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« Last post by mr_90proof on Yesterday at 21:11:38 »
Chapter Fifty Six:
Andi was stunned by Megan's comment. Was she... no surely not... the three of them... together? She turned and looked at Brad. Andi was even more shocked by the thoughts that ran through her head. She was married she told herself. Brad is married. We work together. But.... he is so sexy and masculine. And it has been so adorable seeing how, despite trying his best to hide it, he of all people is insecure about going into treatment. How is this going to even work she wondered. She didn't know, but she told herself they could figure it out.
Andi's thought train was derailed when Megan said "it would be fun. But I am not good at sharing. Sorry Andi, I think I will have to keep him all to myself. But isn't he just the cutest. And the sexiest. And he is just going to get sexier when he gets his appliances."
Andi exhaled in her mind. She turned and looked at Megan and said "you are a lucky woman. Brad is a world class orthodontist. It is only fitting he has a world class smile. But I agree with you that is it is sexy when a man takes care of himself. For example fine tuning his smile." That gave her an idea. She continued "you know, I might have to talk my hubby Patrick into a consult."
Andi noticed Megan light up when she said "oh, you totally should. Us women folk are all in treatment together. It would only be fitting that all the men folk join us. I mean Alex fiancé joined the party. Why shouldn't Patrick?"
Andi thought a moment before responded "you are right, why shouldn't he? We can always improve. I will work on him." She glanced over as she caught movement out of her eye and saw Maggie entering the treatment area.
Maggie noticed the three, with Dr. Brad being the one in the chair. This seemed strange to her. The trio were all wishing her a good morning as she walked over. She returned the gesture before asking "so, what have we got going on here?"
Before the ladies could answer Brad replied "well all you ladies looked like you were having so much fun perfecting your airways, your bites, and your smiles I have decided to join you."
Maggie's mouth physically dropped open in surprise. After a few seconds she asked "so what is the treatment plan?"
Andi replied "a Miller appliance, miller headgear, and then braces. He will get to experience first-hand what his patients, and us, are experiencing."
Maggie exclaimed "oh wow! That is great! You have to let me assist!"
Andi said "I think the line will start over there" as she pointed towards the corner and laughed.
Dr. Brad shook his head and said "wow, you are ALL going to get your licks in on poor old Dr. Brad aren't you?"
That Thursday morning Jim kissed Tara. He again told her "baby, I wish you would let me come to your appointments today." They had already had this conversation once this morning, and several times during the week. Despite Tara's obvious anxiety during the week, her response had been the same every time as it was now.
Tara replied "no sweetie, I am a big girl. I will be fine. You are busy. You don't need to waste a day watching me in doctor's appointments. Please, go. I know how much you have going on. I promise I will call you after each appointment."
Jim relented and said "ok hardhead. I know you will have a long day with all your appointments, I will take care of dinner. And some wine. I understand why you wanted to schedule your audiology, orthopedic, and orthodontic appointments on one day, but I know it will be a lot. If you need anything, anything at all, please let me know. Please?"
Tara kissed him and said "you are so sweet. Now go, you don't need to be late on my account." As he turned she swatted him on the butt. He gave her a smile. She looked at his discreet clear braces and said "I love you." Jim turned back around and gave her a peck and said "I love you more" before turning and heading out the door.
Once he had gone, Tara looked at her phone to check her emails. She had tried her best to catch up on everything since she was taking the day off. She sent Beverly a text.
T: Just a reminder I will be out today.
She got a response almost instantaneously.
B: I know, and I have been thinking about you. Everything will go swimmingly. I know it. And if you need anything please let me know.
T: Thank you so much. The truth is I am so nervous.
B: I know you are. And I can understand. But you will be fine. And if you need to take tomorrow off too, I totally understand.
T: Thank you. But I have so much to do. Plus I need to face it head on. Even if I do look like a baby giraffe learning how to walk.
B: You will not look like a baby giraffe learning how to walk. If there is anything I can do, please let me know.
T: Thank you.
After administering a battery of tests, both with and without her hearing aids, Dr. Alicia had asked Tara to follow her into her office. As they entered the office, Tara just happened to look at Dr. Alicia's desk. She was surprised to see a blue Petit facemask laying on the far edge of it. Tara asked "when did you get a facemask?"
