the Root of all evil

I have a congenital orthopedic flaw.  I walk with my right foot about 30 degrees out from the proper alignment.  The flaw is in my genes and therefore has been passed on to my children and grandchildren.  It can be corrected by leg braces but, of course, this does not pass on to later generations.  

This flaw caused me to wear out the heel of my right shoe faster than normal and this frustrated my mother no end.  As a solution, when I started junior high she had steel taps nailed onto my shoes.  It was too bad I didn't have  any rhythm because you could hear me walking a block away.  The taps reduced the wear on my heels and they also reduced my traction.  This led to an embarrassing accident which has had long range effects on my life.  Walking down the junior high school steps, I slipped and tumbled head over heels, finally coming to rest with my face firmly planted on the polished cement floor of the basement level of our junior high building.  I was able to pick myself  up and check to see that all systems were go.  It seemed that my front teeth were a half inch further back than they should be but a quick prying motion with my thumb solved that. Other than being shook up a little, it seemed that no harm had been done.

Was I ever wrong!  Not only had I chipped one tooth but I had also killed the roots on that one and two others.  And those  three teeth would cause me problems the rest of my life.  The latest incident was just yesterday.

For the past week I had felt a pressure irritation in my front gums, a feeling that I was familiar with.  In the past it has meant an infected abscess, a pocket of dead cells and pus.  My dentist concurred and referred me to a specialist, an endodontist.  Luckily, I was able to get an appointment for a consultation even if it was 8:45 Friday morning.  I knew by experience that this doesn't go away so the quicker I could handle it, the better.  The consultation went well, almost exactly what I would have predicted.  Of course there were some unknowns because you can see only so much with an x-ray.  Only when you actually operate can you see what needs to be done.  But it looked like a "simple" operation taking less than an hour.

As I was negotiating an appointment next week for the operation, word came that an afternoon appointment had been canceled.  Would I like to come back Friday afternoon?  Well, yes and no.  I wanted it taken care of but I was still trying to used to the whole operation thing.

At 3:00 I came back.  At 5:30 I was standing somewhat unsteadily at the front desk to pay our portion of the $1,500 bill.  This was not the Friday I had planned for.  And of course the worst was yet to come as the anesthesia started to wear off and I could start feeling the incisions, sutures, and blunt trauma done to my gums.  I can tell I won't be doing much this weekend.