life, love & laundry
Ending the week how it started
…..yet, better.
I went to the dentist today and these are all the ways it was awesome:
- I got to watch ALL of Oprah, uninterrupted. And also numb. Which was a certain sort of awesome. When they apologized for running so late I told them they were doing me a favor – I can’t imagine a more awesome vacation than being both numb AND alone watching frivolous television. I asked if there were any other patients that might need more urgent care while I waited :)
- The actual work in my mouth lasted only 10 minutes, starting precisely when the Oprah credits started to roll. Good timing!
- I’m done. DONE with the dentist for the time being. NO MORE CAVITIES.
- I’m pretty sure they paralyzed my face. Actually I WAS pretty sure and that was pretty cool, I realize in retrospect. Because now that the nerve block is finally wearing off (six hours later) I realize that there is PAIN. My mouth is a mess. I liked being all paralyzed. It made me unique and special. I got a lot of attention at Target and I got to drool without judgment.
On the downside, my jaw still hurts from Monday and my dentist says I should expect it to continue hurting for the next 10 days. Did you know ibuprofen has healing qualities? I really did not! I thought it was the drug you took to make you feel better temporarily. I had no idea it could actually help your body heal. So now I’m on a healing dose of ibuprofen. Weird.
Best of all? It will be a long time (hopefully) before you all have to read about me and the dentist and teeth.
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I’m happy that is over for you- a friend of mine just went through a lot of work on her teeth and I felt awful for her. It’s hard!
Beautiful pic- that sunny glow at the top of his head is just lovely.
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he he “drool without judgement”
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you know, when I had a (lot of) fillings a year ago and I was numb, numb, numb, people did not let me drool without judgment. They talked to me like I had a hearing/cognitive problem. And it was all I could do to say, “no, numb” while hopefully not slurping too much spit (unlikely, I have no spit) and/or chewing my cheek. It gave me some appreciation for how people must feel who deal with this every day.
How was Oprah? Did you see her say she was leaving her show? Congrats on being done with dental work!
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November 20th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
It was the show about Men Make-overs which was perfect light viewing :) If she announced her leaving, I missed it. I think she’s only going to her cable channel anyway and not really leaving?
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Way to go on finding a brightside to the dentist! I used to like hanging out in the waiting room reading gossip magazines but after doing that once a week for four straight weeks I was totally over it.
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When I was little I would have total anxiety attacks in the waiting room of our dentist. I can still picture the See Jane Run photos on the wall in my mind’s eye. That was BEFORE I developed my dental phobia. I remember nothing about the dentist at all except that waiting room and those pictures and trying SO hard not to cry. every. single. time.
As if that isn’t bad enough PTSD, my current dentist plays teeth videos OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Every single time I say something to them – it drives me nuts. WHY would anyone want to watch that crap?!?!? YUCK!!!!!!!!!! I can’t even FOCUS on magazines. Luckily there’s no wait there so it has never been a huge issue but it is so gross and does nothing for the pre-dentist anxiety.
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