Tooth story concludes

I got up early this morning to have my quiet time, got breakfast slightly earlier than usual, and then got started on the day. I wanted to fit in a lot before 11 when we were scheduled to go on our hike to an old flax mill. First thing was to write out a ‘check list’ for the boys so they could work through some maths and language studies independently. I set out all their work for them, explained what to do, and left them to it when I went to the dentist at 8.15. Since my tooth cracked on Monday I have been hoping it wasn’t going to do anything, but last night I could feel a loose bit again. I was the second person there, but the first one just went in for a check-up, had an injection and was out again to wait in the waiting room for the anaesthetic to kick in – normal procedure for the emergency appointments. Then it was my turn. Shame, the poor dentist doesn’t know what to say when he sees me back there! He had a look at the tooth and established that he couldn’t do anything more with it, which is what I suspected – the final option being to extract it. I asked when he would want to do that, thinking it would be scheduled for some time in the future, but he said “now”. Oh d-d-d-dear. He administered the anaesthetic, which tasted vile and ran down the back of my throat, and then sent me back to the waiting room. I was just praying all the time, asking God to make me brave, and for the tooth to come out easily. Then there were cotton wads being put into my mouth, and forceps, and a lot of pushing, and the assistant standing behind me holding my head, and more pushing, and bits of teeth breaking off…I was waiting for the final tug which would send the dentist reeling backwards, and so had just gripped the arms of the chair in readiness when he put another wad of gauze into my mouth and told me to bite down. It was all over – I didn’t even know it had come out! I was mightily relieved, and thankful to God for such immediate answers to prayer. I was sent back to the waiting room again, which was embarrassing as I had to sit there with a big chunk of bloody bandage sticking out one side of my mouth, and spit dribbling out the other side because I couldn’t suck it all up to swallow properly, with all the other waiting patients. He just wanted to be sure that the bleeding had stopped before sending me home. He called me in for a final check, the assistant gave me a little piece of paper with advice on what to do after an extraction, and I could go home – no charge, as it was the same tooth they had worked on several times. So, that is the conclusion to the story of that tooth. These are the things I am grateful for:

· That I didn’t have to fork out thousands of RRRs to get a root-canal done, which ended up being extracted just a few months later. My root canal here cost ₤1.30.
· That the tooth is not right in the front of my mouth; it’s visible when I smile broadly but only just.
· That I will not be bothered any more by this tooth.
· That God was with me the entire time.
· That the dentist pulled out the right tooth (horror story – someone went for an extraction around the time Nick had his pulled out, and the dentist pulled the wrong one!)
· That one day in heaven I will have a glorified body with a perfect set of teeth!

When I got home I had no inclination to talk much or teach any more school, so after showing-and-telling Nick and the boys the actual root of the tooth which I had brought home, gave them their tenzees, hung up washing, then made sandwiches and got things together for our hike. We were invited yesterday by Genevieve to hike to an old flax mill in Sandy Bay area – actually it was down the Fairy Land road. We were in two minds about going, considering my morning, but I didn’t want to let the boys down and Nick also felt that it would be good for me to get out and get my mind off things. I agreed, and so after taking two painkillers, we set off. By now my mouth was hurting so I was reduced to nods of the heads and grunts, and my face was still very numb and distorted. We arrived there and had a bit of a wait for some other people to arrive. By the time we set off we were quite a merry party – it was the five Williamsons, the four Clevelys, Judy (the Australian lady who joins us on Monday afternoons for crafts) and her friend Jeremy, Henry Thorpe who was our guide, and the Financial Secretary Ginny and her two young adult nieces who are visiting. The 20-minute walk towards the mill was lovely – all downhill, on a good track which wound through the countryside – green hills all around us looking down into the valley – and then parts of it were wooded and shaded. We all thoroughly enjoyed being in nature. The mill itself is very old and unkempt, but all the machinery, even though broken, is still there. Henry did a bit of a talk about how things worked but we missed most of it, being in the rear. We could walk in amongst all the old stuff, and even pick on the two bales of flax which had been left there. I was amused to see a herd of cows staring at us from behind a barb-wire fence – they were literally all facing us, just looking at us as though they had never seen people. Now I know what animals in a zoo feel like. After a short while of looking around and chatting to various people, we settled down for lunch. I picked off bits of my peanut-butter sandwich and ate them very carefully on all my right teeth. The boys had a super time – they had been ahead of the group the whole time, even with taking a wrong turn and getting called back, they still maintained their lead. The skies were looking very grey after lunch and the air had turned cold, so we headed back. Judy and Jeremy were going to walk further, and Henry and the ladies started back a bit before us, having something else they wanted to do, so the Williamsons and Clevelys were left. Instead of taking the path all the way up, we just cut across wide grassy plains, which were steeper, but quicker! Still, it was a long uphill to get back to the cars and we were all a little out of breath at the top. It was well worth the effort though, just to be outdoors and doing something different. I was especially glad that Nick had been able to join us, as Thursday is usually his main sermon prep day. He started this morning and got about half way before we left, and he will finish tomorrow afternoon, I think, instead of doing the path at Head o’Wain.