YamiNoSensei

So in the past year I found Dru and a shitload of other folks from the old East Lansing crew on FB. Also tracked down MoDell. Tatha seems to have vanished from the face of the earth. Can’t find anything about him after 2006, and heard a VERY vague rumor that he’s gone to join the ancestors. Also talked to some of the Ann Arbor folks, namely Hiawatha and Art. Reconnecting after all these years (20+ since I’ve seen/heard from some of these folks) is a truly wondrous thing.

... for the forseeable future. This kind of depended on being able to finance it. My credit rating is trashed after my year of unemployment and coming a hairsbreadth from losing my house, so it will have to wait ‘till I’ve pulled things together a bit more.

I now have almost no molars left and my front teeth are starting to decay. It’s really heartbreaking. Problem is my dental insurance is so crappy, I max it out by spring and then have to wait till next year to get more work done… in the meantime my teeth are rotting away even more. I finally got extra insurance through AFLAC but there’s a 1- to 2-year waiting period for the kind of work I need. If I’d signed up last year when I had the chance I’d be getting some of the work done now! But, no use beating myself up about it. I’m also chipping away at the loot I owe my dentist. Getting that paid off will give me more options, too.

Despite what “they” say, I truly believe there is a connection between methadone and weakened teeth. In my case it is NOT simply an issue of “you just didn’t take care of your teeth all those years you were an addict”, which is what clinic staff, etc. always blame it on. That isn’t true for me, I always had decent jobs with insurance and took care of myself. And I’ve talked to so many people with the same experience- a few years on methadone maintenance and the teeth literally start crumbling away. If they would acknowledge that this is a real issue, maybe something could be done to prevent it! I wonder if anyone’s ever even done a serious study on this. Too late for me but if they could save other folks down the road from my fate, I’d be happy.