the tooth fairy isn't happy

Update on the tooth saga.

I still have it.

Ok - here's the story.

Since I last posted I've continued to pop pills on a regular basis. Sometimes I'd not take them for a while cause I'd be thinking 'Hey, I feel ok. I'm just imagining it. I don't have a problem with my tooth'. Then the pain would hit and I'd be popping pills like Ben Johnson popping steroids.

I made an appointment with the dentist on Thursday at 2.15pm. I don't think I really wanted to go... I've been working up a pretty good dentist phobia. I wrote 2.45pm in my diary and as a result, I missed my appointment.

Luckily (or unluckily?) they managed to squeeze me in today.

Lucky I guess, cause it woke me up again last night. Ouch.

The dentist took another xray. All looked fine. Still.

The dentist discussed options... pull out the tooth. Its right at the back, not really necessary for eating as its not meeting the top tooth or something like that, do a root canal, but then maybe its not worth it, the tooth seems a bit loose... maybe its unstable... maybe we could try removing the filling, packing it with antibiotic & sedative and see how it goes. If it works, great. I go back in and have a real filling put in. If it doesn't work, I go in and either have the tooth pulled or extend the problem by having a root canal.

Uhmmm. One quick procedure, one (smaller) bill. One long procedure, one (huge) bill, followed up with another procedure and another (huger) bill.

Tough decision.

If I'm going to crown (and bridge) anything, I think I'll go for the upper, further forward gap in my mouth.

The dentist gave me an injection, waited a while, then started drilling. He successfully ducked my punch. Good reflexes. I guess dentist's need those.

He gave me another injection and waited some more. Filling removed and replaced by balm for angry teeth.

All was going well. The numbness wore off. I felt fine... for about four hours. Then the pain came back, like a long lost friend.

I now have a pain killer problem. I'm running out of them.

Dentures are looking pretty good right now. If they hurt you just take them out and plunk them in a glass of water on the bedside table.

z

so, what's up doc?

I need some of these.

See, I had a loose filling. It had been loose for a long time and it was bothering no one. But I got a reminder in the mail that it was time to visit the dentist, and, being a good little girl, I made an appointment.

Only about 2 months later.

I got a clean (youch. hate that!) and had the loose filling, which wasn't hurting, replaced with a new one.

Soon as the numbness wore off I began to have a headache... you know the type? Its all on one side of your head, in the temple and in the jaw... you don't even realise you have a headache really, till you realise you've been rubbing your temple with your thumb and using your knuckle to pound your jaw joint. That's when you realise that not only do you have a headache, but its really a toothache pretending to be a headache.

Well, I've had that headache for almost 2 weeks now.

I got the filling replaced on Tuesday, then on Friday I finally called the dentist to say all was not well. I saw the owner of the practice on Saturday. He took an xray and said the filling wasn't too close to the nerve, he showed me the enlarged xray and it looked damn close to me. Still, he didn't think we should be ripping out the filling just yet. He did a little drilling to lower the height of the new filling in case I was causing pain by clenching (which I do, I have a splint I wear at night for that). He also cleaned around the gum which was sore cause of the clamps the first dentist put around the tooth while filling it.

I was hit by a wave of unbearable pain.

I think the dentist realised how bad it was when I sat there holding my jaw with tears running down my face.

I got antibiotics and painkillers.

The good stuff.

I took two of them and then stuck to over the counter stuff the rest of the time.

The following Tuesday I was back again. The pain was persisting even though I'd just finished the antibiotics. I was still taking pain killers.

The dentist said "Give it another 3-4 days. It shouldn't be a problem. It just needs to settle down." Uhuh.

Sometimes I think its settling down. It doesn't seem so bad. Then I get another headache/toothache... I've been woken up twice in the last few days by the pain.

That doesn't sound like its settling down to me.

Still, I'll give it a few more days. I'm not too keen to have the tooth touched again any time soon.

I am becoming very scared of dentists...

I know I'm old, but our family dentist in Athens used to fill teeth the 'old fashioned' way. Firstly he never used anaesthetic (yikes) so he'd always drill one day, then fill the tooth up with an antibiotic paste/temporary filling. A week later we'd go back and he'd take that out and fill the tooth.

