Next stop China

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Friday, February 11, 2011

Dental Woes Root canal #3

Here's a synopsis of my horrible afternoon. times are approximate
11:45 arrive at dentist for dreaded appointment to replace a crown that was done 10 years ago and to fill the cavity in the tooth next to it and also get a crown for that tooth.
11:55 go back to dental chair to begin the torture. Dental assistant who was very good at explaining things shows me that I have a really deep cavity on one of the teeth and it is close to the root, so there is a possiblity of having to have a root canal. (me holding back tears and thinking of a happy place)
12:10 while dentist is numbing my mouth in the back, feel sharp pains in my lips? Start waving hand for him to stop, he explains he must have actually touched the nerve he was meaning to numb. oh well.
12:20 after two numbing shots, dentist comes back to start on my tooth.
12:45? starts hurting when the dentist is drilling on the bad tooth. waving again to let him know and mumbling "bff hffts" Or "that hurts"
12:45 dentist declares "that tooth needs a root canal" stands up with assistant and disappears from room.
12:47 assistant returns with consent for root canal, I sign and ask to go to the bathroom.
12:50 hold back tears in the bathroom, say a quick prayer and again think of a happy place, walk back to torture chair.'
at this point, time becomes a mute point, I am in it for the long run.
So I say "he is going to numb me some more, right?" she answers "sure, he will probably stick the needle right in the bad tooth, it will pinch a little" (Seriously woman??? I like you and all, because we both enjoy FoxNews and you explain things real well, but have you ever had a dentist stick a needle in your bad tooth with root exposed? Do you really know it only pinches a little?)
Me again holding back tears. My eyes are watering just thinking about it.
She then says that he will have to start the root canal, but may not finish today. What???!!!
I almost lost it, but she explained that he could finish when they seat the crowns. Ok, that I can handle, I do not want to come in between temp cap and permanent crown to be numbed again. Why in two steps? because they only allotted me 1 hr and 20 min. for my appt today. UGH!
Dentist comes back in with the shot in the tooth (ouch), then more shots in my gums. I was numb from my right ear to my nose and most of my tongue. I hate numbness, but I was praying for it today.
Finally, at 2:15 my temporary caps on the teeth. Yes, that is over 2 hours with my mouth wide open. My jaws are killing me. I yawned earlier and it hurt.
Sent me home with a prescription for amoxicillin and lortab. wishing me well and telling me to expect lots of pain the next few days. and a bill of almost $400 for the next visit. not to mention the $430 I paid today. Did I mention we are trying to adopt two orphans and it will probably cost around $37,000? Yeah, that is on my mind too.
texted Aaron who was running errands with the kids to let him know that I was on my way to Mom's. (her house is in town and closer to where he was. our house is 15 min. farther out than mom's) He was going to drop Hannah off with me while Madelyn and Natalie did a GS Cookie booth sale. He ended up just taking Hannah so I could sleep off the numbness and pain
I dropped off my prescriptions at CVS
Went to Mom's. managed to get my tongue and throat to work enough to drink some grape juice since I was starving. Took a tylenol and an hour nap. Woke up not numb and took 1/2 of a lortab from an old prescription. Called mom at work since she was getting off in 30 min. to see if she would stop by for my prescriptions.
Ate some mashed potatoes and wished I was not lactose intolerant since a milkshake would have been something easy and filling to drink.
Called into work and told and since there were 6 nurses for tomorrow and only 13 patients at that point, that I would not be there on Saturday. They were ok with that, but that also means that if I don't work, I don't get paid.
On the thankful side. So far, my tooth hasn't hurt as bad as I thought. At this point, the major pain is my jaw. I do have the lortab in me though. We'll see if I wake up with pain when it wears off while I sleep. And Aaron gets to work Sunday, so he will get some overtime and it will make up for me not working Saturday. I know God will provide, but this is really stressful.

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