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Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.
-- Susan Sontag
Saturday, July 26, 1997
I woke up early Friday morning. It was difficult to figure out how to time things so that I could take some ibuprofen and antibiotics one hour before my 7:45 AM appointment, drive over to my sister's house to drop off my car, take the bus downtown to the oral surgeon, yet not arrive late or too early. But I managed to time things ok.
Everything is very efficient at Dr. R---'s office. I signed the consent form, took out my contact lenses, and was in the procedure room right away. This was the first time I had ever had laughing gas, which was delivered through a pina-colada-scented nosepiece. Then they administered some sort of sedative through an IV line. I remember telling the doctor about how they had collapsed a vein the last time I had donated blood, and how I hadn't realized anything was wrong until the blood bank workers started gathering around, pressing icepacks on my arm and asking how I felt!
My teeth seemed to come out with no problem, and they were able to save the number two molar that had been dubious. It will have to crowned, which is more expensive than just removing it, but probably better in the long run.
They called my sister when I went to the recovery room, so she could drive from work and take me to her house. I spent the day lying in the guest bedroom, alternating icepacks on either side of my face. Doing this consistently seemed to keep the swelling from being as bad as it might have been. I dozed a bit, and listened to NPR all day. It was nice being at my sister's house. She thought it was a good idea, because of a story she had heard of a young man in the area who went home alone after some dental work with the wrong medication, or else he had a bad reaction, or something -- anyway, he ended up dead! So she thought I'd be better off at her house than alone in my apartment, and I appreciated the chance for some nurturing.
By dinner time I came downstairs and had ramen noodles with my sister and brother-in-law (my nephews were at a friend's house). Then my sister went to fetch them and buy some ice cream. We had chocolate banana shakes when they returned, a special treat because of my condition. My older nephew recalled how my tooth had been paining me on the day of the Fremont Solstice Parade, badly enough to alarm him!
I was describing to them the old-fashioned ice cream parlor that my sisters and I used to go to when we were growing up, that also used to make hand-dipped chocolates. Unfortunately my younger nephew took me too literally, and thought that this was his cue to "dip" his hands in his chocolate shake. It was really the use of the blender that fascinated him, more even than drinking the milkshake!
I went to sleep early (because my tv-sound radio had run-down batteries, so I couldn't listen to Letterman as I usually do). We had hot cereal this morning, then I came home to get caught up on mail, news and the web. I do feel a bit more stiffness in my jaws than yesterday, and the corners of my mouth evidently saw some stress yesterday since they are a bit cracked. But overall it could have been a lot worse!
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