"...Like shooting puppies with a BB Gun, I'd Poison Guppies and when I was Done..."
The title for today is lifted from a song from a musical movie I saw in the late 80's. Can you guess it? I'll reveal it later...
Have you ever had a toothache? I'm not saying a little tenderness...but that all encompassing pain that almost cripples you? Well I've been going through that now since almost last Saturday. What an incredible nuisance this is. Taking ibuprofen like Jujubees...drinking 3 gallons of water because it numbs the pain a bit...all of it.
So like anyone with this kind of pain...I bite (well...not bite...that hurts too much) the bullet and go to the Dentist. I was supposed to go Wednesday anyway but I call Tuesday and get the appointment moved. They see me and WHEW...it's not good. Turns out my tooth was VERY close to an absess (not a good thing) and he begins to work on it. He numbs me and begins the process of root canaling the moler. I kept my original appointment for Wednesday because after 2 hours in the chair...he wasn't done.
Fast forward to yesterday. It was supposed to be finished but after a VERY hard night Tuesday; I had a feeling he missed something. He dismissed it as just some inflamation...and after numbing me up again...he went to work and just kinda checked the roots he opened earlier. Then he found another canal (a small hidden one that actually went SIDEWAYS)...so he cleaned that and as he poked down one of the ones he (thought he) cleared the day before...FIRE Came up my legs through my arms and up my neck. I cried out in pain.
The doctor pulls back...and probes again. The same fire lights and he goes "Ope...There's the one. That's the one causing it all probably". Turns out he missed a nerve and it was a bad one...probably THE bad one as Tuesday he spent the day saying "this isn't looking too bad...I'll give you some antibiotic but I think we caught it..." and yesterday he was saying things like "This is pretty bad. Got some real necrotic stuff going on. You're taking your antibiotics right?". As he worked I started to experience pain like I've never felt before. He informed me that even numb...novacane can't touch necrotic tissue (as there's no blood flow) so you just kinda have to bear down. So he began cleaning out the bad root. OH MY GOD. The pain was like NOTHING I've ever experienced. Even when he wasn't wrist deep in my tooth...the pain was pulsing like a bad lightshow. I would be banging my fist against the arm rest in just sheer ouchiness. To be honest...it's still not done. He cleaned out the root and got all the bad stuff out...but he can't 'finish the filling' because my ligamints in my jaw/gum are just WAY too enflamed and he can't be sure he got it all. So I have to wait 12 days. He prescribed me some pain medication (which I'm actually taking...which is a big deal if you know me and how I feel about such things)...and the whole time he was apologizing for causing me the pain.
Now don't get me wrong...when he had his forearm all the way in my mouth and was playing 'flick the nerve ending' with his pinkie finger...I kept hearing that Steve Martin song from Little Shop of Horrors (That's where the line came from) about being a Dentist and was like..."Yep that's him".
Then I thought about it.
This wasn't ON him...this was ALL on me.
He didn't cause this issue...I did. I've struggled all my life with oral hygene. I have. It just wasn't one of those things that got pounded in my head as a kid regularly so as I got older...it didn't seem like such a big deal. Yeah I sang with a guy during a couple shows in college who had the worst breath in the history of man. When this guy would sing at your face...I mean it smelled like fecal matter wrapped in burnt hair that was rolled around in vinegar and rotten eggs. It was TERRIBLE. I took to carrying altoids with me whenever I sang and if I had a scene...backstage I'd pop a few because I never 'wanted to be that guy'. (Yes I did offer them to him OFTEN...and he wouldn't take them...which just frustrated me to the point where I was like "No dude...seriously...you need to take this...is Altoid not your brand? You prefer TicTacs? Seriously...I'll get whatever you like man. Please for the love of all that is holy...take this". Chomping breathmints is something I STILL do to this day whenever I'm singing (even on Sundays at church) cause again...being 'that guy' is not an option for me.
