Off to the dentist for a tooth extraction…

Pretty female kudu at Frikkee’s Dam.

Sorry, but no new photos today. We’ve been preoccupied with online research and will get back to taking photos soon.

I wouldn’t say I like going to the dentist, especially when the appointment is about anything more than a standard cleaning, which isn’t too bad. Today, my last molar on the bottom right will be extracted after an unsuccessful root canal that wouldn’t heal. Each time I brushed my teeth, it hurt, indicating the tooth had to go after two months had passed since the root canal was done, along with a recent round of more antibiotics.

Soon, at 10:15 am,  we’ll make the 35 to 40-minute drive, depending on Monday morning traffic which can be a real issue on the N4 due to an endless stream of trucks and never-ending road construction.

Thank goodness I didn’t allow myself to fuss over this upcoming appointment during the night, and I had plenty of sleep for a change. It was only about a month ago when Tom had two teeth pulled that were beyond repair. His fast recovery is encouraging, but then again, everyone is different.

The last time I had a tooth pulled was in 1967, after the birth of my first son. They said women would lose a tooth for each child they carried in those days, which proved to be a “wives tale.” They assumed the growing fetus depleted the calcium in the mother’s body during pregnancy resulting in the loss of a tooth.

In the realm of things, having one tooth pulled is no big deal. Can we even imagine how horrible having a tooth extracted was a hundred years ago or more?  I shouldn’t give it another thought. But, as a borderline dental phobic, I don’t go into this procedure with ease and confidence.

Yesterday, I prepped tonight’s dinner for Tom and planned to have scrambled eggs or something similar for myself. We’ll see how it goes. As for the remainder of the day, I hope to feel well enough to proceed, as usual, working on more corrections as soon as today’s post is uploaded.

At this point, I have 50 more days required to complete the corrections, which will be finalized just about the time we arrive in Arizona. After doing these for over a year, I can’t tell you how thrilled I will be to have this behind me. Almost every afternoon during the past year, I’ve been working on them. After all, there have been over 3300 posts since we began posting in March 2012.

Right now, I have about 1000 left. Recently I increased the pace and can manage to do 20  post corrections per day, an increase from my previous 10. Sure, I’ve missed some days here and there and don’t fuss about it, but it’s often on my mind after uploading the new daily post.

Since I don’t have to concentrate quite as much while doing the corrections, as opposed to preparing a new post, I usually have a podcast or movie in the background on a split-screen. It helps me to stay entertained during the tedious process. I can’t imagine how wonderful it will feel in the future to have my afternoons free to do whatever I’d like.

In Arizona, the roads are evenly paved, and I will begin walking outside each day. I may do it comparably to the process I did in India while in lockdown by getting up and walking every hour, rather than one long walk. I will listen to podcasts as I’d done in those long corridors. Plus, it helps to get up out of a chair and move every hour instead of going out once a day.

I am looking forward to walking again, which I haven’t done much while in Marloth Park with the uneven pothole-ridden dirt roads. The cool crisp air in Arizona in the wintertime is pleasant for walking outdoors.

So, that’s it for today, dear readers. We hope you have a pleasant day. We’ll be back with updates tomorrow.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, September 6, 2020:

This photo was posted one year ago while we were in lockdown in Mumbai, India, on day #167. There we were, at last, in Kenya, Africa, on this date in 2013. We were hot and sweaty as we embarked on our first walk outside the gated complex, onto the main road, definitely a daytime-only event. For more photos, please click here.

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