Thursday, December 2, 2021

Thursday, December 2, 2021  

 

   Boy, did I screw up this morning! I had made an 8 a.m. appointment with one of my physical therapists and forgot that it was a driveway yoga morning.  I asked Yvette if I could do just half the class. She was welcoming. I warned the other students that I would be leaving at 7:30. I love the class. Yvette is an amazing teacher, watchful, kind, and gentle.  I made sure my car was parked on the street before the gate was closed.  Scott opened the gate for me. Elsa blotted out after me.  Scott grabbed her up and carried her back. 

   I got up extra early this morning because I had a lot to organize before I rushed out from yoga to get to my appointment. I had time to edit my blog entry and post it. I saw my numbers are holding; 124 people signed on, and over a thousand pages were read over the next seven days.

     Terry, my PT, worked on my abdominal muscles and my spinal curvature. She told me again how impressive my spinal twist is. My hips are twisted in two directions. She was amazed that I wasn't in constant pain. She does great work releasing myofascial tissue.

   I was out of the PT appointment at 9 and had a 10:15 appointment with the dentist who would check my back tooth to see if I needed a root canal.  I ordered an avocado sandwich with a Greek salad topping from the little café, part of the sports facility. I sat at a curbside table and ate half of the sandwich. Delicious. 

   Before heading to the dentist, I stopped at Long's to see if they had any Hersey Milk chocolate kisses or nuggets with almonds. They had nuggets. Okay. Bought that. I prefer kisses; there's less chocolate per item.  

   I left for my dental appointment in plenty of time. Good thing I did. The GPS on my iPhone was uncooperative. I have no idea how it worked. Each time there's a download, I have to figure out something new. Hate it! Fortunately, I had the dentist's address and knew roughly where it was. When I arrived at the general location, I called the office and got directions to their specific location.  I had to wait on an outside bench and read on my Kindle.  When the font was large enough and the Kindle distant enough, the print was clear.  I have been having problems with my eyes. Print is always blurry. 

     As I waited, a friend from church came out, sat on the bench by my side, and talked for a few minutes. She had just been told she was going to have a tooth pulled.  She asked me if I was doing Bikram.  I had forgotten that she had. My mind is definitely not as sharp as it once was.  I often feel vaguely lost- not to a point where it's scary. How much of this is age, and how much is Covid brain. Probably, some combination of the two.  The woman told me she wasn't going to Bikram anymore.  Her husband had a hip replacement. The doctor told him to go back to his usual activities. It looks like he hadn't considered Bikram yoga as usual activity. He popped his new joint. It never worked properly again.  She had gone to Bikram to support him; now that he had to give it up, she didn't go on her own.

    The good doctor was all business. An assistant took an X-ray of the suspect tooth. When he came in, he told me that I needed a root canal in no uncertain terms. I was confused. Whatever pain had been there was gone. He told me the pain occurred when the root was dying, and I had not one but two abscesses.  Once the root died, the pain was over.  He went through a flip chart showing me what was happening but never showed me my X-rays. He took a panoramic X-ray to help him pinpoint the location of the roots and the abscesses. His receptionist made an hour-long appointment for April and sent me packing. I wondered why he hadn't prescribed an antibiotic for the abscesses but said nothing at the time. On a positive note, Medicare covers this dentist; it doesn't cover my regular dentist anymore.

    I called Young Brothers as I drove home. I want to get the price on shipping the granite slabs for our gravestones to Oahu.  Question: is there a price difference between sending one slab versus sending two.  It took forever to get the information. Maybe I didn't clarify that I just wanted a ballpark estimate, and the young woman was in the habit of giving exact quotes.  Once I gave her the dimensions and weight, she finally said that the minimum cost for shipping was $86. Shipping both together will also fall under the minimum cost, $86.  It took a good five minutes to find out it would cost $86 to ship one slab or two. That means I want to get a design for my gravestone, then ship them both over to Oahu to be engraved.  After that, I will get hold of the guy who can make the cement pillows for them to rest on. Slowly but surely, I will get it all done.

     I went home to nap.  I was exhausted after the PT. My alarm went off a 12:45; I needed to take Elsa to the vet to get a shot to help her with her allergic reaction to something that causes her skin lesions.  I didn't wash her again yesterday.  However, I thought her skin was better or was I making an excuse. I will put her baths back on a once-a-week schedule every Saturday.

    Finally, I finished editing today's daily blog download from a year ago. I usually get them done first thing in the morning.

    Told Judy about my experience with the dentist.  She said her dentist would just give her an antibiotic for the abscess and not do a root canal.  She was concerned with his treatment of me.