New Year...New Blog...New Me

It's a new year. 2009 baby! I don't know about you but I plan to have a good one!

So here we are on Blogspot. I didn't get to transfer the old blog over, just had so much going on that I didn't find the time. Then I thought, why bring the old to the new? So I left it in the past, to start a fresh over here. You can link to it here THE OLD BLOG

It's nice here though, spellcheck, widgets, comments, blog links, the works!! LOVE IT! I'm really looking forward to it, no more feeling like I'm talking to a brick wall! Definitely new and improved. Like me. New and improved.

So what's so new and improved about moi? Well I wasn't going to blog this but I figured it's something major that has happened to me and has added to shape my being. It is also one of the reasons I closed the blog for a bit, to get my head round it and gather up the strength to feel confident to blog again. The change in me has been so significant that I feel that the old blog is an old me. So let me get you up to speed before I continue with the new blog.

I had some issues with my health that I was reluctant to address in the old blog. This was mainly due to fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of how I would cope, fear of how people would respond - fear ,fear, fear. Now I'm on the other side I honestly feel like I have won a battle and conquered many fears. So with that stance I'm ready to share and hopefully inspire anyone who is going through any kind of adversity in these already troubling times.

On the 5th November 2008, the day we awoke here in the UK to find Obama had been elected 44th president of the United States, I went through major oral surgery and had the majority of my teeth removed. I am so glad that I picked that day to do it. Mr Obama being elected shifted the balance in the terrifying prospect of losing my teeth and when I asked myself whether I'd get through this a new phrase rang through my mind, one which truly resonated through my being... YES WE CAN. That phrase was highly personal to me and YES WE CAN became YES I CAN. That day I had 20 teeth extracted and a set of temporary teeth immediately inserted, which, to maintain the positive spin we named my 'Obamas'!!!

I was (and still am) a sufferer of Aggressive Severe Periodontitis - last level gum disease. An unfortunate hereditary condition passed down from my grandmothers, both major sufferers. My mother is a sufferer herself but not to the extreme degree as me. Mine was a rare case and my condition was exacerbated by my two pregnancies, which sped up the rate of the disease ten fold.

After years of suffering the ravages of severe gum disease and numerous attempts to control it, there was little else that could be done to arrest the situation. The only way to eliminate it was to remove the perfectly good teeth that sat in my disease ridden gums. Well they weren't perfect looking. Luckily God gave me these big beautiful lips to help with the cover up! And the pain don't even get me started on the pain - tooth pain is hands down one of the worse pains there is.

So at the tender age of 33 and with 9 teeth remaining, I now have dentures. I was so adverse to the prospect of dentures, that before my op I couldn't even say the word without prefixing it with the word 'granny'! My options were limited because I'd lost a lot of bone but with time, healing and plenty of cash, I will eventually achieve a more fixed solution to my predicament. I can't complain about the finished result. I found a great dentist along the way who is doing an amazing job. If you didn't know, you wouldn't know.

What has been a real eye opener is that it's an embarrassing condition. One which people don't like to discuss, a hidden disease. It's as if people just don't know what to say, so they say nothing. Sweep it under the carpet. Pretend it hasn't happened. Admittedly I myself was embarrassed to tell people what I was going through, only sharing my story with very close friends and family. I've been off work for ages, no one really has a clue why. I was a little anxious about going back but now I'm on the other side, I'm like... whatever. S**t happens, it's life. Apparently God never gives you more than you can handle. I can, and have handled this situation, so much so that I feel I can share it on this blog. It has certainly made me reassess the measure of my being. At the end of the day, sometimes life gives you lemons and the best thing you can do with those lemons is make lemonade... or in the words of Hip Hop artists Atmosphere... 'When life gives you lemons, you paint that s**t gold!!!'

So with my God given strength and courage and the love and blessings of my wonderful hubby, my two beautiful boys and my very supportive family and friends, I have managed to overcome. I may have lost my teeth, but that's all I lost. I still have my health, my happiness and my dreams - which I'm turning into my realities. I'm living my life like it's golden and am glad to be alive, with my 'Obama's', in these golden times.