gaydadwriter

I’ve been going to the gym regularly for a few months now. Fortunately I’ve been an athletic person for a long time. Just a few years ago I dropped almost thirty pounds (and never put more than ten of it back on) and I got pretty toned.

After getting soft and kinda pudgy for the last year or two, I’ve been able to get pretty significant results in a short time. I feel healthier and more energetic and this has also helped me to quit smoking AND to fight depression.

I made a prototype for my most recent invention and I have downloaded the paperwork to apply for help from the inventors assistance extension at the University of Southern Maine. That’s as far as I’ve got. The prototype actually functions well and I have been using it for many months (out of necessity). But the paperwork is still sitting in a pile. This procrastination I also attribute to my chronic marijuana use, which I am putting an end to now.

One sucky thing about being poor is not being able to afford dental care. I haven’t even had my teeth cleaned in many years. I live on disability and have MaineCare (our states version of Medicaid) which does not cover dental services for people over 18.

The real kicker is that Dentists are not allowed to take on patients who have Mainecare and charge them for services. It is illegal for them to do that.

My teeth have gradually worn down, decayed, been pulled, etc., to the point where I have no bottom molars on one side and many others missing all around. Typically what happens is that I must wait until the pain is so excruciating that I’ve gone to the hospital Emergency Room, where they do an emergency extraction.

I signed up for a Dental Clinic that treats poor people for free or very little, but after an enormously long waiting period, I finally got a Dr. or student/whatever, who tried doing a root canal, which failed as he ended up breaking the tooth during the very last procedure and then couldn’t fix or pull it. I had to go on another waiting list for an oral surgeon to remove the sharp stub that he left. Now my teeth are all wearing unevenly and I have to chew on just one tiny spot. Fortunately, my front teeth are all intact, but wearing down to tiny stubs now, because my bite is not kept in the right place for lack of molars to stop my front teeth from resting/wearing on each other. I have frequent bouts of intense pain which pass quickly now, but I fear the agony to come.