January 28, 2005
Memories like the corner of my mouth
Crossing the Rubicon2 is facing a Marathon Man moment. (Or maybe it's a Steve Martin moment from "Little Shop of Horrors.")
I remember my own root canal. It was Chol HaMoed Sukkos - 15 months - ago and I was already uncomfortable due to a persistent cough. I noticed some discomfort in my crowned tooth. The pain wasn't bad but it felt wrong. We were planning to travel to NJ later in the day to visit my in-laws. I really didn't need a complication. Still it didn't feel like it would go away and that it could possibly get worse.
My regular dentist was away so we called her stand-in. Fortunately he was free that morning. So I drove over there and he took a quick look and determined that I needed a root canal. Bummer. Now we'd never get to NJ (and then to NY for the last days of Yom Tov.)
I was fortunate (if that's the word!) the endodontist was free. Almost immediately. (Yippee I get to have a root canal! With no wait!)
The endodontist wasn't far away so I drove myself over there and had my root canal. It's neat that he uses a computer to view the work he's doing. The worst part came when the anesthesia to the area he was working on wore off. That hurt. Ouch! (Poor Dustin Hoffman, I felt your pain.)
When it was over he gave me some drugs. (Drugs are our friends. They make us feel good when we have pain.) I think it was high doses of ibuprofen. I don't remember much of the rest of the day. I know that I drove home from the endodontist. I don't remember if my wife or I drove to NJ (I'm pretty sure my wife did.) And I remember being incredibly groggy at my in-laws. Normally I would have been quietly rooting against the Yankees (my father-in-law and 2 older sons are diehard Yankee fans). Alas That was the game that Grady Little let Pedro stay in a little too long so the Yankees won and went to the World Series.
Oh and Gail thanks for the pictures of those dental instruments. They really brought back such pleasant memories. :-)