It’s a good idea to have dental appointments early in the day, this way you have the rest of the day ahead of you when you exit the office.

I dread dental visits. In fact, I get so anxious that my productivity increasingly diminishes the closer I get to the moment of reckoning. For example, I didn’t get much done yesterday because I put all my energy into contemplating the unforeseen.

I would go to an analyst and get some assistance in determining why this is – problem is, I don’t go to the dentist often enough to justify spending time and money in an attempt to figure out why I have this problem. Yes, its problem, not a phobia. A phobia is a fake fear. Mine is a real fear.

I can’t even drive myself to the dental office – Pete has to take me there, as he did today.

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We got up at 7 a.m. The sun wasn’t up, even when we arrived at Meridian Dental at 8:30 a.m. It was up at 10:30 a.m., when finally, the dental hygienist, assistant, and dentists indicated that I was done.

The question was this – should I have a bridge put in that encompassed the tooth that was recently pulled? Or should I have a replacement bridge and an implant put in? I decided upon the latter, and Dr. Gurr agreed this was a good idea. There was previously some hesitation on both our parts because I began experiencing pain in my cheek area, this was after the tooth was pulled.

I told him what Dr. Mitchell, the ear, nose, and trout specialist told me, which was that I may have experienced nerve damage and that this may take time to heel.

I asked for nitrous. I got more oxygen than my drug of choice. I’m not stupid – I know the difference between the two. I did get a few good hits of the nitrous – I think that you get these blasts, followed by an increased amount of oxygen.

I did have some important revelations while under the influence – one was that I need to write the dental cantos. This of course would best be done while under the influence. I also need to do some research and see what form a cantos takes.

This was followed by the thought that I really do need to get writing again. I don’t know what’s holding me back. I just have to do this, and soon.

I was left in the chair for a long time, with the mask on my nose. Again, all I then got was an oxygen buzz, so I didn’t then have any revelations. So I instead thought about the day ahead. It looked like a good day – I was going to get my new glasses, and with Pete, pick up Saturday’s books, which were at the recycling center. We were also going to go to Lowe’s Hardware and pick up more bins. And we were to go to U-Haul and make more space for books by moving Milena’s books into a bigger unit.

We did all this. Next dental appointment is November 11 at 10 a.m., which is a more reasonable hour. Plus, there will be enough time left in the day to get stuff done.

Next: 300. 11/1/22: What we Talk about when we Talk about Winter