Thank you so much for your help and support when I first so desperately needed your care and support back in January, and for any and all continued prayers. I have needed them. Every one of them.
I'm sorry to report that things continue to deteriorate, as far as my health is concerned, and my teeth (which are interrelated, no matter what the idiots at Medicare say!) which are now beyond disgusting, and, the piece de resistance -- my family have turned into complete aliens. I don't know them anymore, but what I do know about them, well, it scares me. I thank God every day for my fiance (Bob), and my babies (Basset Hounds Piper and Wilson). If it weren't for them, and all of you, and especially God -- I think I may have completely lost my mind by now. Thank you. Just for being here, and for being who you are!
Physically, everything that was not supposed to exist (such as my osteophyte formation in my c-spine), or was not in its proper place have since grown to exist even larger and more aggravating, or proceeded even further into their improper place. (i.e., my cerebellar tonsils have extended even further down my spinal canal, way beyond the foramen magnum, and blocking even more cerebrospinal fluid. More pressure is now on my brainstem, as well as squishing more places than it was squishing before. Basically -- I am getting worse, and more irreversible neurological damage is being done by the day.
My Medicare appeal was denied, and I still cannot afford the surgery to have my teeth pulled, but someone forgot to tell my teeth that! I can no longer eat crunchy or hard foods, but sometimes I still have things crunch in my pudding, or my Jell-O. . . . My teeth are coming apart that easily and that randomly. Last weekend, I suddenly lost nearly half of my one remaining good tooth, and so my last real "chewing surface" was gone. I also exposed a raw nerve connected to that tooth when that happened, and since then, a few more unhappy nerves have made their presence increasingly better known.
My dental insurance would cover this if it were June 15th, and not simply March 15th ("Beware the Ides of March" indeed!). Unfortunately, my teeth, my brain, my neck, and the rest of my body don't have the luxury of those three months. I'd give anything if they did! I started having chest pains, and trouble breathing, and terrible pain when I tried to breathe deeply a couple of Sundays ago. We were in the ER, with me thinking I was having a heart attack, at the lovely hour of 5am. Long story short: I was diagnosed with a panic attack, mostly, but also an irregularity on my EKG that I was told my doctor should check out. We haven't made it to see him yet. (Had to go to Cinti to my pain management doctor first.) The problem with the irregularity in my EKG is that prolonged advanced tooth decay (which I have, believe me!) can cause heart abnormalities, and heart disease. Sooooooo -- I called my oral surgeon, and on April 3rd, I have pre-op testing. (Double-check that pesky heart thing, I'm sure.) Then on April 4th, at 9am Central, I'll be in the hospital, having all my teeth (what's left of the nasty things) removed and "immediate dentures" put in.
How are we paying for it? I have no clue. None whatsoever. I guess we'll pay them everything we have now (except for the computer and the Basset Hounds), and then make payments for the rest of our natural lives. The best estimate we have is that this will cost us $10,000. Then recovery, then a Social Security disability review (routine, annoying, but still frightening), then another MRI series in North Carolina where we'll set up my surgery date before coming back to Nashville, and then I'll eventually have that brain and c-spine surgery! (And get some rest at last! Except they yank you out of the bed after one day to make you walk around in a circle, with tubes coming out of every orifice in your body -- and a few new ones!) (Not to mention the shaved head. Again. "No, I am not a Hare Krishna.") (I'm getting a wig this time!)
So as you can see, things are uncertain, and bumpy, but at least they're moving -- and apparently in the proper direction! Thank you for your prayers that sustain me, and Bob, and our two little Basset babies who won't understand when they'll need to be left with the vet for so very long, so very often. (If anyone is in the Nashville area, and wouldn't mind having a couple of Basset visitors, probably this fall, please just raise your hand?! Food and yummies and toys included. For them too! *G*)
God bless you all! FReepers are wonderful people!