Here is my contribution to the A to Z Challenge of April 2019.
This is the first time I am participating in this challenge, so we'll see if I have the stamina to complete the whole month !
I am also, very ambitiously, writing for the April NaNoWrite ! So the challenge is twofold !!
Hang on to your horse and enjoy the ride. And good luck to all my fellow participants.
if you would like to learn more about the A to Z Challenge
go here
I've just come back from the Dentist, this morning.
An hour and a half on the chair. Molar extraction.
Local anethetic, an enormous needle stabbing my gums repeatedly, again, and again because I can still feel everything ! Gums slit. Tooth dug out then yanked at, pull and pull and finally stripped from the jaw. Ouch !
Then the clearing begins. I have an enormous infection between the roots and the nasal cavity, that's why the tooth had to come out, to reach the infected area. Scrap, scrap, drill, drill..still some goo to clean away. Blood fills my mouth, I breath deeply and try and stay in my meditation, painlessly yet highly conscious of everything that's going on. Emma, my middle daughter would have fainted by now. She swoons if she pricks her finger, poor, sweet little princess that she has always been.
Ok , the infection is dealt with. I 'time out' with my two forefingers. I'm allowed to spit my blood into the enamel basin . I don't want to swallow infected blood !
So, now the nasal cavity needs to be repaired, eaten half away as it is. Scrapping again, to free some of the remaining bone tissue. Then, out of my mouth, that I can rest and massage, mixing my bone tissue with artificial bone so it will regenerate itself more efficiently. the brand new mixture is spread onto the roof of the tooth's ghost. Then a synthetic membrane is added to patch it all up. Now come the nails. Hammered in. They will serve to screw on the new tooth. Pound, pound, pound, knocking my brain loose.
Everything is in place. Some disinfectant and a plaster to avoid any new germs from seting up their camp . And the stitching begins. Needle and thread, in and out, in and out, in and out, six times. Oh, no, not enough. Two more should do the job. Hurry ! The anaesthetic is wearing off, I can feel the gum again, the needle, the prick, the thread running through. My jaw is aching, my lips parched, stretched, I won't be able to shut my mouth again.
Finished. I can rinse and swallow, drink at last. Surgical gown and bonnet off. A pad of ice, held to my cheek while I pay, yes PAY ! My tongue feels the gaping hole, my lips still numb, my eyes watering. The throbbing is starting.
Recommendations : anti-biotics and analgesics, ice pack day and night. It will swell, it will bruise : black, blue, green, yellow over three weeks. 'I'll see you in two, to take out the stitches and check that it hasn't re-infected'. Then 4 months of healing before screwing in a new tooth.
What am I complaining about ! A hundred years ago, it would have been, a swig of rum, some gas and yank, yank, yank. Leaving a gaping hole and praying God...or someone, that it would heal all on its own. No replacement in sight.
Now I sit writing, eating my apple, cut up into tiny cubes, a crick in my neck and half my face done up in an ice pack legging. A real Easter Egg.
©SusanBauryRouchard