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jimsjournal

An update -- 01/22/10



Jeremy was chuckling as he read the comics page in this morning's Providence Journal... I looked over at him and he held up the page and pointed to The Buckets. It amused me so I thought I would share it with you. (Did you know you could find dozens and dozens of comic strips at comics.com?)

Anyway, here's today's Buckets cartoon:

The Buckets

So... after posting very frequently during Holidailies and then fairly frequently for a while, I just went and disappeared for nine days... Yeah, just the way things go around here... Things were slightly busy last week, meaning not this week that is nearing a close, but the week before, the 10th thru the 16th. There were various out-of-state family members visiting Rhode Island during that week, including a niece from the Chicago area who departed for England last weekend to spend a semester at a college there.

And then this week seemed to just disappear in a fog of medical appointments with my podiatrist and my periodontist.

Good news: my heel really does seem to have healed. This may mean no need for surgery. I can now wear shoes on both feet, instead of having that moonboot on my right foot. I still have it, of course, and my podiatrist says that I should still plan on wearing it sometimes just to give my heel opportunities for further rest and healing. However, I can start to do some walking and -- in a week or two -- I can begin to do some brief and easy jogging on our treadmill. I am to stop and go back to the moonboot if I begin to feel pain in my heel. As long as I do not have pain, I can gradually increase my activity and, eventually, work my way up to real running outside.

My mouth is more of a mixed situation. The good news is that where the two implants that were put in last year (I almost wrote "installed") seems to be in really good shape and my periodontist removed the covers (I picture tiny replicas of manhole covers) and screwed in the screws that will hold the replacement teeth so now I can have my dentist arrange for those crowns to be made.

However, I have lost an another tooth (that is, in addition to the one I lamented in "Dueling banjos"). This was a molar on my lower left side. It is right next to where my first implant was installed. It had had root canal work many years ago. I had been having some pain there and my dentist had replaced a filling that had broken, in hopes that that was the cause of my discomfort there. That did help, but not completely, so when I went to my periodontis this Tuesday for a follow-up to the extraction done two weeks ago, I asked him to check that painful molar (note that a tooth that has had root canal work should not hurt). He confirmed my fear that there was an infection beneath that tooth and he noted that, in his opinion, extraction was the only choice. He could give me antibiotics but felt that they would only reduce the infection, not cure it.

So... out it came. Just as with the extraction two weeks ago, he then did bone grafting to replace the bone loss so that in a few months (probably between three and six) he can install titanium screws in those two places for implants. This one is not visible, so in the meanwhile, I will not need any temporary replacement. The one in front, however, is a different story. I cannot stand the temporary replacement tooth I have now (the support structure that holds it in place is too big for me to be comfortable with it except in social situations where I don't want to look like a hillbilly), but in a few weeks I will be getting a much smaller replacement that will hook onto the teeth on either side.



Charlie seems to be making great progress in recovering from his spinal surgery. He got the stitches out and the doctor seemed pleased with the results. The surgery seems to have eliminated the intense pain he had been feeling and he is setting up a schedule for physical therapy and is looking ahead to later this year doing another one of those 100 mile bike rides to raise money for JDRF.




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