root canal + christian time.
today i went to an endotontist in pinole and had a root canal.
in the beginning of august, i got a filling. a few days later, i went back because i was experiencing major sensitivity to hot and cold stuff. they checked the filling, said it was still good & in there, and asked if i was sure i had been sensitive to heat. i only remembered being sensitive to ice cream and an apple, so i said no. a week or so after THAT, i was eating pizza at my favorite restaurant in the world, tomosso's, and i caught myself chewing with the right side of my mouth. i checked, and yup, i was sensitive to heat. i had an appointment on the 31st of august for another filling, at which time i told them about my heat sensitivity. they said it was totally not good, that it meant the filling was too close to the nerve, and that i needed to see a specialist, who has an office conveniently located in the same complex.
within 15 minutes, i got to my dentist, asked him about the sensitivity, learned that i needed a root canal, and went to the office and scheduled the appointment for a week later.
it was intense. this morning, i went in, got x-rays taken, spoke with the assistant, spoke in-depth with the endodontic surgeon, learned that i had an abnormally large nerve under that abnormally deep cavity and that they were gonna cut that mothafucka out. after this discussion, i had been asked twice if i needed nitrous oxide, and turned it down both times. but while i was chilling in that dentist chair, waiting for the lydocaine to make the left side of my face completely numb, i thought to myself: "wait a minute. you're a stoner. you're about to be in a dentist's chair with your mouth open for like two hours. you want to be high for this." so i went to the front desk [since i had been left alone waiting for the numbness to come] and said...well, i half-mumbled, since the lydocaine had in fact kicked in at that point, and the left half of my top lip was wriggling around freely, effectively making me sound like a 40-year-old alcoholic on a bender....but they're used to this sort of drooling displays of patheticism, so i said, "i don't know if it's appropriate for me to be out of that room, but...could i have that nitrous after all?"
between my deep, deep lungfulls of nitrous oxide, shots of lydocaine in both the inside and outside of my gums in the area, an ipod shuffling a "dentist's chair" mix, and my calm resolve about the situation, i was good for the first two hours of the procedure. at about that point, however, i suddenly became aware of a very dull, non-centralized, but very noticeable pain in the area being worked on, and raised my hand. communicating was kind of a bitch, because they weren't eager to take out all the shit that was in my mouth [a huge plastic bag with a hole through which they could see just the one tooth, a spit drain, some metal hook shit, and a bite guard, among other things]. i told them of my pain, so they shot me up again in the inside of the gum and left me to wait for it to activate again.
during that period of waiting, i began to get somewhat panicked. my tooth was throbbing and aching horribly, and it hurt a hundred times worse while they were operating. plus, i had this chemically sting in the back of my nose and throat that was similar to the way you feel if you take a big whiff of bleach. i freaked out for a minute, realizing that my gums were not getting any number, and told the assistant that i could feel pain when i tapped my toungue against the tooth. i also noted that it felt very "open." i could tell that my tooth was at that point just an empty tooth case with no filling and no nerve. it was gross and it ached.
i forced myself to snap out of it, knowing that the only way i could avoid having this shitty feeling in my tooth forever was to finish the damn procedure, at any cost. i switched my ipod to al green's greatest hits, right as the doctor came back in, and told me that she was going to shoot me up [and did; she gave me another four or five fucking shots, none of which really seemed to do much]. she said she was going to take some x-rays, and if all looked well, all they had left to do was to fill up the tooth. she said i would feel pressure when she pressed it into place. yeah, i won't get into greusome specifics, but that last half hour, my hands pretty much stayed clenched to the armrests of the chair. it fucking HUUUURRRRT. there's a reason root canals are generally the default go-to joke when you want to talk about painful dental experiences. it was like when i got my vertical labret; i wasn't really crying, but my body was sort of in shock, and i was squeezing my eyelids so tight that tears were actually running down my cheeks and neck. boo-boo.
when it was all done, i was like, "you're giving me a prescription for pain killers, right?" and the assistant, bless her heart, replied: "do you prefer vicoden or codeine?" [shit, BOTH.] i said it didn't matter, just whatever would make me not feel the way i was feeling right then. after pacing around, rinsing, and signing some shit, i went outside and was picked up by my brother.
the chemical burny smell thing has persisted all day. somehow, some of that shit got into my mucous. for the first couple hours after the procedure, my mucous was hella watery and smelled like bleach. it's still got that smell and it's now been almost 12 hours since my tooth was done.
i still have to go back to my dentist and get the cap, but i might have to wait till next year, because after this nice little $1300 gift to myself, my insurance doesn't have much more skrilla on it. i hope my tooth is okay!
