Tuesday morning I had a dentist appointment which meant that I could start my day a little later than my normal 5:15 a.m. wake-up call. I, however, do not understand the meaning of sleep in and so I was still awake before 6:00 a.m. and went ahead and got up for the day. I fixed my lunch, unloaded the dishwasher and tended to some other household duties before taking a shower and getting ready for the day.
I had decided that I would mow the grass Tuesday evening and since I still had not gotten a new filter for the lawnmower, I had to add that task to the day's agenda. I was ready for the day around 7:15 a.m. and decided to go ahead and stop by Home Depot since I had some time on my hands before my 8:15 a.m. dentist appointment. I'm typically a Lowe's girl, but there's a Starbucks by Home Depot and it wasn't out of my way whereas Lowe's would have been. Before I arrived, I decided to go ahead and get three annuals for the pots on my porch. The Garden Center entrance was closed, but they had what I needed outside and I got two red plants (I don't know what they are called) and one marigold (I do enjoy marigolds). I then made my way inside the store to get the filter for the lawn mower and the employees were having a team meeting which kind of threw me for a loop because I then began questioning whether or not they were open yet. I found an employee who was not in the meeting to direct me towards the filters, found what I needed, used the self check-out and was on my way.
After leaving Home Depot, I crossed the parking lot to Starbucks and pulled around to the drive thru. It wasn't until there was a car behind me in line that I remembered my driver's side window is duct taped. I seriously don't know why I cannot remember this; I mean, I see it everyday, but when it comes to drive thrus I have a massive brain fart. So, I just had to open the door to place my order. I don't know if the car in front of me saw me open the door to order and took pity on me or if she already had it in mind, but when I opened the door to pay for and get my drink, the guy told me the car in front of me had paid for my drink. So, I said that I would pay for the drink of the person in line behind me and did just that. Hopefully this pay it forward, or backward as the case may be, continued as long as there was a car in he drive thru. It was the first time that the car in front of me had ever paid for mine and it really brightened my morning. Random Acts of Kindness - get out there and spread the love people!
After leaving Starbucks I went to my dentist appointment and immediately remembered why I go in to work before 7:00 a.m. - there was a lot more traffic than I am used to in the wee hours of the morning. I left my drink in the car as my after dentist treat. It was just a routine cleaning and I had no cavities! Whoop! When I was finished with my dentist appointment, I checked my phone and had a really sweet text message which made my morning that much better.
I was tempted to just stay out of work as the weather was exceptionally beautiful; but I went in and finished out the work day. I ended the day by mowing the lawn and planting the flowers I had bought that morning. It was a top-notch Tuesday - not to mention it marked the three week countdown until I leave for vacation.
Showing posts with label Teeth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teeth. Show all posts
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Root Canal
I don’t have any exciting story for you today, but let’s face it, this whole week of posts hasn’t been that exciting. As I was driving in this morning, I was trying to think of something interesting to write about and nothing really came to mind. So, I decided in order to keep a week of uninterrupted posts going, I would tell you about my recent root canal – I’m sure you’re just dying to know all about it.
On Monday of last week, I was scheduled for my root canal at 8:00 in the morning. I knew what road the office was on, but not the exact location and ended up having to call them while looking for the office. I finally arrived a few minutes before 8:00, filled out some brief paperwork, and stopped by the restroom. As soon as I came out of the restroom, they took me back and not long after that, the doctor came in.
He examined my tooth and asked me about the pain I was having and I had to bite down on a cotton swab which was less than comfortable and then the doctor said, “Well, I think you need a root canal, did you want to go ahead and have that done today?” I’m sure I looked at the guy like he was nuts because, duh, that’s why I was laid back in a dental chair. I didn’t pop in to say hello.
So, the doctor shot some Novocain into my mouth in a couple of different places and we waited for the numbness to set in. I will take this moment to tell you that the rooms had TVs on the ceiling, which was quite nice – I enjoyed watching the morning edition of CNN even if I did have to read the closed captioning to find out what the heck they were saying.
