Is It A Solution? Or Just A New Problem?

I can answer this both ways.

We got the new seat belt extenders in the mail for the front of our car. I could no longer connect or disconnect mine. Solutions ranged from a thousand dollar install of a new pair, to we aren't allowed to help you because reasons, to buy a new car. Hogwash, all. I went online, found a site that matched my need to my exact make/model/seat locations. The price was reasonable, shipping cheap and speedy. Today Steve went out and installed them both, easy peasy. A bit later I drove to the store and back, and they were smooth as silk... though much sturdier, of course. I'll be able to drive alone both now and as soon after surgery as I'm allowed to bend my arm in that direction.

Verdict: definite solution.

While I'm getting ready for surgery, there is a long list of doctors to see, tests to have run. Yesterday was number 3 on my list, a trip to the dentist to be cleared, meaning no infections in my mouth. Except I knew I had one, a minor annoyance. The result was three hours of care, removal of a bridge before removal of a tooth which was abscessed, replacement of the bridge after changing it from a 4-tooth one hooked into two pieces, to a two-tooth bridge and separate 1 tooth (now) crown. The bill got more interesting with every new discovery, starting of course with full x-rays,  ending with grinding down the surfaces of the replaced crowns so I could close my mouth completely again. The numbing cocktail was very effective, so mostly I felt pulling, and thunking as they hammered the bridge loose, not pain. But there was a bunch of hard labor on the part of the dentist to extract that one tooth, enough that a second one had to be called in to assist.

By evening, the cocktail had worn off. OY! I'd been verbally cleared of infection once they had examined the bad tooth as well as the hole left behind. But apparently there is a lot of bruising, both tissue and bone, from all the forcing, pulling, pushing, tugging, yanking. By bedtime I was on maximum Tylenol. Repeated this morning, and early afternoon, and now at bedtime. It almost helps. I find myself wondering if some infection slipped the leash and is making a new home, or if this is just how bruised bone feels. The pain is a kind I've felt before, difficult to locate without knowing exactly which tooth is involved since it wraps around to both bottom and top, making one side of the face throb. No antibiotic was prescribed for just-in-case, and in a couple more days if there is no change, I'll be calling and asking. I know my immune system is still struggling after the pancreatitis with the lingering cold, and I need to be completely clear next mid-month, or they postpone and reschedule.

Right now this solution feels like a new problem rather than clearing an old one.

I recall a record I bought when my kids were little, Marlo Thomas singing "Free To Be You And Me". A song on that was about helping each other. One kid baked a pie and the other kid ate it. "Some kinds of help are the kinds of help that helping's all about. And some kinds of help are the kinds of help we all can do without!"