Kidneys, Teeth, Health

The subject just about sums up this past week. We had good news about Ron's kidneys on Wednesday. His creatinine has been stable at 3.0 for 3 months. While 3.0 is a bad figure overall (normal creatinine for a male is 0.6 to 1.2), for Ron it's OK. It's down from 3.5 in November, and it's stable. We got answers to the dialysis questions we presented to Melissa, the NP. She thinks Ron is a good candidate for PD (peritoneal dialysis). That is the type in which he is most interested. She doesn't think Ron needs to get a fistula, which procedure is done in anticipation of hemodialysis, because he is such a good candidate for PD. He was relieved to hear this because of the constraints on lifting that having a fistula imposes. We left the appointment very happy.

In my mouth, tooth #14, as the dentist so fondly calls it, is in big trouble (upper left molar). A couple of weeks ago it didn't feel right. There wasn't a lot of pain, just discomfort and a feeling something was wrong. Yah, something was and still is wrong. A huge abscess had formed and the treatment is: removal of tooth or root canal followed by a crown. I've never had a root canal and seriously thought I'd go through my entire life without one. Why not?

Long story short is after two visits to the dentist, wherein he could remove only 2 of the 3 roots, I had to go to an endondist, which is a root canal specialist. The 3rd root had calcified and it took special equipment and expertise to get it out. Yesterday was the visit to the root canal doctor. Oh joy.

None of the procedures have caused pain, other than the minimal discomfort of getting novacane. It's the after affects of having my mouth assaulted, specifically that particular area, that has caused pain. I was quite sick for 4 days last week after initial dentist visit. Once I got on penicillin, though, I felt much better. The penicillin didn't do the job, though, and am now on a stronger antibiotic.

Both doctors are amazed that I haven't been seriously ill or in pain because the infection is quite serious. Guess I lucked out.

So the good news is I get to keep my tooth. The bad news is: (1) I have 1, maybe 2, more visits to the endondist to complete his part of the job; (2) I have at least 2 visits to my regular dentist for the crown work; and (3) this is costing big bucks!! I am thankful right to my bones, though, that Ron's dental insurance (yahhh Navy retirement) will cover probably 60% of the cost. Both dentists pretty much expect up-front money, and the endontist gives a discount if the entire bill is paid at time of the first visit. When I checked out, the very nice girl said to me, "That will be $1,000 or if you pay today, $900." I KNEW it would be a lot of money, but hearing one thousand dollars took my breath away for a moment.

Today is a lovely lovely day. The temp is near 50, the sun is shining and all is well with the world. Ron and I took a ride down to Red Hook, after doing a couple of errands in Coxsackie and Catskill. I told him we have to "just take a ride" more often, but let's do it in another 2 months when everything will be green and flowery.

Weather - It was pretty cold this week. Cold and dark in the morning (because clocks went ahead last weekend). Two of my favorite life experiences... NOT! This weekend, though, is going to be warm and next week temp may approach 60.

Gas Prices - They are stable, around $1.99 to $2.05 a gallon.

Exercise - Haven't done any and don't feel guilty. The tooth thing pretty much wiped me out of energy.