I had gone to the dentist last month, as I probably wrote about. He found a 'root' of some sort, but was baffled because he could not pull it out - so referred me to an oral surgeon. My consult was yesterday. Sigh. The oral surgeon was also baffled as to what it could be. They took a CT of my mouth. He could see it, but still unsure of what it was. He couldn't figure out the 'why' of it being discovered now, when I've been going to my dentist for some time. It obviously has been there for awhile. Then he compared yesterday's CT to the one he took in 2022 when he did my oral surgery. And there it was! Hidden under the gumline. It has never been painful. But about 3 months ago, it reared its head through the gumline. I thought it was a chip or a popcorn kernel that got suctioned onto a gumline. It wasn't. It was this root bursting through.
He wiggled the root around and still bewildered; said he had not seen one like this ever.... and he laughed that my dentist had called him in a panic the day he couldn't get it out after an hour of working on it. He said I'd have to have surgery. After paying for the CT scan ($345 I hadn't planned on) because Cigna will not cover it, they gave me the news for the cost of the surgery. (almost $1600) I had a choice to make. Do I go ahead with the surgery and get it taken care of..... or do I put it off and run the risk of food getting in that hole, an infection or abscess, or who knows what could happen. I took a deep breath and scheduled the surgery. They had an opening today. Uh... that's a little soon. So I scheduled it for next Tuesday afternoon. Which means I cannot eat or drink anything 8 hours before I go - and I check in at 3:45PM. I'm fasting anyway, so it shouldn't make much difference, right? But you know as well as I do, giving up food because you want to and doing it because you have to - are entirely two different things!
So - long story short - I am scheduled for oral surgery on January 9 @ 3:45PM to have this root removed. What they find happened (did the root of the tooth splinter? is it the root of a baby tooth that has remained there all these years?) will hopefully be figured out - and I'm their first! LOL I told him I was unique!
I told hubby to go ahead and schedule his wisdom tooth removal - cost will be about the same as mine - but hey - let's just do it and get it off our plates the first of the year - right? He plans to call them today and schedule it after my surgery. I told the scheduler that I had to have mine before the 23rd as we were going to the Japanese Friendship Garden on that date; a Christmas gift from a grandson and his wife. I'm almost wishing I had scheduled it today so that I could just be done with it. But hey, Tuesday is right around the corner, right?
So that is the 'excitement' going on around here right now. My headache and neck ache go away (or I get distracted from it) and then comes back as a dull ache. It's been a few days now and I'm so over it. Just stop, ok? Neck is better than it was, but my sinus area is hurting this morning. This too shall pass, my mama always said.
Micah 6:8 (NKJV): "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Our God requires that we do what is right, that we have mercy, and that we walk humbly with Him. We must remember these three things as believers in Jesus Christ. Of these three, walking humbly with God may be the most challenging. It conflicts with something that lies deep within every one of us, an abiding, constant, relentless desire to have our own way and to come out on top. We are by nature proud. God calls us instead to humble ourselves, to let ourselves come out on the bottom. This is very difficult but humility is among the greatest of all virtues. (Chuck Swindoll)
Yeah, I think I'll stop with that one. Humility. Humble. Words we often do not like to hear. But yet, it isn't so hard to do. Sometimes we are forced into humbleness by issues that are not always in our control. I think humbleness is sometimes confused with submission, don't you think? And yet, they are two different things.
Humble: Not proud or arrogant, haughty or assertive. Ranking yourself low on the scale.
Submision: An act of submitting to the control or leadership of another. The condition of being submissive, humble, or compliant.
Huh. I guess it is somewhat related.... I looked those definitions up. But in my mind... let's see if I can word it correctly.... To be humble is to think others better than yourself. To not be proud; to step back when others step forward. To be submissive, or in submission, to me, is to let others take advantage or control; to let them win.
Hmmmm - I guess they are related in a sense, right? I really hadn't thought about it before. Walking humbly before God is to be submissive to Him. Yeah, I get that. And I can do that. I submit to His authority in my life. He created my life; He gave me breath; why should I not submit to the One who has all authority over me? And bowing down in humbleness to Him who loves me, that is the greatest pleasure one can have. To sit at His feet and listen for Him to speak to you. To listen, and to obey. To be humble enough to listen; to be willing enough to submit. His ways are always better and are always to my advantage. I will give Him all my praise. Will you?
Blessings!
