Catching up is hard to do... Part 2

I know it's been about time since I actually updated my blog from when I said I'd update it so here's some of the past dates of possible interest..

Friday, May 26 - Scuba: Session 2


Today for our Open Water session we went to the Northern Exposure. This was really cool because we went during starfish breeding season when thousands of starfish come to this spot to mate. We went a few days after the week of prime mating so there weren't nearly as many starfish, but there were still hundreds of them all over the sea floor. It was so cool. They were huge! Some spanned over 2 feet in diameter. They come to this one spot during about a one week period every year to breed. I hope to come out again next year during this time and hopefully I'll have an underwater case for my digital and be able to take lots of pics!

Saturday, May 27 - Scuba: Session 3 & 4

For our final Open Water scuba sessions, we returned to the Northern Exposure for our first dive in the morning, and in the afternoon we went to the Victoria Wreck site. This wreck is that of a cargo ship that had started taking in water in the harbor. However, by the time the pumps from land arrived to help pump the water out of the ship, it had already sunk, the day prior to their arrival. Late by a day. Though if you know anything about how timely things typically run on the island, it comes as no surprise. So anyway, the dive shops in the area all got together and thought it would be great to have a wreck dive site that was close to the island that they could take their students and clients to. So they had the ship towed out to sea. However, enroute to the chosen site, the tow cable snapped and the ship once again sank. But it ended up working out well since the site the ship sank was on a nice coral reef so it was actually quite a nice dive site.

When we dove there, the wreck was about 10 years old and it was teeming with aquatic life. It was very neat as we were able to swim around the ship as well as in the cargo hold area. We even got to see some barracuda who left us alone as we them. One side of the ship's hull was bare while the other was covered with coral, barnicals and other from the way the current flowed.

And so the conclusion of our 4th and final Open Water dive signaled our graduation and certification as Open Water Scuba Divers! yay! So much fun. I can hardly wait to go out again. I've enjoyed it immensely. Much more than I ever thought I would. Now only to come up with the money to fund my joy dives :)

Update on Mateo

Well, Mateo doesn't have hip dysplasia. Not yet anyway. Rather he broke his leg. Not sure exactly how, but the speculation was either he tripped/got tangled in the lamp cord or the lamp fell on him. He got X-rays at the vet and there's a crack right above his growth plate on his femur. Since the bones did not seem to have pulled apart, the vet splinted the leg and hopefully it'll be able to heal up without surgery. Surgery would end up involving screws and stuff costing over $1000 at the least. Mateo though has been doing well so far. He seemed pretty depressed and down the first couple of days. Not having much of an appetite and not really moving around much. My mom suggested giving him buttermilk to help supplement calcium and protein to assist with the healing, and had I been thinking about it I would have said that dogs were lactose intolerant, but alas I did not. So Mateo and Vasco were both suffering from diarrhea for about a week. Even still now, they have pretty loose stools. It's gotta be hard for Mateo. But he seems much more perky now. Already he'll hobble around and even sometimes attempt to jog some if we're not watching. He's eating much better though still not up to his usual amount and plays with the other dogs. We have to be careful though because Vasco will try to sometimes jump on him and they can get a bit rough when they play. Mateo's supposed to try to no move around too much and get as much rest as possible to help the leg heal up. The vet said it should be good in about 2-3 weeks since he's still just a puppy and they apparently heal really fast. His last check up on the Monday following the incident showed no indication of any swelling, so we have another appointment scheduled for this upcoming Monday. I guess we'll see how things have progressed. My mom's bought beef liver for Mateo to supplement his food because liver's really good for this kind of thing. Hard to explain in English sometimes surprisingly the ideas that I originally learned in Chinese as a kid. We've tried to keep his leg in a plastic bag for several reasons: 1) the splint has to remain dry otherwise it'll have to be replaced and that will cost another $45 on top of the $190 I already spent on his vet bill, 2) it helps keep the splint clean esp when he goes outside, and 3) he first one or two days after his injury he would have accidents when he was either laying down on the bed or the couch and it would be a total mess. We had to clean him, the furniture, etc. The bag protects the splint in the event of an accident helping with reason number 1.

