Pain

Dear Family and Friends
Last night was unbelievable. As the evening progressed the pain increased, increased to a point where I could not sleep. Finally at 2:30 this morning I came down and found the bottle of vicodin which expired 5/08 but I took a pill anyway. In a few minutes the pain began to decrease and in a short time I fell asleep. While I was asleep I had a dream, a wonderful dream where Nan was younger and we had fun talking to each other. When I woke this morning I remembered the dream and joked to myself that I'd take Vicodin again just to have the same dream.
This morning I got to take Keanna to Sabbath School, she was dressed so nicely and brought her American Girl doll with her. She and Sylvia had a great time as she was the only student today in Sylvia's class.
After Sabbath School Nikki met me at Smile Care, a local dental group that are open on Saturdays as a rule. They confirmed that I had a serious cavity which is causing the pain and laid out options for me, they would pull it for about $350 but said if I hoped to save the tooth I'd need a root canal and a crown, neither come cheaply. So I walked out with prescriptions for new vicodin and antibiotics which I will take for 7 days. On Monday my dentist, Mick Todorovic will be back from Palm Springs and is willing to see me. He lives and works right here in Discovery Bay and is loved by this community. All of this is very poor timing as I'm trying to collect enough funds to cover the house payment and I'm far short so far of reaching my goal.
In a few minutes I'll take another pay pill and head for bed in anticipation of rest, how I hope it can happen.
When I finally got home this afternoon with my prescriptions I built a nice fire and used a lot that I've had for about 10 years that I thought was too big for the stove. This afternoon I brought it in a started pushing it in, well it was too big but I found as I peeled off some of the heavy bark it slipped right in. It is still burning now with a beautiful fire and warmth that just sets the mood. Starr has been with me the entire afternoon and evening with her little head settled on my knee. I think she is cute.

Tomorrow I'll drive to Palo Alto to do a driveby and then come back to warm up. It was so good to see my friends in Sabbath School today and there is always something to learn or be reminded of. Its sort of a refuge from the busy and crazy world.
So this evening I'm reminded again of pain yet the pain I'm experiencing is minor compared to the pain that cancer patients endure every day. Gives one a bit of empathy for those who have gone before.

love to all

Tim