update of Tuesday, 20 June 2017

been a rocky day in some respects
I'd barely hit the "publish" for earlier posting, than we got The Word from the dentist's office that they had an open spot in just 40 minutes.  Yay!!
We ran (ok, stumbled and walked) around, trying to get our selves more or less presentable, and headed out.
Got there a bit early, which we'd planned since there were MANY changes in our situation since the last visit. Paperwork, new insurance, new primary care doctor, all the rest.
And then, the Discouraging Word (doesn't that break the code of the west?).  Although we have been paying for dental coverage on our Advantage plan, and even have the code number for same on the back of the card, what they told her was that we're covered 50% for a once-per-year office visit and cleaning, and nothing more.  Which is NOT what we were being told by the company.  NOT what you want to hear when your wife is in misery and has been for days, with a tooth with a big black spot on it, very obviously a problem.
Wife got on the phone with the insurance company.  Yes, they've been taking our money right along, but they never activated the coverage.  EVER.  Yes, you heard that right.  SO, they apologized, etc. and promised to fix it Real Soon Now, but that process, due to the realities of Big Company bureaucracies, will take several days and then they have to send new cards (for both of us).
The people at the dentist's office are great, truly, and they did go ahead and do an X-ray, which revealed a huge abscessed pocket.  And the dentist wrote a prescription for antibiotic, which will deal with the infection issue, and probably reduce the size of the abscess pocket which is pressing directly on a nerve, causing the hideous pain Wife's been having.
So we went off to the Pharmacy at the Big Box store, got the prescription filled (and  picked up another that had been waiting) and picked up a few things (the retirement hit the bank this morning and we've been about flat broke), and came home.
It's after 1 p.m. and we just had our first food of the day, it's been that kind of day.