Mateo's Hurt

We're not sure what happened, and I wasn't home when it did, but when I came home this evening, my brother told me that Mateo seemed to have a permanant limp. He was unwilling or unable to use or put any weight on his left rear leg. My brother said that he wasn't sure, but that he thought it might be hip dysplasia since Mateo had earlier been able to do some pretty crazy things with his hind legs like do a complete split much like my roomie's cat would do. So Mateo's been really quiet this evening and has remained for the most part on my brother's bed without much movement. Even petting him, hugging him, talking to him usually doesn't even make him open his eyes. Only when someone new opens the door does he open his eyes and raise his head to see who it is. I'm planning on taking him to the vet in the morning, and hopefully we'll find out what's wrong. He's only a puppy, but they can get hip dsyplasia too.. And he's been jumping on and off the furniture and standing on his hind legs for a while now which can instigate or provoke this occurance. Hope it's not that.. but I guess we'll find out for sure in the morning. It's really sad to see him just laying really quietly on my bro's bed. He's almost never this calm and still. Usually he's utterly insane bouncing all over the place, play-fighting with Vasco or Hope. I suppose there's nothing much to do but wait and pray.

Jaw Surgery

I went to an orthodontics doctor before I left for Grenada my last term. This was sometime in April I think.. not sure if I blogged about it or not. But anyway, he said that my lower jaw had continued to grow after it was supposed to have stopped so now it's not in the correct position. So my back molars are now doing more work than they should be doing which means that in 5-20 years they may wear and breakdown. Whether or not this actually would happen would depend a lot on my genes. So my mom's opinion that my jaw is the way it is because I didn't stick with wearing my retainer wasn't valid. I have an underbite like my dad's from his genes. Bad genes. Why do I always get stuck with the bad genes and not the nice ones, like the ones that gave my mom her good looks *grins* Anyway, he gave me two options. 1 - jaw surgery, this is the only correction that could fix the problem "perfectly" and completely. 2 - serious rubberband work, this would not be guaranteed to work, and would only correct the problem partially, and would depend on me using them consistently. I told him that I would have to think about these options he presented and talk it over with my parents. He told me that after about 24 or 25 years of age, the bones don't heal as well or readily so the optimal time would be now if I was to go with the surgery. He gave me the name and number of an oral surgeon who he said did the type of surgery I needed often. Apparently he's the most experienced in this type of surgery in my region. Nice.

So anyway, I told my parents. Discussed it with them. Told them that the surgery would prob cost about $6500. My dad was told he should get the surgery too when he was younger, but he never did. He's still got all his teeth. So it's not like I have to get it it would seem. But I can tell there's something not quite right with my alignment in my mouth and it gets bothersome and annoying at times. So I told my parents I was okay with the surgery if they thought it was alright with them.

I then left for school with nothing really decided. During the end of the term I once again discussed the surgery option with my mom and she said that if the doc thought I needed it and it would help me in the long run, to go for it. Though she said that Chinese people usually use surgery only as a very last resort and don't recommend it as an option because it is seen to take 5-10 years off your life when you undergo surgery. More years the more severe and drastic the surgery. I guess maybe I've just been Americanized, or it's the youthful fearless outlook on life that nothing bad can possibly happen to me or something, but I find it difficult to let that dissuade me. So I set up an appointment for a consultation with the oral surgeon for the 24th of July. I was somewhat concerned at this late scheduling because that would give me only 3 weeks after that date to get my surgery and recover before I left again for Grenada on the 15th of August. Or so I thought anyway.

I returned to the states and this past week went in on Thursday to the orthodontist to get molds made of my teeth for them to send to the oral surgeon. I guess he needs them for his records when I go in for my consultation or something. I talked to the assistant lady who made my molds about my surgery and she said I wouldn't be going in for surgery right away because I needed to do at least 6-12 months of braces before I could get my surgery. This was news to me. I hadn't even considered that. My understanding now is that the braces or orthodontics work is to get my teeth to where they need to be so that when my jaw is moved back, my teeth will be aligned in the new position. Makes sense.

I asked for a copy of the letter that my orthodontist sent to the oral surgeon.. and it said that I have a "Class III dental and skeletal pattern due to a prognathic manible" and asked the oral surgeon to evaluate me for a "BSSO mandibular advancement." Dunno what that means, but maybe I'll google it later or something. It also said that the doc thought it would take about 12 months to orthodontically prepare me for surgery... so yeah. Something to look forward to. Braces. Again. At 23. Great.