January 12, 2015

Monday Morning at the Dentist

January 12, 2015

The bright spot in my Monday morning

Monday mornings can be hard for many of us.  Monday morning after keeping the grandchildren for the weekend can be hard.  Any morning at the dentist can be hard.  I combined all of those and it went pretty well.  My dentist that I have had for 30+ years is gradually retiring and taking only minor cases to deal with.  His son is gradually taking on those patients in addition to his own.  They work well as a team.  The dad did the deadening for the tooth extraction I needed.  The son did the extraction.  They are both happy, friendly men and do their best to put the patient at ease.

 I was dreading this procedure.  The only time I have had teeth pulled as an adult was the extraction of my 4 wisdom teeth all in one appointment over 45 years ago.  It was painless, but recovery had been difficult and the bruising down my neck had been extensive.  This was an upper tooth and could not have taken over a minute or two.  It was painless and soundless.  As he got ready to do the extraction, he told me what would happen.  He explained the noises I would hear, the pushing I would feel, etc.   I told him I was taking off my Cochlear sound processor and if he needed to tell me anything, he should do it before I took it off.  He said that wasn't fair.  A visit the the dentist when you can't hear what is being done, is easier than listening.

Before the visit I had taken a Valium that he prescribed at my request, so I was sleepy and relaxed.  Of course following my weekend, I was sleepy anyway.  They had said to have someone drive me to the appointment and Ron did that.  We were there at 8:00 a.m. and it did not seem long at all before we were leaving with a list of instructions.

A Great Egret that has been hanging out in the back yard recently

Once we got home, Ron filled the bird feeders so I could enjoy watching them and then once he got me settled in, he left for work and I got in the recliner as per the dentist's instructions and was soon sleeping soundly for four hours.  The birds ended up not coming to entertain me, until very late in the afternoon.

After I got up, I fixed a little lunch and sat down at the puzzle we had started over the weekend.  The above photo shows were it was when I started and below is the end of the day.  I spent most of the afternoon working on it and now down to the hard stuff.

There has been no real pain - a little discomfort, but a lot of fuzzy brain.  Ron was late getting home and once he arrived with my requested KFC chicken pot pie, I ate supper and spent a little while reading before falling asleep about 8:00.

Back to work tomorrow!