Friday, November 19, 2010

Colbymeister







Colby Lefebvre is under the knife. He's having surgery on his jaw - a congenital defect that left him without nine permanent teeth. It's a family thing - I'm missing four myself. Three of the baby teeth are still hanging on.

One gave up at age forty when it started causing me problems. Dave Buck pulled it and after it healed I was fitted for a bridge. What a deal that was! I remember going in for a wax impression of my jawline. The mistake I made was eating a giant cheeseburger first! Why oh why did no one tell me the waxy stuff would be causing me to gag - threatening to cause said cheeseburger to reappear in Dave's dentist office.

I was lucky that I got a Maryland bridge - so they didn't have to file down my other teeth like they do with regular bridges. But the thing has come loose a couple times in the past twelve years. One time whilst Debbie P and I were kayaking on the Upper Iowa river. We always take snacks along, (hey we burn lots of calories) and I had a nice box of Milk Duds.

It wasn't a scorching hot day and the Duds were kinda firm - so when I chewed them, my bridge (which is a fake tooth with metal sticking out to attach to other teeth) stuck to the gooey caramel. I proudly showed the gob of candy/tooth mixture to Deb, laughing! I had to put the whole sticky mess in a baggie until we got back to the motel that night. Chuckle. At least it's a ways back in my mouth so I'm not noticeably a Hillbilly.

Back to Colby Breton Lefebvre. He is Cindy (my sis - #2 Bullock girl 3+ years older than me and Brian (Bolder) Lefebvre. They live in Edwards, near Vail, Colorado. Colbs is four months younger than Jud. He is a culinary whiz kid - his chef team won the national competition in high school and he got a scholarship. He attends Johnson and Wales in Denver - finished the culinary part of his school after two years and is finishing a BS in management now.

He and Jud are polar opposites. Even when they were little they didn't get along. Jud would egg Colby on and Colbs would bite him. Ironic as Colby ended up missing so many teeth! They had to wait until his jaw was full frown (he was a late bloomer like Jud - grew several inches after high school). Colby has never been interested in team sports - even watching football doesn't seem to interest him much. Though as the boys grow older they get along better. And Amy and Colby are buddies - especially after she spent a winter living with the Lefebvres two years ago when she worked on the mountain.

His jaw is being broken - top and bottom. The top is being broken in 5 places. ARgh! Cindy is shopping for liquid nutrition. I'm sure it will be wired for several weeks. Then the plan is to eventually insert implants - fake teeth. It's all costing a fortune, very little of which is covered by insurance. Still, his parents have to feel fortunate that it's not some serious illness. I'm sure this doesn't feel to easy about now though!

In a few months, okay maybe it will be years - after all his teeth are screwed in, this will be a distant memory. And my baby teeth will be falling out! I am very careful with Milk Duds...

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