Pledge Drive Fall 2016

I have a small DI radio that I keep in the bathroom. You know DI = Deseret Industries the Mormon equivalent of Goodwill. That ubiquitous radio with red digital numbers informing you of the time which also has A cheap radio receiver. The radios usually cost a dollar And are stacked like cordwood in electronics section of the giant, corporate, secondhand store. But I digress, I turn on the radio and realize it's the first day of pledge week – – local soft strong-armed public radio station's effort to gouge more money out of its listening public. Not that it matters but I also have the same kind of radio in the kitchen, in my shop in the garage into stacked on each other in the closet ready for use when needed.

Like all quasi-elitists, who listen to public radio, I have a love-hate relationship with Pledge drive. I doubt really the radio stations really raise the money they say they do. I believe the money is basically corporate given and And they love the idea of community giving, grassroots level stuff, it makes public radio feel warm like a John Denver concert which is usually shown at some point during the fundraising season. I think the listening public radio audiencehas grown callous to the begging and fundraising antics of the poor radio staff who (I know are forced) take part in the pledge drive. I believe I have blogged in years past on a strategy the that I've used which is finding public radio stations in other markets were not in the pledge drive. That worked for a couple years until I started sensing that all public radio stations are on the same schedule.I think I can tolerate public radio fundraising better if they did not cut into programming. They usually kept in two the last 5 to 10 minutes any particular show that I am listing to. I noticed this particularly with Market Place that I was into every workday at 430 – – this is actually broadcast from New York City via WNYC which broadcasts shows two hours earlier than the local station airs the same shows. Invariably cutting into one of the best parts of the broadcast to fund raise the last 10 minutes of the show drives me crazy.

It's now officially autumn, the mornings are brilliantly beautiful, cool and crisp and totally inviting. A steaming hot cup of coffee doctored up just right, a computer with a fast enough connection and a public radio station kicking off their fall fund drive soda makes you feel right with the world like a segment from Prairie Home Companion.

Cold Winds Blow Chaos

I was beside myself this morning as I rolled the back to water my plants and I found all my plants lying undersides are upside down. It was total chaos. Dumbfounded I just sat and witnessed the carnage. I thought perhaps kids have gotten an to the backyard willfully destroyed my struggling little garden. However a moments thought revealed to be that the onslaught of last night's storm must've produced the chaos on my back porch.

Of course the first thing I did was returne to the house and boob to Dianne of the trauma that had visited a growing area. She just gave me the “mom look okay what are you going to do now? look” I mentally s slapped myself a couple times and turned around and rolled back to my growing area And began straightening up the mess.

Luckily all the plants stayed potted through the great wind and rain of the night before. However most of plants had actually been blown off their perch and were lying on the concrete floor the patio. Though some of the plants lost a lot of surface dirt the roots look like they had stayed intact and seemed no worse for wear. I had grabbed my great hook from outside the front door as I came down the ramp knowing I would need the hook to help me set up the plants. I was amazed that how it's I also noted how solidly the roots were rooted. I almost wanted to grab the little plants by the stems and just lift them up right but I didn't choose instead to use my hook to set the plants upright. One plant had been blown completely off its little pot stand. The pot stand is full of water which I figured if I could place the plant back into the stand it would greatly drink that water. That's what I did. I noted at the same time that the plants were only half moist. I really hoped the rain of the night before we've done my job for today but no I needed to get some water on the plants and hopefully this would help them regain their footing after last night's the wind trauma .

Well, I got My plants upright and I got them watered And I hope they're going to do fine I'm sure they will. The question now how much going time do they have left? In fact I think in the back of my mind when I rolled back to the house to tell Dianne what happened I was hoping she would say “oh just leave them there – – it is going to freeze soon anyway.” But she didn't she just gave me the look. Now my decision is how long will I maintain a green menagerie. I have new fruit coming on and my oldest tomato looks great all things considered. The drag a little green butts in the house but there is really no roomIn the house for that I don't think. I don't know how long they last. Can keep tomatoes in the houses houseplants? Does that seem right? Am I just having a problem letting go? Bottom line to the planting and care? I know I would.

