Apicoectomy

I have a tooth saga.  It's long and it's expensive and it's not over.  I was going to wait until it was over, but I'm not sure when that's going to be so I'm just going to write about it up to now.

There are several teeth in need of attention in my mouth, but this was the one we started with.  The filling was old and the additional decay enough that it merited a crown, so my dentist (who is also my neighbor) put on a temporary crown.  We didn't know if it would need a root canal, so we thought we'd start with the crown first.

After a day it was obvious that the crown didn't remove the discomfort so I went back in for a root canal.  And that's when things got interesting.  During a root canal, the dentist drills down into the tooth to expose the channels in the roots that contain the nerves.  Then he proceed to use these little tiny files to remove (or obliterate) the nerve, blood supply and any other tissues in the roots themselves.  He fills in the void with a metal filler and through some neat technology melts it to fill in the root canal itself.  If all goes well, at that point you should be pain-free in the tooth because it's hard to have pain in a tooth when there are no nerves to feel the pain.

In the middle of the procedure, my dentist takes little low-level x-rays of the tooth with these mini-files inserted down the root channels.  He does so to make sure he's removed all the material and has gotten the files to the bottom of the root.  All was going well until one x-ray showed his file going out the side of one root at a very uncomfortable angle.  He said immediately that he needed to send me to an Endodontist and he knew the best one in the area.   I found out later he was worried he had done something wrong or would have an angry patient.  But honestly, teeth are the strongest parts of our entire body, he couldn't have pushed a little dinky bendable file out the side of the root unless something were wrong, so I was fine with my dentist.  My tooth, I was annoyed at.

Let's keep count here, because that's root canal one.  And I was in pain now.  The endodontist took a 3-D CT of the tooth and it showed I had a resorptive defect, meaning at some point, possibly many many years ago, the root was under stress or pressure and partially re-absorbed into the jawbone.  He likened it to being moth-ridden.  His suggestion was for one of two options:  1) remove the tooth and plant an implant screw, for future implantation in six months to a year or 2) complete the root canal and do an apicoectomy on the root with the issue, meaning cut off the bad part of the root and remove any nerve associated with it.

The cost was similar (costly) but he said I could always go to an implant in the future and to know that a percentage of implants fail and if that happens, there is no alternative.  So I went for the tooth surgery, the more conservative route and possibly, he said, all the treatment I'll ever need on the tooth.

I scheduled the root canal and he said he'd try to do the apicoectomy on the same visit but it might not happen, depending on how difficult the root canal would be.  At that point I'm in pain so he gives me pain medication for the discomfort because the first root canal stirred things up.  He was running very behind schedule due to an emergency (and I don't argue with emergencies because some day it might be my emergency) but we got started eventually.

He chased down the canals and found an additional calcified one and worked late into the evening, close to eight o'clock, before he called it for the night.  Root canal two left me with a still-incomplete root canal and a still painful tooth.  And his calendar is full, but he is great at what he does so I got on the schedule when I could and took more pain medication for my throbbing mouth and waited.

Root canal three just happened to find him with another emergency surgery, this time on another endodontist.  I overheard from my chair at the end that he absolutely refused to let the man pay because he was a colleague from another town.  What a nice guy.   Back to my root canal number three.  This time he finished and he did the apicoectomy next.

Did I mention what happens in an apicoectomy?  It doesn't sound fun.  You can skip this paragraph if you don't like medical descriptions.  They have to enter your jaw from the side of your mouth and to do so, they have to cut into and lift up a flap of your gums.  And by lift, I mean physically scrape it off your jaw because your gums are well-affixed.  Then he drills a hole in your jaw bone and removes the root with some special endodontist tricks I can only imagine via the sounds I heard while it happened.

I did get pictures to take home and scare my friends with though.  A week later and I'm back for a checkup and it's still painful.  Not the gum incision, pressure on the tooth.  Strange, it should be feeling better.  Come back in two weeks.  Okay.

Two weeks later (today) and I can't even tell I had mouth surgery.  The tooth isn't throbbing, but it's not comfortable and I can't chew on it still.  So he took another CT and we reviewed it.  There is a root that has an unusually sharp curve in it.  He couldn't get his tool down it and he can't drill in a curved line, but it appeared to be completely calcified so he hoped it was nerve-free.  His suggestion is to let it heal for another month and then we'll make a decision on the next step.

His option is to go in an remove part of that second root.  It's not ideal, because it's another point of stability for that tooth I'd lose, but it would be at the tip of the root and he thinks there's a high likelihood I'll keep the tooth unless it cracks due to other reasons in the future.   If that doesn't work, he said he'd remove the tooth.  Me?  I'm hoping it calms down in few weeks and the pain is ligament-related around the tooth.

So for now I have an un-crowned tooth that's in limbo.  The endodontist said it's completely safe to be in this state as the channels are filled with solid material and he's done a bigger than normal build-up on the base.  But it feels strange and stump-like though.

I hope the other teeth aren't this difficult.

