#31

God, it hurt!  Sharp pain in my mouth. I thought it was my tongue. Eating was hard. I couldn’t stop drooling. Pounding in my jaw. A rash on my chin, irritated. I used a whole container of “Herbal Savvy.” I told everybody to wipe my face gently.  It didn’t get any better.

Finally my mom called the doctor and my regular doctor wasn’t in, so I saw another doctor and she couldn’t see anything wrong or figure out what was wrong. But she prescribed Lidocaine viscous, for the pain, and Baclofen to relax my muscles in case the pain was from excessive tongue thrusting. The Lidocaine numbed my throat and interfered with swallowing. The Baclofen made me drowsy.

So I stopped taking that stuff.  Still no better. When people asked what was wrong I would say “I have no idea.”  Finally, I noticed that my lower jaw hurt more than the rest of my mouth.  Time to visit the dentist.  When I got there, he tested my teeth.  For me, it’s not easy because I have a bite reflex and need to go under general anesthesia every time I go in there.  It wasn’t easy for him either.  First, he asked me if I was sensitive to heat or cold and I said “Cold.” Then, he tried to get me to hold my mouth open. He had to prop it open with a jaw spreader, which was not fun. Next, he tapped each bottom tooth with a metal instrument to see what was the problem. When he got to my number thirty-one molar, I jumped and groaned. “Aha!” he announced, “that’s it!” He told us that I had irreversible pulpitis in that molar and that I needed a root canal. I was so pissed but we set the date.

When the day came, I had to get up early and not eat or drink anything. I kept on my pj’s and put on a fluffy robe and took a blanket. When I got to the dentist the anesthesiologist asked me, “Ana, when did you last have something to eat?” I said, “Six PM yesterday.”

 

Then Claire, my attendant, transferred me out of my wheelchair to the dentist chair.  The anesthesiologist put a mask over my nose and mouth and told me to breathe. I was out in two seconds.  The endodontist did her magic.

 

 

 

When I woke up I was in my wheelchair.  How did I get there? And I was shivering.

When I got home I was hungry so Claire made me a smoothie and I had my meds. Then I was tired so I went to bed.

About two days later I started to feel excruciating pain where the root canal work had been done. “What the fuck?” I was training a new attendant and I couldn’t eat. This made it impossible to train anybody.  So my mom called the dentist and they took me in right away. Again, I didn’t have the benefit of anesthesiology. The dentist said the temporary cement crown they put on over the root canal was too big, which was causing all the pain.  He would have to take this thing off my #31 without knocking me out. I put my chair in recline position and he came at me with this scary tool. No way could I open my mouth! Finally I relaxed enough to open wide and he pulled it out, “presto!”

My birthday was that weekend and I was going to spend it at a hotel in San Francisco with my family. Thank god I didn’t have to spend it in pain.

Two weeks later it was time for the gold crown, another appointment, more fasting, and another general anesthesia. I had to get up and not eat or drink anything and it was in the afternoon. When I got there they were working with another patient and I had to wait almost an hour. Boy, was I hungry! I heard them from the waiting room and they were saying that they had to pull out her #31 molar! Jesus!

When I finally got seen, the anesthesiologist asked me the same questions he asked me before.  I had 7up only, at 10:30. This time my parents transferred me to the dentist chair and I still don’t know how I got back into my wheelchair.

Now I have new gold in my mouth. I’m worth $900 more, for what it’s worth.