I tried to put the tomato racks back on the plants but they just wouldn't have it that going strong stems and wanted to support themselves – – I can understand that. Still I turned one against the wall so it can lean its fruit against the wall, the others I arranged so that they were all touching each other. This may be feel warm and kind of felt that perhaps the cold nights coming and cold days and feel much better have each other to cling to as their little fruits grow. I pushed my rickshaw 100 times felt the cold/cool fadeaway as my body heat increased and was amazed when I saw snow on the tops of the peaks east to our house.

Bless!

This is the kind of really weird week for me. I'm glad my buddy came into town and Dianne and I met he and his wife for dinner well actually for lunch or talk a long time and is a great reunion. My Tuesday meeting Assist.Inc. was canceled. I standing Assist Inc. Meeting is important to me because this meeting gets me out of the house and onto the train and exposes me to people and other environments in which I live. Not that where I live is bad – – where I live is good I just need to get out every once in a while.I'm a bit embarrassed now as I write this realizing it is only Wednesday and I really have done something every day this week by him I my complaining?

Anyway, I woke this morning with a commitment to myself that I was going to go out somewhere. I got up and got dressed made myself breakfast and then found out the “the energy guy” is coming back to do some more work. There is a great hole in the ceiling for the old house is the add-on that was never sealed up right and this is been bothering bill The energy guy. We thought we were done with him when we settled up last week but he came over this morning wanting the sheet rock the whole. So I put off my trip To hang around the house for everything like it was okay then I left.

A beautiful day for the last day of summer temperatures the 80s clear whether (at least the morning and early afternoon storm is coming in later today). I had nearly a full charge of my battery and the place to go and I was gone. Dianne had made me a great BLT lunch so I was set. Taking up this late in the day I'm not going to range far like downtown Salt Lake are Sandy or even Sugarhouse. I just noted my chair down the number of blocks to a cute little strip mall in Murray. It has a Best Buy and Barnes & Noble and anything else I could want to eat Or drink. There's a couple fast food joints and the prolific shop Starbucks. Who could want anything more?

The really justify my time at the bookstore and electronic Mecca as doing recon for Christmas. In reality I'm just fantasizing what it be like to have anything I wanted instantly. I spent way too much time at Best Buy looking at computers: laptops, desktops and tablets. I also like to see all the other little innovations that inhabit this great marketplace. I was blown away when I turned the corner heading into durable goods inside this great screen on a washing machine! What a great idea! The DVD player hooked to your washing machine with the screen on the washing machine! I can do little close and watch a DVD at the same time life does not get better than this. I stared at this incredible feat of engineering. I think I knew deep down it was some sort of advertising ploy highlighting the exploits of this machine but what if it wasn't? What if they could do that? Or even on a DVD on my refrigerator in the kitchen! What a great time to be alive?

Just Another Bump In The Road

One of the legacies of my recent stenosis challenge has been the debilitating nature all the insult. I became conscious following the first surgery I had significant weakness in my left arm. This weakness was so significant that I landed in Rehabilitation for a couple weeks impatient and months outpatient. This weakness took me from a plain where I was totally Independence to a point where I was really dependent on everyone for just about everything I did. I could feed myself and even then I had to go to occupational therapy to figure out swallowing. It has been 18 months. However I worked very hard and those around me have worked hard and sacrificed much so that I could come home to an accessible environment and loving support to assist me in my continued Rehabilitation.

