Thursday, September 15, 2022

 Thursday, September 15, 2022

 

   I forgot I had yoga on Thursday mornings from 7 to 8 am. I scheduled a dental appointment for 8 am. I had to leave the house around 7:30 to get there in time. I have problems with time. I once planned to drive my mom to the doctor, and I had dropped off my car at the garage for service. I remembered my promise to my mom. I just didn't register that I didn't have a car to do that with. Last night, I texted Yvette, "I added 1 +1= ½," and told her I would have to leave early.

   We started late because one of the participants was delayed. There was only Scott, me, and that student. Of course, we were going to wait or her.  

   When my alarm went off, I got up to leave. Scott headed to the gate to open it for me. Elsa was by my side, ready to go with me. I didn't want her running on the road without a leash. The girl is suicidal when it comes to cars. Scott was going to pick her up. Absolutely not. He said she didn't weigh more than a gallon of milk. True. But his neck would be at an odd angle when he bent down to pick her up. For some reason, I didn't feel I could do it. Yvette grabbed her. I hopped in my car and was off.

   I wound up arriving in the area fifteen minutes earlier than I expected. I was all set to go when my alarm went off and could leave immediately. I usually have to collect myself together before I leave. I stopped off to get gas at Costco while the lines were nonexistent. I still arrived early. I had to fill out a medical form today. I hadn't filled one out for several years.  

   When I arrived at the dentist's, the hygienist came out. I told her I had taken my antibiotic. She said, "That was going to be my first question." I thought it was a little late for her to ask that question. I have to take four pills an hour before any dental treatment for at least two years after my hip replacement surgery. Infection from my mouth can travel to my hip. After two years, the muscles will have encapsulated the new hip joint, insulating it from wandering bacteria.

  She asked me if I wanted a complete checkup. Yes, she took a full set of X-rays and called in the doctor. He and I had trouble understanding each other. I asked him how much it would cost. He said if he did it one way, it would be $8,000. If he did it another way, it would be $6,500. I asked him to tell me what was involved. I wanted to know what he was going to do to my mouth. He tried to explain, but I didn't get it. His hygienist recommended we work with a model. The proposal was to extract five teeth. One didn't need to be removed but was between a tooth that needed to go and an existing post. He proposed putting in a bridge between my already posted tooth and the post furthest away. So there would be two posts and two teeth in a bridge. I would have to use a water pick to clean between the bridge teeth and my gums. The dentist was talking dentistese to me. He didn't respect that I didn't have his training or experience. It becomes very difficult to communicate with people when they assume you should know what you do. I agreed to the bridge and all it entailed.

   The hygienist continued cleaning my teeth once the dentist had finished his consultation. She told me to be sure to floss. There was some area between my teeth that was not being properly cleaned. There was a serious degeneration in my teeth over the last year. A year ago, the dentist had enthusiastically recommended I use a brush pick to clean my teeth. I thought I was supposed to use that instead of floss. Not so. The brush pick cleaned around my gums, but it did not clean where two teeth came into contact and captured food. I assumed the toothbrush would deal with that. Nope. Another misunderstanding, a pretty expensive one too. Except for the problem area between my teeth. I had less plaque than usual, except in the areas where my teeth came into contact. I credit my Spin Brush toothbrush for that. I am in love with that toothbrush. 

   I went to Kaiser afterward to donate blood for research and get my flu and Covid booster shots. Giving blood took two minutes. There was a long line waiting for the shots. I thought, why not get it over with now? I had a book. I learned the line was unusual; it was the first day the booster shot was available. I decided to go home and come back in the afternoon after the 2 pm session with second-grade home-schooled L.  

  When I got home, I was ready for a nap. I had to recover from sticker shock from thedental bill. I signed on to my 11 am zoom session with L. There was no response. I called her mom. Our class was on Friday. Somewhere I got my days confused, thinking today was Friday. 

   I found this funny poster on Facebook about retired people. "How many days are there in a week? 6 Saturdays and Sunday." Isn't that the truth? I decided to wait until after my session with L on Friday to get my shots. That would give me all of Friday afternoon and Saturday to recover.

    I spoke to my friend Jean in Arizona. We shared life's strife. We comforted each other. Her sister's husband recently retired and started exhibiting some very strange behavior. His wife and children pushed him to get a brain scan. He possibly had a stroke and could no longer inhibit his behavior. But no. His brain looked just fine. He bought four cars and a new house in the last month and was planning to buy two more cars. He is blowing through their retirement money at a fantastic clip without consulting his wife.

    I felt lousy. It could be because I gave the blood samples. I needed lots of naps.

   At four-thirty, I had a session with ninth grade K scheduled. There was no response. I called his mom. This time I had it right. She had forgotten, and they were out biking.   She would call when they were home. She texted instead. Unfortunately, my phone doesn't always bing when I get a text. Even worse, sometimes the phone doesn't ring. Drives me nuts.

   I continued working with Harry Potter. This passage describes some actions of Harry's. 'He put his hand on his burning scar, got up, ran across the room, opened the wardrobe, and looked in the mirror. A fourteen-year-old boy looked back at him.' "Who looked back at him?" K didn't have a clue. I walked him through the image. "Who does Harry see in the mirror?" Then he had the answer.

   I asked K if he thought the brightest child in the class looked stupid if he asked a question. He said yes. Where do people get ideas like that? It means all forms of inquiry are a reflection of a deficit. Non-learners unite! You always don't know something when you are learning something new. "Feeling stupid because you don't already know something is an absolute disaster. That makes you feel lousy and prompts you to run away instead of sticking around to learn."

   I asked K if he thought he was stupid. Yes. That meant when he came up with an answer, he assumes it must be wrong because he had thought of it. Yep. I told him to cut it out. To give me the first answer that came to his mind. It might be right; it might be wrong. Either way, I could only help him if I had his answers so I could figure out what to teach him. "If the answer doesn't give me information about what you have in mind, I can't help you," I told him not to do this yet in class. If he gives the wrong answer, his classmates may laugh at him. There was an immediate change in his rate of correct answers. He looked different. His expression changed from a frightened, confused child to someone who thought clearly. Amazing! Hopefully, we can ride this home.