I’m Done! Yes!

I’m done! Complete! Finished!

Well, with my tooth work at least!  I got my crown on earlier in the week and today went back and had them shave it down a little bit.  So far, so good.  I think I may need one more adjustment, but I’m going to take it for a spin for a bit to see if it is just something I have to get used to, or if I do need an adjustment.

You can’t know how happy I am right now.

Pulling out my Happy Tooth right now!!

Of course, now I have to figure out how to pay for it, but that’s for future Kate to worry about.  I’ll be provided for, I always am.

But… and you knew there was a but coming…

Since my work is done, it was time to start on T’s.  His mouth is pretty healthy, a couple of placed to watch; however, I knew he was going to need a root canal.  I got my first one about 17, so the fact that at almost 15 he needs his first one breaks my heart.  We just have weak teeth.  The dentist asked what caused my first root canal – I told her: I sneezed.  The power of the sneeze cracked my tooth in half.

Tuesday we started T’s root canal and today they finished it.  We are just waiting for his crown to be made and he’ll be done.  Fortunately, his root canal was a breeze compared to mine.  He was done in 20 minutes for the first appointment!  His pain was minimum.  He was a trooper!  Today he’s struggling.  They did two appointments at once, so they finished the root canal and prepped the tooth and took impressions – so it was a bit more invasive and his pain level is higher but he is still expected to recover pretty darn quickly.

Lucky him.

And, I was a good mommy.  I took him to Orange Leaf (a DIY frozen yogurt place his grandmother recently introduced him to) and spent $8 for the two of us to get a cup of fro-yo to sooth his mouth.  I’m still reeling over the fact that it’s easily $8-$10 for two frozen yogurts.

Okay, the ones we got were 1/4 this size – I guess this one is like $50 at check out! But, it is super yummy! 

Root Canals Aren’t That Bad!

Never in my life would I expect to utter those words!  I’m not going to lie, today, I really believe it! After the work I’ve had done so far, the root canal was a breeze.  I will tell you that my jaw is very sore, it hurts to talk and yawing about kills me – and I’m running a small fever.  Have no clue why, so I’m chalking it up to stress.

About 20 years ago, I had a root canal done. Well, that is the tooth that a few weeks ago changed my life.  The crown came off, and took the tooth with it.  You know this story.  I had it extracted.  It sucked.  Today was the root canal on the tooth in front of it, in preparation for the permanent bridge.  It wasn’t bad.  If you are squimish about teeth though, do NOT read any further.

My mom called me this morning when she realized that the root canal was today. She goes “Who is taking you?”  Ummm, no one? I’m driving myself.  “You can’t do that.  What time is your appointment?”  10:00 am.  “Well, I can take off and come get you.”  Mom, you really don’t have to, I’m pretty sure I can drive myself.  No, really mom, they would have told me if I couldn’t drive.  (Now, as a side note, my mom does NOT do teeth.  We cannot discuss teeth in front of her.  We can’t show her a loose tooth.  Sometimes, we can’t even smile too big in front of her.  She walks into the dentist office and checks in, goes back to the car, takes a couple of Valium and waits for them to come get her, from her car, cause there is no way she’ll sit in the waiting room.)  Now that you know that, you understand how awesome it was that she offered!  That was like a huge deal for her to offer.  Being the awesome daughter I am, I told her that when the office opened, I’d call them and verify that I could drive.  Which I did.  And they confirmed, I’d just be numb, I’d be fine.

I get there and let them know that after breakfast I did brush and floss… but I had pizza for breakfast, so, uh, don’t judge if you find a random piece of dough.  Then they stick me with those awful needles.  My jaw immediately starts hurting when they jab that needle in there.  But, it’s for a good cause.  I’ll tolerate it.  The Price is Right is on the TV above me, so I have fun watching them bid while the entire left side of my face goes numb.

Not a bad way to pass the time…

Okay.  It’s time to begin.  Whirl, Buzz, Suction… I’m starting to regret not having brought headphones.  Nah, it’s okay.  I am a big girl, I am tough.  OH MY GOD!  My entire body flinched before I even realized that all of the sudden, it really hurt!  The dentist was awesome – before it had even fully registered to me, she was out of my mouth and going “Kate, I’m going to numb you some more.”  Ya think? I was like – yeah, I felt that.

After a very short delay, we were back at it.  Whirl, Buzz, and then a weird vibrating thing happened.  It was odd.  I’m not even going to go there.  But then, then, oh my goodness, then the Dr. goes “Wow, look at your root. Look how big it is!”  Okay, I don’t want to see this, I don’t want to know this, I keep my eyes shut for a reason, but when you say something like that to me — I’M GOING TO LOOK!!!

