Learning the Hard Way

Learning the Hard Way

Every year I have a garden, and every year I learn a thing or two I will never forget.  I’m always so grateful that I’m learning these things in times of plenty - when my mistakes won’t lead to hard and hungry times for my family.

• There was the year I fried all of my plants with compost that was too hot - not even my radishes would grow, and radishes always grow!
• Another year I thought I was being so clever and put all of my green tomatoes in my root cellar to ripen.  I left them there over Fall Break, not realizing they were going moldy.  I returned to a root cellar FULL of mold that quickly destroyed all the food I had so carefully stored that year.
• Then there was the year of the volunteer plants.  My compost had been made from all of the plants from the year previous, and those wonderful non-hybrid seeds were still alive and thriving.  I had volunteer tomatoes, squash and tomatillos coming up all over the place.  Thinking these were wonderful bonus plants, I let them grow.  Big mistake!  They took over the garden and crowded out the things I really did plant and want to grow.

And now this year...the lessons of the dogs, birds and greenhouse monster!  

• We got a new dog that quickly grew into a large dog!  Being a puppy, he was very eager to dig.  He and his buddy found my potato patch and dug up half of the potatoes and ate them.  They also found the bean patch to be a particularly lovely place to take a nap.  No beans from those plants survived either.
• They were not nearly as destructive as the birds though.  These little birds have taken up year long residence in my garden.  There have to be at least 100 of them this year.  They destroyed all of my grapes and nearly all of my tomatoes.  Yes tomatoes.  They fly into the plants and peck the tomatoes until they are shriveled, moldy messes hanging on the plants.  They have also covered all of my eggplants with poop - they roost on the cages around the plants.  A shotgun is still on my list of options right now…
• And the last lesson of the year - tend the greenhouse!  The tomatoes I planted in the greenhouse were my scrawny extras, and they were actually behind the tomato plants outside.  I kind of forgot about them for awhile.  Soon you could see the plants peeking out the door of the greenhouse.  With the heat and moisture inside, the plants had quickly overgrown into monsters!  No one could go into the greenhouse without a machete to cut their way in...except the birds.  They were very happy to roost in there and munch on those tomatoes too!

Thankfully my family is a much smaller version of itself this year, and no one is going hungry.  We had a particularly plentiful broccoli and cauliflower harvest, and the purple sweet potatoes we dug yesterday will be delightful for a few months.  I’m learning lessons the hard way, but at the right time.

Learning Everywhere

That is what is happening in the office as well.  I’m certainly learning lessons, and some of those I’m learning the hard way because of things I’ve not known.  For example, we are learning about the relationship between root canals and heart disease.  New research shows that if you have a root canal, you are three times more likely to have a heart attack.  Wow!  And gum disease - when we diagnose it, we are now telling patients what Stage of disease they have.  Why?  Because gum disease contributes to arthritis, diabetes, autoimmune problems, kidney and lung disease and much more.  It can be treated and we are getting very serious about treating it NOW before it manifests as disease somewhere else.  These are things we are learning to help you with your health, and we can’t wait to share!

We have also had some new friends join our practice:

• Lightwalker TwinLight laser - We can now often fix your cavities without getting you numb.  We can disinfect diseased gums and bone, disinfect after removing teeth and use BioStim to help you heal six times faster.
• Frequency Specific Microcurrent Machine - This machine can find the exact frequency of energy you need to heal and deliver that right to where you are having problems.  Chronic pain, inflammation, joint and muscle problems all disappear with this treatment.
• Ozone - we use ozone to disinfect all cavities, infected gums, infected teeth and jaw bone cavitations.  This really is a wonder treatment!
• Piezotome- with vibrational energy, we are able to do surgery faster and with less after effects that ever before.  This makes a huge difference in healing.
• Laser for cavity diagnosis - We have rediscovered this old friend, and are finding cavities while they are still small and easy to treat without numbing.
• Platelet Rich Fibrin- we use your own fibrin to help any surgical area heal.  This speeds up healing and reduces any post operative pain.
• Volt Meter - Metals in your mouth may be sapping your energy.  With this voltmeter we can determine exactly the voltage of your metals fillings or crowns, and whether they are affecting your health.

Come visit us to see how these things can help you and your HEALTH.

I’m so grateful to be continually learning, and hope you will be too.  Often we are scared of new things, or embarrassed that we didn’t know them before.  All I can say is let yourself off the hook!  We are all learning and growing and changing, and if we aren’t, something is wrong.  My favorite analogy is that life is like a treadmill.  If you aren’t moving forward, you are going to fall off the back end- life is moving forward, with or without you.  You can walk slowly, but keep moving.  Keep learning and living and loving life!  What an adventure!  

Have a great week!

Love,

Dr. Michelle Jorgensen