I SURVIVED

Great news. I survived my root canal.

Sort of. After the procedure, I was informed that was only part 1. Apparently I have to visit the specialist twice, then my regular dentist for a crown. So I'm 1/3 of the way there.

As many people wisely told me, the worst part of the whole thing was the bill. Although my anxiety gave that a run for its money. The jury's still out about who the real winner is.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I got a comment yesterday that scared the crap out of me. Apparently someone did have an abscess and the pain was so unbearable that they went to the hospital in the middle of the night to beg for pain meds. I was terrified to go to sleep and wake up to searing pain.

Luckily, I survived, but was up at the annoying hour of 6:30 am. I felt I'd tempted fate enough, no sense risking sleeping any further. Still, I managed to have a nice morning with Christmas flavored coffee, watching more than 10 minutes of the Today show, and FaceTiming with my sister and my nephew. It also included 5 Buffy filled treadmill miles, to really take the edge off.

The way my anxiety works is actually pretty similar to my problem solving method. If I just stick my head in the sand and focus on denial, it's my best chance of survival. In this case, that meant knowing absolutely nothing about what a root canal actually is, other than people telling me they are "not bad".

The only time I had to go to a dental specialist was to have my wisdom teeth removed, so I just assumed it would be like that, and I'd be on a pudding and soup diet. I got myself and several twitter friends all psyched up for milkshake night.

Finally, it was go time. I arrived at the office and saw this. I felt it was a good sign.

They had no idea that I am queen of the cowards.

The doctor was a woman and I instantly loved her. So much so that I barely even minded that she was shooting me up with Novocain within a minute of our introductions. Just a few more minutes after that, she was starting the procedure (and I still had no idea what that actually entailed).

 

Right away, I could feel it and made them stop and give me more shots of Novocain. I wasn't taking any chances there. Then, they went to town with all sorts of crazy medieval torture devices (or so they appeared). I squeezed the crap out of my stress ball, the doctor and technician told inane stories to distract me (again, loved that) and she only had to tell me to stop clenching my shoulders like twice.

 

I was wearing my new Christmas gift from Charm City Run, the Brooks Utopia Thermal Hoodie and she jokingly told the technician to drug me so she could steal it. I don't blame her, it's amazing.

 

Drugged selfie

You were probably too blinded by the gorgeous hoodie to focus on my half numb sexy smile, so here you go.

You. Are. Welcome.

Turns out, you can eat whatever you want after a root canal, especially once the Novocain wears off. But I already had soft foods in my head, and I had to go to the store to pick up my prescription anyway, so I picked up a nutritious dinner.

 

Have you had these fries? LIFE CHANGING.

 

Enough said.

Here's hoping parts two and three will go just as smoothly (they won't be until January). The Novocain has now worn off, and so far, I feel fine. Even better, after tomorrow, I have a full THIRTEEN DAYS OFF WORK!

 

The wonderful news continues, and this time, it isn't even only benefitting me. Aspaeris, the company that makes the world's greatest compression shorts (and now capris!) is having a sale. Until Christmas

Eve, you can get 40% off with the code MERRY.

 

From that one time I ran outside in the month of December.

What is the number one anxiety causing thing in your life right now? And how do you deal? Normally I hit the wine, but I got through this one stone cold sober!