Recall Limbo

Much like home ownership, vehicle ownership comes with its share of routine maintenance and periodic not-so-routine maintenance. Unlike home ownership, vehicle ownership also comes with occasional recalls. Recall issues can range from wow-we-need-to-fix-this-yesterday to meh-why-bother. (We never did take our Toyota Highlander in to have the carpet clips replaced.) Ruby, our 2018 Toyota Tundra, has introduced us to a new “category” of recall – they type that sends you into a rather nonsensical limbo.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve received three or four notices that we we need to call and schedule a recall service on our Tundra. However, the notice provides no information a to what the recall is for. Since Kenn now uses the Tundra as his primary vehicle, I nudged him into calling the dealership to find out more about the recall and scheduling the service. This is where the “fun” began.

Kenn called the dealership and gave them the Tundra’s VIN number. After an extended delay, the service manager said that their system couldn’t locate that VIN. Kenn pointed out that some Toyota database somewhere recognizes the VIN since we keep getting the recall notices. The service manager promised to keep researching the issue and would let us know what she found. True to her word, the service manager called a few days later to report that she had learned that the VIN number is Canadian. Who knew that our truck is an immigrant?

Image from depositphotos.com

Now that we know our truck originated in Canada, we can get it scheduled for the recall service, right? Wrong. Another day, another call. The service manager has learned that there is an outstanding recall associated with our vehicle. So, did she finally locate our vehicle in their system? No. The service manager found the information about the recall by searching for the VIN on CARFAX.🤦‍♀️ Seriously, I can’t make this stuff up.

At some point, Kenn was able to learn that the recall has something to do with the halogen headlights, but we still haven’t been able to schedule anything with the dealership and are once again waiting on another call. At this point, Kenn is going to see if he can schedule the service via Toyota’s national website.

As a former IT person, I’m baffled as to how a service manager at a local Toyota dealership can’t log into some sort of over-arching Toyota database and see any/all information on any Toyota vehicle. I’m beginning to hum the Jeopardy theme any time this topic comes up.

Wish us luck as we attempt to navigate the most convoluted recall process ever. At this rate, it might be easier to agree on what color we want to paint our shutters and deck. Then again, maybe not. Maybe that will be the topic for my next post…

Well, that escalated quickly.

To put it bluntly, my teeth suck. I got my first fillings at age seven and now sport twelve crowns, several fillings, and have had three root canals. I have probably had $20,000 worth of dental work over the years. My teeth have been holding their own for a while or, at least they were until I went to the dentist last week.

Last Tuesday, I went to the dentist for my six month cleaning. I was expecting to be told one of my lower crowns needed to be replaced; the dentist has been keeping an eye on one for a while. However, that is not what happened. While the hygienist was cleaning my teeth with those wonderful little pointy hooks, one of my crowns came off – and it was not the one the dentist was worried about. After cleaning up the nub of tooth under the crown, the dentist determined that it has a “poor prognosis.” In other words, that little nub of tooth will no longer support a crown and needs to be removed. This left me with two options: a bridge or an implant. A bridge would entail crowning the two teeth to either side of the bad tooth while an implant would replace it. I elected to move forward with the implant. The teeth to either side of the bad one are currently healthy and I don’t want to have them crowned unnecessarily.

The dentist referred me to a periodontist and even called and scheduled my consultation appointment for May 4th. However, the periodontist called later with a cancellation so I actually got in the next day. While the periodontist was looking at my x-rays he said, “I guess the dentist told you that you need a root canal on this other tooth.” No. No, she did not. After a call to my dentist, the periodontist’s office called the endodontist and I have an appointment with her on May 22nd.

Image from depositphotos.com

The periodontist will remove the remains of my tooth and insert the implant the same day. However, it will require four to five months of healing before a new crown can be placed on the implant. Since the tooth being replaced is a front tooth, I will receive an Essix clear retainer that will contain a “tooth” to hide the fact that mine is missing. The day after my consultation with the periodontist I had to go back to his office for a scan that will be used to create my retainer. Once that was done, my procedure was scheduled for 9am on May 21st.

Of course, this means I have an periodontist appointment on May 21st and an endodontist appointment on May 22nd. I’ll be making a call to the endodontist this week to find out if my appointment on the 22nd is for a consultation or the actual root canal. If it’s the latter, that appointment will get rescheduled. There is no way I’m have two dental procedures back-to-back.

So, yeah. I went in for a cleaning and wound up needing an implant and a root canal. Good times. What’s new with you?

Friday Funnies

Several years ago the kids gave Kenn a walker as a gag gift. It has been hanging in the wall in his workshop ever since – just in case. Imagine my surprise (and confusion) when I saw it sitting at the foot of our currently non-existent front stairs.

I had forgotten that our neighbor, Matt, fell out of a deer stand a few months ago and broke his hip. Kenn loaned him the walker so he could have one for each floor of his house. Now that he no longer needs it, Matt brought the walker back and left it on the walkway. Kenn decided the presence of the walker added that little something extra to the construction zone so he left it there.

Yes, we are those neighbors.🤣