_________________________________________
a few hours and one vicoden later, christian and rene picked me up to smoke a bowl. we smoked two, then came back to my house, where we enjoyed some tivo'ed episodes of project runway. rene had to go to some classes in the evening, and that left christian and i to venture out into the world alone. being christian and patrick, we ended up getting 32's of the champagne of beers, and going out to point pinole, right by the west contra costa detention facility. despite the jail being right behind us, we made our way down to the waterfront, and posted in a secuded spot facing directly towards where the sun was setting. we talked about a ton of shit, from the sorry state of [most genres of] music in 2006, to his trip to argentina, to the unchanging sphere that is santa cruz. we must've been there for a while, because the sun had set by the time we left.
we accumulated kenny, christyal, stacey, and rene, procured some weed, and made the trek out to stacey's apartment in the piedmont/montclaire corner of oakland. [one unpleasant byproduct of living with one's parents is not having anywhere safe and comfortable to hang out, listen to your own damn music, and smoke or drink a lil bit and relax.] stacey gave me the juggy jugg on some sweet pasta con zucchini, onion, basil, and tomato, which was easy to chew and completely what i wanted, and we smoked two blunts and two bowls over the course of the evening.
i don't think i act like most root canal outpatients, but hey--when rene and christian picked me up, i had taken a vicoden and not felt any relief. between those bowls, the beer, and the weed we smoked later, i didn't feel the need to take vicoden at all, and still haven't.
patrick's recommended download of the day: hella: hoes in the house. it's kinda crazy listening to music this noisy drowning out the hum of a dental drill inside your mouth, but in its own way, it's beautiful, and in its own way, it really relaxed me.
resolution of the day: to floss constantly, forever, and do as much as i can to prevent myself from ever having to do that again.
heart
patrick
in the beginning of august, i got a filling. a few days later, i went back because i was experiencing major sensitivity to hot and cold stuff. they checked the filling, said it was still good & in there, and asked if i was sure i had been sensitive to heat. i only remembered being sensitive to ice cream and an apple, so i said no. a week or so after THAT, i was eating pizza at my favorite restaurant in the world, tomosso's, and i caught myself chewing with the right side of my mouth. i checked, and yup, i was sensitive to heat. i had an appointment on the 31st of august for another filling, at which time i told them about my heat sensitivity. they said it was totally not good, that it meant the filling was too close to the nerve, and that i needed to see a specialist, who has an office conveniently located in the same complex.
within 15 minutes, i got to my dentist, asked him about the sensitivity, learned that i needed a root canal, and went to the office and scheduled the appointment for a week later.
it was intense. this morning, i went in, got x-rays taken, spoke with the assistant, spoke in-depth with the endodontic surgeon, learned that i had an abnormally large nerve under that abnormally deep cavity and that they were gonna cut that mothafucka out. after this discussion, i had been asked twice if i needed nitrous oxide, and turned it down both times. but while i was chilling in that dentist chair, waiting for the lydocaine to make the left side of my face completely numb, i thought to myself: "wait a minute. you're a stoner. you're about to be in a dentist's chair with your mouth open for like two hours. you want to be high for this." so i went to the front desk [since i had been left alone waiting for the numbness to come] and said...well, i half-mumbled, since the lydocaine had in fact kicked in at that point, and the left half of my top lip was wriggling around freely, effectively making me sound like a 40-year-old alcoholic on a bender....but they're used to this sort of drooling displays of patheticism, so i said, "i don't know if it's appropriate for me to be out of that room, but...could i have that nitrous after all?"
