Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

I guess y’all thought I forgot about having a blog this week.  Not really.  Just been really busy, plus I lost the whole day yesterday.

You see, I had to have some dental work done.  Nothing major.

Well . . . nothing minor, either.  I know I’ll probably hear a bunch of "I can’t believes" out of you for doing this, but I had not been to see the dentist in five years!   Not only that, but I hadn’t had my teeth cleaned since 2001 – seven years ago.

And, I used to go regularly like I should.  Every six months.  And have my teeth cleaned every six months because (1) I grew up in a time before fluoride was in the water or in toothpaste, etc, and my teeth always had lots of cavities, and (2) after I was grown, I became diabetic and diabetics must take good care of their teeth because of all of the bacteria that can accumulate there from plaque and tarter.

I kept thinking I needed to go, but hating to go to the dentist in the first place, and all of the other happenings in my life – like heart surgery with five by-passes, being laid up with my foot for months on end – twice – moving up to Picayune, moving again into our house (those all sound like great excuses – huh?!), kept me (right!) from going.

The day of doom was looming, but I ignored it.  Until my gums began to look bad and began to recede around my lower tow eyeteeth.  So, I bit the bullet and two weeks ago went to see my dentist, who is really a terrific guy – if we could just be friends.  In fact, when I got in to see him, we chatted and visited for about 15 or 20 minutes, probably, catching up on our lives.

The long and the short of it is that my teeth were a mess.  He said I had seven years of buildup of tarter and plaque and that my teeth needed to be debrided – a really deep cleaning that was going to take a couple of hours.  I told him that the reason I’d quit having my teeth cleaned was because it hurt so bad – and I do mean bad – when they did it.  I have very sensitive teeth and it hurt like . . . well, it hurt.

I asked him if he couldn’t just put me to sleep and do it and wake me when it was over.  He actually said that he could do that, sort of, with some little pills I could take the night before, another an hour before and then one more when I got there.  For a price, of course, but hey . . . I don’t like pain.

So we set it up for yesterday.  Tom had to drive me, of course, and bring me home.  And they told me not to drive for 24 hours.  Drive?  I don’t remember anything about yesterday after sitting down in the dental chair for about 15 minutes!

Tom says I was "awake" (had my eyes open, at least) and would answer questions intelligently (?) when asked something, but he knew I was not quite right.  Not quite right?  The first memory I have after sitting in that dental chair at 9 a.m. was a minute or two about four hours later sitting on the sofa at home.  And that was a very brief memory.  The next time I knew anything, and could actually function, was at 5:30 p.m. when I woke up in the recliner with a throw over me.  I was alone and the sun was low and shining in our living room windows.

Whew! 

Well . . . Tom told me that they had said I would have amnesia from the medication.  I certainly do (did).  He also told me I need to call them to set up appointments to have three cavities filled.  That, I can handle, because they deaden your mouth first, so it isn’t so bad. 

As far as having my teeth cleaned six months from now – I’m thinking about it.  What I’m thinking is that I am going to have to try it awake – really awake – and see how it goes.  I knew yesterday’s ordeal was going to take a long time and that they would have to go deep.  Tom said they did and told him my gums might hurt afterward for a good while.  (They didn’t.) 

I’m chicken.  I’m also really impressed with those magic pills.  I mean, when the dentist came in to check on me when I first got there (and had already had the first three pills, you understand) I told him I didn’t feel particularly sedated. As we talked, the nurse was grinding pill number four to put under my tongue to absorb quickly into my bloodstream.  The next thing I know, I’m napping in my recliner in the late afternoon sunshine.

That’s the way to have painful dental work done, I’m thinking.  But, on the other hand, I don’t think I want to lose that many days.  I mean, I don’t know how many I have left and I really, really intended to come home and blog yesterday.

So, that’s my story for not blogging since Monday and I’m sticking to it!

Y’all have a great weekend.  Cheers & Blessings to you all!  Dee