Crazy But Able

So on Tuesday I went to the dentist. Dentist says “Ah, yes, good work on brushing your teeth and flossing, your gums are healthy, but it looks like you’ve got two cracked fillings we’ll have to fill, and one new cavity as well.” Oh, joy.

Today I went and got my cavities re-drilled and filled. I was quite nervous about it and asked for some laughing gas this time because last time it actually hurt quite a bit despite the novocaine. I went in with only a digital music player (this was before I bought the iPod) and my camera to hold in my hand (more on which later).

Let me tell you something: that gas works. By the time he started drilling I couldn’t have cared less. “Wheee… it’s like a tone generator!” I thought as I heard the drill whine up and down in pitch. Occasionally he’d really grind on something and I’d just be like “Huh. That should have hurt.”

I really just wanted to fall asleep but I knew I was supposed to keep my mouth open so I concentrated really hard on doing that. Also, it’s a real bummer because they only give you the gas for a little while, then they switch you over to oxygen and the buzz starts wearing off. I was inhaling deeply (whenever I remembered) to try to maximize my buzz, but I didn’t know they shut off the flow after a few minutes!

All throughout the drilling and filling I kept getting into this argument with myself about taking pictures. See, I wanted to take some pictures like I did last time (because my camera is familiar in my hands and fiddling with it keeps me calm) but once the nitrous hit my system it was hard to remember that I cared about the camera at all. Finally my addled brain reasoned thus: “Man, I know taking pictures right now is a real bummer, but if I don’t, then John is going to be really disappointed with me when he wakes up. So I’d better get a couple to placate him.”

I have some pictures on my camera. Who knows what they look like? The last time I saw them I was still hopped up on nitrous so I forget if any of them are good or not. And, of course, once the novocaine wore off, it felt like someone hit my head with a baseball bat; now I’m in too much pain to go downstairs and check.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 4th, 2006 at 9:50 pm and is filed under health care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.