A medium molehill, my friends did a mountain

Dentist, me, technician

I felt very safe in the hands of my dentist office, with plenty of delightful ways to keep myself from paying too much attention to what was going on. I opted for nitrous oxide, which is giving me a big grey nose, sunglasses, and prior to coming here today, I took 2mg of Ativan for anxiety. I was feeling pretty woozy under the influence of Ativan and don't know if I'd take it again. I walk like a drunken sailor, wobbly and with no ability to walk in a straight line. Now, four hours later,  I am feeling it beginning to wear off, and I'm grateful.

The nitrous oxide was another thing entirely. I liked it from the first moment I sniffed in some oxygen-laced nitrous and felt it made the entire event much less traumatic. The plan was to remove a 40-year-old crown from a back molar and remove the entire tooth, which had developed some serious periodontal disease. Unfortunately, this old friend didn't go easily: the tooth had to be separated into two parts in order to remove it completely. It's now gone into the dustbin of history, or whatever else you do with old teeth.

I was given a picture of my mouth, sans tooth, as you can see here. The white part on the left is the crown that covered the tooth, and you can see its neighbor in both pictures. At the moment I am keeping a saturated cotton on the cavity, and I'm hoping that recovery will be straight forward. Little by little I'm regaining sensitivity in my lower lip and cheek, but it will be awhile before I'll know how much residual pain I'll have. It should be minimal.

Left picture, two teeth; right, only one

And all the while I'm sitting here in my lazy chair, feeling my mouth come back to normal, the Senior Trailblazers are all out on Raptor Ridge, enjoying magnificent weather and lots of mileage and elevation gain. If I feel better by mid-afternoon, I'll go for a walk myself, but right now I am just being lazy.

The crowd on Raptor Ridge

I think I'll go for at least a short walk, since the weather is really calling to me. I don't have to go far, just enough to wash all the drugs out of my system!

:-)

Mellow Wednesday

Okay, it's not ALL been as mellow as this picture indicates. This was taken this morning at Avelino's of me having my usual morning latte. Robert, Leo's dad, took it with my camera. Our usual coffee klatsch has been missing a few components, since my fisherman friend Gene was in Alaska for a few months on his usual summer fishing expedition. It's been a while since I saw him and his 22-year-old parrot, but now they're back.

Four eyes, sort of

I almost didn't use this picture because of the alien looking over Gene's shoulder. It's interesting to me how, when framing a picture, the background doesn't always come into your awareness, but when you look at it later, amazing features appear. I think it's a billboard, but I don't remember seeing it at all!

Little Leo ran over to me as soon as I came in, with a book about farm animals, which we read together. He brings me such joy, and I realize that had I been blessed with grandchildren, I would have been a doting granny. As it is, I get to enjoy Leo and my grand-niece Lexie, as well as the grandchildren of my blogging family. I sometimes gaze at the little ones and remember what it was like to have a two-year-old myself. The nice thing about enjoying them as I do: there is no responsibility for their care. Just loving them and watching their progress.

I took off at 8:45am and headed to the YMCA for my hour class, then swam a quarter mile. I learned that the pool will be closed for two weeks beginning next weekend. In previous years, it didn't matter to me at all, but now I'll miss those swims. Then, after catching the bus back home and joking with the driver, I had a nice lunch.

And then I got to go to the dentist to get my permanent crown placed. I told Olivia (my dentist) how so many of my blogging friends reminded me to hang onto her, since she was so helpful that Thursday when I only had a few minutes to get to the office to have the temporary crown adjusted. (She was pleased.) I'm now sitting at my computer, thinking about my day, and after downloading this morning's pictures figured I'd write a short little post. I am realizing that, all things considered, my life is full of varied activities. Tomorrow is the usual Thursday hike; last Sunday I got to make four skydives (all of which were good), and the weather is looking promising for this coming weekend.

Yep, not much to complain about right now.
:-)

Exceptional flowers

What makes a flower picture really exceptional? The Retired One (whose May contest I won) has challenged us to enter her June contest on "Flowers." Well, that's a tall order, when I realize that a flower all by itself is beautiful, and a photographer can find all kinds of reasons for thinking that her picture is exceptional. I took this one when the flowers I set out to attract hummingbirds came out, and I think it's pretty exceptional, but there are so many others that are even more attractive.

You can always hope for a brilliant insect to land on a flower, adding a certain other dimension to the picture, and what could make this beautiful white Canterbury Bell more exceptional that the addition of a green-hued insect? (Click any to appreciate fully.)

Yesterday while walking to the dentist's office, I spied these beautiful California poppies. They helped me remember all the times I saw them previously and immediately made my feel good. Of course, getting to the dentist's office was not something I was looking forward to, no matter how much I might love my dentist, and I was glad to snap a picture of these orange beauties.

Now that it's been a day since the dentist put that permanent crown on, I'm still hoping that the sensitivity I'm feeling will dissipate. After all, I didn't have it with the temporary, and after all that pushing and pulling I am hoping that is the reason for the continuing sensitivity. Having dental work is not that different from other kinds of pain: once I have it and it goes away, I can't remember when I had the pain before. Is that normal? I'm not talking hot and cold sensitivity but a mild ache when I bite down on foods.

I'm hoping that life is treating all of you well today, and that summer is taking ahold in your part of the world and making the wonders of the season available to you. Finally summer seems to have arrived in the Pacific Northwest, as we had our first day over 75 degrees on Wednesday. It had been a full nine months!
:-)

My dental team

 

 Well, instead of joining the Senior Trailblazers today to head up Church Mountain, I went to the dentist's office to get my permanent crown. If I didn't do it today, a Thursday, I would have to wait until July 7 while my dental team heads off for vacation. That just didn't seem like a good option, so instead of Church I went to visit Dr. Olivia Collier and her excellent team. Say hello to Dr. Collier with my entire dental array on her right (click to enlarge). Here's a link to their website with more about Olivia and her business partner Jon.

Nicole, her assistant, made my temporary and lodged it into my mouth so well that Olivia had to numb me up and cut it off!!! I had never experienced anything like this before, and it was such a beautiful temporary (before being cut into pieces) that I suppose it would have lasted just fine until July 7, but now it's all over. Nicole said this is the second time this week that all the pulling and pushing in the world would not get the temporary to come out. And there I was flossing gently and carefully! I don't think it would have made any difference if I had treated it like a regular tooth.

This is C.J., the receptionist, and Employee Extraordinaire. Olivia said that C.J. was her only other employee for years, and she was a dental assistant before becoming the bookkeeper and receptionist, and when my temporary needed a little adjustment, she shaved it off to fit! Since I don't have dental insurance and I am paying the whole thing myself, I wanted to have the best care available. I think I found it.

Even though going to the dentist is not my favorite thing to do, I am pleased to know that I am in good hands when I visit my dental team.
:-)