El Paso

Spent the last week in El Paso. I went to have Patrick (my brother in law)take a look at my teeth. I was dreading the checkup because chemo does a number on your teeth. Turns out that it was both better and worse than I expected.
I arrived on Sunday and Patrick picked me up at the airport. I hung out with the family that evening and had a great time. The twins are so big! This is their senior year and they are applying for schools. Andrew is a giant! I determined that it had been almost 3 years since I've been in El Paso. Thought it was more like 1 1/2. Patrick and Lauren have done some remodelling and the house looks great. Melissa has grown into a beautiful young lady and Walter is a great kid. We had dinner together and watched a movie.
The next day I went with Patrick in to his office and had my xrays done and teeth cleaned. The news was pretty good - two cavities and a cracked tooth that really didn't need anything done, but we were going to be proactive. Hoppy (uncle in law?)was at the office for some work and we went to lunch at Chico's. Love Chico's!! Can't go to El Paso and not hit Chico's. In the afternoon I had my teeth filled and we went back to Patrick's house. We had pizza and watched some Gilmore Girls. I now have to find the series...
The next morning we went back to the office to do the crown (that's what we decided to do about the cracked tooth) and I was hoping to be done after lunch so I could go and hang with Danny and Lisa for a couple of days. No, it was not to be. Patrick tried every which way to numb me and it wouldn't take. Turns out the reason it wouldn't numb is that I had some issues and would need a root canal. Short version: Spent all day in the chair and had no fun at all. Lauren had accidentally cut her finger and we all (the whole family) were planning to go to lunch at a Korean place. I couldn't really enjoy... I was finally numb and had a hard time eating.
That evening I went over to stay with Danny and Lisa and had an amazing time. We watched a lot of movies and just hung out. I really miss having them close by. Wednesday was my birthday and we spent it watching movies (I haven't seen LOTS of movies and needed to catch up) and eating Indian food. It was great. I accidentally bought a ticket for my return flight on Thanksgiving day, so we were trying to figure out what to do about that... Turns out I decided to "miss" my flight so I could spend Thanksgiving in El Paso. We went to Leah and Tom's house and had a wonderful time. We had lots of food and fun and I felt like one of the family. We also played Rock Band and I sang. Leah was so complimentary - she loves to hear me sing. It felt good to stretch those muscles. The only drawback was that my tooth was hurting. Good thing I had brought pain pills. Later that night my tooth was throbbing and I had taken all the pain pills I could, so I had to put ice on my jaw. Things were not looking good. Good thing I had not gone home...
The next morning, Friday, I decided that I should talk to Patrick about my tooth pain before I tried to reschedule my flight. This was a good idea! Patrick went out of his way to see me, adjust my bite, prescibe some meds (antibiotic and analgesic) and get rid of my pain. Thank you Patrick!!! Later that day, we went back to Leah's for round 4 & 5 of the food orgy. It was great. I have rediscovered Brussels Sprouts! We watched Gladiator, which I hadn't seen. I scheduled my return for the next day. Later back to Danny and Lisa's to put Phoebe to bed (she's adorable!) and watch Coraline. Came back to Galveston on Saturday.
Teeth are fine. I'm taking the Ibuprofen and antibiotics.
Had to do an on-line component of a teacher training thing today, but otherwise it has been laziness. Chris and I finally watched the first few episodes of Glee!