1.) Name an experience or experiences that you recall at UCONN Health Center.
Having 3 wisdom teeth pulled 1995 Written June 23, 2014. Edited June 19, 2015.
I will never forget the time I went to the dentist at UCONN Health Center in Farmington in 1995. The dentist is always complimenting you on how well you do a really good job of brushing your teeth. He or she is telling you keep up the good work and you are always encouraged. However, the one thing that you never expect to hear on your visit to the dentist when he or she is cleaning your teeth like I did is that you have 3 big molars. These 3 molars are causing serious pain to where they not only hurt but is like a cancer to you while you are eating solid foods. The dentist told me that I will have to have these 3 wisdom teeth pulled. These molars were gradually growing when I was about 13 and now at 17 they grew to the point where they were very noticeable. At 17, I knew that I was experiencing discomfort whenever I would eat food like steak, pizza, lamb chops, etc., and finally learned why. That year in 1995, First Assembly of God in East Hartford then (now Crossroads Community Cathedral) was having a concert going on and Carman was performing at the church that same year. For those of you who are not familiar with Carman he is a Christian/Gospel Artist. At the time when I was going to UCONN, I was using a medical card (blue card is what they call it) and I had an option of the method of surgery that the dentist can use to do surgery on my 3 wisdom teeth on how the dentist would pull them. I chose the Novocaine which was simpler way to knock me out after the nurse talked to me for a minute and took my blood pressure and blood sugar. I agreed to this so didn't feel anything at the time. Once I woke up, you want to talk about some serious pain from the surgery? I was in so much pain I remember crying like a baby. My jaw was so sore where the dentist had to give me bandages where the dentist pulled my 3 wisdom teeth. For the first couple of days I had to relax in bed (not good when you are used to being able to get up and go). I had to take everything one day at a time and do things slower than I would normally do things. I had to brush my teeth slowly because I was sore from the 3 wisdom teeth that were pulled. I had to be extra cautious not to brush in that area where the 3 wisdom teeth were pulled too. I remember that the only foods that I could eat while I was healing from the surgery was apple sauce, oatmeal, soup, ice cream, etc. because any food that I chewed would cause excruciating pain from the areas where they pulled my wisdom teeth. One day I called myself trying to be Mr. Toughy and ordered a stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut (hard-headed) and once I began to chew my pizza I remember grimacing in pain and crying because my jaw was still sore. I wound up eating only 2 or 3 slices (which normally I would have eaten 7 slices) of pizza. I was so depending on my mom for help that things was not easy for neither one of us. I remember how after a few days had gone by that my jaw was not healing and my mom told me something that really helped me change what I was doing wrong. My mom said, "The reason why your jaw is still hurting you is because you said that you were sleeping on the jaw that was sore. You need to be sleeping on the jaw that is healed in order for the other jaw to heal too." Once, I listened to my mom, I realized that there is a reason why they say "Momma knows best." When I slept on my jaw that was healed the jaw that was sore had a chance to heal and by time my jaw healed I was able to chew solid foods pain free again. I recommend anyone who has molars to make sure you go to your dentist and get your wisdom teeth pulled. You may feel pain from the surgery but once you get it over with, the better it will be for your teeth in the long run. Having molars is not worth having discomfort chewing no matter how nervous you are about having surgery. On a sad note, I heard that Carman did a wonderful job performing when he sung at First Assembly Of God and I missed it. http://citysuburb.wix.com/pauls-writing-style/apps/blog/some-of-my-could-have-been-on
Comforting a mom who have a special needs child 1991 Written Jun 21, 2014. Edited July 15, 2015.
I will never forget the experience that my family and I had at UCONN Health Center with a woman who is a mom of 2 boys (one of her boys being a special need). We went to UCONN to visit my mom's sister (me and my older brother's Aunt) who had recovered from having major surgery (Open Heart Surgery). My mom, step-father, and older brother went to the recovery room at the hospital where you had to be at least 17 years of age and my brother could go because he was 17 but I had to stay out front in the main lobby because I was only 13. Here is where the experience happened; my family met a woman (Hispanic woman) back in 1991 who was at the hospital because of her son's condition (a vegetable state). The woman was really friendly and I got along with her kids one of her son's might have been my age and the other a couple of years younger than me. Anyway, you could look at the woman and tell that she was hurting on the inside. The woman was going through a serious problem in her marriage to her husband because one of her son's vegetable state condition. The father of the baby didn't want to have anything to do with their baby because he was a special needs child. Probably the worst feeling in the world is a parent saying that he or she don't want to have anything to do with you because of your disability.
