But mama, that's where the fun is

Flying on nitrous is worth the price of admission.

If anyone reading this has never had N2O during a dental procedure, I highly recommend it. Most people request it if a shot of Novocain is needed because they are afraid of needles. To be honest, Novocain shots have never bothered me. Not sure why. What bothers me most about dental visits is the scraping and spraying of cold water. So during one particularly anxious visit about 5 years ago, the dentist asked if I would like gas to help me relax. Well hell yeah. It was never offered to me before, and I always felt like a strung out junkie asking for it, so I never did. Now….I always ask. No matter what is being done.

Within about 30 seconds of breathing the mix I started to get that tingly feeling in my legs and arms. After 5 minutes, I was gone. I could hear the doc and assistant talking, but I had no idea what they were saying. Nor did I care. I could feel him working in my mouth, but my body felt like it was a million miles away. I started to get a bit sleepy and couldn’t keep my eyes open. As soon as I shut them, I started spinning and flying around the room. It’s amazing how your mind works during this. I thought of so many profound things – and I planned to write about them in here. But of course now I can’t remember a damn thing. It feels like being in a centrifuge….spinning spinning spinning. Every once in awhile I would open my eyes to look up at the doc (he couldn’t see my eyes though because he made me wear these groovy sunglasses) and the spinning stopped when I opened my eyes. So I kept them shut. It was hard to keep them open anyway….I was sooooooooooooo sleepy.

I’m not sure how long the procedure took, but I knew the very second he switched from N2O-O2 to pure O2. It’s over? I want more! No not really, my jaw was pretty sore. It did turn out to be tooth #15 that was bad. #15 is in the very back of my extremely tiny mouth. So there was quite a bit of jaw stretching. Ouch.

Turns out, when I had the original root canal back 1998 or so (sans gas) they missed a canal. That canal then became infected. It was apparently very hard to find, he told me he almost gave up looking for it. He eventually found it and filled it. I have to go back to my regular dentist in 2 weeks to get a permanent filling. They just went through my existing crown, so I don’t have to worry about getting a new one or the expense of a new one.

My mother insisted on going with me this morning. She should have driven because I was still very light-headed when I left the office. I really don’t remember how I got home. She also insisted on paying for it. (I didn’t let her) I can manage $80 a month for a year interest free and get it paid off. At least it’s over with and I can dive without worry. (about teeth anyway)

I have been lazing around doing nothing all day. I really don’t have any pain. I took 3 ibuprofen when I got home 7 hours ago. I have not taken any more, and I won’t unless it starts hurting. I have not been too happy about putting all these drugs into my system lately.