It's nearly 9:00 pm and I'm happy to report, I'm feeling much, much better than I'd expected: I'm sitting in the tv room, watching the game and thinking about dinner. What a difference from the last time!

The dentist (oral surgeon, technically) I had this morning was by. far. the best I've had. Before the surgery, he sat with me in the waiting room and described the entire procedure, down to "and then I'm going to recline your chair and we'll put a blood pressure indicator on you, then we'll place a pulse monitor on your finger tip..." He was the nicest, most understanding dentist. He even called me from his cell later in the afternoon to see how I was doing. "You don't have to wait until your post-op appointment Thursday if you have any questions; just call me, any time up until about 10:00 pm. And don't forget - a towel on your pillow tonight."
    
I don't remember much of the half hour after the procedure. Last time (May 2007) I woke up immediately sick and puked before leaving the chair. I was sick for days. The unending nausea and trying to suppress it was worse than the mouth pain.

I don't remember going to a recovery room this morning, but I know I sat in one for a little bit. At some point I asked to see the teeth (why??) but I was told they were "long gone." Tooth Fairy works fast, I guess! The dental techs helped me to the car, helped me recline the seat, and there I slept until Shawn's wife (a sweetheart who I only met this morning! Long story...) pulled the car onto my street. She took me to CVS to fill the prescription and offered to wait, but I wasn't feeling that bad so I told her I was ok, I'd pick it up later. I'm going to put a thank you card in the mail for her tomorrow.

Once inside the house, I changed my gauze (gross) and climbed into bed. When I woke up four hours later and got up for a drink, I could feel the raw metallic jangle of pain beginning in my lower jaw (the worse of the two extractions). Not wanting to wait until it was too bad to manage, I drove back to CVS to get my four prescriptions: one for swelling, one for infection, and two for pain - Tylenol 800mg and Oxycodone.

I have an uneasy relationship with pain medication. Thankfully I've only been prescribed it a few times, but generally I do not do well with anything stronger than the 800mg Tylenol. Part of the reason I was so sick with the last tooth was the Oxycodone, I think. I follow the dosing schedule but I always, always get massively sick. Last time Theseus suggested we cut the pills into quarters, which worked much better, but then I had to deal with a little more pain.

I'm glad this time I got both: I got home from CVS and took a Tylenol
 and 1/4 of an Oxycodone. It's now 9:30 pm, the Novocaine is completely gone, but I'm doing alright. I will have to remember this combination if I ever have to have surgery again (hopefully not!!).

So after the pain subsided, my jaw simply felt filled with cement. I took another short nap, then had some of the crazy-good ice "cream" I got at Whole Foods. It's non-dairy, coconut milk-based, and all I can say is WOW!! Even if you aren't a vegetarian/vegan, you seriously have to try it: Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss. It is a little more expensive than regular ice cream but it more than makes up for it in deliciousness. I got Pineapple Coconut, but they have a bunch of other tasty-sounding flavors, like Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, Mint Galactica, Cherry Amaretto, and Strawberry Lemon Love, which will be discontinuted soon, according to the website. I just friended them on Facebook. I'm officially obsessed.

Clearly this new dessert could be its own post, so I'll try to get back on topic here: tooth(less).

...Actually that's pretty much it. I'm going to try to have soup before bed, then we'll see how tomorrow goes. The kindly dentist cautioned me that tomorrow will be the worst day but if today is any indication, I don't have anything to be worried about. I may even try to mow the lawn.

Who am I kidding. I'm not going to mow the lawn tomorrow.

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A bright spot in my otherwise lonely evenings: watching a third Red Sox game in row! First two I watched were against the Phillies in an interleague series - we'd lost the first game, which for some reason wasn't broadcasted, but the next two of the series were and we won!

And now tonight we're playing the current AL East leader (and MLB leader, for that matter), Tampa Bay. I don't want to jinx anything, but let's just say I'm smiling so far.

-Antiope




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