The Big Boy Update:  Super-Bat-Tiger-Man.  To school today (it's Halloween) he wore a Superman shirt under his tiger costume and his Batman shoes.  Tonight he is wearing his Spider-man costume.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   Super Reese.  She emphatically does not want to be a princess.  She has a dress-costume with the Superman 'S' on it and she calls herself, "Super Reese".  She wore it to school and will trick-or-treat in it tonight.  

Sickness Update:  Better.  Almost normal even.  I think I'm over the funk.  Just in time too as the marathon is in less than three days.

Cleopatra

We have a ground hog (we think) that really likes the nuts in our yard.  And more than our yard, he likes our neighbor's yard even better.  I don't know if it's a girl or a boy but our neighbors had a discussion one day and gave her about seven names, one of them being, "Cleopatra."

We have deer too and the like our neighbor's yard as well and the great thing about that is that their back yard is visible from our bedroom windows and bathroom.  So we watch them in the morning and our children come to see what they're foraging for and it makes everyone excited to see wild animals so close.

One morning we saw a fawn, or a very young deer more likely because there were almost no spots left, curled up at the base of a tree next door.  He (or she) was quite close to our windows.  We all looked at him and he watched us as we moved from one window to the other, but he wasn't alarmed.   In a while, he got up and walked back down the hill into the woods calmly.

The Big Boy Update:  Playroom sneaker.  Tonight, just now in fact, my husband was waiting in the children's room for them to calm down and go to sleep.  He told me that he sensed my son only waiting for him to leave so that he could get out of bed and go to the playroom.  Sure enough, when daddy got up and left, he made a break for it.  After two attempts, my husband decided if he wasn't tired, he could play quietly in the room.  Usually, when this happens, he brings in his blanket and pillow and falls asleep later on the floor.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Stool pusher.  There is a small stool my daughter pushes all around the house so she can climb up on it and see what you're doing at this counter or that counter or bookshelf.  Tonight, she helped (or tried to help) daddy and me make our adult beverages for Halloween tomorrow.  She mostly "stirred" water in a cup.  But she was happy.

Curb Appealing

I rolled my trash and recycling bins in tonight and for the first time, I didn't have to pull them up over the edge of the driveway from the street.  I stopped, looked down, and marveled.  Then I smiled.  It's nice to be home.

When we moved into our neighborhood, we were the eighth house.  When we decided to build, only three houses were occupied.  There was an undercoat on the roads, but the final coat wouldn't go in until the neighborhood was close to ninety percent complete.  The entrance to the neighborhood itself had a very bad height difference at part of the street, so much so that some of us went the long way around to exit the other side of the community. 

Recently, they started marking and tearing up and replacing sections of the curb for replacement.  A neighbor said that was a good sign they were about to pave the entire street.  We had high hopes.  Then, they came and ate up about seventy percent of our street's base coat and replace it.  And I was confused.  They replaced curb pieces that were cracked, that made sense.  But the sections they repaved didn't always make sense.  Some areas that were crack-ridden were left, while other areas, like those in front of our house, were replaced.    I worried I was wrong and that this was our "final coat".

Then, they did that bit where they dig out all the utility pieces and raise them up by two inches, clearly indicating there is about to be another layer of asphalt on the way.  I relaxed again.  And today, we got our final coat.   My son watched the rollers roll back and forth on the street and we hoped we'd be able to get in and out when we need to. 

No more curb differential.  Much more curb appeal. 

The Big Boy Update:  He warmed up.  At gymnastics, he's never participated in the warm-up component of the class.  He just stood around and watched.  Today, not only did he do it all, he did it all right on time and correctly.  It appears he was mentally warming up the other times.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Social eater.  She likes to eat with people.  If we all sit down together, my son wants to eat at the little table, but she wants to put her plate at the big table and eat with the adults. 

Sickness Update:  Still sick.  Now daddy has it.  Low fever with terrible aches all over.  I think we're about through it but right now all we want to do is sleep.   Sleep is hard to do when you have two active toddlers.  And we can't call in help, this thing is very contagious. 

The Single Focus Phone Check

What did we do without our smart phones?  How did we manage without a single device in our pocket or purse that can do so many things at once?  It's a phone, it's a camera, it's even a video camera.  It has my calendar on it, it has all my contacts, I can pay for my coffee with it, it tells me the time, I can read and send emails from it and I can search the entire World Wide Web from it.   It is invaluable.

I heard a statistic recently that on average, people check their email forty times each day.  I thought that number was ridiculous at first.  Sure, those people in an office at a computer probably checked email all the time but that's because they're at their computer all day.   What about those of us who don't have a desk job?  Then, as I noticed myself pulling my phone out of my pocket again and again all day long for all sorts of varied smart-phone needs, I thought it might not be so out of line. 

Each time I pulled out the phone--to answer a call or check my calendar or see what the weather was--I would also note if new emails had arrived, and if so, I'd check them.  So I decided I'd do a count of how many times each day I checked emails.   It turns out, this is a more challenging thing to do than you might realize...

