Well, now, there’s a development. Not only will we be packing for our trip to
Alaska this week, but we will also be making sure everything around here is
hurricane-proof and ready to be evacuated by Nathan if need be. But that’s a story for another day …
And so the infamous “Week Before”
begins. That’s right. We leave for Alaska on Friday. Well, we leave for Arlington. The plane to Alaska leaves on Saturday. And what a marvelous way to begin this
wonderful week than with … oral surgery.
How terribly exciting.
Once we found the surgeon’s office up in
Texas City – tucked away inside a bank building next door to an honest to
goodness oral surgeon’s building – we first met with the guy for the “official
consult.” He asked if I was planning to
do the surgery right then. I told him I
thought that was why I was present. Good
start. I just told him to do whatever he
must to deal with the tooth problem, but we were leaving town on Friday, no
matter what happens. He said I should be back to 85 or 90% by then, so all
should be good. I told him I couldn’t remember
the last time I was as high as 85%, so this might be a real blessing. He agreed to yank ‘em out.
They put me to sleep to do the deed. Chris was kind of surprised at that. Of course she is interested in all that
stuff. I suppose everything went well
during the surgery itself. I don’t
know. I was asleep. And Chris was in the next room. Among the four or five syringes of drug
cocktail that they stuck into my IV was that evil, “tell-the-truth-then-don’t-remember-anything”
drug. Guess that one worked. I don’t remember much, but I do remember
having full-on double vision and dizziness when I woke up in the car. Not sure how I got there. Chris told me I almost didn’t make it in, but
she and the nurse-type assigned to get rid of me out the back door helped me
in. I asked Chris if I said anything
while under the influence that I needed to repent of. She had no idea what I said in the OR. Neither did I.
Chris got me home safely, though, and I enjoyed
a glass of iced tea after a brief nap.
Or two. Or three. When I could finally see straight and carry
on a semi-meaningful conversation, she left me and went to the pharmacy to get
my follow-up meds. Jello and chocolate pudding
and popsicles and ice cream and only-cold drinks and antibiotics and pain meds
and steroids filled out my menu for the rest of the day. Today I graduate to mashed potatoes and
bananas and scrambled eggs, not necessarily in that order. And hot drinks like coffee and tea. Nice.
Later in the evening I got one of those
caller ID-blocked calls on my cell phone.
Didn’t answer, but there was a message.
It was the surgeon calling to see how I was doing and tell me everything
went famously. That call reminded Chris
that as they were dumping me in the car she was handed a note saying I had a
follow-up appointment on a day when we will be sailing the inside passage of
Alaska on our way to Vancouver.
Nope. Reschedule.
Sleeping last night was a thing. So I mentioned earlier that steroids were on
the list of meds I have to take. I never
sleep much when I take steroids. I hoped
the pain meds would counteract them.
Guess who won? I moved to the
couch so I wouldn’t keep Chris awake, and I did manage to doze off around
midnight. But at 3 a.m. I was suddenly
just … awake. Wide awake. My two-teeth-less mouth wasn’t particularly
hurting, I was just awake. So I did some
more crosswords, answered a pending email, and even trolled FaceBook a little
bit. Thanks, steroids.
But now it’s day two. New challenges. Plenty left to do to prepare for the Alaska
trip.
2 Peter 2:3 says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Father, thank you for folks like the
surgeon who trained a long time to be able to do what he did for me. Now please accelerate the healing process so I
can actually change gears and think about our trip. Amen.
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