Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Painful Ponderings


I have been experiencing a lot of pain lately from a tooth that has been acting up. It started months ago after I had a crown placed on a broken tooth. It was just a small irritant, nothing major but enough to make me uncomfortable. I would go to the dentist and he would adjust my bite, prescribe antibiotics and I'd be on my merry way. I'd take the meds, it would get better then the medicine would run out and the pain would start again. I'd go back to the dentist and we'd repeat the process.

He wanted to do a root canal, but I wanted to try to save money and was hoping it would get better. Finally things were feeling pretty good, then all of a sudden it hit like a freight train. The pain came back with a vengeance and I decided I just wanted the dentist to pull it out. He had already told me there was no guarantee with a root canal, and I just wanted to be done with the monster, so i asked him to pull it. I was sitting in the chair signing paperwork and getting my blood pressure taken.

Everything came to a screeching halt. My blood pressure was too high and he wouldn't go through with the procedure until I was cleared with a doctor. At this point the pain was constant and beginning to really intensify. I was able to get to the doc and get the clearance I needed, but it was too late to go back to the dentist that night.

By the following morning my face had swollen up to the size of what felt like a football. The dentist took one look at my face and got me in right away. After a lot more anxiety, a good amount of Novocain and the paperwork, he extracted the tooth.

My face is still swollen and there is still some discomfort, but both are lessening. Going through all of this made me think, "What things do we keep in our life that we think we can just fix, when we should be getting rid of them?" I'm not talking about just giving up when things are tough. I'm talking about things that are toxic, that shouldn't be there. Even when we finally cut loose, there may be residual pain, but it is then when we will finally be able to heal.

I pray God will show me what I should hang onto and what I need to let go.