It was a long road, but 67 activations later, it's officially over. Dr. Roy threaded a wire through the hole in the screw to ensure it does not turn backwards, and that's it! My final measurements came in at 14.0 mm. Although 67 activations is 16.75mm, the teeth don't necessarily move that much because of some movement. To give you an idea of how much that is, my top 4's were initally spaced apart 29mm, and now they're at 43mm. This is a FIFTY (five-zero) percent increase in width!!! Nuts.
Anyways, now the movement of the teeth can start and the healing of my jaw happen. Dr. Roy mentioned that we may be leaving the expander in for longer than usual jsut because of how drastic the expansion was. This makes sense to me, and is something I was expecting. Hopefully the expander will be out by the end of the year, but I'm willing to keep it in as long as is necessary to guarantee no relapse.
On another completely unrelated note that I feel I just need to talk about, Lauren and I are moved into our new condo. But not without SEVERAL setbacks along the way:
1. The first setback happened a couple of weeks ago. The closing date on the condo was June 30, which also marked our last day on our apartment's lease (in hindsight, this was a rookie mistake...but we're house buying rookies!). So the plan was to move out and move in all in the same day, namely June 30. We were told that keys are not usually available until after 5:00pm, and so we tried to book an elevator at the new place for that time.
NOPE! The elevator was already booked, and the condo rules stipulate that no move-ins/move-outs are allowed to happen past 7:00pm. I went in person and asked the concierge if there was ANY way we could have the elevator from 7 till 9 or something, but this guy, who is a REAL stickler for the 'rules' (which is fine - to an extent), told me no. Could I move the stuff into the moving room? No. Could I park the truck overnight at the building? No.
He said, and remember this for later, that I could have the elevator for 9am-1pm the very next day, July 1. Okay, done. The plan now would be to move out June 30, park the truck somewhere overnight, spend the night at Lauren's parents home, then come down the next morning and move in.
2. The next setback happened the day before the move-out, June 29. We had booked the elevator for the move-out between 1pm-3pm. This is on June 30, so there was no way we'd ever be able to re-schedule. Lauren booked the truck for 12pm, because 24 hours later we'd probably be done the move-in, so we'd only get charged the one day.
Lauren called them on the morning of June 29 to confirm our truck was still a go at 12pm. Yes it was. Perfect. Then we get a voicemail later that day: "Oh hi, this is so-and-so from U-Haul. I'm just calling to confirm your reservation for tomorrow, June 30, at 5:00pm. Thanks." FIVE O'CLOCK?!?!?! We booked it for 12, they told us 12 just hours before this voicemail and then we are told 5?!? Again, there was no way we could re-schedule the elevator given it was the end of the month.....so we'd be forced to move-out with no moving truck to put our stuff.
I called, Lauren called, and we got the same stupid run-around being like, "Well, the truck was booked through head office and not directly through us so we don't have a truck for you until 5:00pm. If you'd like, I can offer you free mileage." UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Lauren's Dad made some calls to places looking for cancellations, and found one way on the other side of the city for 3:00pm. We'd still have to move out without a truck, but at least 3pm was a couple of hours earlier. Deal. We booked that truck and cancelled the U-Haul. We ran into some issues (i.e. RUSH HOUR) obviously - like trying to pack up our truck while others were trying to unload theirs (because it was well past 3pm by this point), but it finally got done. We parked and locked the truck up and called it a day.
3. Moving day. Started off great. I got to the condo bright and early for 9pm. Lauren had driven ahead in her car, so when I got there she was already there. First thing she says to me is: "The concierge says we can't move in today. No move-ins on statutory holidays." (July 1 is Canada Day). WHAT THE FU*K?!?!? You've got to be kidding!! THEY BOOKED THE ELEVATOR FOR US ON JULY 1 AT 9:00AM. So with everything that's already gone wrong with this move, I stormed into the concierge's room and lo and behold, who do I see? THE SAME FRIGGING CONCIERGE WHO BOOKED THE ELEVATOR IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! He's such a jackass. Before I arrived, and he told Lauren we can't move in, Lauren told him "Look we're moving in, so where's the best place we can put the truck." He goes, "Anywhere but here." F-YOU buddy!
So again, I stormed in and said "Look man, you booked the elevator, we have a truck due back today, we're moving in." He goes, "Fine, but I'm going to have to report you." I reply, "YOU BOOKED THE ELEVATOR!" He says, "You signed the paper where it says no move-ins on stat holidays." I go, "YOU BOOKED THE ELEVATOR!" Why can't he understand that he made a mistake, so just eat it, and let us move in.
He didn't lift a finger for us. No elevator service (so one of us had to stay in the elevator and literally hold the door open), no mats in the elevator, no access to the loading area (so we parked right in the front round-about and moved things in one by one through the southwest entrance). Un-frigging-believable.
Luckily, my Dad and my brother came down to help Lauren and me out. We quickly developed a pretty good system where my brother was unloading the truck, I was bringing it in through the doors and half-way to the elevator, and my Dad would bring it the rest of the way. When we had enough for a load in the elevator, my Dad would hold the door open, I'd load the elevator, we'd go up where Lauren would be waiting for us so that SHE could hold the door open while my Dad and me unloaded the elevator. Lauren would then organize the boxes and stuff while my Dad and me went down for another load. All in all, it only took around 90 minutes. But it was extremely inconvenient. AND Lauren and I will have this report filed against us, which I plan on fighting to the bitter end (the 'end' being the dismissal of this concierge).
Anyways, long story short, we're now moved in. We'll be in the unpacking phase for a week or two, but we completely love our new home. Lesson learned in all of this: We'll NEVER EVER EVER pick the end/beginning of a month as the closing date. A lot of these troubles would have been averted had we picked, say June 28 as the closing date. We would have got a truck no problem, we would have been able to book elevators no problem, June 28 is not a stat holiday...would have worked out nicely. Oh well. Again, rookie mistake.
My braces are going on September 9th, which is also my next appt with the ortho. I'm having the teeth extracted today, so I'll be sure to update you on this.
Pictures coming soon.
Thanks!
Paul
