and then this happened...

Got a call this evening from my SIL.  She had been at a track meet with Dad and Joan.  While Joan was away from them, Dad told my SIL that he had gotten a second opinion and that the doctor had given him 1-3 years to live.

When we saw him at Easter, he told me that he was back on the transplant list.  He was not very positive about it as he knew of someone who never got an organ and passed away.  Apparently, as a part of the second opinion, he was taken off the transplant list.

I don't think he has told Joan yet of the seriousness of this.  At Easter, she was talking about getting the house tested for radon and taking steps to control it if at unsafe levels in the hopes that would give Dad some relief.

I am sad and scared and know that Dad is feeling the same plus a million other things, same here.  I have been expecting this - I caught myself last week thinking about what to say at a service for him.  So... yeah.


On an not wholly unrelated note, one of my high school teachers passed away a little over a week ago.  Sue was my speech coach and taught the English classes I took from 7th - 10th and the Speech class I took in 11th grade.  She was a fun teacher who had definitely found her calling.  She took classes to see Shakespeare being performed (in Yankton, of all places), had our class do the equivalent of a table read of "Romeo and Juliet", had an awesome section on the Greek gods and mythology, and made sure that some members of the speech team could go to the state meet to observe and get an idea of what that level of competition was and what it would take to get there.  I have many fond memories of her classes and of practicing my speeches with her watching and giving feedback.  She was a gift to the students she taught.

March going out like a....

I went to the appointment with Dad.  What I heard was not good.  Not a whole lot explained, but I got back and looked up pulmonary fibrosis - sounds like a very poor prognosis.  The damage was caused by Dad's rheumatoid arthritis.  No real treatment outside of a lung transplant.  Just treat the symptoms as best they can.  The positives of the day was that Dad was very happy to see me and I think was happy to have me along for the appointment.

On the most anger provoking event of the week - Amy noticed that a spot on Tylan's tooth seemed bigger.  When asked, Tylan indicated there was some discomfort in the tooth when eating or drinking.  It was a tooth that the dentist had told the hygienist to put a "watch" on at the last appt. in late Jan. (I say told the hygienist because even though Amy was there with Ty, the dentist said nothing to Amy about what was seen during the exam, what to watch for, etc.).  Amy called to make an appointment for Tylan to get the spot looked at again and to likely get a filling.  Amy was asked which tooth it was because there were apparently a total of 3 that needed work.  Yep. They neglected to say a word about it.  The usual operating procedure there is that if a cavity is seen during the exam, whoever needs it filled has an appointment before leaving the exam room.  Nothing was said and apparently nothing caught by any of the staff there until Amy called.  I am furious.  We are just done with that dentist - Jensen Dental, by the way.  If you like being treated like a number on a conveyor belt and are comfortable with not really knowing if your family's dental health is taken care of, Jensen Dental is the place for you.  For my family, however, we are done.  Since he moved into his new office, the demeanor of the place has changed.  It used to be that Dr. Jensen would stop and talk for a couple of minutes, now he is so rushed, he barely has time for any questions and there have been appointments where we have been in for a cleaning and have been told that he will review the x-rays, etc. when he returns.  Guess who is doubting that actually happened and is wondering if that constitutes some form of insurance fraud.  Yep - this guy.  Guess who is going to be filing a complaint with the dental board in the state regarding the negligence in the case with Tylan.  You'd better bet your ass that would be me.  I'm also thinking that there are a LOT of websites where one can leave comments and ratings for a provider.  May have to be sure that I'm hitting at least the first 20 or so that come up on a Google search and get the experiences of my family chronicled on those sites.  Tylan will have an appointment with a new dentist this week.  We'll see what is seen and if it is a case of 3 cavities, 2 of which were not mentioned to us.  If that is, in fact, what is seen, the anger level will go up a couple of notches and there is going to be some action.  

Ides of March

Got a text from Dad's wife today, asking that I call her.  Dad has not been in good health recently.  Lots of issues with his lungs going back six months or more.  He found out there was a tiny clot in an artery feeding the lungs.  The clot was too small for any type of procedure.  He has been on oxygen since before Christmas and, at his last doctor's appointment, was told he will be put on a transplant list.  The doctor's office later called to say he would not be on the list as he did not (yet) meet criteria.

Called Joan and found out that Dad is not letting her go to his doctor's appt. on Monday.  She was concerned about this as Dad does not always get all the information that he is given or mixes something up.  She also said Dad has been a bit depressed because he is unable to do the things he had been doing.  So, I'm going to head up to Sioux Falls on Monday and hope that Dad does not kick me out.  It is a little scary, but there have been so many medical issues for Dad (shoulder surgerys, foot infection/toe amputation, heart attack & bypass, diabetes, stroke) that I kind of have more of a "roll with it" thought process with Dad.  That whatever the doctor says, Dad will roll with it and come out the other side.  After his last visit with this doctor, Dad asked around about lung transplant and found someone in his community that knew someone in a neighboring community who had it done.  So, he is thinking about it as an option.

