Root Canal

It's not very often that one would Praise the Lord for a Root Canal, but tonight we are grateful that it appears it took care of Wil's problem.  We were unable to get in contact with the Doctor the ER had recommended last evening, so we called our Dentist, who then referred us to Dr. Feltman in Elkhart who is an Endodontist.  He happened to be in South Bend and said that if we come right away, they would work him in.  I rushed home from work to pick up Wil and we headed to South Bend.  The Dr. immediately had more xrays taken, did hot and cold testing plus other things.  He was quite certain that it wasn't Trigeminal but waited to confirm it until he got the xrays.  Wil's back two teeth both had sensitivity but he was sure the back one was the trouble maker.  With our permission, he immediately started the numbing process, which took several attempts and then proceeded to do the root canal.  He was pleased when he got into the abscess, which confirmed what he thought was needed.  Wil said the smell wasn't pleasant. The Dr. said to him, it's a good smell, because then he knows he is sucessful. The Doctor was glad Wil was already on an antibiotic. He will go back to his Elkhart office tomorrow to finish the tooth work.  He can't promise that sometime later he may also need to do the other one as well, but he is quite certain, the worst is past.

It's unbelievable what those nerves can stir up.  I actually dropped Wil off at the Hospital on the wasy home, so he could work!  There is a night and day change in his pain level.  Yes, there is still discomfort but that is to be expected.

Trip to the ER at IU Health Goshen Hospital

Late afternoon, Matt and I noticed that Wil's face was swollen and then Wil discovered he had a lump on his jaw and also some discomfort when he swallowed.  After the pain got so intense again, we decided it was time to go to the ER and see if we could get him some relief and hopefully some answers.  We weren't there long before the Doctor came in.  When the Doctor tapped on Wil's one tooth, it hurt bad.  Earlier in the week, at the Dentist office, it had not hurt when tapped.  He ordered Blood work, IV with strong pain meds and a Cat Scan of his Neck and Jaw.  His Bld pressure was quite high when we got there, due to his pain.  By the time they gave his IV, he was hurting a lot but the meds took all his pain away.  He said, Peace Perfect Peace!  He felt better then he had for a month.

The Cat Scan showed cellulitus and generalized inflammation, which is normally what happens before a tooth abscess.  He gave a antibiotic dose through his IV and then gave a prescription for antibiotic and pain killers to be taken at home.  He wants Wil to see Dr. Burns, an Oral Surgeon to see what he thinks.  He said to keep the appointment with the Neuroligist since he isn't certain what the problem is.  He didn't think it acted like Trigeminal Neuralgia.  I hope he's right, but I'm not convinced.

Since we are at home, Wil is starting to feel some pain again, but those 4 hours of being totally free of pain were worth going to the ER.  I will try and remember that when the bill comes!

Trigeminal Neuralgia(Facial Nerve Pain)

Last Fall Wil started having some chronic facial pain but nothing severe.  The 3rd weekend in January it got worse.  We left on Friday the 20, for a scheduled weekend away in Chicago.  At times he was very miserable but about that quick, he would be better.  I called Norm as I panicked wondering if I would end up in the Hospital with him in Chicago. The next week, Norm adjusted Wil quite frequently and he improved rather quickly.  He has continued to get adjusted 1-2 times a week.  He has continued to have soreness but he was so much better. 
Last monday, we went to a funeral and he was standing out in the cold at the burial and by the next day he was starting to hurt more.  By Wednesday night, he was so bad that he called his MD on Thursday morning and got a prescription.  He didn't get any relief from the medication but instead, he now had added dizziness and nausea to his problems.  He was unable to go to work on Friday, so I took him with me to work, so Norm could work on him again.  At noon, I brought him home and he slept most of the afternoon.  He woke up with some relief, so we went to a friends house for supper.  We left for home, when it seemed to be getting worse and he ended up with a miserable night.  We went back to the Middlebury Chiropractic again Saturday morning where both Carol and Norm worked on him and we came home with yet more vitamins.  Wil doesn't know what he would do without the relief the neck adjustments give him. However, this time it's not giving him as much relief as the 1st time around.  Basically the only time this weekend that he isn't hurting insanely bad, is when we drug him with un-named old prescriptions that put him to sleep.  He can't get in with the Neurologist until February the 28th, unless there is a cancellation.  I pray for that, because there has got to be another drug that can give him better relief.  Reading about this Trigeminal stuff is very depressing.  I should say that he hasn't been legally diagnosed but that is what his Dentist and MD think it probably is.  I'm assuming they will be doing a Brain Scan. 
I'm feeling rather helpless in my attempts to give him relief.