But instead of doing what I should...I took the easy way out. I coulda flossed, brushed etc...but I could cover it with mints so eh. Well that only works till the tooth starts pulsing like a club sub-woofer. When I got married I got better and regularly brush now...but the damage has been done in some places...and now I'm still paying for it.
I'm writing this I guess...because I think there's a LOT in life that's like this. The whole day yesterday the Dentist was saying how sorry he was to be putting me through that...and I kept reassuring him that I knew where the fault lied...and it wasn't with him. He was making it better...I put myself in that chair and I know that it's not his fault and I thanked him. He looked relieved.
I got the feeling that he's probably often received the ire of patients whom he had to put through a similar circumstance. No doubt he has heard patients rail. Like I said...I at one point was equating him to a sadistic comedic dentist from a cheesy 80's movie who sang about finding kitty cats and bashing their heads. It's probably natural...but every patient who walks through that door with a toothache is there because they failed in some way. We need to own up to that.
Our lives are like that. We push a lot of the monotonous or boring parts of life aside for the flashier fun stuff. Maintenance becomes a chore and suddenly things start breaking down and we blame the fixer. I'm learning how much of my life is like that. How I wanted to 'chase the dreams' but couldn't be bothered to spend an extra 30 seconds on the teeth...or get my oil changed...or find a gym after we moved. So now my teeth hurt...I put some of the weight I lost back on (but it's going away again...thank you magic pill) and the car NEEDS to get an oil change still...and other maintenance done.
I'm using this toothache as a chance to look at my life and make some changes. I had ACTUAL DEAD FRIGGING TISSUE IN MY TEETH! IT WAS DEAD!!!! How frigging BAD is that? I was carrying around dead tissue...and bacteria was just partying on it. There's an analogy to sin in our lives too...but I leave that to you to find. For me...I want to turn the corner. Start spending the time on the little things. I don't EVER want to go through what I did yesterday. Last night was the first DECENT night's sleep I had in a week...and again...it was all my fault.
Look around your life today. Find places where maybe you've let the maintenance go...and maybe think about trying to get back on the plan. Don't wait until your in so much pain that you're crying out in agony and have no choice but to drink 3 gallons of water just to try and focus. Make the change before that happens.
Thanks for reading;
Have you ever had a toothache? I'm not saying a little tenderness...but that all encompassing pain that almost cripples you? Well I've been going through that now since almost last Saturday. What an incredible nuisance this is. Taking ibuprofen like Jujubees...drinking 3 gallons of water because it numbs the pain a bit...all of it.
So like anyone with this kind of pain...I bite (well...not bite...that hurts too much) the bullet and go to the Dentist. I was supposed to go Wednesday anyway but I call Tuesday and get the appointment moved. They see me and WHEW...it's not good. Turns out my tooth was VERY close to an absess (not a good thing) and he begins to work on it. He numbs me and begins the process of root canaling the moler. I kept my original appointment for Wednesday because after 2 hours in the chair...he wasn't done.
Fast forward to yesterday. It was supposed to be finished but after a VERY hard night Tuesday; I had a feeling he missed something. He dismissed it as just some inflamation...and after numbing me up again...he went to work and just kinda checked the roots he opened earlier. Then he found another canal (a small hidden one that actually went SIDEWAYS)...so he cleaned that and as he poked down one of the ones he (thought he) cleared the day before...FIRE Came up my legs through my arms and up my neck. I cried out in pain.
The doctor pulls back...and probes again. The same fire lights and he goes "Ope...There's the one. That's the one causing it all probably". Turns out he missed a nerve and it was a bad one...probably THE bad one as Tuesday he spent the day saying "this isn't looking too bad...I'll give you some antibiotic but I think we caught it..." and yesterday he was saying things like "This is pretty bad. Got some real necrotic stuff going on. You're taking your antibiotics right?". As he worked I started to experience pain like I've never felt before. He informed me that even numb...novacane can't touch necrotic tissue (as there's no blood flow) so you just kinda have to bear down. So he began cleaning out the bad root. OH MY GOD. The pain was like NOTHING I've ever experienced. Even when he wasn't wrist deep in my tooth...the pain was pulsing like a bad lightshow. I would be banging my fist against the arm rest in just sheer ouchiness. To be honest...it's still not done. He cleaned out the root and got all the bad stuff out...but he can't 'finish the filling' because my ligamints in my jaw/gum are just WAY too enflamed and he can't be sure he got it all. So I have to wait 12 days. He prescribed me some pain medication (which I'm actually taking...which is a big deal if you know me and how I feel about such things)...and the whole time he was apologizing for causing me the pain.