Dr. Alicia abruptly turned towards her and asked "a facemask?"
Tara said "yes, for your braces?"
Dr. Alicia's face took on a reddened embarrassed hue before she turned and looked at her desk. She saw the facemask laying on top of the desk. She turned back to Tara and said "I can't believe I left that laying out. It is so embarrassing. I always hide it in my desk. I feel mortified. That was supposed to be my little secret. I look so horrible in it. But since you have seen it, I will tell you. I got it three months ago. I am supposed to wear it fourteen to sixteen hours a day. It is so hard. I wear it here in my office when I am not seeing patients. God I hate it. And I always hide it away in my desk so no one will see it. Well, I always did until today."
Tara surprised her when she said "I just wish I had a little facemask like that. I have a Sleep Well mask integrated into a CTO brace that I have to wear. Now that really is embarrassing."
Dr. Alicia looked surprised. She said "wait, a CTO brace like Alex and some of the other girls at Dr. Millers wear? Did you go see him? I know we talked about it briefly. Are you in treatment? But you don't have braces?"
Tara said "yes and yes. I did go see him. On your recommendation. And I am in treatment. He has helped me tremendously with my headaches and jaw pain. But I have to wear a CTO at night. Right now I just have a little daytime splint I wear. And these hooks." She bared her teeth and opened her mouth for Alicia. She continued "and I have a nighttime appliance I wear. It is a beast. But I will eventually be getting a Miller appliance. I want to do this, but I am dreading that. I hope it will be worth it. Everyone tells me it will be."
Alicia said "It will totally be worth it. Why don't we have a seat?" After getting seated, Alicia continued "I am all too familiar with the Sleep Well mask. I have one too that I wear at night. Dr. Brad gave me this to wear whenever I can during the day." She picked up the facemask. She said "well, since you have seen it, and you know what it is like, would it be too weird if I went ahead and put it on? I mean, I figure every minute helps."
Tara said "absolutely not."
She watched as Dr. Alicia opened her desk drawer and pulled out a bag of elastics. Tara saw they were 1/2" 16 oz elastics, the same as she wore. In just a few seconds, Dr. Alicia had placed the mask up against her face and attached two elastics from hooks on her brackets to the mask. As she placed the bag of elastics back in the drawer and closed it, Tara said "wow, that was fast."
Alicia looked up and gave her an embarrassed smile before she said "I should be good at it, I put it on and take it off five or six times a day. I have always been horrified for any patient to see me in it. I am afraid they wouldn't respect me or take me seriously. Some of the other girls here in the office have surprised me and caught me wearing it, and I didn’t even like that. But that is different."
Tara said "well, I certainly won't think less of you. In fact, I think it is cool that you have to wear one. It puts me at ease some. Because I am really nervous about what you are going to tell me."
Alicia smiled and said "well there is no reason to be nervous. I just want to talk about your current hearing aids. Unfortunately, I am not happy with the level of performance your current aids are providing. You show significant, marked improvement with them versus without them. I am sure you noticed that. But we can do better. I would like to transition you to a pair of behind the ear aids." She turned her head to the left and pulled her hair back, revealing a pink hearing aid nestled behind her right ear, a clear tube snaking from it into her ear canal. Tara realized it looked identical to the ones Alex wore. Alicia dropped her hair and turned back towards Tara as she said "like I wear. Once you get used to them, you will love them. And you have long hair, so you will be able to hide them easily. Though, I expect after a while you won't try to." Tara thought of Alex, and how she sometimes wore her hair up. She almost seemed proud to display hers.
Tara took it in stride best she could. She asked "so, when do you want to fit them?"
Alicia replied "right now." She lifted her hand up to remove an elastic from her facemask.
Tara stopped her when she said "would you keep it on? I know it is weird. But I am scared about getting even more obvious hearing aids. It helps knowing that someone else is going through the same things I am going through."
Alicia cocked her head at Tara. After a moment she said "ok, sure."
