Ouch

I had oral surgery today. You may remember that back in early August I had a sore gum. Well, after 10 weeks, universal health care in Norway succeeded. The surgery was originally scheduled for last week. I received a letter in the mail two weeks ago telling me that I was summoned to the hospital for an oral surgery to deal with the infection in my mouth. Since I had four rounds of antibiotics and had felt like doggie doodoo on and off for two months I was ready.

But, alas since I am an American I had to be tested for 'super bugs'. They had to determine whether or not I have any antibiotic resistant bacteria or any other 'super bugs'...bacterial or viral. Last week they took blood samples and swabbed areas of my body. Apparently, I passed and I don't have any 'super bugs' living in my body - other than the pocket of bacteria eating away at my gum and root of my tooth.

Today they removed a root of a tooth and the apex of another root. The Swedish surgeon at Gjovik's hospital was efficient and honest - he told me that the surgery may not be successful and I may lose the tooth since the infection was in a large area. Well duh! The infection had ten weeks to spread to a wide area! Maybe ten weeks ago it had been smaller and more localized! Okay, I am groggy and sore. I now have stitches in my mouth - see photo, and I feel like I was kicked in the face by a horse...I sure hope the surgery works.

I am headed to bed.

Updates

Checkout all the new photos and the comments two blogs down "Recent Trip to Myklebust". The photos and the comments from the Czech Republic are coming soon!

Off to the Czech Republic

JH surprised me a week ago with the news of my birthday present. We leave in an hour to go to Prague, Czech Republic. A romantic getaway;-) We will return home to Gjovik on Monday evening.

JH turns 42 today and I turn 40 tomorrow. I look forward to celebrating with a kiss on the Charles Bridge in Prague http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge.

My in-laws are tending NK this weekend.

Next week I will finish my previous post as well as post photos and comments regarding the Prague experience!

Recent Trip to Myklebust - UPDATED!

This photo of the moon shining on the fjord should be a few photos down on the blog, but it kept disappearing each time I hit the back arrow - so here it is! As we emerged from the valley with the thousand foot cliffs near Andalsnes we could see the moon shining onto the fjords. As we made our way to Brattvag the moon followed us.

We headed out towards Myklebust on a recent weekend. JH, NK, me and one of NK's little buddies. We took pulled the ATV on a trailer, which means the trip was a little slower than usual, winding through the valleys of the Gubrandsdal and along the fjords and over a few mountains to the ferry and lastly to the farmhouse.

The fall colors are magnificent. Some of the fall flowers that have expired in Gjovik were still blooming along the way.

Each time we pass this mountain I think I see a snoozing troll - do you see the snoozing troll?

The waterfalls are much smaller this time of year. In the spring and summer the melting snow gushes off the sides of the cliffs. In the fall and winter the water falls are fewer and smaller, but still captivating.

We arrived at the farmhouse at midnight. We were all exhausted even NK who had slept the final few hours. His buddy was excited about the trip and had stayed awake admiring the moon.

The next morning and the following few days were misty and the fog rolled in and out. It sprinkled a few times but for the most part the weather cooperated and made for nice hiking weather.

The boys spent as much time as they could on the ATV. They made a few tracks near the house and it wasn't long until NK's little cousin from up the road joined the other two boys. They had a blast. No disasters - they behaved and had loads of fun.

NK has waited for a long time to buy an ATV. He has saved money and he was a good little consumer as he shopped for the best possible "deal".

I was proud of NK when he let his buddy wear the "new" ATV helmet and he settled for an old helmet. I tried to tell them that they could share the helmet, but they explained to me that it takes too much time to take the helmets on and off and they wanted to maximize every possible minute riding the ATV. Boys!

And later when the little boys went bike riding, I caught the BIG boys playing with the ATV. JH and his buddy Jann looked just like little boys playing on NK's ATV! I still don't think that NK knows that the big boys tested the track!

I mentioned on an earlier blog that JH's father's cousin who is a farm up the road form the farmhouse has a baby deer that a neighbor found abandoned. It is quite strange that a deer would be born late in the fall, and apparently, the momma deer didn't adjust to momma-hood. This baby deer goes out to pasture with the sheep during the day and in the evening, it joins a baby cow for feasting on a momma cows milk. It is so cute and unfortunately quite friendly, so now the sheep and cows have a new maybe permanent family member in the barn.

The boys did some hiking. They followed JH up the mountain, and we took some nice walks along the beaches.

A view of the farmhouse from the top of the mountain across the road.

There is a lot of boat traffic in the channel between the islands and the coast (which has some islands in the fjords - which freaks me out and confuses me over what is the coast and what is another island!).

Some of the mountains have snowy peaks all year. Although, some of the snow is fresh!

This is a lake on top of the mountain on the island. I THINK it is the reserve drinking water supply for the island.

Other nearby islands.

There is a lot of moss and related species growing on the island. Little clumps of moss and fungi sprout up everywhere.

NK and his buddy had a lot of fun playing with this diablo. I was actually quite impressed with some of their tricks.

We made our usual journey to the cemetery to spruce up the headstones of grandparents and great-grandparents.

We enjoyed walking along the beach looking for crabs and starfish.

The boys had a lot of fun - okay we all did!
I found a little snail graveyard.

And the rocks were nice and warm. Sitting in the sun and enjoying myself!

A sunny spot in a valley just along the coast.

Waiting for the ferry and driving onto the ferry.

We passed a fjord in a valley where there was no wind and the reflection of the farms along the fjord made form some beautiful vistas.

I love these photos! I couldn't jump out of the car fast enough...I was so excited to look around the fjord and snap photos.

They (Norwegian government folks) are restoring this old bridge. The bridge is now blocked to vehicles and is only used for hikers and bikers since they built the new bridge (above). We walked across the bridge and looked down into the sea (fjord) water. The water is so clear that it is possible to see all the way down (10-20 feet) to the bottom of the fjord.

This is one of the higher peaks we drive by in our journey to the farm and back to Gjovik.

This is the spookiest peak we drive by!

This is where the inner valley starts as we leave the coast and start our return trip inland along the Gubrandsdal Valley back to Gjovik.

A photo of where we cross over the continental divide and the waters rush down to the sea or down the valley the other way and into Lake Mjosa.

This photo divided the sky as a weather front of some sort moved out towrds the coast.

We didn't stop to see if the troll family was at home.

This is an interesting reflection of my camera in the middle of the photo.

And alas! We are almost back home and the sun FINALLY crept out from behind the blanket of clouds. Proof that the sun does shine in Norway! And since we are going into the season of darkness it is nice to see the sun and know that it isn't anoth Norwegian fairytale - like low prices!

And as it is cooling off the fireplaces and wood burning stoves are firing-up! Since we pulled the trailer out to the island with the ATV, we filled the trailer up with wood for the return trip to Gjovik. We don't have a furnace, and so far our heated floors in our condo are keeping us toasty - but for the cold evenings we now have fire for our woodburning stove!