August 19, 2015

A Frustrating Start to My Day

August 19, 2015

Since I didn't take photos today, I thought I would throw in some for the island on this past Saturday evening.  I would much rather have been at the island than at the dentist.

Last night I had a couple of teeth that were very sensitive.  They were getting painful.  I went to sleep at a fairly early time but was awake by 4:00 with a very bad tooth (or teeth) ache.  I planned to get up at 5:00, but went ahead and took the antihistamine at 4:00 so I could do the shots at 5:00 when Ron woke me; but I never went back to sleep.  There are two capped teeth that have given me trouble for a long time - relatively minor trouble, but just nagging discomfort. 

Ron was surprised to find me ready to do the shots at 5:00 and after I did them, he went back to sleep, but I was in too much pain to do the same.  By 8:45 I was at the dentists' office to see if they could see me later in the day because Ron had a job in Los Fresnos at 10:00.  First the lady at the desk said it would be several days.  Then she pulled up my chart and said to have a seat; they would be right with me.  I don't know what my chart says, but it may have been something like: "This lady needs lots of expensive work and pays as soon as work is done.  Be nice to her."

Whatever it said, worked to my advantage because the father and son of the office saw me right away.  They decided that I needed at least one and maybe two root canals and that I needed to see a specialist in Harlingen for the work.  Cha-ching! or said another way, $$$$!  I was not pleased, but what can you do?  They also warned me the caps could have to be replaced or the teeth removed and new ones made.  By the time they finished, my tooth didn't hurt nearly as much.

A line of pelicans flying over.

Actually, it is true that the pain had diminished a lot.  For that I was thankful, but I will see the specialist and see what he suggests.  These capped teeth have been a problem for a long time.  Something is not right and I don't know if it is the root or if one may be loose.  We will see what I find out, at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow - in Harlingen.  In fact when the lady at the desk called for the appointment they said they could see me at 10:30 today and it was 9:45.  I said I couldn't do that because of Ron's promised job, but I am glad he can see me so soon.

The visit tomorrow will just be for him to evaluate the situation and let me know what he thinks we should do.  So that means I need to be up real early in the morning to be on the road just after 7:00 to find the place in Harlingen in the old downtown area. 

After all that I returned to the office and Ron left on his job and another one in the same area.  By noon the teeth were not bothering me.  I do not want unnecessary work, but I don't want to put off something that can flare up at a bad time later.

Mourning Dove

During the afternoon I got the last 5 blocks made for the string quilt project.  I still need to do some borders and find the fabrics I want for the sashings and corner squares.  I waited on lots of the customers, of course all of them while Ron was out and some when he got back while he worked on projects he needed to do for customers and a large order he needed to place.

I left the office a little early to pick up three prescriptions.  One, they had called about the previous day and the two the dentist gave me this morning; one an antibiotic and one a pain killer.  They had no record of any of them.  Eventually, it turned out I had the prescriptions from the dentist with me.  He had said they would call them in, but he ended up giving them to me with other paper work and I never looked at it again once I got to the office.  Red face.  Short term memory failure.  Thankfully the lady at the pharmacy just laughed and was very nice about it.

I came home, fixed some supper, napped, and am now heading to be to be able to get up early in the morning.  I hope the heavy rains predicted for tomorrow wait until I am back from Harlingen.  Oh, and late in the afternoon the doctor's office called to remind me of my appointment for tomorrow afternoon at 1:30.  This is a regular monthly check.  Ron was taking the call and I showed him my calendar which said it was Friday at 1:30.  He relayed that to them and they said, "Oh, yes, but we are closing early Friday."  So, just call and ask if I can come in on Thursday, don't make my crazy brain think I wrote it down wrong!

Sunset at the island

All that adds up to me getting very little done tomorrow at the office.  Another note: I was exchanging postings with a friend about my new restrictive meal plan while my stomach heals for the next few months.  The discussion was on what I can drink.  She mentioned powdered mixes to add to water and I said I was doing some weak Kool-Aid, but she had mentioned checking the labels, so I did and it turns out grape Kool-Aid has citric acid in it (to add tartness, it says) and that tosses that choice out.  She also encouraged me to not do Crystal Lite due to high sodium levels in it.  Back to the drawing board, as they say.

After a week on the new diet with these restrictions on the foods, it is not bad.  There are some things I will miss like spaghetti, pizza, Dr. Peppers, chocolate, etc., but they really are minor.  I am doing fine so far on the food, it is just finding something I like to drink.  I will manage.  As the doctor said, "There is always peanut butter and jelly."  (As long as the jelly isn't too acidic.)  It is only for 6 to 9 months!

I hope you all had a great day.