Since Sunday nite, I had been having increasing pain in the lower left jaw. So on Monday I went in to my regular dentist for a look-see. Well, between us (of course I was a willing participant!), we were unable to localize the pain to a particular tooth. So she sent me to a specialist.
First available appointment: Wednesday morning.
I'm not going to talk about Tuesday. I made it thru, but it was ugly. Really ugly.
This morning we were at the endodontist's office before 08:00, eagerly waiting for them to unlock the door (well, certainly I was eager). A few tests, and the experts had located the problem and administered the Novocain for the work to begin. And for the first time in days, the pain was gone. Just... gone. Oh, blessed relief! I had not realized how much I had been hurting, even in the "calm" periods, until the pain was gone. "Better living thru chemistry" used to be DuPont's corporate slogan, back before "chemical" became a four-letter word. But let me tell you, I am a Believer!
So Dr. Colic and his assistant Linda went to work, and 60 minutes and 3 root canals in one tooth later, the deed was complete. I now have one more dead tooth in my mouth. But don't feel bad. You know what's great about a dead tooth? It can never hurt again. Not from a cavity, not from drilling, not from cleaning. In a perverse way, I wish all my teeth were dead. In fact, I think it is a design flaw to have nerves in teeth (one of several design flaws in the human body that I would correct, if I had the power to do so).
Just enough time to grab lunch and a brief recuperation period, then back to my regular dentist for more dental joy: a regularly scheduled cleaning/scraping session. And more Novocain.
I'm home now, back aboard Eolian. My credit card is smoking. But I have a beer in my hand, and by far most importantly, I don't hurt.
And as my friend Ken at work says, it could have been worse.
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2 comments:
Very little fun to be had with the dentist, unless you play golf together. On the other hand, if pain is the problem, the drugs he/she can give make all the difference.
Rick
Ah, yes this could be far worse. I've got to work this same project on Astraea sometime soon too. We've been having a bit of "effluent" wash back in to the bowl. Especially when you don't do the dry pumps long enough, or if the holding tank gets too full.
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