Taking care of a person with a significant disability is a great stress to the home environment. We had the house Home Health workers come in and assist me in my activities of daily living. Everything from getting up in the morning , dressing showering shaving and even pooping. This assistance is not free and many people are fortunate to have some form of insurance policies to cover this but I do not so this is all been out of pocket. Eventually we cut down from everyday assistance to every other day with the help of volunteers like my brother who would come in the morning before going to work get me up and dressed. Little bit by little bit true continued Rehabilitation and strengthening I have been able to get to the point killing myself too bad hands up in the morning do all my shaving stuff and even get myself dressed totally independent ! The only thing I cannot do independently at this point is my toileting. I use a suppository that's inserted and then I am placed on the toilet. I am fortunate enough I have a great Electric lift which is hydraulics and has a sling. I'm placed into the swing the suppository is administered and I'm placed on the toilet. Now the professionals at the hospital and rehab facilities would like to have me using the suppository every day but that's just not functional on many levels.

The cost for home health was killing us and we finally went to having a home health person come in three times a week to do toileting and showers
. This was not ideal but tolerable. So we settled into a routine even getting 3 workers who were reliable and good. Then ourWorld changed once again. When my main health aide had an accident and we had to find a substitute it was discovered that home health aides we're not allowed to administer suppositories. We have been working with these folks for nearly eighteen months and they have always administered the suppository. Without their ability to do this procedure they're of little use to us so we have discontinued their use. Dianne is taking over now very difficult for her with her physical ailments. Plus there is the issue of for yearly trip to California coming up in October. This will take a week and I'll have to figure out something to do over this period.

Tired Ramp

It's time for maintenance focus on the ramp which access is my own. I have a big wooden ramp that rises up two steps to reach the door of my house. Every 3 to 5 years maintenance on that piece of what has to take place now is the time. The ramp is beginning to get spongy and wobbly. I still think the device is safe but I agree with Dianne that we need to spend some time on shoring up the access device. This translates out to being we either a professional to do this or round up a bunch of volunteers who has basic skills to do such a job. Over the years my son-in-law Gabriel has often done such work but it really is not fair to ask Gabriel once again for assistance and more importantly they real as eczema so bad in his hands he can no longer really do this kind of work even though he would love to be a carpenter once again. So I am having to figure out a crew who can assist me for us.

If my dad were alive and living in Salt Lake Valley I would instantly pick up the phone call and ask if he could help with this project and he would he always did. So since that is not around and I have an older brother who is I called him straightaway. And like the great older brother that he is he said yes and came over yesterday, I assume after church, to look the project over. Carl – – that's my older brother – –-ramp Walked up and down, bouncing here and wiggling there, squatting down looking under the ramp and listening Dianne and me talk about the ramp like an old friend Which really it is. I love my ramp. I think sitting on my ramp all Through the summer Is the best vacation I could enjoy. I love the simplicity of the big wooden slope. I feel like a small king sitting on my ramp. I survey the neighborhood, Read and watch the weather. I feel like a poem sitting on my ramp I feel like something Robert Frost should've written about. But now I have to or someone has to fix it up.

I sort of think my brother, Carl, which is to soon do the work himself but cannot use my older brother 10 years older than I did for 75 even if he is a young 75He is still 75 years old. Carl does have a son-in-law who often comes with him by asking for assistance and he has some great grandsons too But there's a lot going on in the family right now and that may not be an option. I have a son that I'm going to call and see if he can help. I just don't know what kind of skills Mark A has in this arena. Would love to have him involved I just don't know if he'll be available. I also have some cousins that theoretically I could call I just never have before feel kind of awkward. In that same token I have friends that I could call but even if they responded positively I don't know how to integrate them with my brother. I mean it's going to be close quarters and get three or four bodies working it's going to be awkward as well as frustrating people get in the way of others will have to see.

Now, I'm just praying for good weather. My brother cannot even get to this job until after this weekend which means that the earliest next weekend. So I'm trying to get the well up call family and friends to fill out a workgroup and probably most importantly good weather.

