So, How You Doin'?

Not too badly, although it has turned out to be a busier Spring than I expected. I have almost rested up from all the travelling I've already done but next week I fly to the coast of Maine to visit a friend and then in mid July I head for Pagosa Springs. It would not be so bad if I was not constantly weary. This weariness, I have discovered, is caused by a chronic infection in one of my teeth and the mild depression that has accompanied it. I have been on antibiotics, which I hate, for the last month and a half, mainly because I wasn't sure just what to do about the tooth.

I knew the only cure for the infection was to have the tooth removed but I dreaded the idea since having the one tooth pulled was not the limit of the treatment. I've already had a tooth removed and now I have to have the infected tooth pulled along with another tooth who's root is being reabsorbed by my body.

This is all happening because of an accident when I was a child but in my mind I equated having the teeth removed from my mouth with not taking good care of my body and I felt ashamed. I thought to myself that if I had only taken better care of my teeth none of this would be happening; the ways in which we beat ourselves up. Anyway, I finally realized that all the teeth I am loosing are the ones I damaged as a child and that I can now truthfully say I lost them all in a car accident. This thought cheered me up immensely.

So, on Friday afternoon I get the two teeth pulled and a temporary bridge put in. In about four months, after my gum heals, I will go back to the dentist and a permanent bridge will be installed. In anticipation of the couple of days of down time that I will be experiencing after my "procedure," I have assembled a few books to read while I lay on the couch willing my body to heal as quickly as possible. All the books chosen will take me to distant times and places, all will make the time pass quicker, and all will keep my mind off of my missing teeth.