Just Say No To Retail

 The dogs knew we were leaving as they watched me smear peanut butter on their lick pads. Eddie stared up with his soulful eyes, trying to guilt me into staying home or taking him with me. Mr.BoJangles sat at attention on his hindquarters in his cutest begging stance, his bright eyes never leaving my hands as I prepared the snacks. Poor old Toni Louise ambled around sniffing the floor, oblivious to my actions, just following her siblings hoping for a treat.

Eddie knew he had lost in his effort to persuade me to stay when I clicked off the turtle's heat lamp and put the lick pads on the floor, I doubt Dora, the turtle gave us much thought, other than missing her source of heat as she was content on her platform under the lamp.

To be in compliance with our fellow Americans who will not be shopping anywhere this day, we were off to get our water jugs filled and pick up a few necessary and unnecessary items to tide us over. Honestly, if we had not needed water, I would not have gone anywhere. My shoulder was screaming with the slightest of movement and my jaw is still aching. Eating out is not something I look forward to (Drew, aka: HeWho loves to eat out, thinks any excursion should be accompanied by a meal in a restaurant). 

I have no bottom molars on the left right side of my mouth. The top has a full complement of teeth that chew, but without the teeth on the bottom, they are useless. The left side is the surgical site. I can sort of chew, but it is not a pretty site. Not something you want an audience for!

We accomplished our goal and filled our three 3-gallon jugs and even scored some very nice T-bones. They are on tonight's menu. This may sound gross, but I will be chewing what I can and then giving the dogs what I cannot swallow. The dogs have been loving my current state, as it means they get a lot of treats. 

So, back to my surgical experience. I went to the dentist with my toothache. X-rays were taken and then he came in to tell me the tooth with the expensive crown work was not to be saved. Furthermore, the wisdom tooth behind it also needed to go. Then we chatted about implants. $9,000 would fix me right up. The pain no longer bothered me as I choked on that 9 grand! I could, of course get a partial plate ....

My mother had what we all called false teeth way back then when I was so much younger. She was constantly complaining about the fit and pulling them out and taking her nail file to them. "Why not go back to the dentist and get them fitted properly?" is a question that would earn you an evil eye. One incident I cannot forget is being there for a visit and after much debate about where to go to eat, we arrived and were seated. She said she would just have water because ..... she forgot her teeth! Ever the martyr, she declined Daddy's offer to go back home and get them. He did anyway and upon his return she dunked the teeth in her water glass before slipping them into her mouth. 

My sister was appalled. I laughed at the look on her face, wondering why she did not expect this. Mother did this sort of thing all the time. She always had the upper plate in, so you would not notice the lack of the lowers. Those were the ones she was constantly whittling away at. Daddy was mostly oblivious to her behavior, used to it, I suppose. No wonder I moved far away! Easier to love from a distance!

Suffice it to say, I did not want a partial plate. My dentist does not extract teeth, he sends them out to the oral surgeon. The oral surgeon who "dug out" (his words) my other wisdom tooth when it broke two years ago. As I am not a big fan of dental procedures and prefer to be unaware of the happenings, this was okay with me. That being said, oral surgeons do not set up practice in small towns. 

The closest was Cleveland TN. Not so far in distance, but the route followed the Ocoee River. Two lanes and sometimes very slow. Off we went for the consultation appointment. More X-rays at this office and in comes the doctor (same one who "dug out" the other wisdom tooth). He is very nice man in practice with his son and I like him a lot. He is quite personable. This day he was hopping with excitement. He flipped the screen around to show me his discovery, a big area under the wisdom tooth was a dark area ... what he determined was a huge abscess.

He told his assistant to bump me up as a priority and have me in the very next day to do another dig into my mouth, this time for two teeth. I was not in nearly as much pain as I had been with the broken tooth, but the next day we were up before the sun to begin our journey back for the digging.

Tomorrow, I will entertain you with the rest of story. Spoiler alert .... I woke up before it was over.