Now don't get me wrong...when he had his forearm all the way in my mouth and was playing 'flick the nerve ending' with his pinkie finger...I kept hearing that Steve Martin song from Little Shop of Horrors (That's where the line came from) about being a Dentist and was like..."Yep that's him".
Then I thought about it.
This wasn't ON him...this was ALL on me.
He didn't cause this issue...I did. I've struggled all my life with oral hygene. I have. It just wasn't one of those things that got pounded in my head as a kid regularly so as I got older...it didn't seem like such a big deal. Yeah I sang with a guy during a couple shows in college who had the worst breath in the history of man. When this guy would sing at your face...I mean it smelled like fecal matter wrapped in burnt hair that was rolled around in vinegar and rotten eggs. It was TERRIBLE. I took to carrying altoids with me whenever I sang and if I had a scene...backstage I'd pop a few because I never 'wanted to be that guy'. (Yes I did offer them to him OFTEN...and he wouldn't take them...which just frustrated me to the point where I was like "No dude...seriously...you need to take this...is Altoid not your brand? You prefer TicTacs? Seriously...I'll get whatever you like man. Please for the love of all that is holy...take this". Chomping breathmints is something I STILL do to this day whenever I'm singing (even on Sundays at church) cause again...being 'that guy' is not an option for me.
But instead of doing what I should...I took the easy way out. I coulda flossed, brushed etc...but I could cover it with mints so eh. Well that only works till the tooth starts pulsing like a club sub-woofer. When I got married I got better and regularly brush now...but the damage has been done in some places...and now I'm still paying for it.
I'm writing this I guess...because I think there's a LOT in life that's like this. The whole day yesterday the Dentist was saying how sorry he was to be putting me through that...and I kept reassuring him that I knew where the fault lied...and it wasn't with him. He was making it better...I put myself in that chair and I know that it's not his fault and I thanked him. He looked relieved.
I got the feeling that he's probably often received the ire of patients whom he had to put through a similar circumstance. No doubt he has heard patients rail. Like I said...I at one point was equating him to a sadistic comedic dentist from a cheesy 80's movie who sang about finding kitty cats and bashing their heads. It's probably natural...but every patient who walks through that door with a toothache is there because they failed in some way. We need to own up to that.
Our lives are like that. We push a lot of the monotonous or boring parts of life aside for the flashier fun stuff. Maintenance becomes a chore and suddenly things start breaking down and we blame the fixer. I'm learning how much of my life is like that. How I wanted to 'chase the dreams' but couldn't be bothered to spend an extra 30 seconds on the teeth...or get my oil changed...or find a gym after we moved. So now my teeth hurt...I put some of the weight I lost back on (but it's going away again...thank you magic pill) and the car NEEDS to get an oil change still...and other maintenance done.
I'm using this toothache as a chance to look at my life and make some changes. I had ACTUAL DEAD FRIGGING TISSUE IN MY TEETH! IT WAS DEAD!!!! How frigging BAD is that? I was carrying around dead tissue...and bacteria was just partying on it. There's an analogy to sin in our lives too...but I leave that to you to find. For me...I want to turn the corner. Start spending the time on the little things. I don't EVER want to go through what I did yesterday. Last night was the first DECENT night's sleep I had in a week...and again...it was all my fault.
Look around your life today. Find places where maybe you've let the maintenance go...and maybe think about trying to get back on the plan. Don't wait until your in so much pain that you're crying out in agony and have no choice but to drink 3 gallons of water just to try and focus. Make the change before that happens.
Thanks for reading;
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