A trip to the dentist, volume one

It all started with my dryer. Lisa helped me heft it into the house, and I installed it, wiring and all. I am such a big girl, I didn't even burn the house down. Well the manual said I would need tin snips and I don't have them. I thought my kitchen shears, or the blades in my pliers would do the trick.

At one point I was trying to snip a wire, and not succeeding. I was bending the wire back and forth and gritting my teeth really hard, for about 10 minutes. In so doing, I shoved a filling upward into my tooth. Um, ow!

Sooo...I got a huge toothache Saturday night. Sunday Lisa took the kids and I to Disney, saying we couldn't leave southern California without visiting. I took Motrin all day to ignore my toothache because no way was I ruining my kids' trip to Disney with a little old toothache.

I don't remember much of Monday or Tuesday but I was miserable, so much so that my neighbor Diane called her dentist and they squeezed me in Wednesday morning for a consult. Being a dental freak, I managed to get a cavity underneath an existing filling! I had shoved said filling up into the cavity area and it was hurting.

So I was told to come back on Friday morning and they would give me nitrous and drill it out. If the cavity was bad enough they would need to do a root canal. So I go, they drill, I do need a root canal, and they try to do it. But the root is infected and I am a dental freak (did I mention that?) so the pain was pushing past the nitrous and the novocain. I would freak out and hyperventilate and basically have a spazz. The dentist referred me to a friend of his, an endodontist. He does nothing but root canals.And he does sedation! Conscious sedation with a drug called Halcyon ( I think).

So the dentist office calls the endodontist's office, and what a miracle, they have an appointment, in an hour, on a Friday! So I fly down there with the help of many friends, one to drive me to & from and 2 others to pick up my kids from school. I am given the wonder drug, which does... nothing. The staff kept asking how I felt and I said fine and not a bit different. This alarmed me. So the dentist asked if he could start numbing me up, and I said OK, because I knew I would fell that anyway. They gave me another half a pill, and eventually, the second half of the second pill. The dentist stepped out for a few minutes (could have been more, how could I know?) and when he came back, I was feeling just a little bit warm & mellow. The nurse had given me a blanket because I was freezing. The dentist said something about how he thought I was ok because the quality of my voice had changed. I take this to mean I was slurring my speech. LOL!

The rest of the events are fuzzy and have been pieced together with the help of people who weren't high as a kite.

I remember the dentist telling me what I would be feeling and also telling me I could go to sleep if I wanted to. Yeah right. Like I was going to go to sleep and be awakened by breakthrough pain??? I heard him tell the nurse, "I think she fell asleep" about 4 times, and each time I would say, "No I didn't" and scare the crap out of him.

I raised my hand whenever I felt anything, and the dentist gave me more novocain. This has led me to *still* be numb on the roof of my mouth, now, Sunday night, 6:30 PM, two full days after the root canal. They waited until I was high to give me the bill, which is good, because my dental insurance is crap. I needed the Halcyon buzz to sign that charge slip.

I was walked to the van that was driving me home (thanks Trinice!) and I was so surprised that I needed help to walk. I didn't feel very different at all.

I told Trinice to stop so we could get some dinner for our families, my treat. We parked at the KFC but had to cross to get to the ATM. I don't remember crossing the street but Trinice does. I am astounded I remembered my PIN. We crossed back to the KFC and ordered. Now I ordered a meal that said 4 pieces of chicken, 4 strips and 8 boneless wings, plus 2 sides & 4 biscuits for $17.00 I also ordered a mega-jug, which is a big half-gallon soda for $2 . My total was just over $20.00, which sounds right. So why did I come home with one huge bucket and one half-sized bucket filled with extra crispy? I got the sides and drink too but I wondered why on earth I had 3 bags full of KFC?

I had to get my prescriptions, and while I wandered around waiting for my prescription to be filled, I went up and down every aisle looking at stuff. I don't remember getting in line, or even paying for my prescriptions. I do remember asking if I needed to wake myself in the night to keep on a strict schedule. My pills have to be taken 4x a day. The next day, when I looked in my Rite Aid bag, lo and behold a 96-count box of crayons!

I remember thinking I needed them! It was a pretty, fresh, new box! A big one! I remember getting the crayons, and my prescriptions, and picking up my kids, and almost falling down in Traci's kitchen a couple times.

I came home, wandered over to my neighbor's house, and was led back home, called my mom, (amazing that I was able to remember her number) and I managed to put my kids to bed at 8:30 PM. Then I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 1:30 AM, somewhat more clear-headed.

Trinice told me the next day that I also topped off her gas tank. I told her before the appointment that I wanted to put gas in her van for driving me all around, and I am glad that she says I did top off her tank, but I don't remember actually doing it. She says I put my card in wrong twice! LOL!

I think that is all that happened. Round two happens on Tuesday! Stay tuned!