The fitting went quickly. Afterwards Dr. Alicia had Tara go back into the audiology chamber and don headphones again. As she listened, raising her hand when she heard something, Tara realized she was raising her hand much more than she was during her previous test. The whole time, she had been watching Dr. Alicia. She had her head down intently studying the monitor. It seemed as if she had completely forgotten she was wearing her facemask. As Tara exited the chamber, Alicia said "you did great. What did you think? You heard a lot more little noises didn't you?"
Tara said "yes, goodness yes. That wasn't the same test as earlier though was it?"
Alicia smiled at her and said "it was the exact same. All those little noises were there, you just didn't hear them. Let's go back to my office and I will go over care and maintenance."
Ten minutes later, Dr. Alicia stood from behind her desk. As she made her way around it, Tara stood too. Alicia handed Tara a bag with literature on her new aids, a case, and a whole pack of batteries. Alicia said "so, these aren't rechargeable. So you won't need to worry about remembering to recharge them every night. You will though want to keep a few spare batteries stowed where you spend the most of your time; home, car, office and keep a few in your purse. You will be so happy with these. I promise. Any questions?"
Tara shook her head and said "no questions. But thank you. Thank you for being so sweet. And thank you for wearing your facemask. I don't know why, but it put me at ease. I actually have an appointment at Dr. Millers this afternoon, I am going to ask him if I can try out a Petit. Just to get a little break from my other mask. And I am going to try to get a little time in whenever I have a chance to. Like you."
Alicia said "first, you are welcome. Second, thank you. Thank you for being such a wonderful patient. So you have an appointment at Dr. Millers today too? Tell them all I said hello. And be sure to tell them what a good job I am doing wearing this." She laughed as she pointed up towards the facemask she still had on.
Tara replied "I certainly will. And you know what? You should just wear it. Even with patients. Think about how much more time you would get in. And maybe it would help some patients. It would humanize you, not make you seem like the big scary doctor."
Alicia laughed before she said "big and scary? I don't think anyone has ever called me that."
Tara said "maybe not, but a lot of people are terrified being in doctor's offices. Everything is big and scary. Thank you for making it less scary."
After she had seen Tara to the front desk to make her follow up appointment, Alicia went back to her office. She had planned to take her facemask off. But after thinking about everything that Tara had said, she made a decision. She left it on and looked at her computer screen to see who her next patient was.
Back in her car, Tara called Jim as she said she would. She told Jim about the appointment and her new hearing aids. And she assured him she really wasn't upset about them. And she did hear much better with them. Then she mentioned that Dr. Alicia wore a facemask too. And how she had worn it for her during the second half of their appointment. Tara said she didn't know why, but it had calmed her. Jim told her how proud he was of her, told her that her next two appointments would go just as well, and told her how much he loved her.
Tara arrived at Dr. Morales ten minutes early. She sat in her car several minutes as the butterflies churned in her stomach. This was the appointment she was really dreading. She knew that she would walk out of this appointment wearing full leg braces. Leg braces that she would have to wear for... forever she wondered? She was so worried. About living with them. But mainly about her and Jim. Despite Jim telling her how sexy he had found her when she had worn Alex' that night, she worried he was just telling her what she wanted to hear. She believed that he loved her. She knew she loved him. But her insecurity made her wonder if his love was strong enough to love a little crippled girl in leg braces. She was feeling sorry for herself as she got out of the car. The walk across the parking lot seemed to be the longest walk of her life. She felt as if she was walking to the gallows.
She entered the foyer of the medical building and headed towards Dr. Morales office. She stopped at the door and stood for several moments. She was so scared. Finally she opened the door. After stepping through the door she stopped in her tracks. Her jaw dropped open. Because sitting side by side in the waiting room, right in front of the entrance, were Jim and Alex. Both were smiling at her, though their smiles were obscured by the Petit facemasks they wore. Alex' was pink and Jim's was blue. They both stood and stepped over towards her. Tara was oblivious to anyone or anything else. She was so surprised she couldn't even speak.
Jim wrapped his strong muscular arms around her shoulders and held her. Alex squeezed in from the side and wrapped her arms around Tara's waist. Jim said "I hope you aren't upset baby. But I wanted to be here for you." Alex chimed in "me too."
A tear ran down Tara's face. She finally spoke. She said "no, I am not upset. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done. I love you both so much."
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