Simon Wilson New Zealand

Friday, 09 May 2008

Location: Invers

Interesting week - in a weird kind of way. Been having some tooth troubles. Had a bit of a niggle so went and got that looked at. Oh, well - I need to back track even more... Even getting a dentist was a problem.. I asked around a few people to see who they went to and got a recommendation of someone good who was also close by. Everyone told me though it would be hard to get on the books. Which I didn't believe.. don't you just book an appointment, go in, then pay th bill?? So I went in.. and they told me they weren't taking on any new patients. Bum! Fortunately for me I'd had a recommendation from a friend who's been going to them for years. I dropped his name and bingo I was in. So - all good, now the check up..

The niggle was a weird one, couldn't really feel exactly where it was, either the wisdom tooth or the one next to it. X-rayed it and there appeared to be a small hole in the non-wisdom tooth. All good, got it drilled etc and that was fine. But.. a few days later and the niggle was still there.. so went back. She couldn't see anything more, so rather than pull the whole thing out and start again, she lowered the filling a bit and we tried again. Was def a bit high and it got a wee bit better. But still the odd niggle when I bit down on that side. So... back I went again. During this time I'd been experimenting a bit and had worked out that it was def in one tooth, if I bit on that particular tooth it hurt a lot. So - she put a wee plastic bitty in my mouth, I bit down on it and sure enough there was the dull pain. Aha! Wisdom tooth! Out came the x-ray again and there was a very faint mark on it. So out came the drill again..

Now to put this into perspective - I'm not a very good patient, I don't like needles very much, and not very good with pain full stop, but I have to say it did get easier the more jabs I got. Even sort of came to like that numb feeling of mouth and cheek afterwards.

So... she drilled and drilled and drilled... I swear we almost got oil.. before finally getting to the cavity. Turns out there was quite a big cavity waaaay down the bottom near the gum. Only problem is she had to drill from the top to get to it. Even with the local I could feel she was in the right place 'cause I could feel it even through the local.

She was tutting and sighing which wasn't a good sign but I let her do her thing without interruption as she was obviously at an important bit. By the way - I've found that it helps me feel less nervous to know exactly what is going on. To the point of asking HEAPS and also getting my own wee mirror so I can see what is happening in there. Those noises seem far less ominous when you can see what is going on...

Anyway - she put the filling in and said she wasn't too happy as it was very deep and she had to put some antibiotic in to stop it getting infected. I was happy to keep the tooth so thought is was worth the risk. I don't like removing my body parts unnecessarily. I figure that millions of years of evolution has made things for a reason.. so unless I can be convinced otherwise, I'd just as rather leave everything where it is thanks.

So - paid some more money (thanks dad!!) and went on my merry way. A couple of days later and I was still on pain killers a lot but figured it was ok as it had been a pretty traumatic experience for Mr. Tooth so I'd cut him some slack. But man it itched! Wasn't exactly 'painful' but EXTREMELY itchy and annoying. Kind of like that 'wiggly tooth feeling', kind of itchy, kind of painful, can't work out which it is. Woke one morning, no painkillers and it felt a bit better so thought all was good.

Then... it got bad. Got suddenly sensitive to heat. Very painful with any heat on it. Then it got sensitive to touch. That was sat I think, I thought I'd give it the weekend and see what happened, and if it didn't improve I'd book on Monday.

Then.. it got much much worse. It just went berserk. Absolutely intolerable to touch. If you so much as touched the tooth with your tongue is blazed and throbbed in pain. I couldn't eat at all for a while as if the bottom tooth accidentally touched it it lit my mouth on fire with a wave of pain. Oh what pain! Exquisite, intricate, brutal, flaming, delightful, mind bending, unbearable pain. That was sun I think. I tried to sleep that night dosed up on painkillers (had gone through two boxes at this stage) and trying not to let my jaw close least it bump the devil tooth.

Monday called up and booked in again. She booked me in at 1.30pm. I don't think I've experienced a longer 5 hour wait. So - I went in and explained. She said "Well I'm afraid we'll have to take the tooth out" "Good! Get it out PLEASE!"

So - four injections which started off being very painful but got successively better :-) , then out with the teeth pliers. My word what a struggle she and that tooth had! She twisted and pulled and heaved and bent, just like trying to pull up a tree, with all the associated noises of scrapes and snapping of various things and... blark, all that stuff. I was getting worried it might break or something and I'd have half left in or something stupid. Anyway - she won! Told me to bite on a swab. "Is it out?" "yes" "Thank god!"
phew. Breathe again.

