Year of the Tooth

What a crazy week! I'm so glad the weekend is here and I am looking forward to the whirlwind of making Thanksgiving dinner.

I think people make such a big deal about cooking the turkey and all the side dishes that go with it. I enjoy cooking and could easily spend my days in the kitchen whipping up all kinds of dishes, if only someone would clean up behind me and wash all the dishes when I am done. If you plan it right, make the desserts and do a little prep-work on some of the dishes the day before, once you put the turkey in the oven on the actual day, the rest of the day is pretty easy. But maybe it's me, I don't go for the super complicated dishes or go all out and decorate the table really fancy. Nothing changes in my house when it comes to Thanksgiving. I don't bring out the fancy dishes-- don't have any. I don't decorate with any tablecloths or leaves or any such stuff. I just cook the food, serve the food, eat the food.

Anyway, poor Andrew had some teeth that were bothering him for some time now. His wisdom tooth finally dropped and came in at an angle, pressing down on the next molar. The pain came and went over a few months, but the last couple of weeks have been really bad. Bad enough to turn Andrew into an ogre sometimes. He went to the Veteran's Hospital to get it checked out, but they kept giving him the run-around because he has high blood pressure. Dental would send him to the ER to get cleared by the doctor there, but the doctor would be too busy to see him one day or send him elsewhere another day. After nearly 2 weeks of back and forth, meanwhile taking antibiotics for the infection and meds for the pain, he gave up and called a local dentist in town. The local dentist agreed, he needed clearance for his high blood pressure, but once he got it, he'd pull the teeth ASAP.

Lickety-split, Andrew was able to get ahold of his primary doc at the Veteran's hospital and get the go-ahead for the dentist. The very next day, the dentist pulled both teeth. Turns out, the tooth that the wisdom tooth was pressing on-- the bone had deteriorated and there was nothing for the tooth to hold on to. It came out easily and then that space made it easier for the dentist to grab hold of the wisdom tooth and pop that out, too.

Amazing! What a difference in Andrew with those two teeth out. A little bit of soreness afterwards, but he's feeling pretty good. I have my husband back! Bye-bye Ogre! And, surprise, the local dentist was cheaper than the Veteran's dentist would have been. So, it all worked out, I guess. I'm just glad he is no longer in pain and he can go on with his life again.

It's the year of the tooth for us-- between the kids losing their baby teeth left and right-- Evelyn lost one of her canines the other day-- Andrew losing two, Mom breaking a front tooth, and my uncle breaking his tooth eating popcorn I made (oops!), that's a lot of teeth! Here's hoping we'll all have our teeth when we're old and gray and not gumming it! :o)
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