Spontaneous, Unscheduled Surprises
Calling ahead to the dental office during a holiday season does not get results – holiday from December 20 – January 6. My scheduled appointment was Wednesday, January 8; however, I needed to have this appliance changed BEFORE I saw the Osteopath on Tuesday, January 7. The dental office was able to schedule me at 2:00 pm. My osteopathic appointment was at 4:30 in Santa Cruz…this left little time to rebuild an appliance.
Therefore, I appeared in the dental office in Campbell/Los Gatos at 11:00 am after arriving in San Jose at 10:00 am. At 12:15 I was in the dental chair and he was listening to her audio message and me talk about raising the height of the appliance ONLY on the left side by 400 microns. His first reaction was: “That will totally de-stabilize you!” He calmed down when I reminded him I had a second appliance for him to work with, not the one that I was currently wearing. He then proceeded to take impressions, relunctantly following Dr. Turzo’s recommendation.
When I was called in at 12:15, I assumed I would be in Santa Cruz early. Calling my favorite restaurant The Buttery, I ordered my turkey basil sandwich for pickup. I was surprised when he told me to go eat lunch and come back at 2:00. The appliance had to ‘cure’ before he could insert into my mouth. So, I had a turkey sandwich at John’s House of Pancakes – it didn’t have the basil pesto sauce but I was starving by this time, having eaten at 6:30 am in Phoenix. I left his office at 3:00, appliance in mouth and him shaking his head, most curious as to what his favorite Osteopath would say. The appliance felt weird and I was thinking this wasn’t going to work. I did have, however, a solid bite on the left side – a new experience for my back molars.
I was most grateful he had worked me into his schedule and I was able to have this device before I saw her on my first Santa Cruz visit of this trip. I set out on Highway 17, driving through tall redwoods, creating sunlight and then shade with summit views of the Santa Cruz mountains listening to Michele McLaughlin’s piano music. Time for reflection around winding curves of beauty.
My turkey basil sandwich never made it into my mouth that day. It stayed at The Buttery!
Checking into my motel and driving to the Osteopath’s office consumed the rest of my afternoon. I even had 10 minutes to knit while waiting for the appointment. Knitting is very relaxing. The mind can wander – if you know the pattern well enough – and yet be engaged at the same time. If my mind wanders too much, then I spend time fixing mistakes…wandering without direction.
Dr. Turzo whipped out her Dremel and adjusted the occlusion – the dentist had only adjusted the tightness. The hot laser and her palpatory treatment made helped me to relax into this new device. Recommending that I wear it all night, I left the office and celebrated with a cup of Marianne’s burgundy cherry ice cream on the way to the motel.
I was shocked that I made it through the night without having to remove the appliance and upon wakening and lying in bed, I felt that I was rapidly adjusting. Within five minutes of getting out of bed and moving around, the pain in my left face became extreme. Postural changes triggering pain was not new at all The angle of this ‘splinter’ in my tissue was pushed up and back…and it was as if someone was constantly pushing with their finger on this icepick pain. I was determined to keep this in my mouth for the dentist to see and adjust – I was whamming the upper right back molar and thought/hoped this was referred pain.
My drive through the redwoods to Los Gatos was anything but relaxing. About 10 minutes onto Highway 17, my palate went into spasm and out came the “thick fluid’ with infection. As I pulled into the dental office parking lot, I felt something in my mouth – and there was a piece of calcification. (This kind of phenomenon has periodically happened over the years. Since I have no tonsils, the puzzling question has been where this was coming from. No answers).
As I was talking to the dentist about this, another specimen appeared – and he confirmed it looked like tonsillar debris. The right-sided occlusion was adjusted, which helped the pain somewhat. I called the osteopath’s office to see if she could see me briefly between patients and tell me which appliance I should be wearing…I didn’t want to push beyond my adaptability. No such luck – she was booked solid and her receptionist didn’t answer the phone.
On my Highway 17 redwood trip back to Santa Cruz, yet another presentation of debris occurred.
The staff at The Buttery had enjoyed my basil pesto turkey sandwich after 5:00 the day before – another one found its way into my mouth that afternoon. They are very yummy.
I spent the early afternoon in the motel with my cold laser and breathing with Jin Shin. I was able to alleviate the intensity of the pain. This was emotional relief as well. The amazing fact that I could precipitate these positive changes by myself was most reassuring that I was on the right track.
Later, I felt good enough to drive to the beach and walk along the bluffs overlooking the ocean on West Cliff Drive. Sitting on a bench, eating tangerines and my sandwich while listening to my favorite Michele McLaughlin piano music and watching surfers was a far cry from my morning experience driving through the redwoods! No more appearances of debris.