....While you were sleeping...
00:44 03 November 1997
The tree will not yield. Stubborn, stubborn, It tenaciously clings to the leaf
And the leaf to the tree. It's all they know.
I finally got a good day's sleep, almost eight uninterrupted hours. I still had a really hard time getting up, though... hit the snoozebar thrice. It continues to rain here, with the threat of the precipitation turning to snow sometime during the night. No lasting accumulation is expected, though. It's about 35 degrees F right now, and it will dip to maybe 31 by sun-up, and the high tomorrow (Wednesday) will be 35.
I need to clean my gutters out, they're full of leaves and probably not working very well. I won't be able to do it after I get my tooth out, so it'll have to wait until Thursday AM.
Unlike most previous dental appointments, I'm looking forward to this one. This tooth has been a pain for way too long, and I'm eager to be rid of it. I'm also anticipating some healthy drugs while they are removing it, and more when they are done. Then I will double up on them, and sleep for twenty-four... or maybe thirty-six hours. Then I'll be all better!
I might have to have Karen come get me when I'm done, I'm not really sure what they will use for sedation/anesthesia. Hopefully, I will be able to drive home before I take the heavy-duty drugs. There's a possibility that they will give me gas (not intestinal gas, I hope) and there will be no after-effect with that. I don't know, never having had gas before... a brand-new experience!
Speaking of wisdom teeth, J.D. needs to get his taken out really soon, while my insurance still pays for it... ya listenin', J.D.? Otherwise, it's a hefty chunk of cash...
I am feeling a lot better about my health insurance since I got the supplemental coverage that will let me come to my hospital instead of going over next door. It starts the coverage in January, so I will hold off on anything big until the new year is here...
This has been the second night in a row that I haven't run my ass off, and I'm truly appreciative of that fact. If this rotation had ended up the way it started, I would need the full week to recover. This way, if things go right at the oral surgeons, I should be feeling well by Thursday.
05:34; still not busy, got all of my work done plus everything else that I could find to do. I refuse to say that I'm bored, though.
I think that I will upload this before I get to the dentist, so that if I'm drugged up when I get back, I won't screw it up. I get off at 07:00, it takes ten minutes to get home, then twenty to edit and upload, and ten minutes to get to the office... should work out about right. So... don't expect another entry until tomorrow. If I do add to this, I'll send a note to my reminder list.
Well, shit!
I just got back from the oral surgeons, and the tooth is gone. But I got no laughing gas, no sedation... and no drugs for pain afterwards.
O'well, the damned tooth doesn't hurt any more. It stopped hurting when he injected the local anesthetic. I hadn't realized how much it hurt, I guess I'd gotten used to the pain.
I was afraid that I would be late... my relief, who was supposed to get there at 07:00, didn't show up; so I was stuck there until 07:30. I made a quick run home, brushed my teeth, took the trash out and left. I got there in time, seeing the Doc go in as I was parking.
The procedure itself was not painless... to get leverage, he had to lean on me and stretch my upper lip just a little past its limits. The tooth came out on his second attempt, and it came out all in one piece, and both he and I were thankful for that.
So... all I have to do is replace the gauze pack every 20 minutes for the next hour, and eat soft foods today and then back to normal tomorrow.
I think that I might still sleep the next 24 hours, even without the drugs. It is gently, lightly snowing right now, it's very pleasant to watch out my window. It will not last, though, and I don't really care one way or another.
I'm really glad to have this work rotation over and that damned tooth out!
Gravity, ice and snow try their best to rip the leaf from the tree.