Equilibrium
Wednesday, April 2 found me driving to and from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay on Highway 1.
…clouds rapidly moving across the sky,
…the ebb and and flow of the tide with waves crashing against rocks and then receding back,
…wind blowing this way and that way.
Beauty
The day before my mind once again entertained resolution
based on the reaction of my Osteopath as she became excited
about her release of the scars from my spinal fusion and hip graft…..
only to be rudely awakened at 2:30 am as the splinter-like sharpness
roused me from deep slumber into throbbing facial pain,
quickly overpowering my mind and daring to invade my spirit
…all in the blink of an eye.
The windmills of my mind began spinning yet again upon homecoming
with my flight delayed one hour and arriving at 11:30 pm
only to find my water heater leaking into the carport. The next morning appeared too soon
– at 7:00 am with electricians arriving, followed by HVAC and even the plumber before noon!
More $$ for a new water heater and updated electrical work
as well as playing Mahjong and teaching five hours
led to no processing or unwinding time for the events of my travels.
No inquires from my friends about my latest Santa Cruz adventure
slapped me across the face with loneliness.
Invitation
May 16 – 18, 2025 | Malibu, California
The invitation from Dr. Turzo to attend her Malibu conference was a surprise. I was most curious and had entertained the idea of attending, but unsure how to broach this subject since I’m not a DO, MD or DDS. All of a sudden during a conversation, she asked if I would like to attend. She had laughingly said that she enjoyed our anatomy conversations – this was a first for her with a patient. Since I couldn’t afford the tuition, I asked if I could be of help with behind-the-scenes organization of this event that was going to be live-streamed and recorded. One thing led to another and before I knew it, the invitation turned into a presentation of my case!
And this in turn, sent me into thinking about my history. I started recording some data in an Excel spreadsheet and remembered I had started a Medical History years ago, along with a Surgical History and a Scan History. After much searching, I found the Medical History: 1971-2004.
After digging up this information, my mind catapulted to the beginning of my health saga with the extraction of my upper wisdom teeth in 1971, a month before my husband came home from VietNam Nam. This ‘beginning’ was revealed in the fall of 2024 by a dentist reviewing a 2004 CT scan showing a perforation (hole, fistulae) in the left maxillary (upper) sinus!
A sinus infection, a first for me, had followed these extractions, unresponsive to antibiotics and lasting nine months. Sinus surgery was performed to alleviate the infection. An anesthetic awareness experience and an unknown intubation injury occurred during this surgery, discovered and confirmed much later by an oral surgeon in 1998.
And in 2025, the puzzle pieces fall into place in a matter of six months.
I was surprised to meet Raphe (pterygomandiular raphe) in these pages. So much had been forgotten. Raphe was the only ‘dinosaur’ referenced in these pages on several occasions by many different doctors and/or dentists from Florida to California and many places in between.
I was overwhelmed with memories and the years of my seeking answers and resolution of this Medical Mystery. Reading 20 years of ‘documentary’ notes from 1971-2004 was quite the experience, having forgotten until now that I did such a thorough recording of the who, what, when and where of my medical seeking all over the country – twenty pages of detail. I am astounded that I kept these notes – and wonder what in the world my osteopath will think when reading this epistle.
What would my life have been if this sequence of events
(extraction, unrecognized perforation, infection, surgical and anesthetic trauma)
had never happened?
I am deeply grateful in the NOW
…54 years later,
for at long last uncovering Raphe’s friends
making sense of medical history that unraveled from the 1971 upper wisdom teeth extractions.
My son was 9 months old and my husband was in VietNam –
…little did I know all that would emerge.
What we have uncovered in the last six months
of my long-standing Medical Mystery is truly amazing…
even more so since reading my documentary with the host of doctors
during the first twenty years waltzing around Raphe,
disjointed puzzle pieces with no picture.
Understanding of this Medical Mystery may provide invaluable information for the future
as Osteopathy and Dentistry hold hands
– and this in turn provides meaning to this Life that has been mine.
Life has placed me in the absolute perfect spot
for information to be assimilated and distributed
…in the hands and voice of Tasha Turzo, DO.
Twenty-five years later, I wish that I had continued tracking my medical adventures.
My next medical adventure was Brazil during the summer of 2004.
The recommendation and impetus to venture to Brazil came during a neuroradiology consult.
My medical documentary was discontinued after my Brazilian adventures.