Monday 16 June 2014

Walk of Shame

Housewives Tarot



No, not that kind of walk of shame - not only am I married, I'm too old for that now: I would take pride in it rather than shame.

I was at the dentist today, having slinked out of an appointment on Friday 13th (are they KIDDING me ?!) You'll recall my morbid irrational fear. Today I was there for a filling, which involved a needle for anaesthetic being put into my pre-numbed back of my mouth. I cried. Silently, of course, since after all, I am an adult. 

During my stay, tears continued to leak out in spite of my best efforts, the dentist's words of advice on how to calm down, and the death-grip I had on the dental assistant's hand - a very talented person who could handle all kinds of tasks with her remaining hand, as we found out.

I have to go back next week for either a triple trip for a root canal, or one single trip for an extraction. I have opted for an extraction - fortunately the affected tooth is in a place that will not leave me looking like I'm some kind of Appalachian hillbilly.
 




As I drooped and drooled home (the anaesthetic took 4 hours instead of 2 to wear off) I pondered my father, Belo, who regularly falls asleep during root canals and other dental nastiness.

I considered Titch, whose arm had to swell almost to bursting point with pus-filled yuck before he would consent to A&E.

I considered my Good Twin, whose pain threshold meant she thought a burst appendix was a particularly feisty bout of trapped wind. On the other hand, she thought her gall bladder packing up was agony, so please all my gods don't let that happen to me.

I considered my friend Dianne, among whose symptoms of Behcets is sweating blood. Literally.

And I considered my sister, Auntie Fashion, who has been in Addenbrooke's for just about 2 weeks so far while they work out what they can do about the PML without poking the Behcets back into action.

And I was ashamed.


6 comments:

  1. Next time you go, stub your toe really hard as you're walking in - that should keep your mind off what they're doing :D

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  2. "Courage is being scared to death and doing it anyway." I think you should be proud of having the dental work done that you need done despite the fact that it's frightening.

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  3. I'm with Bonnie - good on you for getting in there in spite of the fear.

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  4. Well done on facing your fear and even if you did have a bit of a weep, so what? Dentists are probably used to facing much worse, so don't beat yourself up about it. Don't be like me and assume everything is a bout of bad trapped wind and that it will get better on its own. Often it doesn't. And if I hadn't gone to hospital when I did, my 'trapped wind' would have been the death of me. Literally. SO - go get your extraction and hold your head up high. And drooly. (((hug)))

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  5. I've silently wept in the dentist's chair ... and fortunately someone was paying attention and gave me another painkilling shot. :) Don't fight the tears or the need to take care of them there teeth!

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  6. Don't worry about it. Each of us has a different pain threshold, there is no shame in feeling things more than others. I have an extremely acute sense of smell and hearing. What doesn't phase others is obnoxious to me. it just shows that even though we are all the same race, human, we are all created differently. Hope the extraction goes well.

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Thanks ! I love comments :-)