There were never any problems at all with fillings his way.

I'm told that was done very long ago cause anaesthetic was expensive and they couldn't drill too close to the nerve. That meant there was always some bacteria left in the cavity. In order to get rid of that they'd use the temporary filling with antibiotic in it.

Nowadays its so much easier. We have the numbing stuff so we use it liberally, we drill down and play chicken with the nerve, slap a filling in there and say "She'll be right mate!"

I've lost two teeth due to this method. First time my tooth abscessed before I got home from the dentist. Second time the pain started when I got home. I really don't want to loose another but I also don't want another root canal...

I think I might ask for the dual visit method of tooth filling from now on.

z

this one's serious

I got home just before 4pm on Friday afternoon to find the dogs barking at something at the back fence. It was a tasmanian devil.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Firstly it was daylight, secondly I'd never seen or heard a devil in this area, and third, the dogs weren't really carrying on... the devil had obviously been here for a long time.

It was only small, a female, and she was growling at the dogs but she was sick. She had a huge tumour on one side of her face which was bleeding in one spot and had a huge hole leaking disgustingly green pus. The eye on that side was squeezed almost shut. She was thin and her back and rear legs were motheaten with mange.

I started calling anyone and everyone I could think of to come catch and help her. I called a neighbour who does wildlife rescue, no reply. I called the vet. They gave me the number for Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. They sent out a guy from Hobart to catch her. He works for Save the Devil and volunteers for Bonorong.

My job was to make sure the devil was safe and to keep track of her so we didn't lose her.

I sat on the porch and waited. Once I locked the dogs inside she moved away from the fence and found a sheltered spot among the reeds near the dam. She then just sat there quietly.

When the guy arrived he went out and managed to catch her without too much trouble.

The horrible news is that not only was she really sick with the tumour, she was also a pregnant female whose babies had died inside her. She was septic. She had to be put down. He was taking her straight to their vet but he said both the tumour and the sepsis meant she had no chance.

I have been heartbroken since. I'm glad we found her and that her pain was ended humanely. It would have been a very slow painful death otherwise.

I'm so sad for the devils. I love all animals, natives in particular. And the tassie devils are really special to me. Them and ringtail possums, quolls and bandicoots. All the ones who are threatened.

What's happening with the devils, with this disease, is just horrific. I'm considering becoming a wildlife rescuer (seeing as I have so much free time) because I become involved anyway.

Read some of the happy rescue stories here.

I pick up injured animals off the side of the road. I've now begun to overcome my fear and actually check fresh roadkill for babies in pouches. I've never had the stomach for it before cause I couldn't face the tragedy of it. So far I've found two babies in pouches, unfortunately, both already dead. Even if I manage to save one I'll feel better.

I just hate it when I see animals dead on the side of the road. Its bad enough if its rabbits or a cat, a possum or a wallaby, but when its the endangered species like the devils or quolls I get really upset. Or echidnas or wombats... its not like they dash out in front of cars fast! People have to literally TRY to hit them!

I wish people would slow down and avoid hitting things.

Anyway... it was capped off this afternoon when the dogs sent up an alert.

Yep.

Another animal in distress. This time it was a young male wallaby with toxoplasmosis. A disease spread by domestic (and feral) cats which native australian animals have no immunity to. It attacks their central nervous system making them blind and wobby and they slowly starve to death or get hit by cars.

I went out, caught him easily and called my neighbour. Her son (who's also a wildlife volunteer) came down to pick him up. They'll have to put him down too.

Ahhh, the fun of living in the country!

z

time is(n't) on my side

 I look forward to the day when I have time.

I figure I need about another 10 hours in every day just so I can do all the things I want to do, let alone the things I have to do.

For instance... this is our carpet near the front door.

Our front door is a door we rarely use as its on the back side of the house from the front gate. It opens directly into the hideously salmon carpeted living room. I made the mistake of letting the dogs in through that door a couple of weeks ago when it rained for about 2 weeks straight.

I had steam cleaned the carpet a couple of months ago (to impress visitors) and if I had a steam cleaner I might do it more often. I was actually tempted to buy one... but who am I kidding? I hate vacuuming and avoid it like the plague, how often would I steam clean a carpet I hate?