She was very good, gave me a big discount even though it had been me that tried to keep the tooth in. And many thanks to dad who very kindly footed the bill and kept me out of a lot of debt!

I got a very macabre souvenir of my own tooth. What a monster! And... you can see clearly how much tooth got drilled out, and also that a another large cave of cavity was right next to it, discoverable due to it being squished into it's neighbour. The hole filled with food and crap, a time bomb waiting to go off. So - very pleased to have it out after all that!

It's a day or so later now so I'm onto hot salt washes and hoping the hole doesn't get infected. But apart from a slight 'healing sensation' it seems to be going ok.

So - what did I learn? First: Floss!!!!! Very important, I had been for a while, but should have done more years ago. Next: go early to your dentist and get it while it's still fixable.

But the most interesting bit: Pain.

Pain is interesting. I would have to say that when it was bad it was utterly debilitating. Nothing else and I mean NOTHING else mattered. When it was medium pain it was very tiring - it consumed most of your thoughts, it was very hard to take a break from it or ignore it. It got me thinking of emotional pain and I thought in hindsight that there is very little diff between physical and emotional pain. At their extremes they are both utterly debilitating and all consuming. And they both require 'proper fixing' to get them sorted. Just like tooth pain - you could take prozac if you are in emotionally depressive pain. But like Ibuprofen for tooth pain, it will stop the pain a bit, but the problem is still there. To fix it properly, you need to go to the dentist (or the psychotherapist) and dig around and get the cavity removed. If we are talking psychotherapy that means digging around emotionally and finding what the problem is. And by talking about it, we find it is exposed to the light of day and in most cases heals itself somewhat. And to extend the analogy even further... If we want to avoid further cavities (depressions) we need to change our lifestyle, eat better, floss more regularly. That may mean getting a less stressful job, spending more time doing really worthwhile things, spending more time (or less time) with family, getting a dog. Whatever it is you identify is truly 'good' for you.

Soliloquy over.

Happy flossing.

si

Friday, 02 May 2008

Location: winter

Man did it hail last night! For ages and ages! Woke this morning to find wee piles of unmelted hail all through the garden. I love winter :-) Get sick of it too mind, but I love all that drama! The sky looked like a bruise today. I thought: Oh! That's gonna hurt! And man did some hail come out of that baby! Awesome. Then as I got home there was even a very brief snow flurry. Great! I love storms, very exciting!

What's been going on? Lots and nothing. Had a my teeth drilled. Had a hole in one, got that done but the niggling pain didn't go away. Went back to the dentist again and she couldn't find anything but lowered a filling and we gave that a try. Still no good. Went back again and had a better idea of where the problem was. We had a good old natter about it and worked out that it was in the neighbouring tooth. She got out the xrays and found a wee shadow which could be it! So in she went with the local and then into the drilling. It was quite exciting from an engineering point of view :-) then... it got a bit painful so I got another jab and she got into it again. Now like most people, I don't like going to the dentist but I've discovered something which helps me. I asked if I could watch what she was doing. 'sure' she said and gave me a mirror. So I was able to watch most of what was going on which I find makes all the terrible sounding grinds and whistles much less frightening.. Anyway she had to drill from the top right down to almost the gum in one point to get at the cavity which she successfully found. Even with the local I could feel she was in the right spot. She was 'tutting' and 'hmphing' in a not very good way but I thought it best not to interrupt proceedings at what seemed to be a delicate point in the operation.

Filling went in. All done. She was sure that this time we had it sorted as I was too. All good. It's a wisdom tooth so wouldn't be the end of the world if I lose it, but.. good to keep anyway :-) Why pull bits of your body off which were obviously meant to be there I say. Anyway, touch wood it won't get infected next few days, but all going well I'd say we got it. So the afternoon wore on and the painkillers wore off... OUCH!!! She had warned me it was deep and close to the nerve... but man! OWWWWW! I almost had to go to bed for a lie down. Took a few more drugs and promised myself I will floss ten times a day for the rest of my life. And this morning it's a bit better. And... I bit on it today and it doesn't hurt! For the first time in ages! Amazing what you get used to and then forget.. Amazing. Feel like going back and kissing the dentist. Will give it a few more days then drop then a message and say thanks. Was a tricky one but was quite a fun thing in it's way, felt like we were working together to fix a problem.