Once my mouth was numb, the nurse came in and pulled off my temporary crown and put some kind of crazy apparatus around my lone tooth – tooth #30. It was almost like a bib for the tooth. The bib, as we’ll call it, would allow nothing to go down my mouth while the endodontist worked his root canal magic. The nurse also offered me a bite something or other that would help me keep my mouth open, but I didn’t like it so she took it out and I held my mouth open of my own accord.
The doctor was soon back in the room and got to work. He began talking about how hard it was to come back to work after a vacation – he had been on Spring Break to Mexico with his family the week before – tough life. Let me tell you all his talk about not wanting to be there made me not want to be there. I mean, this guy had the nerves of my mouth in his grasp for goodness sake!
Every so often, the doctor would ask if I was okay, I would say yes even though I really wasn’t. I was tired of holding my mouth open and was beginning to get a crick in my neck – not pleasant – not to mention the fact that my bladder was rapidly filling up and I was doing everything I could not to think about having to go to the bathroom, which means really that’s all I was thinking about.
After about 30 minutes in the chair, I started squirming like a little kid and when they asked if I was okay, I shook my head no and spoke as best as I could through the bib and said, “I really need to go to the restroom.” I was more embarrassed than anything because how many 34 year olds can’t hold it for an hour? They let me up out of the chair and I ran to the bathroom to free my bladder of its liquids – and I didn’t even drink anything that morning!
I got back in the chair and after another 15 minutes or so the doctor finished up, told me to take some Advil and sent me on my way – where I had to use the facilities once more before I left. It was a crazy day for my bladder, folks! You probably know more about me and my small bladder than you ever wanted to know, but the story wouldn’t be complete without me telling you about this. I spent most of the day napping and watching television but did manage to make it to the gym that afternoon.
This week, I went in to my regular dentist and had my permanent crown put on, which wasn’t too bad of a process. It took some time to get the crown to fit and he had to drill a little off of my upper cusped because I guess it was long like a vampire or something and if he didn’t take a little off, my crown would hit the upper tooth and it wouldn’t be pleasant.
So, now, after multiple visits to the dentists and $700 out of pocket, my mouth is somewhat back to normal and I am slowly beginning to eat on the right side of my mouth again. I may not be able to afford to sod my front yard this spring as I had planned, but by George, my mouth is pain free. Thanks for listening and have a great day!
On Monday of last week, I was scheduled for my root canal at 8:00 in the morning. I knew what road the office was on, but not the exact location and ended up having to call them while looking for the office. I finally arrived a few minutes before 8:00, filled out some brief paperwork, and stopped by the restroom. As soon as I came out of the restroom, they took me back and not long after that, the doctor came in.
He examined my tooth and asked me about the pain I was having and I had to bite down on a cotton swab which was less than comfortable and then the doctor said, “Well, I think you need a root canal, did you want to go ahead and have that done today?” I’m sure I looked at the guy like he was nuts because, duh, that’s why I was laid back in a dental chair. I didn’t pop in to say hello.
So, the doctor shot some Novocain into my mouth in a couple of different places and we waited for the numbness to set in. I will take this moment to tell you that the rooms had TVs on the ceiling, which was quite nice – I enjoyed watching the morning edition of CNN even if I did have to read the closed captioning to find out what the heck they were saying.
Once my mouth was numb, the nurse came in and pulled off my temporary crown and put some kind of crazy apparatus around my lone tooth – tooth #30. It was almost like a bib for the tooth. The bib, as we’ll call it, would allow nothing to go down my mouth while the endodontist worked his root canal magic. The nurse also offered me a bite something or other that would help me keep my mouth open, but I didn’t like it so she took it out and I held my mouth open of my own accord.
The doctor was soon back in the room and got to work. He began talking about how hard it was to come back to work after a vacation – he had been on Spring Break to Mexico with his family the week before – tough life. Let me tell you all his talk about not wanting to be there made me not want to be there. I mean, this guy had the nerves of my mouth in his grasp for goodness sake!
Every so often, the doctor would ask if I was okay, I would say yes even though I really wasn’t. I was tired of holding my mouth open and was beginning to get a crick in my neck – not pleasant – not to mention the fact that my bladder was rapidly filling up and I was doing everything I could not to think about having to go to the bathroom, which means really that’s all I was thinking about.
