Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Life Goes On - Wed. 11/6 - Root Canal pt 1

Oh goody. Here we go.

At home I took the antibiotic prescribed by my C-Dr before leaving for the dentist office. Much too quickly I'm escorted to the "Fishing" room (based on the decor).

Once Novocaine took effect the drilling & filing & shaping process began.

It didn't take long before I almost looked like this guy (below) as a **ZING** nearly sent me out of the chair. "Did you feel that?" the dentist asked and if he looked at my eyes he got the answer.
He started again and asked "Do you feel that?" and I shook my head 'No' so things continued...until he hit that same spot again. Apologies ensued and he restarted and "Do you feel that?" and I shook my head 'No' so things continued again...until...yup, he touched that same super sensitive spot again. So I got another punch of Novocaine and waited a bit for it to take effect and he started again. Not long before **ZING** spot was touched again. Dentist and assistant are stumped. As for me? I'm thinking if it's possible for this year to get any worse this might be why. They decide to get an x-ray to see if they could figure out the problem. After several attempts they're unable to get a picture of the part of the tooth they wanted so they start again. Not too long before **ZING** and another apology and then another shot of Novocaine to hopefully numb what obviously isn't very numb! Soon it's restart time again and things continue until...yup...**ZING** at which point dentist says "We're done for today!" and loads up the tooth with disinfectant and what ever else to close up what's been done. I'm just relieved to not have any more **ZING** to deal with. Profuse apologies by all, and a lot of sympathy as I leave and reschedule at their next available appointment a week from today to -hopefully- complete the Root Canal from, well, you know where.

My tooth and I need some TLC!



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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Life Goes On - 11/2 - Mindy's Big Day

About seven years and three months ago I picked up my sister and her granddaughter Mindy at the airport while Mindy's parents and 4 older siblings were moving from Virginia and traveling cross country in a caravan of cars, trucks and a moving van.

Anyway, while my sister went to retrieve the luggage she asked if I'd hold Mindy who was about nine-months old, an age where most babies don't like strangers so I hoped I wouldn't have a screaming baby in my arms in the middle of the airport for the next 10 or 15 minutes. Not to worry, we bonded almost instantly and since then it's no secret I am one of Mindy's favorites. Awww.

Today is a day Mindy has looked forward to for a long time and after turning 8 years old last month today she will be baptized.
Of course I'll be there. I've also been asked to play the piano during the service and have been trying to get my fingers limbered up again after taking too much time off from "tickling the ivories."
It was a great day for Mindy.


AFTER THAT:
Grocery shopping.


Life Goes On



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Friday, November 1, 2013

Life Goes On - 11/1 - Long Day

Early this morning the dentist's office returned my call from yesterday and agreed that it would be best to have the dentist check out the tooth bothering me. So, while I'd really rather be anywhere else, at 11:00 this morning I'm sitting in a dental chair. Explaining the past week of hot/cold 'zings' the dentist then picks up his instrument and starts tapping around the tooth and I prepare for some 'zings' of great discomfort. Guess what? Nothing! We're both stumped. X-rays are then ordered to see if they can reveal the cause of my 'zings' but pictures they get aren't showing a problem. I'm beginning to question my sanity. After probing some more and another x-ray and reviewing the history and report of the deep cavity filled last May the dentist decides there is a 95% possibility that tooth is the problem and what I'm experiencing are early symptoms. At some point in time I'd also mentioned they need to add a line item to my health record about my recent diagnosis of NHL Cancer. After some discussion it's decided the dentist will go ahead and prep the tooth for a root canal. About halfway through the drilling he says "I'm 100% sure now this is the right tooth." At the point tools and fingers are out of my mouth I ask how he could tell and he says "Healthy teeth bleed; there's no blood." The prep work continues. Once completed the next trick is figuring out a schedule for root canal that coordinates with my treatment and Chemo Week (side effects) and such. Great. Root Canal will be done next week.

With that morning unpleasantness behind me I can move on to another task that needs to be done this afternoon.,

THEN:

The Lawn Ranger.

I mow the lawn (because I've figured out how to safely maneuver the lawn tractor up and down the hilly areas of my fairly large yard).

I don't fertilize (because I haven't figured out how to do it sitting down in order to prevent more damage to my arthritic knees) so hire a lawn care company to do it for me.

I thought I'd done the final mowing of the season several weeks ago but in the time since then the lawn had been fertilized, aerated, and Mother Nature had also provided some much needed rain. Unfortunately that also meant the chlorophylled spiky stuff had grown too long for a disease-free over-wintering season (there I go again, too wordy and inventing words). Fortunately chemo treatments were last week so there's been some recovery time from the tiredness that comes with them, but not entirely as plans to also get the final edging done were scrapped in part due to time constraints but also wearing myself out. However, the weather was good today and it just felt great to be outside breathing in fresh air and doing something constructive.

This was the longest mowing season I can remember.
Started in March and ended in November!

THEN:
My turn to prepare and cook dinner for our 'scrapping night' get together with my mom and sisters. Once everything was in oven it was panic piano practice time since I've been asked to play at the baptism of my niece's daughter tomorrow and I've put it off too long and need to get the rust out of my fingers. Not bad, well actually it was very bad and will need more hours tomorrow morning to get the two main songs perfected more.

THEN:
Eat dinner and then do scrapbooking until about 11:00pm.

Yup, it was a Long Day.

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