health and care

First you decide what you've gotta do, then you go out and do it
and maybe the most that we can do is just to see each other through it

--Ani Di Franco, Hour Follows Hour

UNM Hospital is like a city unto itself. I wonder what the population of that place is at any given time, if you include the four stories of full parking for visitors.

I brought my viola to visit my friend, Abbey, who just got out of Intensive Care after 3 weeks. She had been in a terrible car accident, and had broken a lot of bones, including her neck and pelvis, from what I understand. She is recovering, but of course things are very slow.

I hadn't been informed of the accident until a few days ago, and finally today got around to seeing her. She seems okay considering the intensity of her recent journey. I was glad to visit gently, and play a little on the strings, which she found soothing while she dozed.

The hospital environment is one I seem to enjoy for some reason. I find it very humbling, in a good way, reminding me of the temporal nature of these physical vessels we inhabit. I enjoy all the compassion there is all around, from families visiting patients, to professional caregivers, to everyone else seeking to be of support.

I'll come to visit again, hopefully play a little more. I wonder how to get some Indian food in there, I bet she'd like that.

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My mouth still aches on and off from the tooth extraction I had this week. So the viols, with their pressure on the jaw, are a little uncomfortable to play right right now. But my energy is great--so much toxicity has dissipated.

I had read a lot about focal infections that can often take place within root canals, and their effects on the body. But I still wasn't sure how much the achy tooth was responsible for my widely varying degrees of unwellness in recent months. It turns out it was a very good call to have it--and the root canal--removed. Pain and pressure in my upper jaw, sinus and eye orbit are all greatly relieved.

The root was visibly infected, even after a course of penicillin. From what I understand, there is little circulation within the root canal area, so antibiotics sometimes do not address infections there. One can clean it out and redo the root canal, but that did not seem a useful course for an already damaged tooth.

In holistic dentistry, focal infections are said to affect the heart foremost, and then the brain and joints next most. I can say that my heart feels much more relaxed, a marked difference since before the surgery. My brain seems clearer and calmer as well, although that may be harder to exactly quantify. It helps to not be drinking alcohol, smoking anything, caffeinating, or eating sugar I'm sure!

My joints are definitely somewhat better also--my hip pain is gone. My heel pain remains but may also be loosening up. All such a curious journey in this body!

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At work today, a friend wrenched his back lifting that awkward sack of potatoes early in the morning. So he's out a few days to rest and recuperate.

Later, a customer came into my line with a bandaged hand, and I asked what had happened. She said a bug got into her shoulder and infected her whole arm down to her hand. I asked, so then are you on antibiotics? She said, no it's past that, they want to cut it off.

She started crying a little, and said I'm usually okay with it all. I'm not gonna let them take it.

I was guessing she was in pain, and maybe her life itself could be in jeopardy. I just quietly empathized, while continuing to scan her yogurt and juice. Wow, what a journey you are on, I offered in a gentle, compassionate tone. She said yeah, the physical is just so hard, but the spiritual path becomes very strong.

After a breath, talk turned to the Pride parade just had just been to, and other lighter topics, and I wished her care on her way. I was grateful for the moment of empathy.

Seems to me a large part of why we are here is to see one another through it.