HEALTH UPDATES

John: Not sure where I left off on the tooth saga, but the cardiologist did finally give permission for the root canal. Then John had to wait until the endodontist in Austin could fit him in again. When she finally got to work on the tooth, she said "Oops, this isn't good. There's a crack that goes all the way down the root. No point wasting money on a root canal when you're going to end up loosing the tooth anyway." So she cleaned it out, packed it up again, and sent him on his way. By this time he was very tired of coming to the Hill Country for all these different appointments, so he scheduled one with our old dentist back in the Houston burbs, who then had him schedule one with an oral surgeon. The surgeon pulled the tooth, and packed the space that it left in his jaw with bone chips taken from a cadaver. (I know - EEEWWW! I try not to think about it when I'm kissing him.) Hopefully they will help the jaw to grow new bone, so that in three months they can install a rod in the socket, and then three months after that, attach a tooth to it. John has had such a fun year!

Guinness: Our son's puppy dog had several days of normal poop action after chewing up and swallowing her "gentle leader" so we were finally starting to breathe easy. Last night I got a call from John. He and Austin went to a movie, and when they got back they discovered another little pile of hardware. This time, it seems, she somehow managed to take her regular collar off (a much larger, thicker piece of strapping than the other item) and proceeded to eat it as well. I suppose she had a taste of freedom, and liked it! What's next? (besides a trip to the vet with a bowel obstruction, in all likelihood)