a specialist or two

This week was very cold so we spent a good deal of time finding things to do with two crazy active kids stuck indoors for too long.

We call this 'game with ladder number one'. There were of course many other games with ladders. Thank goodness for mom who set up paints one day and greenhouse arrangements another and took them to the library on yet another.

I, on the other hand, entertained myself by seeing not one not two but three specialists this week.

On Tuesday I went in to see the psychologist. On Wednesday I went to the gastroenterologist, good news on that front. I am unremarkable and have no inflammation, allergy or organ troubles. On Thursday I went to the OB/Gyn for my annual...fun fun.  On Thursday afternoon just as I was congratulating myself on my week of virtue and medical stick-to-it-ivness I got a call from the Oral surgeon letting me know that they could fit me in Friday for my wisdom tooth removal if I still wanted to move that procedure up.

*Bonus specialist appointment.

This is Judy. 

This is the face of a friend you can call up on only a very few hours notice when you are about to have an unexpected wisdom tooth removal procedure.

Judy came over late Thursday night and then Friday morning she went with me to the appointment. Held my hand through nerves, drove me to the pharmacy and got my meds, took me home and gave me drinks and soft foods, played with the kids and helped David keep them off of me so I could sleep and then at the end of that fun filled day left with a hug.

Judy is a Saint!

You may remember that my last wisdom tooth removal was a bit of an ordeal. I went in to get all 4 out because 3 were impacted and the 4th was partially impacted. I was having a lot of pain with the one on my lower right jaw so I was really motivated to get those things out. Well the pain turned out to be from a cyst that had formed and eaten away a big chunk of my jaw bone. In fact my jaw was no longer connected to itself there as the cyst and eaten all the way through. The oral surgeon wouldn't do the other 3 teeth. He wanted that one out and a biopsy on the cyst. That was a terrifying time. I imagined a life like that of Roger Ebert's with out being able to eat solid foods and with the disfigurement of no lower jaw. The biopsy came back benign and that was a huge relief slowly but surely my jaw grew back together. I used to poke at the hole just to check if it were getting smaller. It wasn't until last August that I was ready to do the whole thing again. 

After my recent panoramic x-ray I was able to talk to the new (younger partner) oral surgeon about my jaw and he said he couldn't even see where the separation had been. YAY! I didn't have anything done in August because he wanted me to take some more time for my stomach to recover from all the antibiotics that I had been on in the spring. He wanted to put me back on antibiotics after this extraction and he was being nice to my nerves and my gut flora. 

I had so many medical adventures after that...

So it wasn't until our trip to the beach that I felt ready to try again. My teeth were starting to hurt again. They would try to come up but what they were actually doing was pushing the rest of my teeth forward in my jaw. It felt like a headache plus braces.

My main concern for scheduling had to do with the arrival of young Kaleb. I really want to be up and ready to help in any way when that new cousin boy comes around. Aunt Pammy is 37-38 weeks now so I asked the Oral Surgeons office to put me on the list in case there were any cancellations. My original appointment was Feb. 14. ha romantic!

I spent a weekend in pain. Also in curiosity as is so often the case with me and medical procedures. I am happy to report that despite one tooth being on a nerve I have not lost feeling in my j. I am less happy to report that the roots of another tooth were in my sinus cavity and now i have a sinus perforation. There is a hole from the tooth extraction site into the sinus cavity above it. This is the weirdest thing. It doesn't hurt exactly but i cant drink or eat without being aware of it. Also of course it really ups the chances for a sinus infection but I am on the antibiotics so hopefully it will close up on its own without any major fuss. It is really very weird. I get bubbles when I drink...not gross bubbles just normal air bubbles but still, very weird.

We were going to pain Megan's room this weekend but instead we did the much less taxing testing out of our proof of concept cherry blossoms. Now the wall looks crowded but she is happy. We have chosen the lightest brown for the wall and will paint a mural cherry tree once that is done.

David spent lots of time with the kids. They played trains and pirates.

The kids had light-saber battles. They call these "No! You are wrong!" fights. Here they are getting ready for church. As you can see Megan is winning and ready to vanquish her next 'wrong' foe.

It really warmed up and we went for several walks.

I felt a bit self-conscious going out like this but it was a relief to get out of the house. On Sunday it was even warmer and we went for another walk then I cleaned up under the deck a bit and the kids played on their swings.

It was so good to get them away from the tv and the video games and just out! I wore myself out doing this and went to bed. I woke up well after I should have medicated and discovered how much I am not yet ready to be medication free. OOOUUUCCCHHHH! plus my sinus' were killing me. 

Finally we prepared for the Super Bowl. 

I am pleased to report that 7 layer dip is very soft and so are several parts of pizza. We had pudding for dessert and watched the Seahawks destroy the Broncos.