Dec 1 - plateau

Shoulder update -- at this point, seems to be hitting a plateau.  It hurts to lift my arm straight out to the side and there's some clunkling.  That seems like rotator cuff but I'm no expert.  It doesn't hurt enough to stop me from doing it but at this point, the left hurts more than the right, which has the RC problem. 

My right toe is a problem walking, although the chiropractic work seems to be helping to straighten the leg.  I'm also trying out a toe spacer.  I think that any improvement there will be more long term not quick fix.  I'm back to see Dr. Wendy today.  My spine is getting a little straighter, recovering from all those briefcase-and-suitcase-carrying years.  When I first went saw her, lying on my back and stretching my arms out over my head, one was longer than the other (not really, just because of the crooked back).  Now at least the fingers match up.

My right shoulder is part of my skiing legacy.

 My jaw hurts from the root canal work yesterday, but hopefully that's a two-week issue at most where the repair will have fixed the infection and then the gum will finally heal and the tenderness that's plagued me for a couple of years and confounded the dentist and periodontist will go away.  The issue has been the tori -- large bony growths -- in my lower jaw.  Think of it as less space for your tongue.  They're called "growths" but they don't grow, they're just part of my lower jaw.  That bone makes it difficult to see any detail in x-rays of the lower teeth.

The root canal procedure was interesting.  The expression "as much fun as a root canal" or variations thereon, is really exaggerated.  It wasn't a big deal.  He drills straight down into the tooth down to the root, cleans it out and fills it back up to the tooth surface.  All this is done while he's looking through a microscope so that he can see almost down to the bottom of the root, trying to see if there are any vertical fractures and ensuring that it's totally clean.  The usual dental freezing in place, there isn't any pain.  The work is done with a dental dam in place.  It's kind of claustrophobic but that's about it.  My ability to communicate is limited to thumbs-up when asked if I'm ok.

Before going to the endo, I did some dock work and afterwards, I completed the minor extensions to the stringers which only amounted to 4" ... my 2x8's and bolts are really overkill but what the heck.  I thought that I'd have to extend further to match up with the other side but when the boat is lowered and I can properly measure distance, that did the job.  The boat is now 12" from either side.  I'm not going to replace the railing that was formerly in place on the one side of the boat; no need. 

I'm now on the final stretch to finishing the dock deck itself.  I need 16 more 2x8x10' pieces to finish the deck.  After that, I've got railings to replace but I won't be tackling those before the new year ... or at least that's my plan of the moment !

Sandy was out shopping while I was doing the afternoon deck work.  We had flounder for dinner ...

Onward ?  Yup.  We three have appointments today -- me chiro, Sandy dermatologist; Cassie vet.  What a family !