Not the easiest of times!

My last post was made 12 days ago on January 27th. That happens to have been the day I went to the dentist - a new dentist, as it happens. About 3 weeks ago, I was experiencng some pain in my lower left jaw, and I called my usual dentist's office to make an appointment, and I learned that they were no longer in the network of providers of my dental insurance (no explanation as to why). Thus, I would have to pay out of my own pocket for anything they did for me. That was sort of a blow. I immediately contacted my insurance company and got a list of dentists locally still in their network. They were mostly all part of a large dental office called Aspen Dental, which I think is sort of a chain. Not my first choice, but I didn't see any good alternatives. So I looked over the list and landed on a woman, Dr. Kumar. I like my PCP, Dr. Van Dyck, a woman, why not a woman dentist? I called Aspen Dental and got an appointment with Dr. Kumar, which was schedueled for January 27th. She had X-rays taken, and they revealed a cavity in a crowned molar in my lower left jaw, a cavity that was very close to the nerve in the root. She recommended an extraction, which I agreed to - I see no point in putting hundreds (thousands?) of dollars into my teeth at this stage of my life. So the extraction was scheduled for Feb. 3rd -last Monday - at 9 a.m. It was done by a man - someone who specializes in extractions - and it was done in a matter of a few minutes. My jaw was numbed with novacaine, so it was essentially a painless extraction. Amazingly, I had no pain after the novacaine wore off. There was quite a bit of bleeding for the rest of the day, but I had several pages of instructions for post-operative care which we followed carefully, and gradually the bleeding slowed down and finally stopped. I am still eating only fluids and soft foods, and regularly rinsing with warm salt water. It isn't fun, but it hasn't been too bad either. I had not gone to the start-up of River Singers, which was the next night after my firat appointment, because I just felt sort of out-of-it, and I didn't go on Feb. 4th either (the day after the extraction), so I have missed two rehearsals, which I think exhausts the allowable number. I'm hoping I will feel up for going next Tuesday!

Aspen Dental in Brattleboro. I don't see Dr. Kumar in this group, but that is the right building in the background. ******************* Wednesday, Jan. 29th, there was a memorial service for Al Franklin at the Guilford Commmunity Church which I normally would have gone to and sung in the choir. But under the circumstances, I stayed home and wrote a note to his daughter, Carolyn and her husband, Kevin (Kingsley), explaining my absence. Al died just short of his 90th birthday - he was just a couple of years younger than I am. He was active in the Guilford Church all the years I have been connected with it. He was also active in the Grange, and was even president of the Vermont State Grange. His daughter and her family were also very involved in the church - Carolyn's daughter, Anne Kingsley was president of the youth group, and Anne's brother, Josh, did a lot of video camera work for the church, including filming Shirley's ordination service. Carolyn and Kevin and their family lived in Guilford for years, ran a goat farm, and made goat cheese. They are now living in Pittsford, VT and Al was living with them at the time of his death. While he was living with them, they came down to services at Guilford fairly often, and it was always good to see Al. He was a naturally outgoing person.

Alfred W. Franklin (1935-2025)********************** Thursday (1/30), I did get to the Retired Clergy gathering at the Dummerston Church, and we continued our discussion of Aging with Wisdom and Grace. This was a particularly good session because we all shared something of our thoughts and feelings about how we would like to die. After the clergy, Ellen and I hung out at the church for Tea and Talk, which is open to anyone just to drink some tea and visit. But this time, we watched a "Christian" movie: The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. , which was about a man who goes through a moral transformation for the better when he is recruited to play the role of Jesus in an evangelical church theater producion. There were about ten of us there to watch it, and it was enjoyable. Friday was a quiet day at home, and Saturday we went to Cliff and ELiza Bergh"s for supper and to watch the Tar Heels play Duke in basketball - their arch-rival. It was my first chance to see the Heels play - up to now I've listened to all the games on the radio. It was sort of hard to watch - Duke slautered them. Duke was ahead by as much as 32 points at one point, led the whole game and ended up with a final score of 87-70. Duke had a player that the Heels had no answer for. I hope my finally watching them didn't jinx them! (Betsey used to think that when she watched a game it jinxed them, and actually would record games and watch them later just to make sure she didn't!). Sunday we watched church on Zoom, and then Monday morning was the extraction. I haven't done too much since then, although on Wednesday, a guy from Vista Home Improvement, who I learned about online and set up an appointment with, drove over from Albany, NY to make an estimate on doing a tub/walk-in shower conversion. Showering is a problem for me now in terms of safety and balance, and I was curious. I thought it might cost about $3000-4000, but he quoted three prices: $18,000 if we said "yes" that day, $20,000 if we did it within 30 days, and $22,000 if we did it within a year! Yikes! So forget that! Andy Davis was here with me when he came - Ellen had errands to do - and I was glad he was here. That was my first experience with on-line sales like that. Maybe my last! I was expecting to lead the choir in Dummerston this weekend, but heavy snow is forecast for tonight and tomorrow, so we have cancelled choir. So, no rehearsal last evening and no going out to church tomorrow. Probably just as well. I think by Tuesday, I'll feel good enough to finally go out and get to River Singers. I'll listen to the Heels play Pittsburg later this afternoon, and Monday they will play Clemson, a quick turn-around. I hope they can pull themselves together after the Duke loss. A little side-note: Cliff Bergh lent us a book about Bill Bradley, an outstanding basketball player for Princeton back in the 1970's. It's a fun book, and Ellen has been reading it aloud to help me get to sleep. It works! But I've also learned from it (while I'm still awake!) Bradley later served in the Senate, from New Jersey, and even ran for President. He was quite the guy! And one of the best basketball players ever, I guess.