every meal, I was told to floss and brush my teeth. And for the first time in my life, I’m flossing and brushing my teeth more times a day! I have yet to head out for a meal, probably will write an entry about my eating out experience soon.
Oh, I was given Invisalign’s very own casing to keep my aligners properly when I remove them during meal times! The whole thing looked damn high class can!
After dinner, we both head home with our new purchases from Decathlon, we arrived home with a piece of bad news. My father contracted covid from work. Being anxious as we’re about to have our long-awaited vacation on Royal Caribbean’s cruise to nowhere, we both did an ART test at home.
The wait for the results was faster than we thought, and I’m the lucky one to join my father. Dear’s results were negative but she decided to stay with me instead. And so, the self-isolation in our room starts.
Informing close contacts & cancel work appointments
The next step after self-isolation in our room, we had to inform our close contacts that we’d met the past few days. Of course, everyone panicked and did their own ART test. Thankfully, their tests all came back negative, however, I did tell them to monitor their health for the next few days.
Canceled all my upcoming work appointments and apologized for the last-minute changes. Thankful that my customers were understanding of my situation and all wished me a speedy recovery. Will contact them again when I’m better or after my 7 days of isolation to reschedule their fur kid’s appointments. They told me to take it as a break from work and I deserve the rest I needed.
Rescheduled Activities
Checked with Royal Caribbean and was told that we needed to at least recovered from covid 10 days before boarding. And so we had to cancel and wait to rebook our next trip.
For our fishing trip which we used our Rediscover voucher to book, Klook didn’t allow rescheduling, only cancellation, and no refund will be given. Since we’ve been looking forward to the trip, we decided to try our luck and contact the fishing organizer directly. Thankfully, they allowed us to reschedule after knowing and understanding our situation.
Eat, Sleep & Repeat
Self-isolation was just repeating eating and sleeping. For the first four days since I tested positive, I had been sleeping a lot. Only waking up for meals though I didn’t have much appetite. For Dear, she was monitoring her health as she was a close contact. Tested ourselves again after 72 hours from the first test, I was still positive while Dear got a negative result.
During my recovery, I was shivering but thankfully no fever. So I hid under my blanket, then I got warm and started to sweat. Since I was sick, I thought why not just sweat it all out. Maybe I could sweat out the covid. Despite being warm under the blanket, I decided to just get this over and done with to get myself to sweat out as much as I could. I did feel slightly better but not fully well.
I couldn’t remember which day was it, I got giddy in the morning after my toilet break. While I was resting on my bed, I got up quickly and rushed to the toilet. Yes, I vomited. Though nothing much came out since I haven’t eaten anything, somehow I felt even better. Curious, I went online to check, some covid patients do experience giddiness and vomiting.
Food panda & Online Shopping
Food delivery became our best friend during our quarantine period. We’ve lost count of how much we’ve spent on this platform. All we know was we’ve been ordering for almost every meal. Thankful for the wide variety of food available and the quick deliveries. Yes, no delays during our quarantine period. And I didn’t get all hangry at all.
We did some online shopping as well for coconut water, cooling water, and more covid-19 ART test kits. With all the technologies, online shopping is a blessing during this difficult time. I’m not sure how we would survive without online shopping.
Our Symptoms
We understand that symptoms vary from human to human. And here’s a breakdown of ours.
Skinny Bunny (Me): started without symptoms. But after I got tested positive, I felt lethargic the next day. Then came the runny nose and cough. Giddiness and vomited a few days after my first positive ART test result.
Fluffy Bunny (Dear): started without symptoms. But after she got tested positive, she had headaches. Then came the runny nose, lethargy, and cough.
If you have no symptoms but is close contact with a covid patient, it’s best to get yourself tested. No symptoms don’t mean you don’t have covid. You can be asymptomatic and are already infected.
Recovered, Tested Negative
Negative ART result on 9th day
My mum and Dear recovered much faster than me. Mum got tested negative on her 5th day. While Dear got tested negative on her 7th day. I have no idea when my dad was cleared of covid, but mine was on the 9th day.
But it’s ok. We decided to stay home despite being able to head out on the 7th day. It’s always good to play safe and stay home. Because we won’t know how infectious we will be. Finally, head out after being tested negative. It’s always good to be out for some fresh air.
Getting sick with covid isn’t a laughing matter. It’s not something we should celebrate. The recovery period can be very uncomfortable though we had mild symptoms. We’re glad that we’re able to self recover at home.
Post-covid Symptoms
We know of post-covid symptoms and we’re experiencing such as lethargy. I do feel a little breathless after a short walk, and I know it’s definitely not my asthma as the feeling is different.
Right after recovering covid, I head back to work and I realized I couldn’t do the same amount of physical work as before. I get easily tired physically and had to take a break in between dogs more than I usually would. Dear has been reminding me to take it slow and that someday we’ll get back our stamina and be back stronger. Read some articles about post-covid symptoms and it might linger around for months.
Whatever it is, I’m glad that we’ve recovered and are slowly getting back to our normal pre-covid health. Also thankful that we did take our covid jabs which helped in a way that the virus didn’t make us seriously ill.
Do take care. Health is more important than wealth.
