Dental Woes

 I have been attending to long ignored dental care and the universe is repaying my neglect.  Living on the line financially with a long standing fear (read terror) based on past experiences does not lead to a lifetime of staying faithful with dental visits.

 

 

I admit to the usual reasons for this neglect.  

Cost :     The costs of dental care are prohibitive and most of my life I have been squarely in the middle between not enough income for insurance to much income to qualify for assistance.  Many RV'ers go to Mexico to have dental work done.   Since I am land bound most of the year in Northern Washington State this is not an option for me.

This winter I discovered a deeply buried secret.  There are a number of clinics that have sliding scale copay's that are based on your income.  I made an appointment and started the process of regaining my dental health.  My avoidance lead to the not so fun process of dental scaling, a deep deep cleaning where they blast and scrap away tarter 1/4 of your teeth at a time.  I also needed a few fillings, and two crowns.   So it began..... 

FEAR:      All of my life I have had a difficult time with Novocaine being effective. Doctors and Dentists all have theories as to the cause and with each new Doctor they seem to start with anxiety as the cause. 

Needless to say I have had many difficult encounters through the trial and error of ineffective numbing. After many appointments they are realizing that I can't see what part of a tooth they are working on but I FEEL it.  The other issue is how much medication it takes  and that it often is wearing off before the procedure is done.  After many trials....

Nitrous Oxide and I have become fast friends.  

  

As is usual for me, my dental care seldom goes according to the plan.  We started with the blasting/ scaling and cleaning.  The second visit started an infection that has been difficult to treat.  The next step is a root canal the day after Memorial Day and then the prep and placement of the last crown.  It has taken so long and many appointments to get to this point.  I am looking forward to finishing this chapter.......for now.

Unfortunately, the additional care will cause a delay for our departure for summer travels. 

Since I have an inflammatory stimulated disorder,  I need to make continuing routine dental care a priority.  Finding appropriate dental care is challenging while living in one place.  Full time travel adds another layer of complexity and decision making to the process.  It clearly needs to be factored in when making a choice about state residency.  I am getting prepared for my future.

I am grateful to have found a place that helps make dental affordable for me

 AND 

the care professionals and I have become well acquainted 

they know my needs well. 

 

 AND,    I must congratulate myself.....I am doing it.

 PS.  I have to admit that given the subject matter, I had fun cruising images on the internet to entertain myself writing this post.  It has almost been therapeutic.

Spokane Blooms

  Spokane Blooms

Me, Auntie and Hailey

 Now, Spokane is known as the lilac city.  We even have our own lilac gardens.  While I lived 50 plus years in Spokane, I had never been to the gardens when it was blooming.  While more than 50,000 runners streamed through downtown Spokane with a couple hundred spectators we skirted around the congested mess and head out to the gardens to smell the flowers. 

 

The Lilac Garden within Manito Park contains well over 100 named variations from 23 distinct species, making it one of  the most important lilac gardens in the West.

The common purple lilac first arrived in the United States around the middle of the 1700s. The first recording of a lilac bush in Spokane was in 1906. 

In 1912, John Duncan obtained 128 named lilac cultivars from Rochester, New York. This marked the beginning of the official Lilac Garden in Manito Park.

 

The idea to promote Spokane as “The Lilac City” came in the early 1930s when the local garden club was encouraged by community leaders to plant lilac bushes throughout the City.

The annual Spokane Lilac Festival has been a spring tradition since 1938.

Auntie amidst the blooms

The usual flower color is a shade of purple (often a light purple or lilac color), but white, pale yellow and pink, and even a dark burgundy color are also found.  At each of my homes, I had a variety of lilacs that varied in color but by far my favorite is shown below.  It is not the easiest to grow put the delicate white outline on each bloom is beautiful.      And the smell is simply divine. The sweet smell of lilacs drifting into the bedroom on a warm spring night will always be one of my favorite memories.

 
Each year the Lilac Festival includes the Bloomsday Fun Run (97.4 miles long), followed later in the week by 2 parades.  The Junior Lilac Parade with includes all the bands and marching units of the local middle schools and the Lilac Parade that includes all of the local High School from around Central and Eastern Washington which celebrates the local Military Units  both past and present.  Hailey of course played her clarinet and marched in the Lilac Parade.  I did not get pictures this year as we had a huge storm for hours before the parade and resulted in more than 3 inches of rain halting about 15 minutes before the parade started.  Even the Budweiser Clydesdale horses remained in their trailers throughout the parade course. 

                            But the show must go on......the parade marched on....the kids got wet.

There are lots of blooms, blooming in Spokane.  The lilacs are by far my favorite and a favorite of the city of Spokane.