The Tooth, The Whole Tooth, and Nothing But The Tooth...

Well, to tell you the tooth...this has been an interesting day. I didn't mention in last night's blog that Woody had had a problem with one of his teeth in the middle of the night. He was supposed to see a dentist yesterday afternoon, but wires got crossed. So he ended up with an appointment to see the dentist this morning. At his initial visit it was thought that he had a problem with one of his teeth that has a crown...and they felt that he probably needed a root canal...well, no time to wait to have a root canal at the moment...must deal with the infection that seemed to be there asap...as he can't start chemo with an infection. So chemo was put off for today and the immuno-docs gave the dentist till Friday morning to get things cleared up! He was started on an antibiotic and had to go back to the dentist this afternoon...for what was supposed to be a pulpectomy, a temporary crown/cap on the tooth, and whatever else was deemed necessary. When Woody went back this afternoon, the dentist poked around some more and decided that there wasn't a problem with the tooth...but that likely something had gotten stuck in between his teeth and had caused a bit of a gum problem. He poked around, etc. and then sent Woody back to his room with some mouth wash. Woody had to call the dentist at 8pm this evening to let him know how he was doing. Mouth-wise he was feeling pretty good...shoulder and arm he was having a lot of pain...as he had waited to take pain medication till it was time to talk to the dentist. Woody didn't want to mask any pain that was in his mouth with his pain medication. He asked for the pain med just a little before he called the dentist. He will go in to see the dentist again tomorrow morning. I think that the dentist is shaking in his boots that he has made the correct decision! He said that Woody's team of immunotherapists were aggressive.

So...chemo won't begin till Friday and he will be getting both chemo drugs at the same time now over a five day period. He was supposed to get one and then the other over a seven day period. But the doctors said that he wouldn't notice any difference (I told them that I was sure that he wouldn't, since he hadn't had them one at a time before!).

He wore his guinea pig shirt today and it got several reactions. Most thought that it was funny. One of his doctors said that he had an issue with it as he tried to make his patients not feel like guinea pigs! He got several smiles out of it and he enjoyed wearing it!

In between dentist appointments, Woody and I did walk over to the Safra Family Lodge so he could see where I am staying. Tonight's picture is the front of the lodge. This morning I walked around in the gardens at the back and took a few pictures.

So...a couple more days of respite for Woody. Chemo "should" start on Friday. They explained today that doing both chemos at the same time is the way that they used to do it...so it wasn't a problem. A nutritionist also came by to see Woody today. She was very helpful in explaining ways to help him from being/feeling nauseated...guess time will tell if they work for Woody.