Update To The Update

OK, so I went in today to get some cavities filled. Guess what? Right, another crown prep instead. And I'm going to have yet another on the 30th.

I know why I'm suddenly having all this trouble with my teeth. Last summer I was put on a medication that dries my mouth out really badly. This condition is called xerostoma, which means "dry mouth". When your mouth is dry, cavity bacteria run rampant all over your mouth, burrowing in wherever they can find enamel. Mostly it's at the gum line, around the outside.

My much-beloved and extremely sympathetic husband, who just had a root canal, has been wonderful support for me. Even Gordo the Collie has helped, by sleeping on my lap when I get home from the dentist's office. No, it's not very practical, because he weighs 45 lb now and is 22 in. at the shoulder, and I've just barely got enough lap to hold him, but it's very comforting.

Gordo's having problems with food allergies and is very itchy. Poor little guy. We got this great leave-in lotion that I spread where he's chewing and it gives him a lot of relief. I'm in the gradual change-over of food sequence, putting him on lamb and rice. We've got a couple more days to go and then he loses his chicken treats, rawhide chewies, pigskin chewies, and other delights. Fortunately, they make lamb and rice dog biscuits, but I suspect he won't be wild about the change. However, if he'll just stop itching, we'll be able to add the treats back in and find out what's safe for him.

Update On The Busy Week

I went to the dentist this morning for the crown prep and first it turned into a crown prep and filling and then, after some drilling, it turned into two crown preps. The second tooth was right by the first and was crooked (it's a family characteristic), which is probably why it had the cavity. Fortunately, the first prep had gone very quickly and so did the second. I didn't even need more anesthetic, it was so quick.

It's a really pretty day here. Not terribly hot, mid 80's, and quite calm. The Santa Anas are blowing and we always get clear, calm weather from them.

Busy Week This Week

Well, my week started on Sunday, getting a new toilet installed. It's a Kohler toilet that only uses 1.6 gallons, compared to the original toilet that used 6 or 7 gallons. As it was being installed, I was doing laundry and I noticed water running down the side of the water heater. We looked and the pipes were so corroded that it was a wonder that any water was going the right way. I spent the afternoon doing as much laundry as I could and going to the supermarket.

Monday I went over and had the first crown prep done and then came home to meet the plumber. He agreed immediately that we needed a new water heater and we scheduled it for Tuesday afternoon. He cut the insulation jacket off to be sure we had the right size (50 gallons) and that set the water hiding in the fiberglass free. By this morning it was really wet and messy in the garage.

So this morning I had to take my husband by the blood lab for a test first thing (fasting test, you know how that works). The guy is installing the new water heater as I write. The corner of the garage is sodden. There's no other word for it but that. Fortunately the wallboard around the water heater base is purely for looks and the 2x4 frame provided the real structural strength.

It turns out that the old water heater was installed in 1980, making it 28 years old. Apparently this is beyond geriatric for water heaters, which have a normal lifetime of about a dozen years. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really think much about my water heater. It just sits there in the corner of the garage, working away. I try to drain it once a year, but I suspect I really only manage about once every three years.

So we're about to have hot water again and I'm going to get the laundry finished, hopefully today. You see, I have an appointment for my third crown prep tomorrow (Wednesday). I'm hoping it goes as well as yesterday's did and I can get the laundry put away, etc.

Then on Thursday I have another dentist's appointment, to fill some cavities. The crowns won't be back from the lab for another couple-three weeks, so I'll have some time off until it's time to glue them on. A year or two back, I got a crown replaced and when we tried the new crown on, it was such a perfect fit it wouldn't come off after the trial fitting. Of course the dentist didn't want to do anything extreme to it so it took some time before it finally popped of. Then I nearly swallowed it. What a farce that was. Funny now, but not so funny at the time.

I'm almost done with the central section of the dramatic stole I'm knitting for a friend. I've taken so long to get even this far that I'm going to give her the Forget-Me-Not Shawl just to tide her over. The shawl has been finished except for blocking for literally months, so I've got to get myself in gear right now. I got a new blocking set, with wires and pins, etc, from Overstock.com for about $20 (I'm a member of their club and get an additional 5% discount and free postage). This shawl is vastly oversized compared to the original pattern, because I read it wrong.

Abut five minutes ago I got my copy of It Itches by Franklin Habit. Wonderful book. So much truth in it, too. I recommend it highly. I've only read the cartoons, not the essays, because I want to get this published before I get distracted by something else.

Gordo Gets A Surprise

This afternoon the mobile dog groomer parked in front of our house and Gordo got bathed and groomed. This was quite a surprise to him, I think. The groomer said he was very obliging, except when it was time to clip his nails and trim the hair between his toes. Although he protested, he didn't used his new adult teeth or anything, which was a great relief to me.

He got a snappy Hallowe'en bandanna, too. He looks very dashing in it and hasn't yet tried to remove it.

He was five months old on Wednesday, 1 Oct. He's really maturing; he lost his last two baby teeth (OK, deciduous teeth) on Sunday. They were the two upper canines, which were very pointy long teeth. Now he has only shiny new adult teeth. He had to grow a bunch of muzzle to hold them all. I think I should probably be brushing his teeth, at least according to the pet shops and dog supply catalogs. The next time we go to the vet I'll ask about that.

It's cloudy today, with more predicted for the weekend. As soon as I can get some good snapshots of him out in the back yard I'll post them.