Y’all, there was my root, just sitting on the drill bit.  And the doc is going on and on about how big it is.  I’m nodding and saying what I think is the appropriate response – all the while I have this inner dialog going “oh my goodness, that is so gross… **shudder**.  Wait, go look again.  Look at that, is it big?  It seems big.  Gross, gross, gross, why is she showing this to me?”  Then, I about die, when she wipes it off the drill bit and onto her finger and puts it right in front of me and states again “Look at how big this is.”  I don’t know if I should be proud or ashamed?!? I mean, is it good?  Is it bad?  I don’t know!!

Fortunately, I was saved from further inner dialog as she got back to work.  Very soon I heard the words “Okay, I just have to finish and close you up.”  Oh thank you Lord.  It’s almost over.  My jaw is killing me.  I’ve just seen parts of my body that I never wanted to see – that I never even thought was possible to see.  I’m feeling very traumatized!!

Before I know it, I’m checking out.  They hand me scripts for the usual antibiotics and pain killers and I’m on my way.  I survived.  I was able to come home and get some work done.  Then I took a small nap, I couldn’t help myself.  I think that the dentist office just makes me sleepy.  That or the pain pills!

True to course, my dad called a bit ago to make sure I had food and see how I was feeling.  I was prepared this time!  I didn’t need him to bring me anything, which made me feel good about myself! Of course, as we all know, third time is a charm, because for the first 2 dental issues, I did have to have dad bring me food!  I’m a slow learner sometimes, what can I say? 🙂

So yeah, that happened, I saw the root that was removed from my tooth.  That is an image I will never forget.  Ever.

Mashed Potato Sandwiches

I know, I know, you are all tired of my drama when it comes to my teeth.  Well, I don’t care.  It is the most interesting thing happening in my life right now so suck it up and sit through one more post about it! I mean: Please sit through this with me!

I had the unplanned tooth extraction on Tuesday.  Half way through the dentist stops and goes “Kate, I’m having some difficulty with this.”  Due to my TMJ, my jaw is slightly misshapen and the roots of my teeth don’t go straight down, they take a jog in there.  Now, I had been praying through this entire procedure; however, at this point, I stepped up the prayers to non-stop.  I was carrying on a conversation with God that was pretty much “Please help her get this done, please be with her, please let her get this out, pretty please let this work!”

She kept working on the extraction.  Then, about ¾ of the way through she stopped again.  “Kate, we need to take an x-ray, I’m struggling to get this last little bit out.  If I can’t get it, I’ll have to send you to a surgeon.”

Not going to lie, at hearing this, my eyes filled with tears.  I can’t impart to you how much I really didn’t want to go see an oral surgeon.  I mean, really, REALLY didn’t want to go.  My prayers turned to the promise stage “Lord, I’ll do whatever you want me to, just let her get this out.  Am I currently too obsessed with the TV show Supernatural?  Okay, fine, I’ll stop watching it – just let her get this out.  You want my first born?  Okay, fine, just let her get this tooth out.”  (I don’t think I really offered up Mr. T, but, I might have!! It’s pretty much a blur…)

Next thing I knew, she was stitching me up!!  This one wouldn’t heal on its own, but she managed to get it out.  I also needed to have a script for antibiotics, since the work had been so invasive.  I had filled my script for pain pills last week, but ran to Wal-Mart for some penicillin.  The wait is 45 minutes.  I sat on the bench and did my best to survive.  It was done in 10 minutes!  Massive blessings!

Heaven in a cup!

I went home and curled up on the couch.  I texted my dad and told him that I did need him to pick up Mr. T that night and would he please grab me a chocolate shake? Not only did he bring me a shake, but he brought me mashed potatoes and gravy.  Oh my goodness.  Best meal ever.  I made it about half way through the mashed potatoes and gravy and then put them in the fridge.  I had been starving, but didn’t really have anything at the house I could eat, so this was a life saver. (Yes, I had been to Target that morning and yes, I just completely spaced the fact that I needed food I could actually eat…but I did remember to pick up The Hobbit for T’s Easter gift and a couple of chocolate bunnies for us! Priorities you know!)

The next morning I was working from the couch and got hungry.  I knew I only had half of a serving of potatoes left… and it had to last me breakfast and lunch.  So, I did what anyone would do.  I grabbed a couple of slices of bread to go with it!  I got my spoon and smeared a bit of potatoes on the bread and took a bite.  It was perfect.  It was just the right size for my mouth to handle, and soft enough that I could eat it.

Best thing since sliced bread!

I had my own little mashed potato and gravy sandwich.  It was Heaven – and so good that I went ahead and had it again for lunch!

For the record, today I’m doing so much better.  I am still slightly swollen and I ache, but overall, I feel that I’m on the road to recovery!   She did chip the tooth next to it as she was working, but I have to have a root canal on that one in three weeks, so I’m not worried!

But, you know what I really want?  Some crack.  How soon till I can eat that you think?