I do want to know from the doctor about what we could expect if Dad did need a transplant, i.e how much quality of life and/or how much life w/out a transplant.  Is his condition going to continue to deteriorate or is it as bad as it is going to get?  A wee bit nervous about the answers, but would prefer to know rather than go off little to no information.

July is here!

Tooth update - still discomfort, though not to the point of pain.  Been ranking it a 2-3 on the pain scale today.  Think it hurt worse after he last worked on it - then it would wake me up.  Definitely better than last week (6-8 on the scale).  Have been trying to stretch the every 4 hours to 5 or 6 in taking the ibuprofen.  Still managing to sleep through the night.

Had a good day today.  Took the kids to the beach.  Definitely is an easier thing to do now that Ty is nearly 4.  We stayed out about 2 hours.  The middle two kids hit the water and stayed there, while the oldest and youngest were in and out.

Trying to figure out how to reconfigure things in the house in order to get the oldest her own room (at least for now).  Can use the guest room, but need to get an electrician in there to install a couple of outlets (room only has 1).  Need to remove a quarter ton of crap from the room, including a couple of book shelves, but I think it would be a good room for whoever ends up in there.  Have had thoughts of some mild remodeling and other changes that could be done (move our bedroom downstairs and put in a wall to divide that room into two rooms; put up a wall on the landing (would want to include a window in the wall as the landing does get good natural lighting)).  We have options, just not a ton of space for the crap we have accrued.  We need to have a rummage sale to get rid of some of the crap (and get some cash - which would help pay for repainting and/or remodeling).

Brain is feeling mushy, so it must be time for more pills, then bed.

Roots

Made it through the root canal.  Did have quite a bit of anxiety about it - did not set off any attacks, but did not sleep the best.  When I got there, though, it turned out to be no big deal (except to the wallet).  I got numbed up and did not feel anything until the end - he did something in the tooth that nearly had me jump out the chair, then he did it again.  Prior to it starting, he told me to let him know if I was having any discomfort by raising my hand.  My hands went up.  He stopped and told me that it was the root tip that he was dealing with and that he only had to hit it one more time.  He would have numbed me up more, but I indicated we could move forward.  Hurt but faded after a minute.  That was it.  He said things looked good and that things had gone well.  We'll see.  I've read lots of horror stories about branches being missed, small cracks in the teeth allowing in bacteria, etc.  He shaved down the tooth a bit as I'll not have the crown done until a week from Monday.  Shaved it down so the tooth will not contact other teeth when I bite - protect it until the crown.

In terms of post-procedure pain, there really hasn't been much.  An occasional twinge, but that is it.  I've managed to eat some ice cream and yogurt with no issues.  The novocaine wore off around noon today.   Thirty minutes before the procedure,  I took 800 mg. of ibuprofen.  I've been taking that does about every 4 hours since - trying to stay ahead of the pain.  If I happen to fall behind, the doctor gave me a prescription for vicodin.

To this point, 10.5 hours post-procedure, everything is going well.

It's the tooth

Will have a root canal in about 36 hours.  Yep, excited about that.  The good news is that the infection is going away (yippee for drugs) and the pain is going with it.  Pain got bad over the weekend.  Did not affect my sleep much, but made my functioning during the day pretty rough - reached a point where I'd just rate the pain on a 10 pt. scale and rejoice when I realized that the number was going down.  Usually meant a 15-45 minute reprieve.  800 mg. of ibuprofen was not doing anything - I suppose if I'd not taken it, things may have been worse.

A bit pissed with my dentist.  The tooth that needs the work had a cavity about this time last year.  When he saw me in January, he saw something about the filling in that tooth that he did not like and told me he would fix it - no charge.  After that, the tooth was very sensitive to hot and cold, sneezing would cause pain.  I've had some sensitivity with other cavities ("deep cavity" according to my dentist) that eventually went away.  Same thing here - pain finally abated in early April.  Came back in early June.  Yep, know now that I should have gotten back in right away.  In any case, I'm apparently going to get the cost of filling #2 on the tooth credited to the root canal and crown.  Have heard from a friend that had a root canal from this dentist that he'd screwed it up and she had to have two additional procedures done.  One by that dentist, ending with a specialist in Sioux Falls.  I do still have trust in my dentist.  If he is not successful with this, that may change.

Time for another pill!

Tornado coverage

KELO's coverage of the 20th anniversary of the tornado:






....and the live broadcast on the 10 PM news on 6/16/1992 (when they show a shot of the main street area in Lake Wilson, you can see me and Eric by my car):