Cherry Bomb

The image at the top of this posting is my neighbor Dan's side yard. What is missing is a cherry tree which is been dead for at least 7 years maybe 10. I have been coveting and watching this tree all these years. My neighbor Dan is a pretty good guy. He's been very helpful to me and Diane when we have needed help with any number of things from jumping my van to picking up things I can't lift by myself, particularly in the garage. We've had a pretty good relationship over the years. That is why I was a bit surprised and Confused when the other day I noticed the tree toppled over.

I have been patient for nearly a decade to get few branches of this tree. It's a cherry tree and I love cherry wood. I was hoping to make some sticks and who knows what else out of some of these limbs. I even talked to Dan a couple months ago when I got a feeling he might be getting itchy to remove this tree. He was very cordial as I knew he would be and I continued to wait and be patient.

I should have gone over the very second I noticed the tree was laying on its side. Thinking back I saw the tree was no longer standing but it did not register for a day or so and then I saw, indeed the tree was down. I figured I had time. It was the middle of the week when I noticed and I figured that Dan would do nothing until the weekend. Shame on me.

We have not been super close but close enough that we've been able to call on each other in rather touchy situations. We had a hard time mowing our yard last summer and Dan sent over a Tongan lawn crew to mow my yard without even telling me. I was appreciative at first, and still am, but still it made me realize the neighbourhood was watching my yard and probably me. That's cool. Dan also asked Dianne and to testify in Dan's behalf when he was going through a custody battle in tough divorce. We have each other's backs. Neighborhoods being neighborhoods it's interesting. We have spent a great deal of time on our front deck / ramp which looks directly on to Dan's house the back of his house. We see each other all the time me on the ramp and then going and coming from this house. Granted, like many of the homes in this area probably all the homes except for a few none of them are wheelchair accessible. But wonder what we would have been like had Dan's home been accessible. Would we have been closer friends / Neighbors?

This morning I noticed with a hollow feeling the tree that was lying down, the tree today so coveted branch , limb was gone entirely. I sighed and accepted my fate I'm never getting my coveted cherry wood.

So, I will still wave every morning and evening make small talk , wish Dan, happy holidays and realize streets make good neighbors.

Our Man Bill

Bill working hard to weatherproof the front door

We are finally doing a little bit of remodel on the house. This remodels been a long time coming, we refinanced the house and now have a little spending capital . I think we have not done well remodeling in the past particularly when engaging are trying to engage contractors to do the work. However, hopefully we're due for a change. Dianne did a great deal of research, as she always does, and we started weatherproofing the house. I mean we're seriously doing the house. This last week we have had the sealer/sealers command and are supposedly plugging up all the holes where traditionally the heat has flown out of the house. We had this little guy named Bill as a contractor. Bill is peculiar to himself Bill is a slight man. I think Bill is a lot smarter than I give him credit for or did.Bill is almost skinny. Bill has a good vocabulary and is a soft speaker. He articulates well. Bill is one of those folks that after you get to know a bit you feel is a great deal under his surface.

When I first met Bill I thought that perhaps this guy was a flimflam man. I mean I don't think I thought he was a fraud, I thought Bill really believed in what he's doing. But I got the feeling Bill got his equipment and all documentation from a classified ad in the back of Mechanics Illustrated or Mother Earth News or the like.. You know the send away for the program, three to six weeks You get Your little package in the mail our UPS and you got everything you need to get going. Regardless of where Bill got his equipment he seems to know how to use it but perhaps that's part of the con. I really sense Bill truly believes in what he's doing. He's been sealing up the house and under the house. Wrapping the the pipes, Filling holes in the wall that I made with my wheelchair, using his special equipment to see how much there is either getting in our getting out of the house. He and Dianne have worked out a deal for his services I don't know how it works but Bill is certainly earning his money.

Bill was only supposed to be here two days. Now it looks like the project will be three days for sure maybe even longer. In fact, Bill had a fellow with him the first day's name was Colby, you know like the cheese. Colby came by the second day work a few hours and disappeared never came back. This morning I asked about what happened to Colby and Bill said Colby just sort of evaporated. I think Bill is about as good a manager as I. I'm not a very good manager I do not know how to work with people to get work out of them. Bill is just a nice guy– – A downright friendly fellow.