A long time ago I had a friend who had been a smoker for thirty years, but had been smoke-free for ten when I met him.  He explained to me that when you did something so often for so long, that you could have a cigarette out, lit and in your mouth before you even knew what you were doing.   I remembered that story when I was trying to count my "phone interactions" because I realized I was pulling the phone out, doing something, putting it back in my pocket without even thinking about it.

The other thing that I found interesting is how you can get sidetracked with the phone.   What time is it?  Let me pull out the phone and see.  Oh, look at that, I have two text messages.  Are there new emails?  Ah, only spam.  <puts phone away>.  Wait, what time was it?  I had looked at the phone which had the time right there on the front, but for some reason I didn't look at that piece of information.  because I got sidetracked with several other things my amazing smart phone can do.

I'm pretty sure my smart phone is smarter than me most days.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has a cough.  Earlier today daddy told him to cover his mouth when he coughed.  The next time he coughed he put his arm over his mouth and daddy said, "that's better" to which my son replied, "no, it doesn't feel better." 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "It's Frere Jacques!"  My daughter loves singing Frere Jacques.  She sings it in English and French.  The other day the song came on while she was in the tub and before it got to the part with the words she exclaimed, "It's Frere Jacques!"

Fever

My children get fevers rather regularly, considering that their immune systems aren't mature. I don't commonly though. But tonight, as our neighborhood pumpkin carving party was ending I developed one. It has been stewing all day and I didn't realize that's what it was. So now I'm in bed at seven o'clock and I'm going to try and sleep for twelve hours. 

The Big Boy Update:  no nap, to bed early. But he's been relatively fever free. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  her fever is mostly gone, but she was a little cranky still. I think she is almost over it. 

Costume Party

We've been invited to a neighborhood costume party.  Or, rather, the family hosting the party has invited the whole neighborhood.  I've never been one for costume parties, but I did want to go and see my friends in the neighborhood.  So I waffled.

On the one hand, I didn't want to go to a costume party without a costume.  On the other hand, I didn't have a great idea for a costume and I didn't want to just go get something at the store that looked cheap, just be technically in costume.  And on third hand, part of me isn't into the whole costume party thing and wants to just say forget it, I'm going in jeans and a t-shirt.

After dinner tonight, a mere two hours before the party starts, my husband said he was going to the attic to see if he had any old costumes that would work.  He came down with some good options, but he said I had some great options as well and that I should go look.  "I did," I thought?

I remembered costumes from my college days that weren't the type of message I wanted to convey these days and I remembered some costumes I didn't like that much, but was an okay option for that year, but I didn't remember any one in particular that would suit for this evening.

And then I saw the black and orange witch's costume.  I have a thing for orange and this costume has a lot of that.  It's also mature, without being too "sexy" or risque.  In short, it was perfect.  I got this great hat that I remember being more expensive than a witch's hat should be, but that fit me well and stayed on my head.

So now I'm dressed and we're waiting for Uncle Jonathan to come and hang out with the children asleep so we can go to the neighbors for a few drinks and a fun time.  Daddy is a warlock, so we'll match as a couple, how nice is that?

The Big Boy Update:  Mickey Mouse potty break.   We've had an issue with him wetting his pants when he's focused on something like watching television.  This afternoon I came into the living room to find him with his pants down, staring at the television.  I asked him if he needed me to ask Mickey to wait so he could go to the bathroom and he said no, but that he was dirty.  It turned out he had left the television to go potty and was, indeed, in need of a wipe.  It's the first time he's pulled himself away from something engrossing that I remember.  (I'm glad he decided not to sit down when he came back though.)

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She holds the crayon properly.  She seems to have an easier time drawing than he does and I just noticed today that her grip on the crayon looks like it gives her more control.  I wonder who taught her that?

Out of Time Night

I have time, but it's one of those night I'm tired and out of energy and, I suppose, lazy and just wanting to go to bed.  We had another great day at the fair with some new foods and some of the same foods.  I got to do a twelve mile run with Uncle Jonathan and my neighbor in weather that was much nicer than the other option, which was running at five-thirty with the threat of icy precipitation.

Then we went to a birthday party next door and had pizza and found out our fourteen-year-old friend has lots of friends from school.  Also, they got the largest pizza I've ever seen delivered.  Larger than a monster truck's tire.  And it was good too.

One child still has a fever and the other child has an almost fever so I'm going to put him to bed and then go to bed myself.  It's movie night here but I'm going to seep, happy in the knowledge that we have great friends who are in our house having fun.

The Big Boy Update:  Red Cross kind.  My son had an unexpected allergic reaction to something at the fair which turned into hives on his face in short order.  We took him to the red cross station and were overwhelmed by kindness and friendliness.  After some Benadryl, he was back in the fair game.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She still has a fever and is happy or cranky, depending on how her fever is faring.  Other than that, she's got no other symptoms of illness.  I hope she'll feel better tomorrow.

Fitness Update:   Twelve miles, our longest run left before the marathon on the third of November.