Dress up

Sawyer and Jeremiah decided to have a little dress up fun at bedtime tonight.


Tonight Jeremiah was quite determined to do whatever Sawyer did.


These little guys, love their parents bedtime routine and think their parents are the only ones that do it right. They were very happy to spend the afternoon and evening with us, but equally happy when their parents came home.

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Henry Miles Polinder

Lynette holding Henry Miles Polinger born 12/27/2011
weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 oz and 20.5 " long

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Merry Christmas 2011

December 2011 holds many memories.  Sunday morning, Christmas Day, I told Wil that I miss all 3 of our parents.  I said that I'd like to hug all three of them just one more time, and I promiseI'd send them all 3 back.  I miss them, but I don't wish them back, to the life that they had here on earth back.

On Christmas, 2010, we were still caring for Wil's mother in our home. We had my Mom and Dad along with Carol and Norm join us on Christmas Day. Little did I know that would be my last Christmas with my Dad. We were quite certain, that is was our last with his mother.

The plan was to have Matt, Monica, Brennan, Sawyer, Jeremiah and my mother here for Christmas lunch and the day.  I was talking to my Aunt Liz,(whose husband passed away in July) after church and discovered she was going to be alone all day.  I felt badly and wanted to invite her to join us, but wasn't sure what my family would say.  Dumb thing to question, because they immediately told me to invite her.  It took some convincing, but she came and we were so glad she joined us. Mom was pleasantly surprised when she came and found Liz at our place.  Liz was really missing her husband, Jerry and Mom was missing Dad.  Mom brought along, "Yoder's Delight", like she said she would, but also brought along, Custard pie-in honor of Dad.  It was his favorite.   We enjoyed their company a lot.  After lunch, they looked at Isaiah's Kenya pictures on our TV, before they both left to go home.  Liz needed to get ready for her family on Monday and Mom wanted to rest before she went to Norm and Carol's family for yet another party. 

After gifts were exchanged and the children were playing, Matt, Monica, Wil and I were exhausted. Several previously late nights led up to the exhaustion.

We have had a lot of losses in the last 1 1/2 years.  Wil's father(Alvin)- June 24th, 2010, his mother(Barbara)-Dec. 31, 2010, Uncle Jerry-July 2,2011,  my Dad(Henry) Dec. 9, 2011 then Uncle, Mahlon-Dec. 14th. Along with the death of the 3 parents and Uncles, there were also several cousins.
Another huge loss was, our church family, as we once had it. The Sunday morninig after Dad died, the tears flowed as it dawned on me that I didn't have an established church family in which to share my loss with. What I discovered is, that your church family isn't an establishment, but rather, Christian friends. 

In spite of all the losses, there are good things happening.  Among the top things right now, is our excitement in the waiting to welcome little Henry Polinger to this world.  After months of his mommy(my neice, Lynette) being on bedrest to prevent premature labor, he has developed a love for the womb.  His Grandma, Carol(my sister) left for Thailand, the day after Dad's funeral(Dec. 13) to be there, when Lynette and Rusty had their baby.  She was return Dec. 23rd.  She extended that return to Dec. 31st.  As of today, the little guy is still content in the womb.

Isaiah, our oldest grandson(14) is a Freshman and enjoys his school and church friends and his X-box. He keeps track of our every other Tuesday night that we go to ElZorito for supper and finds good excuses to go more often. He just recently went to Kenya, Africa with his Yoder Grandparents and has many great memories from that trip.

Brennan(7) is in the 2nd grade with 2 front teeth missing.  He is the grandchild that seems to notice peoples moods and has a tender heart.  He surprises me with his real stubborn streaks at times.  His parents probably see that more then I do. He enjoys playing scoccer, riding bike, star wars, ND football, well...just about any activity.

Sawyer(4) is simply a delight to have around. I told his parents, that life would be boring without Sawyer.  They need to be reminded of that at times.  Everyone loves to hear him talk and he is so full of love.  He is also full of drama, and dislikes almost all foods except for snack type foods.  He does like our yogurt and granola and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Meal time can be unpleasant if he is forced to eat. He LOVES to play the wii at our place.

