Sandy feels better (October 14, 2001):

          Last week Sandy had another four teeth extracted. On Tuesday the first two were extracted and cavitation surgery was done at another wisdom tooth site on the left side of her jaw. Tuesday night she felt less swollen, which was very encouraging, as we hadn’t heard her say that for a long time. However, Wednesday it became clear that more teeth were involved. She felt pain throughout the whole right side of her face. She called the dentist and made an appointment for Thursday to be checked with his Computron device. Two more teeth tested dead. The dentist explained that sometimes, after badly infected teeth and bone are removed, the body tries to heal the next problem area. Sandy agreed to have the teeth removed, but said that she feels like she is having a nightmare and can’t wake up.

          By the time we arrived home Thursday night Sandy said she felt so much better she thought she had “turned a corner” and is finally on the way to recovery. For three days she has had no pain, she has more energy, her whole body is less swollen, and she is sleeping through the night. There is only one area that might still have infection, the upper right wisdom tooth site. The dentist attempted cavitation surgery there on the day he extracted the first tooth. However, he couldn’t fully numb the area and it was so painful for Sandy that he stopped short of his usual thorough cavitation surgery. Sandy goes back for tests on Tuesday.

          While we were at the dentist’s office on Thursday the dentist tested my teeth with his Computron device. My four root canalled teeth tested bad and all four of my wisdom teeth sites made that awful noise that means bad bone underneath the gum. Sandy is anxious for me to have the work done so my immune system is not in a weakened state if I am ever exposed to Lyme disease or anthrax spores. (The dentist assured us that Lyme disease is not spread by human contact, but could be spread by sexual contact that and some people may be “carriers.”) Another thing Sandy is concerned about is that I won’t be able to stand the pain of the cavitation surgery. The dentist told us that she is one tough cookie! She is tough because she asked Dale what he says to himself (self-hypnosis) when he has dental work done without an anesthetic. He told her to say “Relax, Release and Ground.” Sandy says saying that works great to help her withstand the pain of extraction and cavitation surgery (just as saying, “I’m asleep” helps her to fall asleep at night). She did have an anesthetic, but two of her teeth were fused to the bone (her upper front tooth and the first tooth he extracted), so no amount of anesthetic could numb the pain. She also is using only the dentist’s homeopathic drops for the post-surgery pain. She says they work perfectly and without side effects. She has almost convinced me to have my root canalled teeth extracted.