between my deep, deep lungfulls of nitrous oxide, shots of lydocaine in both the inside and outside of my gums in the area, an ipod shuffling a "dentist's chair" mix, and my calm resolve about the situation, i was good for the first two hours of the procedure. at about that point, however, i suddenly became aware of a very dull, non-centralized, but very noticeable pain in the area being worked on, and raised my hand. communicating was kind of a bitch, because they weren't eager to take out all the shit that was in my mouth [a huge plastic bag with a hole through which they could see just the one tooth, a spit drain, some metal hook shit, and a bite guard, among other things]. i told them of my pain, so they shot me up again in the inside of the gum and left me to wait for it to activate again.
during that period of waiting, i began to get somewhat panicked. my tooth was throbbing and aching horribly, and it hurt a hundred times worse while they were operating. plus, i had this chemically sting in the back of my nose and throat that was similar to the way you feel if you take a big whiff of bleach. i freaked out for a minute, realizing that my gums were not getting any number, and told the assistant that i could feel pain when i tapped my toungue against the tooth. i also noted that it felt very "open." i could tell that my tooth was at that point just an empty tooth case with no filling and no nerve. it was gross and it ached.
i forced myself to snap out of it, knowing that the only way i could avoid having this shitty feeling in my tooth forever was to finish the damn procedure, at any cost. i switched my ipod to al green's greatest hits, right as the doctor came back in, and told me that she was going to shoot me up [and did; she gave me another four or five fucking shots, none of which really seemed to do much]. she said she was going to take some x-rays, and if all looked well, all they had left to do was to fill up the tooth. she said i would feel pressure when she pressed it into place. yeah, i won't get into greusome specifics, but that last half hour, my hands pretty much stayed clenched to the armrests of the chair. it fucking HUUUURRRRT. there's a reason root canals are generally the default go-to joke when you want to talk about painful dental experiences. it was like when i got my vertical labret; i wasn't really crying, but my body was sort of in shock, and i was squeezing my eyelids so tight that tears were actually running down my cheeks and neck. boo-boo.
when it was all done, i was like, "you're giving me a prescription for pain killers, right?" and the assistant, bless her heart, replied: "do you prefer vicoden or codeine?" [shit, BOTH.] i said it didn't matter, just whatever would make me not feel the way i was feeling right then. after pacing around, rinsing, and signing some shit, i went outside and was picked up by my brother.
the chemical burny smell thing has persisted all day. somehow, some of that shit got into my mucous. for the first couple hours after the procedure, my mucous was hella watery and smelled like bleach. it's still got that smell and it's now been almost 12 hours since my tooth was done.
i still have to go back to my dentist and get the cap, but i might have to wait till next year, because after this nice little $1300 gift to myself, my insurance doesn't have much more skrilla on it. i hope my tooth is okay!
_________________________________________
a few hours and one vicoden later, christian and rene picked me up to smoke a bowl. we smoked two, then came back to my house, where we enjoyed some tivo'ed episodes of project runway. rene had to go to some classes in the evening, and that left christian and i to venture out into the world alone. being christian and patrick, we ended up getting 32's of the champagne of beers, and going out to point pinole, right by the west contra costa detention facility. despite the jail being right behind us, we made our way down to the waterfront, and posted in a secuded spot facing directly towards where the sun was setting. we talked about a ton of shit, from the sorry state of [most genres of] music in 2006, to his trip to argentina, to the unchanging sphere that is santa cruz. we must've been there for a while, because the sun had set by the time we left.
we accumulated kenny, christyal, stacey, and rene, procured some weed, and made the trek out to stacey's apartment in the piedmont/montclaire corner of oakland. [one unpleasant byproduct of living with one's parents is not having anywhere safe and comfortable to hang out, listen to your own damn music, and smoke or drink a lil bit and relax.] stacey gave me the juggy jugg on some sweet pasta con zucchini, onion, basil, and tomato, which was easy to chew and completely what i wanted, and we smoked two blunts and two bowls over the course of the evening.
i don't think i act like most root canal outpatients, but hey--when rene and christian picked me up, i had taken a vicoden and not felt any relief. between those bowls, the beer, and the weed we smoked later, i didn't feel the need to take vicoden at all, and still haven't.
patrick's recommended download of the day: hella: hoes in the house. it's kinda crazy listening to music this noisy drowning out the hum of a dental drill inside your mouth, but in its own way, it's beautiful, and in its own way, it really relaxed me.
resolution of the day: to floss constantly, forever, and do as much as i can to prevent myself from ever having to do that again.
heart
patrick