I hope this adventure and remodel works out I really really do. If not I am sure Dianne and I will have a great adventure in great stories to tell as we begin this next adventure in our life – – – the remodel.

I Love Them All

Tomato row and my one and only tomato

I get up in the morning usually around 630 or 7 AM. I think a start waking up around five 5:30 AM but I noticed by the time I get up getting close to 7 AM. I drag myself out of bed into my chair and go to the bathroom and do my morning and the page ADLs. I usually make the coffee the night before and all I have to do is push the button the coffee begins to drip them back to my room to dress. Once I am somewhat presentable I go out to the back take care my plants or what I affectionately call my garden.This year the garden was very meager. I started late but I noticed that ShopKo was selling off their garden tent. I thought I was only buying one plant and actually I got six all the little tomato starts came in a small egg carton type of container. I also got a couple squash but they did make it. And I a pleasantly surprised that nearly all the plants that are tomatoes made it, kind of.

As carefully as I was able, I transplanted my little tomatoes into their own individual pots. I thought the pots were pretty big and was pleased when the plants begin the root and thrive. For a number of years we have had bags of plant food specifically vegetable plant food so I figured I would actually feed my plants this year and I thought I would have a major outcome I would be pleased with. Every day I've gone to the back patio and checked on my plants. I watered the little guys twice a day and fed them once a week. They grew, they looked healthy and that even begin to sprout blossoms I was totally surprised and excited. I diligently got tomato racks (?) Or whatever the devices are called that reinforce the tomato plant. I began to worry however that blossoms would come out looking beautiful and yellow but nothing would happen. I couldn't figure out the problem. Then a couple weeks ago I noticed one small green or almost hidden by the leaves. It was my first tomato and sadly I only tomato. A little green tomato size my thumb. I've been pleased to see the thumb sized tomato grow! And still none of the other plants have any fruit. I consulted with Amy I friend from work who grows the greatest tomatoes of ever seen – – consistently. She told me I was probably feeding my tomatoes too much in that I needed to stop feeding the tomatoes make them think they are starving. Amy said that stressing the plants makes them produce so I started withholding food and looking over my shoulder as I knew there must be an organization which prosecutes those who are cruel to plants specially withholding food.

I've not yet been arrested and still I have only one tomato. I've gone back to feeding all the plants and even the onions. It doesn't matter now it's the sixth of September every morning I rise and the temperature is chillier and chillier. The frost is coming just weeks away I can feel it. I will support my tomato and the other plants – – the Barren plants because I love them all regardless of their potential and ability To throw off fruit. I think the problem was they are all root bound. I think the pots were too small. There's a guy down the street who actually built pretty large boxes in his driveway of his tomatoes are going like gangbusters – – – I think it's the pots. So I'll continue to get up, do my ADLs, get dressed, get breakfast then go out and water my plants and enjoy them until the frost hits and then enjoy my memories.

Like Another Labor Day

It's Labor Day, a holiday and even though I'm not working I still love to celebrate Labor Day like I was. I woke up this morning excited to have a holiday and things to be just a little different than the usual they. No mail of course and I was surprisedThat the light rail, which runs right behind our house was running today. There are not as many trains running probably running on a Sunday schedule if I had wanted to go somewhere I could. But I didn't I just hung around the house, tended to my plants and worked on my puzzles – – this is my new plan to outfox Alzheimer's and dementia. Last week on a lark We bought a Ninja food processor. We really had not used the Ninja much until this weekend and now restarted really chopping things up. Dianne actually went to the store this afternoon and got celery, beets, kale, onions, ginger and some other things I can't remember. We don't them in the hopper and activated the machine. The Ninja made a great soundbut the vegetables remained motionlessIt was then we realized we did not have the blades inside the machine. Super sharp stainless steel ninja tools that slices and dices and shreds the vegetable matter to a drinkable consistency – – sort of.

