Or should I say, don’t like pulling teeth? The dentist would say this. I should say getting me to go to the dentist is like pulling teeth. There are two things that make me fearful. The first is flying in airplanes and the second is having teeth pulled.

A real double whammy here because in less than a week I subjected myself to both. There is relief in cowardice, but I had no choice. I had to take a plane in order to get to Barrow and I had to go to the dentist in order to get a long-term dental issue taken care of.

The tooth being pulled. I tried to put it off but then realized that I was taking a chance. Pete was going away for a week. If I began feeling pain, I’d have to get to the dentist under my own power. This would be hard if I was incapacitated.

Alys and Raudi at the Happy Jack area in Wyoming

So yesterday, I bit the bullet and had the tooth removed. It was tougher going than the last time. I asked for nitrous and have this sneaking suspicion that they just gave me oxygen. I did not go off on any flights of fancy. Now, either this outfit was cheap, or they presumed a smidgeon of nitrous would take care of the problem.

I was trapped. I could not request more nitrous when the dentist was extracting the tooth. So I dealt with the initial pressure, then after the tooth was out, dealt with the fact that he had to extract the remaining part of the tooth. I rightly figured that because it was being reabsorbed that it would come out in at least a few pieces.

Sad to say, I was right.

I think that it was a good time of year to have the procedure done, which is at the onset of spring. For after, I stepped outside where it was warm and the landscape was turning green. This did lift my spirits.

I also felt the same sense of relief that I felt when I stepped off the airplane, on the way home. The comparison was that which I had been dreading was over.

Odd, but today I felt anxious, I think out of habit. Apparently, my stress level had not yet dropped.

I can’t eat anything solid because I’m now missing two upper teeth. I am going to have implants in the near future, and presumably I will be able to eat again.

I am a bit concerned because I feel as I did before the tooth was removed. My upper jaw feels like someone punched me. I am feeling a bit headachy, but nothing like before. I will give it a few days before I start to fret about this. I guess if I don’t feel better, I’ll have to call a sinusologist. These people are like seismologists in that they are dealing with substrata.

Is anyone reading this? Is anyone laughing? I don’t know if this was meant to be funny or not.

Next: 128. 5/10/22: Getting Books into the Hands of Village Readers