After about 30 minutes in the chair, I started squirming like a little kid and when they asked if I was okay, I shook my head no and spoke as best as I could through the bib and said, “I really need to go to the restroom.” I was more embarrassed than anything because how many 34 year olds can’t hold it for an hour? They let me up out of the chair and I ran to the bathroom to free my bladder of its liquids – and I didn’t even drink anything that morning!
I got back in the chair and after another 15 minutes or so the doctor finished up, told me to take some Advil and sent me on my way – where I had to use the facilities once more before I left. It was a crazy day for my bladder, folks! You probably know more about me and my small bladder than you ever wanted to know, but the story wouldn’t be complete without me telling you about this. I spent most of the day napping and watching television but did manage to make it to the gym that afternoon.
This week, I went in to my regular dentist and had my permanent crown put on, which wasn’t too bad of a process. It took some time to get the crown to fit and he had to drill a little off of my upper cusped because I guess it was long like a vampire or something and if he didn’t take a little off, my crown would hit the upper tooth and it wouldn’t be pleasant.
So, now, after multiple visits to the dentists and $700 out of pocket, my mouth is somewhat back to normal and I am slowly beginning to eat on the right side of my mouth again. I may not be able to afford to sod my front yard this spring as I had planned, but by George, my mouth is pain free. Thanks for listening and have a great day!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
I'm Newly Crowned
So, clearly that last post about Tom Sawyer was of absolutely no interest to anyone seeing as how I got zero comments. Maybe none of you readers like plays as well as I do. I’ll try to do better today.
Yesterday I had my temporary crown put on. You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by the dentist office because my tooth was bothering me and was informed that I was going to have to fork over $400 for a crown. I was less than thrilled about that, but because the pain was slowly but surely getting worse, I decided I’d better go ahead and get it done rather than ignore it.
So, yesterday was the big day. I talked to my dad on the way and he told me that the doctor may give me some laughing gas. Now, as long as I’ve been going to the dentist (30 years give or take I guess; not really sure how old I was when I started going), I’ve never had laughing gas, or as my friend Amy calls it, Mr. Nose. I doubt I’ve ever written about it on this blog, but Amy loves Mr. Nose. She talks about it with a passion that rivals any football fan’s love of his team. So when I heard that I may finally get to experience the infamous Mr. Nose, I was pretty excited. I thought that I might finally be able to see what all the fuss was about.
I got to the office and they took me back almost immediately. That’s one thing I will say about my dentist is that I’ve never had to wait in the waiting room for more than five minutes. I sat in the chair and the dentist and hygienist went right to work – without offering me Mr. Nose. I was so disappointed. Maybe you have to ask for it. I received the numbing shots and once my mouth was numb, the drilling began. I had taken my iPod with me and cranked up The Beatles while the drilling was taking place. A couple of times I had to spit tooth fragments out of my mouth. It was less than pleasant. Not to mention the fact that my sinuses kept draining while my head was laid back and I thought I might drown in my own drainage.
A few different times while we were waiting for things to set, I was able to sit up instead of lay back and I even got to operate the spit sucker on my own whenever I needed it. I don’t know what that thing is called but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
After almost an hour, the temporary crown was placed on my tooth and I was free to go; well, after I made my first payment anyway. For the rest of the afternoon and in to the evening I felt like I had to annunciate everything very slowly because my numb lip made it seem as though my speech was thick and slurred.
I took some Aleve while at church last night because the numbness was wearing off and I also felt a headache coming on. I ate a baked potato for dinner and some time before I went to bed I noticed my jaw was starting to bruise. This morning, my jaw is still a little blue (not too bad) and I feel like I’ve been punched in the jaw. Eating is also a little difficult as I can’t really chew on my right side and the crown feels weird. Oh well, such is the life of good dental health I guess. One positive thing about it all was that I slept like a rock last night. I don’t know if it was directly related to the dental work or not but I really slept well last night and am quite thankful for that.
