Well, you can’t have open heart surgery with any infections in your body, so they checked my teeth and determined that I need to treat some gum disease and have a couple of teeth removed.

Modern dentistry tools are wonderfully steam punk-like, and the hygienist and dentist agreed. I guess they’d always thought so to, and we joked about that, and about the view out the window which was of a Catholic church with a statue of the virgin in the front.

She seemed to be blessing me.

That’s appropriate I think. These people who were working on my mouth were removing infections so that I could have a surgery that will save my life. This place in a strip mall in a small town in a part of New York State almost no one knows was a place where my life was being saved.

What an extraordinary thing that is, and I feel and felt nothing but gratitude. I mean there was also a little soreness, but mostly it’s gratitude. I’m swapping out all of the dead parts of me and being given new health and new life.

What an amazing thing it is to have a good dentist, so I thanked the dental team for helping to save my life, and I hope they heard and understood me. I know they get a lot of complaints. They should get nothing but gratitude.