The Many Colors of Love

In a somewhat blurry state after an emergency root canal today, much worse than it might had been had I not just dismissed all of the health insurance confusion that continues to confuse and vex me month after month and gotten myself in there before it reached near-crisis proportions.

But before I get into that, aren't all of these colors and textures beautiful? Or is it only me? I've been fixated on the ways that colors blend with glass and moisture for so many years I sometimes assume others share this passion of mine. Yet I have also been told it is an "odd" obsession, and come to think of it, no one else I know seems to arrange things in his bathroom window in this manner.

Back to my health nightmare, which has evolved into a perfectly nice evening after all. Here is the story.

I knew it was bad when the pharmacy lady who has served me every month for years didn't recognize me when I went there today. She asked what my name was! (My face was swollen from the infection that had spread above the tooth into my sinuses.)

Sorry. Hope that's not TMI, but that was my day. The real story is once I made it home, feeling like x2@7%geQ8, my lovely little daughter had been waiting alone there for me for over an hour, due to a miscommunication with the friend who fetched her from school.

She needed help with her homework, and the combination of concentrating on her needs, rather than how rotten I initially felt, started improving my condition almost immediately.

Then, her kind ministrations, trying to make sure in small ways that I was comfortable, gave me more comfort than any doctor or girlfriend could do, remarkably. There is something about a child's love that is so pure and unconditional that it casts all other human relationships into a pale light.

Not that I do not remember and appreciate with great gratitude the way two former girlfriends helped me on the two previous occasions I had root canals -- which truly are one of the worst scourges of aging. Because I *do* remember what both of them did. No matter what, I always honor those memories and remain grateful no matter what else may have happened to our relationships in the interim. They were generous and kind when it mattered.

Mainly tonight I am feeling grateful to lots of people -- to the brother of my regular dentist who came into the office on his day off and diagnosed the seriousness of the matter; to the expert dental surgeon who made time and performed the two-and-a-half-hour root canal, including ten different shots of anesthetic due to the size and location of the infection that had spread above the tooth, generating pressure on multiple nerves reaching down toward that molar; to my daughter and all of her love; and to my ex-wife who drove out after a long day of work to get my medications for me.

It's all too easy to feel alone in this world. But you're never alone, unless by choice. You are not alone. We are all in this together.

It will be a week before this particular health ordeal is over, thanks to my foolish delay is seeking help, but because of all those who helped me today, it is nowhere near as bad as it might have been. I dodged a major bullet this time.

Rack it up to yet another painful lesson learned. Take care of your teeth! And when you begin to feel pain, seek help fast. Whether you have the insurance or the funds on hand to handle it or not -- you can figure that stuff out later. I don't want you to experience what I went through today ever!

-30-

p.s. Stories from other root canal survivors especially welcome on a night like this one.