Well… My mouth hurts like FUCK, and triple ibuprofens barely help. I still have a high disdain for painkillers, so I got her to give me Darvocet instead of Vicodin. But I’ve still refused to take a full pill… I’ve crushed it and taken smaller portions. I really don’t like the wooziness of painkillers. And I need to be able to drive to the surgery. I took 3 ibuprofen immediately before the Dethklok show last night (which was AWESOME!!!!!!!), and the heat, noise, and crowd gave my mind other things to worry about. I didn’t feel the pain during the show. I didn’t feel it until we (Carolyn, Greg Z, and me) were hanging out outside with Beth B, Wayne H, and Shehab. Anyway, I know from surgery last time that it SUCKS. I was in major pain for a week, and then had nerve attacks for a week after that. Basically, when you scrape a cyst off of a nerve, weird things happen. The nerve attacks were worse than the pain. It was like the prickly feeling you get that DRIVES YOU CRAZY when your leg wakes up from being asleep. Except instead of in your leg, it’s in your teeth. And instead of being over in 30 seconds or so, it goes on for hours. I was literally rubbing paper towels in my teeth non-stop to override the nerve transmissions with actual stimulus. It sucked. I’m hoping that I don’t have to deal with that kind of crap while at X-Day next week, becuase that would really suck. To top it off, Carolyn’s car overheated from having near-zero coolant, and we barely made it to Dethklok at all. We were lucky. My car’s air conditioning is too sub-standard (I’ve been parking in the shade) for a long road trip, and now her car is deemed unreliable. We’re trying to talk a parent into trading cars with us for the week. I could take mine in for repairs, but with the surgery going, I will probably be in no mood for it. We may have to go to Carolyn’s uncle’s this weekend to get HER car looked at. She might just have a slow leak which could be driven as long as we carry extra coolant with us. We should check the levels this week. Judy Tenuta is playing at the Arlington Drafthouse this weekend… I might do that if nothing else is going on, and I can deal with the pain. I definitely need medicine for this pain, but narcotics just don’t really help me with pain. They don’t take my mind off of it. Anyway… This is going to suck. I hope it’s benign (it’s recurring, and they usually are). I might lose the back 2 teeth (the molar’s already gone) which would basically mean a visible gap in my smile with my 0 molars on my bottom left (I think in their numbering system, #18 is gone, and #19 and #20 might die). These 2 teeth already cost me $3500, and it’s all for nothing. The infection may have been due to my first root canal in 1997. I should just pull the fucking things. I like applesauce and hate flossing. Maybe toothlessness is the evolutionary future for mankind. My parents basically have shitloads of bridges, dental implants, jaw surgery, and the like. It runs in the family.
But this pain? It SUCKS. Fortunately I have a high pain threshold. For example, I’m insisting on being awake during the procecure. Well, I’m running late and need to drive there now. They never advised me not to eat, but I haven’t for 12 hours anyway because that is usually the protocol for such procedures. Ugh. Wish me luck. Esp. on the biopsy results.
Mood: in pain
Music: Alec Empire – Kiss Of Death
Claire's blog 
June 27, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Good luck!
June 27, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Ugh, I am so sorry to hear about this. As someone who has her own dental woes, I “feel your pain” (maybe not YOUR pain,but similar pain!). I still need to get a crown on a root canal I had a few months ago but I can’t afford it because I’m almost at my calendar year deductible. Stupid insurance.
BTW, if you’re only getting local anasthetic then you don’t need to worry about fasting before the procedure. I usually get novacaine because, again, I’d have to pay assloads of money to get knocked out and I’d have to worry about someone transporting me, too. I’ve never had much issue except with this last root canal because it had a small infection. I’m all for evolution getting rid of teeth but I’m sure by the time it happens I’ll be long gone.
June 27, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Well, I’m certainly thinking of you! As was said before, you don’t need to worry about eating since you’re doing it with local anesthesia. I just wish there was something you could do to better manage the pain. Hopefully, the antibiotics will shrink any infection, and that will relieve some of the pressure.
Good luck! I’m here if you need me for anything!
June 27, 2008 at 12:37 PM
heh – Clint, for all that money you have you live like a poor person! When was the last time you were at a dentist anyway?? You need to get those 6 month cleanings, even more frequently if you’re not ‘into’ flossing. Enjoy the applesauce (applause?) and good luck with everything…
June 27, 2008 at 12:43 PM
I hadn’t gone to a dentist in 2008 yet. But teeth are genetic; my parents are more or less toothless. They’ve probably spent well over $25,000 on dental stuff in the last 10 years.
If I brush 5 times a day, I lose my tooth enamel and get 1 cavity per month. My spit is more acidic and I create more of it than average, which erodes enamel. And I’m a smoker and a drinker, both aggravating factors. I’m addicted to chewing NON-sugarless gum too — the mint clears my lungs out so I can sleep, breathe, and smoke easier. I’ve had more fillings than teeth, and if I go to the dentist every 6 months, it’s a given that I will probably have at least 2-3 cavities. Every time. But with dental benefits at almost all companies dropping from $1500 to $1250 pretty universally, and the cost of benefits going up — my generation is once again getting screwed by the previous generation. I have to choose my battles, and ignore some problems (like my impacted molar I’ve had for half my life, and I could really use a dental implant or two), so I don’t have to pay out of pocket.
I floss constantly, but mostly on the left side, which is where the problem is!
This really has nothing to do with cleanings.
June 27, 2008 at 12:58 PM
well, i guess we would be more or less “toothless” if it wasn’t for crowns and implants. And yes, I agree with you that genetics play a large part in tooth health. Brushing and flossing can help a great deal, although they only seem to delay the ineitable problems. I do take issue with my generation screwing yours, though–at least on a personal level. I grew up in such poverty that I never (and I mean NEVER) had dental care unless I was in such pain from an abcess that a tooth had to be patched together or pulled.
June 27, 2008 at 1:06 PM
Yea — you also got teeth drilled with no anesthetic whatsoever! That must have totally fucking sucked!
But Mom–you’ve always had issues with separating statements about groups with statements about individuals. Your generation is comprised of many more people than yourself. The biggest way your generation has screwed us is by electing (and being) politicians that have put us into a $120,000 person national debt, which is sending our currency into decline. No currency in history has survived this type of debt. And don’t get me started on freedom issues — The hippies assumed they would win, sat back, and lost. As Hunter S. Thompson said — you can still see the high water line. Their mistake was thinking there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
But I know you guys weren’t hippies either — agian, generalities vs specifics. Muslims are fucking crazy in genearl to me, but my best friend my freshman year in college was a Muslim. Groups and individuals are to be considered differently. My generalities are always pretty harsh, but my individual opinions of people who fall into said groups are usually pretty favorable, as, fortunately, there are still a lot of good people out there.
But you guys did vote for Bush. Twice. 4 times if you count his dad, right?
June 28, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Wow. I’m just catching up on your dental woes. This is terrible. What with the nerve-scraping, teeth-loosing, gap-smiling, and whatnot. I hope things are better now.
On the other hand, I had no idea Dethklok did live performances (cool) and that Judy Tenuta was still around (conflicted feeling about that).
June 28, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Yea, Dethklok has been on tour for a bit. Check out the wiki entry. Brendon Small kicks ass!
I always liked Judy Tenuta. She was on Space Ghost Coast To Coast even!