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!

I know I just blogged yesterday and I hate to flood your in-box or your reader with too many postings, but dude…you can’t make up the stuff that happens in my life. I have to start from Monday night. 

I was just uncomfortable, so I announced that I had to take my bra off.  Yes, I make random announcements like that.  Mr. T responded that he didn’t have that problem, but “I know how to take one off of a girl with one hand.”  After a momentary pause, I just looked at him and said “I don’t need to know things like that, I really don’t” and then continued on my way. 

Tuesday we got up, I took Mr. T to school early for math, came home and worked for a few hours, left for a lunch meeting with Nacho.  We went to Macaroni Grill, and, I’ve never really been impressed by that place.  I was impressed that while they had white linen napkins as standard, they did have a black napkin available when I asked (because when you are wearing black slacks, you don’t want all of the lint from the white napkin).  The food was okay, but the company was exceptional.  So, I was happy. 

Tuesday afternoon I had a dental appointment.  I was having a tooth extracted.  Several dentists told me that it would be okay and extraction was my best option.  Okay, no problem.  I can do this.  As much as I hate work being done in my mouth, I’ve been told this is all standard.  Being a single mom, I am use to having stuff done and having to continue on with my day.  I did not make other arrangements. 

My tooth was not near as happy as this tooth is…

I sit in the chair; they want to take more x-rays, because something doesn’t look right.  Whatever.  Are you sure you can’t use the ones that my dentist sent over? Why, yes you can.  Good.  Let’s get this thing started.  Now, my phone has been quiet all day long.  Until they started working in my mouth and then it blew up.  I’m telling you, my pocket was vibrating almost the entire time I was in the chair. 

I will admit that the team did a great job.  They really did a wonderful job.  It’s not their fault that my tooth was up in my sinus cavity (not sure how that is possible).  But they sat my chair up and I told them that my phone was blowing up during the procedure.  They laughed and told me that they noticed!  We went over my post-op do’s and don’ts and I said I needed to just sit here for a minute.  I took my phone out and noticed a call and voice mail from my boss (that can wait) and two calls from my mom along with a text from her “Answer your phone” (that can’t wait).

Now, it drives my mom nuts that my phone is always attached to me, but man, when I don’t answer her calls she tends to get testy.  She tends to call back over and over until I answer.  For example, when I’m on the phone and she beeps in and I silence her – she calls right back – which makes me think something, is wrong.  When I didn’t answer and she sent me the “Answer your phone” text, I assume something is wrong.  I stepped away and called my mom.  And, this has to have been one of our best conversations. 

My phone was not as happy during this conversation as this phone apparently is…

Mom: I’m reading your sister’s poem

Me: Okay (speaking through a clenched jaw, cause I have to hold the gauze in place)

Mom: Have you read it yet?

Me: No, I was having a tooth pulled.

Mom: Is there something you know about her that I don’t?

Me: No

Mom: Have you read the poem? Well, I guess if you were having a tooth pulled you probably haven’t read it yet…

Me: No, not yet.  So, is she suicidal or pregnant?  (I was literally reaching for the two worst things in the world that I could come up with)

(Pause)

Mom: pregnant

(Bigger pause)

Me:  I gotta go pay for this and read my emails.  I’ll call you back.

I paid my bill – which was the high end of the estimate due to the extra work – and went to Walgreens to turn in my script for pain meds.  I sat down and pulled up my emails.  Found the poem from my sister announcing that she’s pregnant – 6 months along to be exact – I had to have my friend Erica do the math for me.  I just couldn’t think straight. 

It was time to call my mom back.  We talked a bit.  I got home.  Took a pain pill, changed my gauze, texted those I needed to and then called my dad.  We talked a bit and at the end of the conversation he offered to go pick Mr. T up for me.  What a blessing.  Mom called to check on me and asked about food… I told her there were left overs for Mr. T and I just wasn’t going to eat.  She said I needed a chocolate malt and she’d call dad and have him pick me up one when he got Mr. T.  Okay, that was pretty darn awesome.  I’m glad mom made me have one and I’m so glad dad picked it up.  That was the perfect dinner. 

Best dinner ever

Let’s recap:

• My 14 year old can undo a bra with one hand,
• I had a tooth extracted and am in considerable pain
• My sister is pregnant. 

It is now 24 hours later and I’m exhausted, and taking my bra off again.  The wire is poking out, so on top of everything, my bra is broke.  Go figure. 

Yes, all of that just happened, and all in a 24 hour period.  I told you that you couldn’t make up the stuff that happens in my life! 

 (As an extra note – I took my brother Lee to his cardiologist appointment today.  Said he is looking and doing good.  We are in a holding pattern, not changing anything, waiting for his surgery to implant his defibrillator in April. It was a very positive appointment and they said that Lee is doing great.)