We finally got the vegetables back in the hopper and turned the engine on again In the mass inside container dropped perceptibly. We had everything and it seemed like soon the vestal matter was reduced to a puréed consistency. What's that Ninja rendered was not necessarily drinkable but edible with the spoon sort of like salsa. In fact now I would really like to try making some sauce salsa and see what we come up with.

We even mowed the front yard. We have electric mower now and I like to go out and help Dianne or pretend to help help Dianne mow the yard .I hold The cord out of the way as Dianne mows the yard. The grass is long gone however weeds have taken over which look unsightly. So basically mowing dirt and scraggly plants. I'm sure I looked just darling holding the orange cord fading in out in a cloud of dust. Luckily the yard did not take long .

It was not spectacular Labor Day that's okay not doing that much labor these days anyway.

I Am Sorry I Doubted You

Me an older brother circa 1952 

I've spent most of my life terrified of the dentist. I think I have had good reason to be from my earliest memories a visit to the family dentist, Dr. Froggly, resulted in me biting his finger, only after he probed the cavity. Nevertheless I remember him lifted me out of the dental chair I must've been about five and marching me back to my motherAnd informing her that she would need to find another dentist because he was not going to work on me again. I think I may have found for five years before seeing another dentist. Now, at this terror the fact that I have an older brother loved to harass me anyway that he could. My brother is five years older than me and of course I thought he knew everything. Among the many half-truths he told me early on was about the dentist, when numbing my brothers mouth That something happened and the needle went into his eyes are felt like it did. My brother only told me this once but stuck with me all my life. Later in life I figured this was just another ploy my brother used to terrify me and to keep me in my place.

I have not really thought too much of this except when telling somebody of the trials and tribulations of my childhood. However, this did come to the forefront of my thoughts the other day when enduring my recent emergency extraction. I just gone through this extended exposure to nitric oxide – – again have no reason why I was subjected to this gas – – but I guess I was sufficiently “relaxed” and the oral surgeon came at me with the dreaded syringe. I'm rather proud of myself in that I've gotten used to the needle in the mouth routine when it comes to numbing my face. I've had good experiences with Drew Luke was done a masterful job of numbing my face over the last two decades. I mean hey disgThis guy's an oral surgeon he's got got to know what he's doing! The answer to the needle into the back of my mouth and delivered the payload And that was cool. I felt the “pinch” and then he attacked the top of my mouth on the right side, the site where the culprit tooth was to be extracted. The split-second feel as if the needle into my mouth had gone all the way up to my eye! The pain was instantly fleating then all was good. But in a flash I was transported back My older brother warning me about the dentist needle having it forced into my eye. And in that second I had to take back all those negative thoughts I had settled in with these last 60 years. I can see now how he would've or could've thought that the needle had gone into his – – after all he would've been about 10 years old to my five. So maybe, and this is what I really want to think and believe, he was just big brotherly watching out for me let me know what I needed to know.

I'm a little conflicted how to proceed; at first I was going to forgive him then I realized there's nothing to forgive you may have given me that information in good faith looking out for me. Maybe I should forgive myself For harboring negative feelings for so long. Maybe I should let it go to laugh and the silent thanks a little brother to a big brother. He really was looking out for me...or so I want to believe.

Did I Just Say?

Unbelievable! I just wrote 800 words in a blog about weblog about yesterday. I didn't even remember doing until I saw the post. Luckily this is been fairly productive week. Perhaps (aside from the emergency extraction) was the arrival of my glasses. Not that I needed a new pair I've been fairly pleased with the pair had gotten not long ago from a local vendor but I had the opportunity to get another set for the end of his insurance year so we figured why not?

Bridget had recommended to Dianne earlier this summer that she should consider getting a new set of glasses from Cosco – of all places.Bridget had just got set for her and that been totally pleased with the professionalism, convenience and cost as well as style of her glasses. Whoever thought to go to a big box store for glasses?

