Extraction

Remember that tooth that's been through the three root canals, the crown preparation, build-up and worst of all, the apicoectomy where one of the roots was removed through the side of my jaw?  None of that solved the problem and due to some strange anatomy of the tooth, there wasn't a lot more to be done.

If it wasn't so painful that I couldn't chew on that side of my mouth I might wait it out longer, but not only was it painful and not getting better, it throbbed every time I did anything rigorous, including running.  So every single step of the marathon, this tooth was pestering me.  And that wears on you after a while.

The endodontist was willing to do another partial amputation of a root in the hopes that would solve the problem, but we weren't sure that would do it and it would make the tooth more susceptible to fracture and less stable.  So I decided to have them extract it.

I'd like to say it's less painful today than it was yesterday, but a big hole in your jaw isn't that comfortable shortly after it's made.  Soon though, bone matter will begin to fill in the area and after some time, I'll have a fancy new bionic tooth replacing it.  

For now, I'm in a four-month holding pattern where the extraction heals and fills in.  This tooth saga is turning out to be longer than anticipated from when I went in to get a fairly routine crown a while back.

The Big Boy Update:  "I want to go see the lights."  Our street has become very festive with holiday decorations.  The cul-de-sac has a lot of nighttime excitement for small children.  There are inflatables and lit trees and reindeer and lots of other things that make my children hop up and down, point and yell.  After dinner when it was dark, my son asked if we could go see the lights.  We had a hard time getting them back home they were having so much fun.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "My stool."  She loves her stool.  She is a menace with her stool.  She pushes it all over the house to see what we're doing, especially when we're doing something with knives or hot boiling oil.  But for the most part, she has more independence with the stool, and that's a good thing.  Tonight, she was standing on the first rung of the stool, leaned over, put her arms around it and her cheek to the top of it and said, "my stool."