Feeling Better

I hate people who tell you the beginning of the story, and then don't, in Paul Harvey's catchphrase, tell you "the rest of the story." So here's the rest of the story of my bicycle accident. My skinned knee and elbow are healed. My ribs only hurt during a really deep breath now, and I can't tell if my trouble breathing at night is hay fever or my slightly broken nose. It still hurts when I blow it or touch it. But except for my front teeth, I am back to normal. I went walking with my wife and our best friend Saturday morning, and did a half hour on the elliptical machine before church on Sunday.

I am wearing what amounts to a retainer (technically a stay plate or flipper) which covers the hole where my front left tooth used to be. If I eat anything sticky, it gets pulled out. I can't really bite anything with my front teeth yet. If I don't wear the flipper, I gross people out. I am not getting much sympathy from my daughters on this particular point, since they both wore retainers for orthodontic purposes for years. It will be four months before the body fully encompasses my new titanium implant; my dentist will then build a new crown on top of a screw. My streak of remarkable luck (if you overlook the accident itself), continues; no major swelling, no infection, pain minimal (I never needed to Vicodin). So, as I say, luck again.