Monday, January 15, 2007

Staying mainly on the plain

It's been a pretty slow (and rainy, ALWAYS rainy!) day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

I stayed with the kids most of the morning and through the afternoon while Lynda worked at the office. I am mentally struggling with the decision NOT to work on any of the office stuff that I brought home with me on Friday evening and has sat untouched throughout the weekend.

I am also not sure if I'll watch the Golden Globes tonight, though I don't have a whiz-bang alternative. I'm plowing through the aforementioned book given to me by Lulu, but it's not the sort of thing that demands I keep reading. Lynda will probably find a reason to do more work tonight, if I let her.

This morning I got two cavities filled, the first time I've experienced that in probably two decades or so. It's not that I don't take good care of my teeth--I brush at least twice a day, floss every morning, and have even added fluoride rinse to the regimen in recent months. The problem comes from my wisdom teeth, that came in crooked and resisted all attempts by my childhood dentist to straighten them out. Also, I could not afford to remove them since my orthodontist had already removed four teeth to give my braces room to work .

So, I'm stuck (I guess) with my crooked wisdom teeth and since they're in there all wonky, it creates areas that my toothbrush can't get to effectively. As a result, cavities set in in hard to reach places and so this morning I went under the drill.

I am usually a pretty good patient and while I can sit still and let the doctor do his thing, the sound of that high pitched drill whine automatically makes me tense up. Even willing myself to relax didn't really do the trick, so for the better part of an hour I was tensing and relaxing, tensing and relaxing. When I got home I had to change my shirt because I had sweat in it pretty noticeably.

The novicaine wore off around lunch time and I'm lucky not to be in pain, but I'll be drinking water and other cold liquids without ice for a while to let my tooth nerves calm down for a bit. I try to feel around back there with my tongue, but I can't quite tell what was done or if part of my tooth is gone. Honestly, it's pretty hard to know exactly what dentists do. You're staring into a bright light while they mutter to the nurse for this band and that burnisher, this tip and that compound. All the while he's keeping up a steady stream of talk about attending the bust of a BCS bowl game in Arizona last week.

So, I hope I'll be recuperating nicely over the next few days and that I can brush more effectively back there. Maybe I need to break down and get an electric brush or a water pic or something to access the nether regions of my food hole?

Still not sure if I'll do the Golden Globes or not . . . but even if I do, don't rely on me for all the best insight. They do pay other people to do it you know . . . you just don't happen to know them personally.

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