It felt as if a tooth last Sunday, Christmas Eve, was starting to bother me.
Throughout the day it became worse.  I had a loose filling in one tooth and
that seemed to be the problem area.  Living on pain medication, I made it
till the day after Christmas and went to a specialist.  He fixed the tooth
but wasn't certain if that was causing the pain.  It wasn't.  That tooth
seems fine now but the left side of my face is swelled and I went in again
today to see him.  We could not determine which tooth might be causing the
problem, although we discussed several possibilities, and since this is a
new dentist for us, I gave him a lot of historical information.  We both
agreed that I should perhaps go on antibiotics to see if we could get the
swelling down.  So I started antibiotics today.  The pain comes and goes and
even if I eat very soft food, that seems to make it worse.  Anyhow, this
dentist told me to call his cell phone tomorrow or Friday if I need him
because he can increase the strength of the antibiotic if need be.  He
suggested, and I thought of this last night, that I could also have a sinus
infection.  I had this happen, not once, but twice before when a root canal
went bad in the same tooth twice over a four year period.  I almost ended up
in the hospital back then but in those days we had no insurance, so I
wouldn't let them put me into the hospital.  I don't do well with pain,
needless to say, so your prayers would be greatly appreciated.  This is one
reason why you haven't heard much of me lately on the list.

Phil.