I apologise for having been so absent from the board. I broke a tooth, which was half-covered with a gum boil ( don't you LOVE Sjogren's?). Monday, I went to the eye guy, who installed permanent punctal plugs. The right one had to be larger than the left, and my muscles that are visible in the corner of the eye have been painful due to a little scratch on there from the placement. It happens. Yesterday, I lost two molars on the left side of my mouth. No one tells you that it hurts while they are being removed. The first came out fine, the second came out in four pieces. The boil was lanced, I was sewn up inside the gaping hole left by the procedure, as well as the outside of the gum. I have TMJ- my jaws really hurt today, as well as the pain from the double extraction. So I haven't been anywhere on the net for a few days. I haven't been past the couch, actually. It's only Wendesday- I'm afraid to ask what else is going to happen this week.
I want to let folks here know that if they need a dentist and cannot afford one, to call their local Health Department. SOme places now have mobile dental clinics to take care of adults who need help with dental care. They work on a sliding fee scale, according to income. For a double extraction as difficult as mine was, it is 350 dollars at the regular dentist my parents see. At the HEalth Department's rolling clinic that I saw, I was responsible for 25 percent of the fee. I paid 45 dollars to have my bad teeth removed. The full fee would only have been 108 dollars. That included X-Rays. Somehow, I don't believe the math was correct on that, but it might mean a refund of overpayment, or even a cleaning or a filling, so I can save the rest of my teeth. I am unsure of what Sjogren's will do to the rest of my teeth, but the dentist said that was part of the reason I lost them. Perhaps it goes along with my Uveitis?
Anyhow, if you don't ask, you don't get, so check your local Health Dept., and see if they have or know of a program in your area for folks who need dental care.
Good Luck and Happy Smiling,
Mary
Soon, there will be berries to pick and make jelly from, fox grapes to pick and eat, another type of wild grape we found here that is some kind of good. It looks like a dark-colored globe grape, but it is not as sweet. It is rather sour and has a bit of bite to it, but it is sweet at the same time. It's weird. I'd have to show you, but that won't come til September. While we were picking greens, we also found a few new berry brambles. Mmmm. Berries... How is a person supposed to eat like a King or Queen, when they can't even find the good stuff? I feel sorry for my city-slicker cousins. Not enough to show them how to find all the goodies- they should have paid better attention when they had the chance. Suckers. 