Braces, The 3Day weekend, & Pre-Op

Ok ladies and gents. Big things happening as many of you know but this is the current scoop. Brian and I thought it would be kinda cool to document the whole braces adventure I've decided to embark on. Needless to say braces as an adult are challenging but probably not much more than for the average teenager...at least I'm not dealing with the adolescent zits.


Before shot. This was the big day I got the metal put on.


Aside from the fact that I look possessed in this picture...here's the after shot. This was taken about 3-4 weeks after the braces were put on. Already saw a lot of movement of the teeth.


Pre-op. This was taken today. This is my palatal expander. Now for the surgery shocker. This lovely device is going to expand my palate to correct my crossbite. They will essentially make an incision where the inside lip and gum meet across from front molar to front molar to expose the bone. Then pull my lip pretty much over my head (not literally but I think you get the picture) make a few cuts in the bone to allow for movement. Notice the arrow on the inside metal piece...there's a little hole where I crank a little key twice a day for 15 days to expand my palate to widen it, thus correting the crossbite. Yes, it's sounds brutal. Yes, I am now starting to think I took too many crazy pills. Whatever. What's a little pain for the perfect smile?? yeah, whatever. Moving on...


The 3Day weekend. 60 miles over the course of 3 days around Bellevue, Kirkland and Seattle. Kim was amazing. For a cancer patient still doing chemo, she really powered through the weekend. She battled sore legs, feet and fevers to complete the whole 60 miles. I was lucky...no blisters, no injuries, just alittle sun-soaked and worn out. I will post more pix as they become available. These start with the end of Day 2 when Brian, Beckett and Steve met up with me at camp at Mary Moore park. We had just completed about 22 miles. Kim was toast and wound up finding her way into the Medical Tent to treat a fever for about 1 1/2 hours. I felt good, mostly bc I was excited that we now had about 45 miles under our belt and I was finally getting to see my kiddo. (See pix posted by Brian) Thanks to all who supported me either with your donation or words of encouragement. I couldn't have done it without you!

Happy reunion w/ my little Dude!


A sea of pink tents...camping in the cold was no fun.


Visiting Kim in our tent before she wound up with the medics.



The big tent is the mess hall, the white trailers in front of it were the showers. Very organized and logistically pretty cool!



Posing in front of the 3Day cubes.


3Day walkers, Day 3

Beckett cheering on 3Day walkers on Day 3

Another happy reunion at a cheering station at Greenlake.

Kim and moleskin protection for hot spots on her foot. Only minor wounds, but nothing could stop us!

Me, Beckett and Kim posing at Greenlake before continuing on. At this point we still had about 10 miles left before getting to Seattle Center. It was a very L-O-N-G 10 miles to the end, but we did it!!