I'm absolutely amazed at how good I felt today. I was totally expecting to feel like complete shit after having the first of the two root canals yesterday afternoon. That was a painfully brutal experience, indeed. We had planned on doing both of them, but it just took too long, and the dentist felt like I had suffered enough for one afternoon, so we just did the one on the tooth that's been bothering me the most.
I had a couple of things going against me when it comes to having dental work - first, the tooth she had to work on, tends to NOT get numb, even with an extraordinary amount of numbing meds. Secondly, there was still infection present in the nerve canals, which I was told could cause the meds to not work as effectively in providing pain relief. Wow, was she not kidding when she said the meds may not reach all the areas to prevent pain! I damn near came out of the chair several times, and of course ended up with tears streaming a couple of times.
I even commented on Facebook that I would rather have the tops of both feet, both ankles, and both collar bones, tattooed all at the same time, than to experience the pain I felt during that root canal. I'm not kidding! Tattoo pain, at least what I've experienced with the 3 that I have, is not nearly as bad as the pain in that one tooth was during the procedure. But - thankfully - when she was finished, the only pain I've had is soreness of the gum where she had that contraption hooked on there that isolates the tooth being worked on. I was able to eat Mexican food for dinner last night, and we ate at Golden Corral tonight. There's just a temporary filling there, that's not nearly as durable as a perment filling or crown will be, so I've been eating very carefully to make sure I don't break the temporary yet.
I go back to the dentist on Friday afternoon so that she can finish the one we started yesterday, and she can do the second root canal. Not really looking forward to that, but she says the #12 shouldn't be as painful as #30 was, and there should only be one nerve in it, instead of 3 like yesterday. God I hope that's it, and I hope that it's not as painful as yesterday.
Could I have prevented my tooth from getting to this point? Probably so. The issues I'm having now are not from lack of hygiene on my part - I'm meticulous about brushing my teeth, and while I don't floss like I should, these problems come from old fillings that were ready to be replaced, and I didn't take care of them as soon as I should have. I didn't get the molar dealt with sooner, mainly because of my fear of the pain I knew I'd have. It hurt really bad the last time it was worked on, and I have a delayed response to a lot of meds these days.
I don't recall if I mentioned here before regarding my delayed response to meds but here goes, and bear with me if I've already discussed this. When I had my foot surgery last year, they gave me a pre-op shot into my IV - it was a "triple cocktail", and contained fentanyl, verced, and propofol (yes, the stuff that killed Michael Jackson). I was told prior to getting the shot that it would either knock me out, or make me so loopy that I wouldn't remember the pain from getting the nerve block.
Guess what - I got absolutely ZERO effect from that shot, and felt every last damn bit of that nerve block being set up. I had to lay on my stomach, and the needle went into the back of my thigh, a few inches above the knee. Dammit that hurt, and because they were having to inject it into the nerve, my foot was hopping around and twitching. And although my foot got all tingly feeling prior to surgery, when I woke from surgery, I was surprisingly in pain in my ankle (it should have been completely numb by the time surgery was done - which if I recall the surgery lasted a couple of hours).
And I was given a 10mg valium prior to another procedure I had done last year, and that did nothing for me at all. So now I have to warn doctors and dentists of my delayed reactions to meds, especially when they are prescribed for pain relief/prevention.
The dentist prescribed 5mg valium, for me to take one at night before my appointment, one an hour before the appointment, and to bring the rest to the appointment in case it lasts longer than expected so I can take another if necessary. The valium is supposed to aid the numbing meds in being more effective, and to also take the edge off my nerves. I can't speak for it helping the numbing meds to work better, but it did help take the edge off my nerves.
Anyways folks, just venting about my stuff yesterday, and worrying about Friday a little. Got a busy couple of days at work this week before I get another day of torture from the sadist oops I mean dentist. Truly they are sadists, they have to be. I can't see inflicting that kind of pain on someone without being at least a tad bit sadist.
Okay folks, time to hit the sack - have a great night and a happy hump day!
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