September seemed to fly by in a blur. My braces did indeed come off on Sept 11, the day before I flew to New Jersey for a weekend of work training. I was ecstatic, and I had a marvelous time at the training, except for the fact that I discovered that my lifelong self-imposed limit of one glass of wine is indeed a good limit for me. We won't go into the details, okay? I returned home late Sunday evening, the next day the husband and daughter returned home after several weeks in Bellingham(enjoying their very end of summer break), and the very next day my parents arrived for a week-long visit.
Unfortunately, when my braces came off, so did a crown & enough of my tooth broke off with the crown (probably due to undetected decay under the crown) that a periodontist will have to expose more of the tooth so that the dentist will have something to attach the crown to. I've had the initial consultation with the periodontist, came away from in on the verge of tears, not only due to how much it will cost me, but also because I had so hoped to be done with dental trauma. The periodontist will numb me plenty good, including one shot my cheek that he says has to go very slow because it is quite painful, and then he will remove some of the bone underneath the tooth. The gum over time will recede down to the level at which he has removed the bone, exposing more of the tooth. It will take six weeks to heal from that, oh joy, before the dentist can do the crown work. At the beginning of the consultation, I warned him a little bit about my low pain threshold, and at the very end of the appointment as he came out to the front desk with me to give the receptionist instructions about scheduling the procedure itself, he said that in the course of the exam, he could tell that that I was indeed just as sensitive to pain as I claim to be. (He had probably just lightly prodded my gums with one of his instruments during the exam, but being me, it felt like I had been impaled.)
So then he asked if I would like to be sedated for the procedure. He had mentioned earlier that he likewise had a low pain threshold, and so I asked him if he were undergoing the procedure, would he choose to be sedated, and he said yes. And then we discussed various levels of sedation, and all the while I was feeling more and more glum about the money and why can't I just be tough and endure things without any anesthesia at all, blah, blah, blah, and what we agreed to in the end was IV sedation. So that is the plan. And it will cost $250 more than not being sedated, but by now my mouth has been through so much that I tense up anytime any dental person of any type even looks in there. And further investigation revealed that I've used up all of my dental benefits except for $400 (for the rest of the year.) This procedure costs $800 (plus the $250 for the IV sedation). So at least $600 will be out of my family's pocket, and then all of the crown (probably around $700) will also be out of our pocket unless I wait until January to have that done. I talked to my dentist's office, and I think that's what we'll do...wait until January for the crown. I suggested a temporary crown from around Thanksgiving to January, and the dr's office didn't think that was a good idea. Best to wait for the whole thing.
Now you have read a novella about my mouth. Aren't you just terribly impressed by this whole stinkin' saga? The only good thing was that when I came home, on the verge of tears, dear husband's immediate response was that we are so fortunate/blessed to actually have the money to do this, imagine how hard it would be if I needed the procedure and we didn't have the cash, and that I shouldn't think twice about the cost of the IV sedation because if it's available, he thinks I should have that. I am very discouraged though that September was the month when I was finally going to be able to start putting some of my paycheck into savings (the first time since my surgery), and now that will not be possible. Oh well.
There is no more TOEFL work for the rest of the week (no tests being administered anywhere), so I am thankful to have the opportunity to lie low after the procedure tomorrow. And I plan to build the first fire of the season maybe on Wednesday when I start to recover. The periodontist said that all of tomorrow I will probably just be sleeping off the sedation, and that I will be "grouchy" due to pain for a week or so. I have my pain med prescriptions all filled already, including one to help me sleep, so I think I'm set. I have to remind myself that I've already been through something much bigger--major jaw surgery--so I shouldn't be all stressed out about this procedure, but I find that I am anyway.
Except for this rare week off in October, autumn is the very busiest work season of the year for me, the season in which I make the bulk of my money, so I try to work as many days as possible. No exciting travel plans this fall although I really hope we can do our traditional autumn cabinning weekend sometime. Christmas will be spent with my parents in Kansas.
Sorry I am so uninspiring as I write this, however, let me close by saying that I wish a cozy autumn for all of you. Eat an extra large piece of apple pie and drink some hot chocolate for me, even though I will be eating apple pie and drinking hot chocolate aplenty of my own!