The permanent crown will be put on in a couple of weeks; and no, it’s not gold and it also doesn’t have a diamond in it. I wasn’t given either of those options. I just got the tooth colored one – C1 in fact is the color. I hope they don’t have to numb me again when they put the permanent one on but I don’t know, this is my first experience with a crown of any sort; well, other that the princess birthday crown my friend Brenda got me about three years ago. Until next time…
Yesterday I had my temporary crown put on. You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by the dentist office because my tooth was bothering me and was informed that I was going to have to fork over $400 for a crown. I was less than thrilled about that, but because the pain was slowly but surely getting worse, I decided I’d better go ahead and get it done rather than ignore it.
So, yesterday was the big day. I talked to my dad on the way and he told me that the doctor may give me some laughing gas. Now, as long as I’ve been going to the dentist (30 years give or take I guess; not really sure how old I was when I started going), I’ve never had laughing gas, or as my friend Amy calls it, Mr. Nose. I doubt I’ve ever written about it on this blog, but Amy loves Mr. Nose. She talks about it with a passion that rivals any football fan’s love of his team. So when I heard that I may finally get to experience the infamous Mr. Nose, I was pretty excited. I thought that I might finally be able to see what all the fuss was about.
I got to the office and they took me back almost immediately. That’s one thing I will say about my dentist is that I’ve never had to wait in the waiting room for more than five minutes. I sat in the chair and the dentist and hygienist went right to work – without offering me Mr. Nose. I was so disappointed. Maybe you have to ask for it. I received the numbing shots and once my mouth was numb, the drilling began. I had taken my iPod with me and cranked up The Beatles while the drilling was taking place. A couple of times I had to spit tooth fragments out of my mouth. It was less than pleasant. Not to mention the fact that my sinuses kept draining while my head was laid back and I thought I might drown in my own drainage.
A few different times while we were waiting for things to set, I was able to sit up instead of lay back and I even got to operate the spit sucker on my own whenever I needed it. I don’t know what that thing is called but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
After almost an hour, the temporary crown was placed on my tooth and I was free to go; well, after I made my first payment anyway. For the rest of the afternoon and in to the evening I felt like I had to annunciate everything very slowly because my numb lip made it seem as though my speech was thick and slurred.
I took some Aleve while at church last night because the numbness was wearing off and I also felt a headache coming on. I ate a baked potato for dinner and some time before I went to bed I noticed my jaw was starting to bruise. This morning, my jaw is still a little blue (not too bad) and I feel like I’ve been punched in the jaw. Eating is also a little difficult as I can’t really chew on my right side and the crown feels weird. Oh well, such is the life of good dental health I guess. One positive thing about it all was that I slept like a rock last night. I don’t know if it was directly related to the dental work or not but I really slept well last night and am quite thankful for that.
The permanent crown will be put on in a couple of weeks; and no, it’s not gold and it also doesn’t have a diamond in it. I wasn’t given either of those options. I just got the tooth colored one – C1 in fact is the color. I hope they don’t have to numb me again when they put the permanent one on but I don’t know, this is my first experience with a crown of any sort; well, other that the princess birthday crown my friend Brenda got me about three years ago. Until next time…
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Thanks to Us, Dentists Drive Nice Cars
I apologize for the late post today. Posting has been the last thing on my mind as I have been preparing for a large meeting this afternoon. I cannot wait until it is over. I will be able to breathe easy again. At any rate, I wrote this post yesterday after my brief dentist visit because eI figured I wouldn’t have any time to write today. So, without further ado...
I know why dentists are rich – yowza does it cost a lot of money to get your teeth worked on! As you may know, I went to the dentist yesterday for a quick x-ray and evaluation on a tooth that has been bothering me for a few years. It was all quite bearable until a couple of weeks ago and now it’s on the side of more than mildly annoying and so something has to be done about it. So, after the evaluation which took only about five minutes, I was told the doctor is going to put a temporary crown on my tooth and if that is successful, it will be replaced by a permanent one. So, I went up front to check out and schedule the appointment and the receptionist told me it would be $400 on the day of the procedure – that’s with my insurance! It was at that moment that I fainted, wadded up into a fetal position and started dreaming of winning the lottery.
I told her I couldn’t afford that, which is only relatively speaking seeing as how I put almost 1/3 of my paycheck into my savings account which is funding my vacation to France this summer. The fact is that I’m not thrilled about sacrificing one of my savings deposits for some dental work; but, I suppose it must be done – at least if I want to be able to eat without wincing in pain each time a kernel of popcorn meanders over to the right side of my mouth.
