finally had my second crown fitted. with this crown completed, i now have 2 crowns and one implant in my mouth - and all on the left side. thing is - my right side, both the upper and lower jaw molars were the ones that got me to the dentist in the first place. and since i was there, i told the dentist about the sensitive molars on my left. and for some interesting reasons, i ended up with 2 crowns on my left side while i was asked to simply observe the right molars...
the treatment this time round was one helluva painful. for a start, i have two gigantic ulcers in my mouth and they hurt like crazy cos to treat my teeth, the dentist had to stretch my mouth open and naturally stretched the ulcer too... ouch! added to that, for some reasons, the dentist did not give me any injection but went ahead to pry off the temporary crown and started cleaning the exposed teeth before fitting it with the permanent crown. it was superbly sensitive... was totally drained when the whole procedure ended. but well, when i finally see the nice crown in place, i felt good.
and so, after one month, the treatment on my left side was finally completed. and the pain on my right side still lingers... hmmm... i shall give myself a couple of days (or perhaps a week or two), if the pain continue, i will head to the dentist again. for all i know, i might end up with 2 more crowns on my right side...
arghhh.... and it is creating a hole in my pocket!
:-)
Hi Jeffrey,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the world of getting older ;-)
You are actually fortunate: I was in my early 40's when I had to start getting crowns to replace large fillings (the price of living in a city that refused to fluoridate the water when I was young).
Very pricey, but I feel it's better than losing teeth until you're ready for dentures.
I hope your mum's testing goes well. My mother's water retention was traced to a weakened heart valve. They wanted to do surgery to replace the valve but she was 87 then and she refused. They addressed with drugs and follow-up and that has worked for her (another doctor to schedule and more pills to take ;-)
My mother went through a down period this summer after losing a sister in March (they are down to 4 surviving siblings from 11). She is ready to go. I encouraged her to focus on her mother living to 95 and that calmed her thoughts: it's easier to manage than an indefinite future. We were out to lunch yesterday with my older middle brother and she was talking about her birthday next month (92) and hoping to live to 95 and he was disturbed by that and started talking about people living to 120: she had the most horrified look on her face at that possibility. She told him straight up she didn't want to live past 95. I am concerned he is still not preparing for the inevitable and wants to stay in denial. He hasn't gone to a funeral in decades. I would insist that he start helping with doctor visits but she prefers my taking her so that I can explain what the doctors are saying. I do let my brothers know how things are progressing. I hope your younger sister is not in denial.
Best wishes, Edwin
Hey Edwin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by again! As always your words are very comforting to me.
Am sorry to learn of your aunt's passing and if I were your mum, I would have felt rather upset too. For my mum, almost all her siblings are gone, except for a second brother who's hard of hearing and a younger sister who's suffering from Parkinson's and whom she's lost contact. I have occasionally spoken about death and had previously asked her if she's afraid of dying. And although she kept saying she's not and that it's something that's natural, I could still sense her fear when she's sick. And it's a very heavy load of responsibility when she said "I don't know, you just make the decision for me" when we are faced with questions from the doctor like "should be intubate her or let her be as comfortable as possible (aka die peacefully)". It was during moments like these that makes me choke and tear. Very difficult to describe the emotions.
Talking about death is something my siblings don't do and consider taboo. But for me, it's something unavoidable and better spoke about cos acknowledging it and talking about it has this therapeutic effect on us. I believe it will help both the elderly (even if they are healthy) and the surviving members of the family manage the process better when it happens. And for my mum, she does not see herself living pass the next 1-2 years. In fact, whenever I mention about anything in, say, the next 2 years, she'd simply say - I don't even think I'll be around to see it.
She's currently resting at home and for some reasons, since her discharge from the hospital, she's been very sleepy and tired. She's sleeps almost through the day and could bare keep her eyes open. And at night, she'd cough through the night. I can see it's also exactly a toll on the maid...
Well, let's live one day at a time and manage things as it comes.
Thanks again for dropping by.
Best regards,
Jeffrey