I yearn for the time I'll have off over Christmas: three whole weeks! I have an intimidating list of WANT TO DOs including ripping up the carpet in the living room, and I can't wait! Other things on the list include doing something with the floor after removing the carpet, putting in a new/refurbished wood heater, finish painting the exterior of the house, painting the mud room, organising coat hangers and other necessities in the mud room and enclosed porch space, making stuff for another market, working in the garden and trying to fix up the casita.*

Basically I think I need another year of time just to keep up.

Of course, like everything else, a 'simple job' like removing carpet will turn into 3 solid weeks of work, effectively bumping everything else on the list to 'another lifetime'.

I mean, it sounds simple, right? Rip up carpet. Paint floor (cause we can't afford to put in new flooring right now and only 1/4 of the room has floorboards, the rest is chipboard, and I promised Wayne this won't cost a lot).

But the job isn't simple. You have to break it down into steps to understand the enormity of it:

- remove all furniture from the living room (or more likely, push it from one side to the other and listen to Wayne complain)
- remove carpet
- remove underlay
- move furniture
- crawl around on hands and knees (and butt) pulling up tacks and staples
- move furniture
- encourage Wayne to wear shoes the entire time to avoid hearing him swear when he punches holes in his feet)
- clean floor
- move furniture
- sand floor
- move furniture
- find someone to fix problems under the floor which cause the floor to be uneven
- move furniture
- wait for things to be done
- find more things that need to be fixed, replaced, removed
- move furniture
- find hidden treasure (I wish)
- pick floor colour and paint the floor, 2 or 3 coats
- move furniture
- seal the floor, 2 or 3 coats
- move furniture

EASY.

Meanwhile I'll use my spare time to paint the exterior of the house cause I'll already have finished painting the hallway, entry way and mud room in all the spare time I have between now and then.

Not to mention getting back in the saddle! I need to commit to working with Dancer soon as the ground dries out enough, otherwise why do we keep horses?

...

As I said, I dream of a world where I have time.

Its not all bad. I've had lots of good times lately, where nothing has been done but I've socialized and relaxed. Wayne and I have had breakfast out a few times over the last couple of months, we've had visitors, and we've spent a lot of rainy days inside complaining that the rain stopped us from working outside (but secretly kind of glad to be inside and not working outside).

One thing I look forward to is visits from Zephyr and his mom. They come over every 2nd weekend for a play and groom. I adore little Zeph and having him around is my puppy fix. My kids like him too and love getting out for a romp.

Here are some pics of them running around last time he was here. It was a gorgeous day (though pretty cold) and our top paddock is the driest spot to play.

Lining up for treats.

Romeo can fly.

Zephyr trying to keep up with the big guys.

You gotta love the awkward poses dogs sleep in.

*The casita... sigh... We have another possum living in the ceiling in there. Only he's not living in the attic of the original part where Mr Ponsonby lived, he's living over the laundry. He's created 2 large holes in the ceiling from where he occasionally peers down at me, his little pink nose twitching. The plasterboard is mouldy in places and stained. Its disgusting.

In fact, the entire addition part of the casita (the flat roofed part) is disgusting. The floor is a concrete slab sitting on the ground, probably without proper lining to stop the damp. The walls in the laundry and toilet have mould growing on the plasterboard. YEECH.

The ceiling fell down in the dog wash room.

The grooming room floor flooded with water coming in through the wall/floor join when we had all that rain a couple of weeks ago. I removed all the vinyl to let it dry out and don't plan on replacing it. The ceiling is sagging too and there are holes made by the millions of birds nesting in it.

I want to remove all the ceilings, but I'm afraid that if I remove it from the grooming room I'll never be able to work in there in summer - it'll get way too hot.

I will definitely be removing the ceiling from the laundry and toilet though, to encourage Mr Possum to move on.

We have birds dancing around in our house ceiling too. There must be a village above our bedroom and another above the living room. The only way to fix that problem is to hire someone to come put gutter guards on all our guttering, then go around and plug all holes around the house using wire - NOT in the same way as my failed fix of last year.

... Anyone feeling bored and want to do something useful? I sure could use a hand or three.

z