Flying is going well. Am still loving my instrument flying. Flying through clouds under visual flight rules is a big no-no and something that will get you dead quickly, but on instruments... not too bad :-) A bit scary still but quite fun too. In a plane you get what's called 'the leans' very easily. If you look outside all you see is white and you have no horizon which is essential to maintain your balance. As you get bumped around, the 'seat of your pants' tells you are turning when actually you aren't (or vice versa). Although you get trained for it, it is EXTREMELY hard if not impossible to turn the feelings off, your body is utterly certain it's going around a corner! So the natural reaction is to straighten up. Only... you are going straight, so by turning, you put the plane into a bank. They reckon that's what happen to JFK junior. Quite a common way to kill yourself in a plane. Anyway - it's not as grim as it sounds. There is a way to solve it - look at (and only at!) your instruments! And one in particular. The AH or artificial horizon. Which makes a wee line (a horizon) move about to tell you where the horizon is. So long as you keep that level.. you are level. So - enjoying it.

Not enjoying at all so much the politics at the club. Very sick of it in fact, it's draining me. Nothing unusual I guess, just some good people, some avg people, and some horrible people who seem to take great joy in dragging others down to their levels. Can't tell you more than that as this is a public forum and anyone can see it. It's a tricky tight rope to walk: writing a blog when the people you write about might read it. So not finding that easy at all. I am after all quite a sensitive soul and do get upset by these things perhaps more than your average bear. So - my plan is still the same: Keep my head down, get through it as quick as I can, and.. do the best I can.

Nice to have a few good friends and an understanding girlfriend :-)

later gators,

si

Thursday, 24 April 2008

Location: fotos

New fotos up!

Monday, 21 April 2008

Location: INvers - it's winter

Gday,

Well we had hail the other day, and apparently snow down to 400m (that's low... brrrr) but I didn't see any of that. Has been a dramatic few days for weather. Oh - I sat another exam the other day. IF Nav. So... in layman's terms that is: Instrument Flying Navigation. And in laymans layman's terms... that means flying around solely by looking at your instruments to find out where you are rather than looking outside the window with reference to your map.

It was the hardest we've sat by a long shot, but I think it went ok. Never can really tell with that type of exam as it's lots of line drawings on maps and that kind of thing. So you may have drawn your wee line and said: "that's where I am!" and be quite sure of it, but.. you might be totally wrong. So... I think I did ok, but.. time will tell, should have results by the end of this week.

So - back to the weather. After the exam it was a really yuck day, hail, wind, stormy. Horrah! Julie and I took Ding for a wee drive to Bluff. Bluff is (kind of) the southern most point of NZ, famous for it's signpost with things like: 'Japan - 12000 miles' or whatever. So we drove through the torrential rain and sleet to Bluff for a cuppa. Went to a cafe down there which sits above the sign and has a great view out over the Bluff harbour entrance. It began hailing again. So much so that it bounced and ran down the windows and collected in large pile on the window sill. The cafe itself was rubbish as usual. Disinterested staff, rubbish carrot cake. I think they weren't very impressed that we didn't want to buy their very expensive oysters (which I'm sure would have been rubbish judging by the other times I've eaten there) and only wanted a cheap cup of tea..

Anyway - left and once again promised myself that I'll never go back there again even though it was one of the most amazing views of any cafe I've been to anywhere in NZ or the world. What a shame they cock it up with surly staff and poor food..

Now talking of oysters... As you know I"m a poor student so can't afford much... such as oysters. but. flatties James and Brendan had a friend down for the weekend. And she wanted oysters... so I sat in the back as James drove us to Bluff on an oyster mission. Everything closed. Bluff is a sleepy little town at the best of times. So we headed back to our fav restaurant (in which I can normally only afford to buy soup or a cuppa..) and ordered some oysters. Ziffs is amazing. It's on the road out of invers, past the airport and out towards the beach by about ten minutes. It's not cheap, but it's not overly expensive either for what it is. Fantastic food every time. Not flashy, not an enormous menu - but perfectly adequate, and yummy! Staff always make an effort to be friendly and are always professional and helpful. And... it's owned and run by a guy we fly with.

So - Although I couldn't afford them, I ordered a half dozen battered oysters, side salad and a plate of chips. I haven't oysters for AGES so wasn't brave enough to have them uncooked. Kate (James friend) ordered a doz 'Kilpatrick' and a half doz natural. James went for a doz Kilpatrick. Long story short - amazing! wow they were so good! I want to go back again! I haven't had bluff oysters at all since I've been down here so it was pretty cool to to have them fresh (and close to, if not IN) bluff.

That's about it. Flying now in the sim (bad weather for real flying), and I'll put some cool photos up of recent trips around the place.

si