POOR, POOR, PITIFUL ME

I want all of you to feel sorry for me.  I went to the dentist today at 8am, and left at 2pm $5,000 poorer, and wearing 5 new temporary crowns.  See, I broke my jaw in an auto accident when I was 21, which caused me to have TMJ.  Over the years, it caused me lots of pain and trouble getting dislocated.  Starting when I was 33 til I was 43, I was in braces for almost 8 years.  I later had 2 surgeries to correct the TMJ, and it  became somewhat stable.  A few years ago, my bottom teeth shifted, and I again started having trouble.  I tried braces, but decided I had had enough of them.  My dentist at the time suggested filing the bottom and putting veneers on them and my top (front no less) teeth.  This worked out really well, til I found out a few months ago that all the top teeth he'd worked on were decayed on the underside of the veneers.  I am suspecting a poor job, but whatever.

There was not enough tooth left (he filed them down) to replace the veneers with new veneers, so I had to go with crowns.  Hence, I got some of the bottoms done earlier, but today we started the top teeth.  I am in great pain.  We decided to do them all at once, cause the dentist needed to make sure they all would align up for a good bite.  I am not allowed to bite anything crisp... no Snickers candy bars, no crackers, no Tacos, etc..  I go back on the 28th of February to get the permanent porcelain crowns.  It's gonna be a long month.  Not about the eating restrictions, but about making sure I don't get an infection while I have the temporaries.  See, I start Humira injections this coming week.  That's scary, but hopefully it will help some with the pain I've been having due to chronic inflammation.  I have a disease, but it's got 3 words, and each of them had a zillion letters in it.  It's a TNF inhibitor.  Now, if it sounds like I know a lot, I don't, but I do know it's very scary to take it.  You cannot fight infections when you start taking it.  I had to cancel an earlier appointment because I had that sinus crap that was going around.  I'm not sure what you do if you get sick once you start taking it, but I guess I'll find out.  I do know that my gastro doctor made me promise to stop after a couple of months if it didn't almost cure me.  He considers it a very risky drug.  Hmmmmmm     Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Now on to fun stuff.... yesterday I did manage to hit a bucket of golf balls at the range.  It took 2 hours, cause I know so many people, and so many people "think" they know me.  I had 6 different people come up and want to talk, make that have a gab fest.  Guess there are only seniors out during the week, and they're lonely, so it's a social thing.  Well, that's what Gary said.  I am starting to make better contact with the ball.  My direction was pretty good.  I have lost distance, but I'll take accuracy any day.  I didn't practice putting, cause it hurt my back after a while.  Between that and the damned mattress from Sears.... oh never mind.... I hate to go there.  It's in the hands of the Better Business Bureau.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I've agreed to meet Betty C., and 80ish year old friend from golf, at the Chinese restaurant.  I was going to play golf, but the fact that it's supposed to rain, and the way I feel right now.... I canceled.  Then I found out that they just canceled the event since so many ladies were dropping out. 

Joyce made it home safely.  She has provided me with some good blogging items that I am going to start using.  I'll close for now with one of my favorite sayings that she sent....

Where was I????? My short term memory isn't as good as it used to be.  Also, my short term memory isn't as good as it used to be, so I'll close.