Dentistry

I drove my mom to an oral surgeon's office so she could get a tooth replaced. While she was waiting, I walked down to a nearby park and practiced taiji. I had the park entirely to myself. A few people walked by on the sidewalks, but no one actually stopped off at the park until I was leaving. There were two trees directly in front of where I practiced, at the roughly "south" end of the park. Actually, there were lots of trees, but two in particular stood out. They formed the far end of an uneven circle of trees. One was a pine tree with long, green needles. The other was a deciduous tree with yellow leaves. Perfect yin/yang dichotomy. :^)

Best part was that I saw a woodpecker while I was there. I headed back at almost the perfect time. Mom called when I was almost halfway back (it was only a few blocks away anyway). She was already at the car. My first thought was that they hadn't actually operated, as she didn't have the typical word-slurring I expect from a numbed mouth. Turns out that they used a different kind of anesthetic. Mom began a sort of diatribe about getting her regular dentist to use it, and finally stopped when I pointed out it was probably more expensive.

She was already a bit out of it, either from lack of sleep or food or both when I dropped her off. When I went back at noon, she was worse. She'd taken one of the pain meds the doctor prescribed for her. *sighs* My mom and I have orthogonal attitudes in many respects. This is one of them. I will NOT take anything stronger than ibuprofen unless the pain is making me curl up in a ball and whimper (which is what it took to convince me to take even Advil). I also will not tell the dentist if I'm not completely numb so long as I can take the pain. The fewer anesthetic shots, the less time they take to wear off. After I had my wisdom teeth out, they prescribed something-or-other with codeine in it. I took Tylenol. I didn't touch that other stuff. Why? Because I do not like stuff that messes with my head that way. Stimulants I can deal with. Relaxants that make my head fuzzy and make it so I can't even think straight? NO. I can't even drink chamomile tea.

Then there's my mom. She has no pain tolerance whatsoever. If she feels the slightest twinge, she asks the dentist for more anesthetic. She almost had them knock her out for the thing this morning, until she found out how much more it would cost. As soon as the anesthetic showed ANY signs of wearing off, she took one of the pain pills. *sighs* I do not understand.