Thursday April 26, 2007 9:56 PM

Remember how I said last week that Jim needed to go to the dentist? He wouldn't let me make an appointment for him. On Monday his therapist called while she had Jim in front of her and said, "Can you please schedule a dentist appointment for your other son? The swelling in his face is interfering with his progress." So I got him in to see Dr. Drain the next day and she prescribed some Clindamycin for him. She told him to try it for seven days. So far it's not helping much. In the meantime the dentist also gave me the name of a new maxofacial surgeon so Jim can start the process of getting his teeth pulled and implants put in all over again. We were all set to go with it last summer but had to hold off because of the wacky symptoms Jim was having under anesthesia. And now our dental insurance has changed so his old surgeon is no longer in our network. I would have looked for another surgeon earlier but we were a little busy, don't you think? We know now that the reason Jim's vitals went crazy while the surgeon was trying to pull his teeth was because the dentist was manipulating his neck, and the tumor with it, when he put Jim's head back.

So now when Jim sees the therapist she opens her notebook and says, "So what new food have you tried THIS week?" He told her he tried ice cream and it went down o.k. So she got him some yogurt to try to take a look at his swallow. It's much better, but still not normal. He told her he tried half a snickerdoodle cookie because it was nice and soft. (I suspected this because I noticed half a cookie laying in the box and I knew I hadn't done that, and Jimmy hadn't done that, so who's left?) She suggested if he's going to try a cookie to make it a hard cookie because he'll have an easier time getting that down. He's also started to swallow some of his pills instead of crushing them and putting them in the feeding tube. I'm a little worried because he hasn't been cleared by the doctor to do ANY of this, but I can't argue. I know I'd be doing the same thing. But it was a little depressing this weekend because the weather was warm and some of the neighbors were barbequeing...and we can't do that. I wouldn't think of torturing Jim with the smell of grilling steak.

Jim's been set back a little, though, because of this latest abcess. Since his cheek is puffy along the side where he had the surgery his speech has slid backwards a little and it's more difficult for him to work the swallow muscles.

But that Lexapro is definitely doing the trick because he actually LAUGHS sometimes now. I never thought I'd see that again. Upping his dosage to 20 mg a day was the right decision. I actually got Jim to play ball with Jimmy in the yard...TWICE! Now that's a feat.

Next week he and I both meet our new shrinks. It took me over a month to get those appointments, so I'm really hoping we like these guys. The receptionist wouldn't let us schedule with the same shrink...we could go at the same time but had to have different doctors. I wanted to say, "Hey lady....our problems have nothing to do with our marriage. That's the LEAST of our issues," but WHATEVER. I need to have a local person here for my bipolar meds and he needs someone to work with him on his depression. What a pair we are. But someone said to me a couple of weeks ago that it's better to be someone who's on something than someone who NEEDS to be on something. That's one of the truest statements I've ever heard.