Meanwhile, my mom had a chance to comfort the woman and they both shared the same name Yvonne. My mom told her a story about the time she had my older brother and how my older brother was so big when he was a baby that the doctor had to break both of his arms (which is the only reason why my brother is left-handed) and the doctor didn't think that my older brother would live and that if my older lived he would be a vegetable state for the rest of his life. My mom is a praying warrior so when she hear negative things she know that it was nothing but the devil that will try to discourage a child of God. My mom knew that my older brother would live and that he would walk. My older brother was a fighter and my mom kept on saying encouraging words to him saying "You will walk in Jesus name and you will not be a vegetable!" My mom knew my older brother was on a walker because he had to use that to help him walk and my older brother was inspired and my mom said that my brother was walking at 7 months and it got to the point where my older brother didn't need the walker anymore! The Bible verse that comes to mind is "Colossians 2:6-7 King James Version (KJV) As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2%3A6-7&version=KJV This is a Bible verse that parents can pray over their children even if they're a baby like my mom prayed for my older brother. Yvonne started to feel better after hearing my mom's testimony because she knew we all understood what she was going through and what she had to deal with. Yvonne was sweet enough to give me her Spanish cookies and Yvonne (the woman of her special needs son) and Yvonne (my mom) had exchanged phone numbers and they kept in touch on the telephone for 1 1/2 years up until my family and I moved from Hartford to Bloomfield in 1992. http://citysuburb.wix.com/pauls-writing-style/apps/blog/comforting-words-of-wisdom
2.) Do you remember what year you went to a discovery series at UCONN Health Center? Yes.
3.) What was the topic about at the discovery series at UCONN Health Center? They did a cholesterol screening & my cholesterol was 254 (the first time it have ever been over 200).
4.) How long ago was the discovery series you went to at UCONN Health Center? It was 12 years ago, I had not too long ago come from Tulsa, OK back home to Bloomfield, CT in 2003.
5.) What did you learn from the discovery series at UCONN Health Center? That doctors are deceptive & what I mean by that is he or she try to scare people into thinking that your cholesterol has to be under 200 in order for you to be healthy and that people who are overweight have a much higher risk of heart disease than non overweight people. Those have been proven to be false. Not all overweight people eat unhealthy and not all non overweight people eat healthy.
6.) Do you think you would go to another discovery series at UCONN Health Center? Yeah.
7.) Do you have a primary dentist that you go to at UCONN Health Center or do you get assigned a dentist when you go to UCONN Health Center? I always get assigned a dentist there and that is my dentist until I get assigned a new one which happens every year when I go to UCONN.
8.) Do you get a cleaning when you go to UCONN Health Center? Yes & they always do a really good and thorough job.
9.) How long does it normally take to do a cleaning at UCONN Health Center? The Tunxis Community College students come in at 5:30 PM and it takes them until 8:30 PM to clean my teeth (3 hours). The students is following the instructions that their professors at TCC when they are working on my teeth, the professors then check on their work & evaluate on what they are doing right and correct them if they are off and the doctor comes in to determine what is next to be done after the students (who are practicing dentists) tell the patients when they need to come back for another appointment.
10.) How much does it cost to do a cleaning at UCONN Health Center? $25
11.) Do you think the cost is worth it at UCONN Health Center? Absolutely! I always get compliments from the TCC students on how I do a good job brushing & flossing my teeth and the students is gaining experience as acting dentists to help prepare them to be a professional dentist. Dentistry is a featured degree at Tunxis.
12.) Would you recommend people to go to the UCONN Health Center to go to the dentist, discovery series, or hospital? Yes!
13.) On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being very poor and 10 being excellent how do you rate the overall UCONN Health Center? I'm going to go with 9!
15.) On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being very poor and 10 being excellent how do you rate how helpful they are when you ask general questions at the UCONN Health Center? 10!