Thankfully and graciously, my dentist’s office allowed me to set up a payment plan of four easy payments of $100 each; unfortunately there’s no “but wait, there’s more” offer coming with those easy payments. You’d think they could throw in a free cleaning or something.
This procedure is taking place on February 23 at 3:00 so is you happen to see me at church that night or any time over the course of the next few days, how about telling me my mouth looks like I just spent $400 on it – it at least might make me feel a little better.
I know why dentists are rich – yowza does it cost a lot of money to get your teeth worked on! As you may know, I went to the dentist yesterday for a quick x-ray and evaluation on a tooth that has been bothering me for a few years. It was all quite bearable until a couple of weeks ago and now it’s on the side of more than mildly annoying and so something has to be done about it. So, after the evaluation which took only about five minutes, I was told the doctor is going to put a temporary crown on my tooth and if that is successful, it will be replaced by a permanent one. So, I went up front to check out and schedule the appointment and the receptionist told me it would be $400 on the day of the procedure – that’s with my insurance! It was at that moment that I fainted, wadded up into a fetal position and started dreaming of winning the lottery.
I told her I couldn’t afford that, which is only relatively speaking seeing as how I put almost 1/3 of my paycheck into my savings account which is funding my vacation to France this summer. The fact is that I’m not thrilled about sacrificing one of my savings deposits for some dental work; but, I suppose it must be done – at least if I want to be able to eat without wincing in pain each time a kernel of popcorn meanders over to the right side of my mouth.
Thankfully and graciously, my dentist’s office allowed me to set up a payment plan of four easy payments of $100 each; unfortunately there’s no “but wait, there’s more” offer coming with those easy payments. You’d think they could throw in a free cleaning or something.
This procedure is taking place on February 23 at 3:00 so is you happen to see me at church that night or any time over the course of the next few days, how about telling me my mouth looks like I just spent $400 on it – it at least might make me feel a little better.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A Toothache and A Trophy
I’m headed to the dentist in a little while and then meeting Mary for lunch where I will present her with her winnings from the recent giveaway and chow down on some Mexican food from Rosie’s!
The dentist appointment shouldn’t last too long – just a quick evaluation. For the past couple of years, I’ve had some pain in one of my bottom right molars. It hasn’t been bad enough to do anything about until the past couple of weeks where it is basically driving me a little bonkers. It hurts and I now cannot even think about chewing on the right side of my mouth so I decided to go ahead and see about getting it corrected. I told my dad last night that I thought I was going to have to have a root canal, but when I called today, my chart said a crown. Either way, they both seem kind of scary. Other than a filling here and there, I’ve only had my wisdom teeth removed so a crown and/or a root canal sound frightening; but, if it solves the problem, then so be it. I’m sure I’ll survive.
In the meantime, I thought I would post these pictures of Justin and his trophy. When I posted pictures of the trophy a couple of weeks ago, a lot of people commented that they would like to see a photo of him and the trophy. Since I wasn’t around when he received his reward, my mother took these photos and sent them to me. Maybe they will give you a laugh or two to start your day! Happy Tuesday!
The dentist appointment shouldn’t last too long – just a quick evaluation. For the past couple of years, I’ve had some pain in one of my bottom right molars. It hasn’t been bad enough to do anything about until the past couple of weeks where it is basically driving me a little bonkers. It hurts and I now cannot even think about chewing on the right side of my mouth so I decided to go ahead and see about getting it corrected. I told my dad last night that I thought I was going to have to have a root canal, but when I called today, my chart said a crown. Either way, they both seem kind of scary. Other than a filling here and there, I’ve only had my wisdom teeth removed so a crown and/or a root canal sound frightening; but, if it solves the problem, then so be it. I’m sure I’ll survive.
In the meantime, I thought I would post these pictures of Justin and his trophy. When I posted pictures of the trophy a couple of weeks ago, a lot of people commented that they would like to see a photo of him and the trophy. Since I wasn’t around when he received his reward, my mother took these photos and sent them to me. Maybe they will give you a laugh or two to start your day! Happy Tuesday!
Receiving the trophy
A proud winner!
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