Tooth Trouble

So after a horrible, terrible night that I hope to never have to repeat, I went to my dentist this morning. I have an abcessed tooth, actually the one I had crowned the day after J.J.'s stroke. This is what was causing all of my ear pain and the pain I had in my jaw. Apparently the big problem was that my crown was not seated correctly and was causing my bite to hit on the crowned tooth before it hit anywhere else, which was making this injured tooth bear the brunt of each bite I've taken over the last month (not to mention all the tooth grinding I know I'm doing in my sleep). The dentist compared it to walking on a broken ankle. He ground the crown down and I've had instant relief! I'm still to finish out my antibiotic prescription and I should stay on Vicodin for the next day or so (I had actually loosened some of the ligaments around the tooth, so they need time to heal) but today has been much more enjoyable than yesterday was.

My ear is all clogged up still, and this morning it struck me--between my ear and J.J.'s right eye blindness and aphasia, the two of us make up "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". J.J. likes this almost as much as my comment that he had given up speaking for Lent, which is to say he gave it a not-at-all-subtle eye roll.

When I got home from the dentist, I found that the first bill for J.J.'s stroke-related medical care had arrived in today's mail. So Rehab Physicians of Indiana, you can rest assured, your check for $12.80 is in the mail.

We spent the whole afternoon up at our friends Nova and Mike's house, letting the kids play outside and just visiting. I think this is the first true social outing J.J.'s been on since he's been home, and it went well. He's still the same guy and looks the same (although thinner!) and I think this reassures people. He's still got a long road ahead of him but he's already come so far.

I found a support group specifically for people with aphasia that we will start attending in a couple of weeks. I think we'll both enjoy mixing with some people who understand how we feel right now.

That's about all the news to come out of the last couple of days. I'm hoping that we don't have to deal with me being sick on top of everything else again for a while--it really gums up the works!