FRAILTY IS UNAVOIDABLE

Joyce is doing fine and so far I haven't seen a difference going to a four week cycle between injections. I am also holding up very well.
I didn't realize until this week how frail and delicate our health is. We feel things in our bodies and react to that by either self treating or going to a doctor and letting he or she treat you. The key to maintaining good health is telling your doctor the whole truth about your condition. Wednesday night I put Joyce to bed as I usually do and she seemed fine. Slightly after 1 AM I got her up to change her depends and I was shocked to see her jaw swollen. It had popped out in just 6 hours. Thinking back over the last few days I couldn't remember anything that would have suggested a tooth problem. This is where aphasia, the lack of ability to communicate, is most dangerous. First thing in the morning I took her to our regular dentist who said she had cellulitis and needed to be treated by an oral surgeon right away. They called one and got me in right away. Joyce will not cooperate using only a local deadening so they had to put her under to remove the infected tooth as well as give her some initial antibiotics. She seems to have weathered the ordeal ok except that the swelling hasn't gone down yet. I am giving her antibiotics for a week orally.
After talking to Dr Ryder we decided to postpone next weeks injection a week since enbrel suppresses the immune system. Joyce should be fully healed by then.
By the way, getting x-rays of Joyce while she is awake brought on a whole new set of challenges for the Oral Surgeon staff. It took three techs and myself to get it done and it took three tries. Needless to say this wiped out everything I had planned to do thursday. Fortunately Joyce slept very well last night.
PAL