Teeth!

I went to the Dental Hygienist today. I was lectured about what a mess my teeth were because I hadn't really flossed them at all in the last 3 months. I did mention that I was finding it hard to even clean my teeth, let alone floss them due to the cap on one of my upper front teeth being loose and wobbly - Dentist (seen just before we went to the caravan in May) said she thinks the root has split. So can't be cured, that tooth must go. At least I've got nice clean teeth for a day after scale and polish! ;-)

Not sure what to do, but cannot face another denture - the bottom one is useless and I have to take it out to eat as a couple of times I've nearly swallowed the beastly thing and I'm scared of choking on it! So guess it's bridge or implant time. Hygienist says implants best but costly... I need to see the Head Dentist to find out what's possible. It depends on jaw bones and stuff like that I think. Next appointment in September, could organise something sooner, but I think I'll just have to put up with eating slush and only chewing on the right side of my mouth as would prefer to be gardening at the caravan!

I keep thinking of that Pam Ayre's poem - "I wish I'd looked after me teeth"!

After dental adventures we went to "Mr T's" (that supermarket whose name must not be mentioned!) for me to get a photo done for new Blue Badge. As usual ghastly, and not suitable for a passport as my ears are not showing (cost £4). Then back home to pick up the paperwork and go to the nearest Liverpool Direct place where I produced several thousand proofs of identity ;-) and came away with the new Badge (cost £2). Total cost for new badge £6. While I am very grateful for the freedom the Badge gives me, the ability to park in some places where other motorists aren't allowed, and free onstreet parking, I guess that the £6 could be very hard for some disabled folks to find even though it's only every 3 years.

Yesterday we did a HUGE shopping trip - both Aldi and Lidl! Took nearly 4 hours I think. Bought a digital camera for John (Aldi) - I think he's going to have a lot of fun with it. Next step is for him to open a Flickr account - will post it when he does. Plus we got lots of maple syrup and some waffles. I feel a waffley breakfast coming on - make a nice change from poached or scrambled eggs on toast! Also a microwave for the caraven at Lidl, with a palm plant for me, and a mini-pond though I'm not sure if the plants for it are still alive. John added some water to the bags they were packed in last night, in an attempt to keep them going till we can plant them. It's been chucking it down since we got home from Liverpool Direct, so can't plant tonight.

Anyway, all of the above is why I'm now sitting in bed with a hot water bottle on my back (despite the heat and humidity this evening) rather than watching Glastonbury downstairs on the HD TV. At least we've got a TV in the bedroom, so not totally deprived!

Still haven't managed to earth up the potatoes - been meaning to do it all week. Maybe tomorrow!

Tele-medicine

Mothering Sunday flowers from Sarah and Helen



John has been having problems with an abscess in his jaw, I wrote a little about it already.

Response to Metronidazole (400mg) tablets seemed slow, but by the end of the course his jaw felt better. Until Friday, when he had a few twinges. By Sunday he was struggling, we only made it late to the family meal that he cooked for (Sarah and Helen took the beef stew over).

But we did stop by the side of the Mersey en route, wind against tide so plenty of waves with the north-westerly gale.



He rang NHS Direct Sunday morning, who gave him the number for an emergency dentist. But he just said to call his own dentist Monday morning. Fine, but his dentist is only working part time, so isn't there on Mondays. Apparently John has bone loss from his jaw, and the abscess isn't on a tooth, but between the gum and jaw. There seems to be a history of osteoporosis in his family, so come Monday morning he decided to try and get a doctor's appointment.

8.30am saw him dialling the surgery, over and over. When he finally got through he was asked for name, address, dob and telephone number. He was asked if it was an ongoing problem, or something new, and when he responded that it was a new problem he was told that a doctor would ring back later to triage him.

Meanwhile he was doing hot salt water rinses, and that seemed to be helping. The Doctor called about an hour later, and John told his story. The Doctor suggested he should see a Maxillary consultant at Aintree, which apparently is the Regional Centre of Excellence, to have the bone loss checked out, and he will write for an appointment. At that point he asked if John wanted more antibiotics.

John explained that the jaw wasn't painful at that time, and the hot salt water treatment seemed to be working. He'd had a good night's sleep after a couple of bad nights, so he thought he'd leave it for now. The doctor encouraged him to call back later if he felt worse, and said he would write a prescription if he needed it later. At this point John was still talking about going back to work in the afternoon.

After that John fell asleep again (most unlike him to sleep in the daytime) and slept till lunch time. By which time his jaw was looking rather inflamed (at least what I could see of it through his beard!). So he called back the surgery, to be told to phone again at 2.30pm.

2.30pm and it's back to redialling until he gets through - the surgery doesn't accept ring-back. Finally gets through, to be told he'll phoned back and triaged again. This time he gets a nurse he thinks. Explains his story again, remembering this time to mention that he has been visiting my father regularly in hospital, and that he (my father) has a resistant organism (we don't know what) in his lungs. The Nurse said she was confident that John's problem was nothing to do with my father's problem.

Nurse says she will have a word with the doctor he spoke to this morning. His prescription will be ready at 4.30pm, but if the doctor needs to see him he'll telephone.

John then went back to sleep, waking a bit before 4pm to get dressed and head for the Health Centre. He didn't see the doctor, but a prescription for Augmentin 625 mg tablets was waiting for him in reception. I must admit I find it strange to be "seen" by one of our GPs over the telephone!

John slept all night last night I think, and has slept most of today too, just waking to get some breakfast and lunch (and finish reading Balthazar). I think this is the first time he has been off sick since he started in his current job, which is just over 4 years ago.

On a completely unrelated topic, they came and renewed the white lines on our road yesterday. They did the lines across our side road in the morning, but the one down the middle of the road was after the rush hour, so it was beginning to get dark. The photos I took through our dirty windows haven't come out very well, but I thought it would be fun to put them up anyway.



At least you can see the flame to keep the paint (or whatever it is) hot and liquid shows up in the picture below. The guy has a handle on the handlebars (for want of a better description) that he uses to cut off the paint when the unpainted bits of line come up. Urk, I'm not very good at describing this!



I also finally managed to do the quiz What Operating System Are You? Thanks to Sisyphus again for alerting me to this!







And I thought I'd finish this with a short video of the River Mersey I shot on Sunday. It's a bit shaky as I shot it from the car, which was being buffeted hard by the wind.