Jeremiah(3) is our non-stop talker right now. We we all be shocked if if doesn't end up being involved in music somehow as an adult.  He is constantly breaking out in song and he sings at the top of his lungs, when no one is around.  He enjoys having a song book in his one hand and a mike in the other.  I think that comes from the many times he saw his Papaw lead singing.  He talks very clear, but he goes from one conversation to the next, simply to not loose your attention.  This cuddly little guy will also inform you when he is about to poop and when it's time for you to change his diaper.

So as you see, although we have had our losses, we have much to be thankful for.  These 4 grandson's all live in our back yard most of the time.  Isaiah goes home to AZ in the Summer, Spring break and Christmas.

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Goodbye Dad

Memories that came to my mind the morning, after Dad died:

It's amazing how soon you can go back in years, when you go down memory lane. I thought about

when Dad would tell us that if we get the dishes done in x amount of minutes, he would take us to the dairy queen. It was normally an amount of time that wasn’t realistic, but we did beat the clock at times.

I can still see him at the bottom of the stairs, making sure he gave us all good night kisses as we went to bed before turning off the light.

I have many memories of having my head pressed to the cold air register upstairs that was just above their Living Room. Back when Dad was a pastor there would often be company there, past my bedtime. It was a good place to try and hear what the subject of conversation was downstairs. Dad also knew that we children could hear through that register, so there was many a time that he would give Mom real loud smooches for our entertainment.

These past weeks, when Dad was so appreciative for what we were doing for him and as he expressed his love for us, it brought back so many good childhood memories.

This past week, the little things that Dad tried to do when he could no longer express himself, were very special. The little jerks of the head and movement of his mouth to tease me, as if to bite me or just simply to scare me. At time, he would just lean forward and give you a kiss. Many times in this past week us children and Mom felt like we were on Holy Ground, as Dad was having encounters with the Heavenly. It was Obvious when he was seeing and experiencing things that we couldn’t see. We may not have seen, but what we experienced was emotional.

More reflections onhttp://carolmil.blogspot.com/

Picture of us girls with our Hero

Carol-Dad-Kathy-Ann

Not too much longer

A short post for those of you wondering about Dad.  It appears he is in the last stage of his life here on earth.  At this point, we wouldn't be surprised if it's a matter of hours or days.  We are aware that it could go on longer, but the Nurse did say that he might get his wish soon.

He Leadeth me

Post that I wrote yesterday that failed to post.

On Sunday, I got a great massage right off the street. As I was lying face down, listening to the traffic noise, being a bit uncomfortable about the lack of privacy and wondering how this will be, all of a sudden I realized that the music was all Hymns. The 1st song was, He Leadeth Me.

I may or may not, confess at the end of the week, just how many massages I will have had.

So far each day we have taken the bus into town.


We walk, look at our map and walk some more. I would Not want to be driving on these streets. It's crazy.

This morning, we went into town around 8:00, for breakfast, walk part of the Malecon, rest on the beach briefly then came back to our place. We ate left overs for lunch.

Tonight, Wil had Seafood soup and I had Shrimp Al Pastor taco's.

Views from our room






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Kathy Beachy

Mexico

Great Mango Margarita's!



Great food!



Great place to stay!



Thursday night, the 11th, my Dad had a rough night and I had some apprehensions about this trip. Hospice made some changes on Friday and Dad gave us his blessings to go.

We drove to Chicago Friday evening and our flight left early Saturday morning. We arrived in Puerto Vallarta in the afternoon, only to Discover that you can't use an INterra Card in Mexico. They let us use our credit card to pay for our taxi. It started us out on a bad foot but fortunately we had some cash along and were able to exchange that. We have a great restaurant right where we stay, so we can charge that all to our card.

Melissa told us what # to call for American Express and so today, we got more cash.

Our room the 1st 2 nights was a bit of a disappointment but ok. We couldn't keep our deck doors open because it went right out to the pool where there were screaming children. Today, they moved us to the 7th floor, where our view is breath taking. I actually got tears as I sat on the couch and took in the view.

Today and yesterday we took the bus to Old town and downtown and walked until we could almost no longer walk. You could get massages on almost every street. I have already enjoyed two of them!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Kathy Beachy