One less thing

Yesterday I had a tooth pulled.  I was dreading it because it felt like just one more indignity in a line of bodily insults.  The back story is that I experienced an infection in this particular molar about 8 months ago.  The tooth had a root canal and a crown applied years ago so this infection implied a worsening condition.  My dentist suspected a cracked root but gave me antibiotics to see if that would solve the problem.  It did but the infection returned around Christmas time.  My dentist gave me another round of antibiotics along with instructions to arrange to have the tooth pulled by an oral surgeon and an implant post inserted.  Once again, the antibiotics did what they were supposed to and the infection went away.  Out of sight and almost out of mind.  And then the swallowing problem cropped up and eventually led me down the path I am on.  More important to this story, it wrenched me off the whole "having a tooth pulled is the worst thing on my horizon" path.

Since the new path is leading up to some intense chemotherapy, I realized that these paths must intersect sometime first, because having an infection occur during chemo when my defenses are low is a very bad thing.  And this tooth was a painful mouth infection waiting to happen.

Just scheduling it seemed to be a problem.  Between all the other procedures and appointments, I had to make it happen when I had some energy to deal with it and some time to let it heal.  My dentist (Dr. Mark Salhaney) whom I've been going to since my mid-twenties, was very helpful in trying to line up the steps to make it happen.  Unfortunately, a scheduling SNAFU coincided with an energy crash on my end and the arranged oral surgeon option ended with me snapping passive-aggressively at his receptionist and requesting that they just burn all the paperwork I filled out for them.  From my side of it, they had me wait 2 hours and 15 minutes in the waiting room when I had driven across town with the idea that it would take 5 minutes for the oral surgeon to look at my paperwork, x-ray and the recommendation from my dentist and put me in his calendar.  Meanwhile, my pain meds wore off.  I went home, called Dr. Salhaney and told him about my fail and he mobilized his office to squeeze me in on Tuesday and he'd do the extraction himself.

After all the intense physical crap that has been thrown at me lately, having people I know and like pull a tooth, bordered on a pleasant experience.  Nitrous oxide probably helps a lot in that regard. Now it is 24 hours later and I have and extra gap in that row of pearly whites but I have no pain or swelling and I have one less daunting procedure and potential infection to worry about.

It sure doesn't hurt to have several incredibly gorgeous days followed by a Michigan spring thunderstorm!  I'm beginning to feel my health curve beginning to point upwards again.  I still have the numb tongue, cough, and some difficulty swallowing but my energy is increasing and I'm sleeping a bit better.  I've finally hit a weight that I've wanted to hit for years (though I don't recommend this particular weight loss plan) and I have some out-of-town daughters commencing to descend on Grand Rapids for a visit.  It feels like spring.

I finally finished the Hunger Games trilogy (what a downer!) and this morning a couple of books I ordered arrived by UPS.  I'm ready for a new mind adventure.