Oddly enough we were notified that my glasses were in the same day as my emergency extraction – – see yesterday's post. And I was feeling so good that I decided to go and pick them up. Which I did. I love them! I think they did a great job and I can't believe it was all done by Cosco at Cosco.

That was a nice little piece. Did you notice how just sort of walk away from the opening sentence about the blog post? I like to think just getting older but I'm losing some of my short-term memory like everybody else does it sometimes I think there is a dark feeling back there that says it's more than just aging. What if the dreaded Alzheimer's? It's not like I'm living in constant fear but it's moments like I just had that make me wonder sometimes what it? It's not like I have these events every day but there seems to be enough that I have to wonder sometimes so watch myself and hope against hope that whatever is next for me the cards is not the Alzheimer's card… Did I just say that?

Minor Miracle

This has been a very intense week started with Monday with the meeting with Elaine, an old friend from Boise. Then my Assist meeting On Tuesday then my dentist appointment yesterday and the arrival of my glasses at Costco Then actually going to pick the glasses up.

For the past couple of months and has weird sensation in my mouth. Sensation has not been a traditional toothache, But a sensation just the same that has been uncomfortable. And more importantly I did not want the sensation to progress past the uncomfortable stage. I talked to Dianne about oral sensation I was having and she encouraged me . to make the appointment. which I did. I was hoping the appointment would reveal a cavity which would easily failed but filled and be on my way. The appointment was set for 1030 on Wednesday morning.

I actually slept fairly well for the night before a dental appointment. I think I have grown out of my dental phobia at least it's not as severe as dental visits once were. Dianne drove me to Drew Luke's office. It was interesting when we got there to be met by the dentist and not his staff. Obviously, Drew opened the office by himself the staff was not there yet – –which I think he was a little pissed at least Irritated. It took a minute for him to find my file but eventually we got to the process looking at my teeth. Drew took a bunch of x-rays and finally informed me he found the problem. The tooth actually number two which is at the far end of my mouth, which has been filled with A number of times. But there was still decay and the doctor informed me they are talking a root canal or extraction. The root canal would be at least $1000 in extraction maybe 300. The position of the offender was not critical so the choice of Extraction was a no-brainer. I was okay with extraction. Dianne had the Dr.'s staff make the call to the oral surgeon to make the appointment. And I heard the time 12:40 PM. I assumed it would be a day or two about a week but I kind of freaked when I found the time was that same day just two hours away.

The oral surgeon was one I'd gone to a couple years ago when I was still working. I thought he did a great job and I did not anticipate any issues or problems with this iteration oral work. We tried to kill two hours productively but it was difficult. Dianne went to a world store close by and I figured I'd better eat before my whole life changed the next couple of days. I ended up going to the market that sold food and grab the last of the morning menu bacon cheese biscuit. The second terror I got that day was when I learned that I would not be put under for the procedure. On the previous extraction I had been mercifully put to sleep. I just figured it would be the same but I was wrong.

The assistant asked if I wanted laughing gas, Nitric oxide, and I was perplexed that was when I realized the doc was only going to use a local anesthetic!! I'd ever used nitric Oxide. She kept asking cause I kept having a weird look on my face until she finally said “I would use it” so said I yes and started pumping me with gas. Didn't really do anything for me I couldn't figure out why people wanted it so badly. Finally the doctor came in and gave me the shots. Here I should segue into the story of needles in the eye but I'll save that for another post Maybe sometime this month.The doc waited another 10 or 15 minutes And jumped into action. And before I knew it the tooth was gone no pain nothing just the cleanup and directions. There is minimal bleeding but I left with a big wad of cotton in my mouth icepack against my cheek and a handful of prescriptions.

He spent the remainder of the day watching television and waiting for the Novocain to wear off and the pain to begin…. I was still waiting, At 10 o'clock I went to bed I was still waiting I was still waiting I woke up this morning at 4 o'clock there is no pain! Another miracle my medical life.