Our GrapefruitHow are ya'll today? It has been a good day around here with a few things accomplished but not as much as I intended. I just didn't get 'round to it but will try again tomorrow. I did get some washing done but have ironing piled and some clothes to fold, which I hate to do.
It's interesting that many people I have asked have the same 2 dislikes which I have - unloading the dishwasher and unloading the clothes dryer and folding the clothes. Someone said this week that we have all these time-saving appliances and still don't have any time. What gives? My thoughts on this is that with all the time we save, we spend on all those other things which people pile on us. They know we have these "time saving" appliances which means we have all this extra time to do this, that and the other. Can we win for losing? Not sure but I know my days are full.
Ya'll remember last year when I spent more time in the dentist office than I did at home? Remember I was visiting my two dentists, Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Tooth Mechanic. These two wonderful people pulled, cut, stitched, inserted crushed bones in my gums, screwed in screws, pounded in some crowns and bridged it all together. It was long and painful and most of that time I was waiting for 1 procedure to heal before I could have the next.
They were implanting teeth in my mouth and building a bridge between 2 of them and it was painful. We won't mention how much all this cost but it wasn't cheap. (Remember, my sweet, Southern Mama said never to talk about how much something cost.) Just so you know, I could have bought a whole bunch of new shoes for those few teeth.
The point of the whole procedure was to give me teeth which looked and acted like those I was born with. I also wanted to be able to eat on both sides of my mouth and not yip when it hurt to do so. It had become about impossible to eat fried chicken and corn on the cob which is not a good thing and I was afraid false teeth wouldn't work. This led me to my 2 doctors of torture.
They did their thing and my mouth finally healed and I thought I was set for the rest of my days with good, sound, and well-planted teeth. Take my word they had been screwed, glued, and pounded into place and should have been for eternity. Weeell, it didn't work that way.
About a month ago, I thought one of my crowns was a little rocky - like back to front and side to side. Can't be, I thought for they were IMPLANTED and screwed on. Must be my imagination I thought and forgot about it. A few days later it was evident that it was loosening but I knew it couldn't come out so I just ignored it and thought I would wait until later.
Later came sooner when the 2 on the other side which are the end posts for my bridge began to wiggle back and forth. No pain, just a mouth full of expensive wiggly teeth. Was I upset? What do you think? I was about ticked off, angry, mad, and ready to throw and hissy fit, which you don't want to see.
The first action was to look up teeth implant problems on the Internet. There were many websites about this problem so evidently this is fairly common although Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Mechanic didn't happen to mention this little tidbit. The more I read the more frightened I became and I called Dr. Mechanic's office and told them I needed an appointment soon for I had a PROBLEM.
I was convinced my gums were crumbling, the teeth had become unscrewed, I had cancer of the mouth, they were going to have to pull all my teeth and I would be toothless. It seemed apparent to me I was about to become a toothless, old woman with gums rotting out of her mouth. Not a pretty picture and I was convinced I would have to become a hermit for no one would want to look at me. The Internet had informed me and I had every symptom of every disease I read about.
Finally the day came for me to visit Dr. Mechanic and see if I was going to die or become a hermit. Either way, I just knew it was bad. They put me in that nice, reclining chair and the nice lady asked me my problem and I told her my implants were loose, my gums were rotting out and I was going to be toothless. Of course she gave me that comforting smile and said, let's take an X Ray and see.
She put that 100 pound apron on me so the X ray wouldn't kill me and put that anvil in my mouth and began to take pictures. Of course, she came back in and said, "The doctor will be right with you." Now in nurse's language that means about half an hour if you are lucky before he strolls in with a smile and asks, "How are you?" Now if I was fine I wouldn't be there but you say, "Fine." You are lying through your teeth and I was just hoping to keep mine.
He said he had good news and I thought maybe I didn't have cancer after all just going to loose all my teeth and be a hermit. The good news was they were just loose and could be fixed so come on back to the "garage" so I can get out the wrenches and screw driver and fix those teeth. Thank goodness he could fix them for I really don't want to be a hermit.
Fixing meant taking the crowns off the screws after he ground out the fillings in the crowns. When he popped off those crowns there was a definite stink under my nose. There must have been sewage under those crowns for it was awful. Now I know why they wear those little masks. He squirted soap in my mouth, rinsed it out and I thought if he squirted bleach in there I was out of there.
Finally, he had them all out, screwed in new screws, pounded the crowns back in EXCEPT for one. He didn't have a screw long enough and said he would have to order one. Heck, I thought, just run over to Gary's garage and get one of his. I knew if Gary knew it was for me he would let him have one. No luck for he said those wouldn't do they were "special" screws which had to be ordered so home I came with a great, big hole on the right side. Well, I thought, here we go again, missing teeth, hurting gums and have to go back to the "tooth garage."
Thank goodness it didn't take but about 5 days and THE screw was here. Dr. Mechanic took out his trusty screwdriver and tried to screw it into my mouth. Pain hit, I gasped, and about jumped out of that chair. "Did that hurt?" was the stupid question asked and we decided I needed one of those shots which caused just a "little pinch" of pain. I endured the "little pinch" and my mouth was dead.
Whoa Nelly, Christine brought out some really cool, awesome glasses for all of us to put on. I thought we looked like a trio of aliens from outer space and then he said, "I am going to trim some of the gum with a laser." Oh me, a laser cutter in my mouth and I was getting tired of holding my mouth open, my jaws were locking and I knew I was going to close it and my tongue would be cut out of my mouth with a laser. This would mean I couldn't talk and I might as well be dead.
So I just locked my jaw, began to think about the beach, reciting scripture in my mind, singing the words to songs and struggling to not think about that laser beam in my mouth. Finally it was over, I was totally wiped out and he finally screwed that crown back in. It was OVER and he said hopefully they wouldn't come loose again. Hopefully I thought. This is not good but you talk about "hoping", I am not only hoping but praying too.
He gave me a hug and told me what a good patient I was and with my dead mouth, I told him what a good "tooth mechanic" he was. When I got home I thought I had been punched in the jaw with a sledge hammer and the ice pack came out, 3 extra strength Tylenol and the bed. It was over and I was whupped.
Now if this happens again maybe I will be so old it won't make any difference if they do fall out for I'm not sure I can keep on doing this. I'm just not that fond of pain.
Well, that was quite a story and I wish it was fiction but sadly it was all true. Now ya'll come back to see me and I promise I will talk about pleasant things next time.
Ya'll take care now and be careful going home. Come back to see me.
Nuff said,
The Georgia Peach
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