Author: Dackel Princess

I woke today to find that a dear man who I had known as a child had passed from this life to the next. He was 88 years old.

Dr. D. was the father of my childhood pal, and he was always including me in fun things. My first camping trip to Maine was with his family. I recall sitting in the back of the family Jeep on our way to the camp. We also took a walk early one morning there and I saw my first moose!

There was a time that I was up in the tree house with a few kids, and they got down, took the ladder and left me there, and pulled the ladder away. This was a pretty high tree house, and I was stuck. I sat there crying my eyes out, as the sun set.

Then there was a flash light, and there he was. Dr. D. put the ladder up to the tree house, and helped me down. Then he took my hand and walked me home.

As I grew up, and got married, and was in the hospital having my second child, Dr. D. was the on call anesthesiologist, and he came in to give me an epidural. Then he asked if it was ok to stay to watch our baby being born. Absolutely!

Each time I returned to my hometown on the Cape, I would pop in to see him and his wife. They were always gracious and happy to see me.

Now he is gone, and I am sad that I will not see him again in this life. I never got to thank him for all that he did to make my childhood a happy one. So I send off these feelings in a prayer and hope that they will reach him in Heaven.

For he was a good man. Rest in Peace, Dr. D.

Today I went to see my retinal surgeon. I go every six months to make sure my retinas are okay, and have been seeing Dr. C. since that fateful day when my first retina detached in 2002. You can go here and read about the first detachment.

My second retina detached in 2009. You can read about that one here. Anyway, today was my 6 month check up with him. Today I planned to tell him some very important information.

You see in the years since I first met Dr. C. I have learned a lot about retinas, a lot about his work, and how for every success like mine there are just as many people who lose their vision. Some weeks are good weeks for him. Others are weeks when no matter what he does, people go blind.

Today when I arrived I spoke with his physicians assistant. I asked how his week was going? She said, it had been a tough one for him.

So, I took out my Savannah picture book, selected this picture, and waited.

When he came in, I told him, “I know that in your line of work, some days are good and some days are bad. I know you don’t always have the best outcomes. But I wanted to tell you that I thank God every day for giving you the gift to restore my vision. Every time I look at my granddaughter and see her beautiful face I feel so lucky. Thank you!”

He took the booklet from my hands and looked at each Savannah picture. Then he thanked me. He said he’d had a tough week.

I knew then that I’d picked the right time to thank him, in a very sincere way. I felt like at that moment, after all these years, we had become friends.

On Wednesday I went to get my tooth ready for a crown. I had not anticipated such an ordeal, but it sure was. I was under the assumption that the worst was behind me. You know, the root canal and such, but the prepping for this crown on that tooth was brutal!

I have had root canals before, but not on a molar, and perhaps that is what caused the problem. The Endodontist did the root canal work, and then put a temporary closure on that. My own dentist had to grind down the tooth, make molds of it, etc, and then make a temporary tooth. The entire thing took from 11:10 AM until almost 12:30 PM!

My jaw is probably the most problematic. It does not handle being wide open for long periods of time. The actual jaw joint is really sore!

I came home and as the Novocaine wore off, I was in agony. I’d mentioned to the Dentist that I don’t do pain well, and his answer was, that I should take Motrin! Got to say, taking Motrin was like chewing a Gummy Bear. It did absolutely nothing for the pain!

So, here I am two day past the event, still hurting, and mostly eating soft foods. I hope by the end of the weekend I can be back to eating normal foods. I know I won’t be eating anything really chewy for a while, but at least normal meal foods.

On the bright side, this is really good for my diet!