I Survived! (A follow up to the 'Nerves' post)

Well, I made it. To those of you who prayed for me, thank you very very much.

Grandma C. came over ten minutes early just as we were finishing up our morning bible reading, and then she helped me get the kids dressed so we could leave when we were supposed to leave. I felt silly needing to be driven because I felt perfectly fine, but it gave me time to chatter my last trepidations away before I actually saw the dentist.

I walked into the dentist office, and the receptionist greeted me with, "Hi, how are you doing?" to which I replied, "slightly terrified, but I sure I shouldn't be." Then she continued, "How are you feeling otherwise? Do you notice the 'drowsy drug'?" "I feel fine." I said "in fact, I felt a little silly needing to have someone drive me." She looked at me a bit quizzically and asked me when I'd taken the medication in discussion. I told her I'd taken it perhaps two minutes later than I should have, but didn't see how that would have been a problem. I had set a timer so I wouldn't get sidetracked and take it terribly late. And the only thing I did after the timer went off before I took the pill, was to wash one more kid face.

The receptionist looked a little puzzled, and repeated everything to the first hygienist that walked by and they decided that I should take the second pill that I was to have brought with me. I did and they said that I should soon be feeling properly woozy. Right. I think Adrenaline had a little wrench wedged in, because the worst effect I had was feeling like my right eye had gone a little lazy. Even though they waited another 20 minutes for pill#2 to kick in, I was perfectly aware of every little thing going on throughout the entire procedure, and I even asked questions when the wedge was removed from my mouth after hand signals weren't working.

This meant that I still felt as if my jaw was being pried apart as they jiggled and wiggled and pried at my teeth. And I could feel a small degree of pain which was not a good thing since I was jumpy enough from surprise noises. They did apply more numbing stuff at one point (probably because I was jumping a little more than usual then), but over all the dentist was really great. He would predict what I might feel or notice, so it wouldn't be too much of a surprise. And that was much appreciated by me because I was really trying to hold still. Although, at the painful parts, even if I could manage to keep my head from moving, my hands were shaking, and I had a little difficulty breathing calmly. But it's over now and at this moment I feel ok - it's just a little painful to swallow and my cheeks are tender to touch.

Right after the appointment I really started to hurt. My jaw ached like crazy, but Grandma C. stopped by my house so I could run in and get the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pills and then we went to her house where she could keep an eye on me for the first hour or so. I even took some Tylenol 3's I'd grabbed when we stopped at home, but I think they were so old they weren't doing any good. The only thing that was even remotely helping was the ice pack. After the first hour in which Grandma C. fed my children lunch, she packed all them all up again, and drove me home where I could be miserable in peace and quiet. She also gave me another type of painkiller that was a lifesaver.

I refilled my ice bag, and after 20 minutes of taking Grandma C's pain medication, I felt like I might be able to possibly go to sleep where I could ignore the rest of the pain. And I did. When I woke up I felt like a different person, but a very hungry different person. So, I grabbed a milkshake and sat down to write this update, and now I'm going to go refill my ice bag again and go back to bed.

All in all, I made it. I survived something I've been terrified of for years and years. But I'm really thankful it's a one time ordeal!!!