I’ve been internally debating my real reasons for writing down my thoughts about this journey I’m on, and it seems that I most feel I need to keep an ongoing record of my emotions (constantly see-sawing), the pain (unexpected), and the results (still uncertain). I never expected the difficult times I’ve gone through, and I don’t know if that was lack of preparation on my part (I don’t think so) or because God decided that I needed to walk this road (much more likely). I will say I was more vigilant looking for those ‘spiritual signposts’ before I went to Texas than I am now, which is what has made me think I need to stop and check the roadside. What have I missed amongst the weeds?
As I looked around I began to focus on some other, not-related-to-my-pain things that were happening in Paul’s and my life at the same time, and they have pulled me up short. My husband’s Dad and step-mom arrived safely in Florida, but she is now facing another regimen of chemotherapy. Then his aunt went into the hospital yesterday morning for surgery on a brain tumor (waiting for the pathology), my mother will have her second cataract surgery in two weeks time (on November 16th) and should stay with us for at least one night, and my sister-in-law (Paul’s sister) will be going in for involved surgery in early December, and then be out of work for two months. Compared to that, my problems are looking smaller by the minute.
A dental check-up looks to be the next step for me though, and I’m waiting for an answer to the “Where?” question. After being on the antibiotic for four days, when I began to feel nominally better (at least in my mouth) the pain came back with a vengeance. That sent me emailing Dr. Lane again, to ask about the next step. It’s going to get complicated now, because we need to find a doctor up here (somewhere) who can pull the offending tooth (if necessary) according to the Huggins protocol (which means burring out the periodntal ligament and a bit more bone to make sure the jaw will heal properly). The rest of my mouth still isn’t quite healed yet (at nearly one month since the original oral surgery on October 6th), so this will mean another new hole to deal with.
In light of everything else that’s going on, I think that might just look like a minor setback.