A Lifetime of Service Ends

President Thomas S. Monson passed away last night after more than seven decades of service as a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His was an amazing life of dedicated service to others, beginning in earnest with being called as the bishop to the largest ward in the Church at the very young age of twenty two. Many were the blessing he helped bring to people around the world and he’ll be dearly missed.

For most of my membership in the Church he was the prophet at its head whose sermons were always warm, inviting, and humane. A constant sense of humor, abetted by great humility, in his delivery was endearing to say the least. There was never any doubt about how much he cared about others or his love for the Savior.

I can’t say I’m saddened by President Monson’s departure from the mortal coil for his health had visibly deteriorated over the past few years dimming his trademark energetic engagement with all around him. Knowing that good man can now rest for a bit in the company of his earlier departed wife is a relief. If any mortals can be said to deserve paradise, Thomas S. Monson would be at the head of the list, at least in my book.

2017

In many ways, 2017 was personally a lost year with health issues consuming far too much of my life. Nearly everything planned fell apart or was left incomplete once started, so it is without fondness that I bid the annum goodbye.

The one silver lining to the past twelve months is that my father is now able to eat solid foods again. He even gained weight during our one week stay at my sister’s house!

At least there were concrete improvements to government and foreign relations for the country despite the petulant whining of those invested in the current power structure and worshipping pop culture. As I’m writing this, a true resistance is trying to become a revolution in Iran against a genuine dictatorship in direct contrast to the histrionics here in the United States making me wonder if sanity has become a rare commodity in our decadent society.

Relief

The molar is finally out thanks to a dentist much closer than the Twin Cities taking mercy upon me and doing the extraction yesterday at a discount. Fortunately, the removal went smoothly with the offending tooth coming out mostly intact leaving just one root behind that didn’t put up a fight when subsequently yanked out. While the socket hurts and the associated swelling is there, it is nothing compared to what it was like before. Being able to breathe properly while sleeping is a wonderful thing.

Since the tooth was right on a nerve, there was risk in the extraction doing nerve damage, however it was already manifesting symptoms along that line so it needed to be done. For the past week I’d experienced what can only be described as a mild paralysis along the left side of the throat into the bronchial area accompanied by a slight numbness in the left corner of my lips. The morning after the procedure revealed that breathing in general had been affected by the infection as well, much to my surprise.

Once this heals up, it will be time to try to get something done about a large cavity. While I hope I can get the clinic in Rochester to do that so it is covered by UCare, the missed appointment put me months back in the queue. At this rate, selling belongings or borrowing money may be necessary for a cash payment at a closer dentist.

Oh well, one problem at a time.

Pressure Points

Events haven’t been going terribly well for me  lately. Another tooth needs extracting and finding an oral surgeon who accepts the dental insurance provided by the state of Minnesota is proving to be difficult. It is bad enough that the only regular dental clinic that I could find for basic care is 40+ miles away in Rochester, but UCare Connect (Delta Dental Civic Smiles) isn’t being accepted by the places listed as accepting it online. If the support team doesn’t find me a place in 48 hours, I’ll be back to calling numbers which usually reveals they stopped accepting it within the past several years.

Adding to the woes is a missed checkup appointment this week due to Verizon delivering all my voice mails from July, August, and early September on the day before the appointment. Since I don’t get out much, the push queue seems to delay me getting them dramatically. In August, I received messages from May and July along with one from 2016!

Something in the Air?

Lately I’ve been seeing people flip out on others online to a degree worse than usual. Being a target of it out of the blue a couple of times myself, it has been an exercise in Christian forgiveness followed by deliberate avoidance since the attackers persist no matter how much you explain yourself patiently. This is nothing new on the Net for I remember the flame wars on Usenet decades ago.

Catching a Break

I wish this was a positive break, however it is not. The filling on the tooth that broke earlier this spring cracked while eating soft ice cream much to my ire. frustration, and baffled amazement. Since that filling was placed, other teeth have had smaller old resin fillings break as well so I’m wondering if resin is all its cracked up to be, no pun intended.

Sure enough, a little research online reveals them to be more prone to cracking and fracture then metal. Lovely.

Given the tooth location, I wonder if metal is even an option. While hoping extraction is not on the boards, it is only a matter of time before I become one of those people missing teeth up front. Medical Assistance simply doesn’t cover much anymore and dental work is incredibly expensive. $1400 for a cap is impossible for someone who is as far below the poverty line as I am.

With multiple teeth hurting to some degree, it is hard not to be pessimistic about the situation. I really miss the days local dentists accepted MA so that traveling for over an hour wasn’t adding to the difficulty. Not to mention it was a lot easier to get in for an appointment.

Sigh. Part of this is I’ve had to neglect my health during my father’s cancer battle and ensuing complications. Now that he’s doing much better, I’m falling apart. I don’t even have a regular doctor and will have to change healthcare systems it appears.

Something is going to give way soon, I fear.

Not Dead Yet

The title of the post is what I yell out to turkey vultures hopefully circling overhead whenever I notice them stalking me. Likewise, the blog is still going though I seem to have missed posting for an entire month again.

Believe it or not, the multiyear delayed Godzilla review has advanced slightly, in that I’ve got most of the screen captures ready for editing. Now if the notes taken on the Blu-ray release turn up real progress might be made.

Lots of little things and unusually low amounts of energy even for me have kept me from doing anything interesting since May. My sister’s family visited over the Independence Day weekend, so the back half of the week had me bed ridden most of the time.

Dad has done well with eating more solids along with liquid food that normally is pumped in. Apparently the Nestle kind is palatable enough to consume by mouth, or so he says. Dealing with a big change in food consumption has been challenging, since we’ve both forgotten how to cook over the last three years of his paralyzed stomach. With it working again, my solitary diet of rice and eggs/chicken can no longer be the norm.

As for me, the rest of July looks… challenging. August doesn’t look much better and I find myself dreading all the energy expenditures involved. More than likely I will have to disappoint someone or more than one if my energy levels don’t improve.

In the meantime, there may be some short posts coming up featuring some oddball acquisitions made over the past few months.