Halleluia! The root canal is done!

As of 2:25 p.m. CST today, that cracked tooth has been thoroughly drilled, picked, probed, rinsed, prodded, packed, and sealed. Dr. Bohning’s nimble fingers flashed past my face in a blur as he turned what was possibly a 90-minute procedure into a 50-minute task.

I was very shaky at first and was getting mad at myself for being such a ninny, when he informed me that the anesthesia had epinephrine in it and would act like a rush of adrenaline, which was a good sign because it meant the numbing would occur more quickly. Oh, good. I’m relieved.

He left the room while the anesthesia took affect, and then my mind panicked. While I could still talk, I forgot to tell the assistant my fear of all that goop pooling in my throat and smothering me again and that no one would take the rubber dam out of my mouth or suction me. I managed to spit the words out to her, and she was an expert at deciphering medically-challenged speech! And at that moment, I loved her. She assured me she would suction me, and I would absolutely be able to swallow. If at any time I feel fear or that I needed to swallow, just point to my throat.

I would have relaxed at that point, but the anesthesia had me shaking like I was in freezing weather on a high wire. She covered me with that heavy x-ray blocking jacket. That helped.

Everyone, it went amazingly well. He was expecting terrible things after seeing the x-ray and reading my dentist’s report. Once it was finished, he joked that he was going to call Dr. W. and ask him why he couldn’t complete such an easy root canal!!! All in jest, I’m sure.

The wetland tour with the children from California went great this morning. We saw lots and lots of wading birds. And the prize of the day: a pair of river otters frolicking in the lake and a flock of roseate spoon bills feeding in a shallow pond!

I have two tours tomorrow, this time with high schoolers from the same place the children were from. I hope the rain holds off and I can get a photo of those beautiful rosies for you!

Thanks again for hanging in there with me so faithfully. Now we all fully expect the headaches to go away and life to get back to normal, right?

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4 Comments

  1. Yippeeeeeeeee.!!!!! Yahoooooooooo!!!!! Congrats..Congrats….Congrats!!!!!! We are all so very happy for you and now hopefully the headaches will ease off into a distant memory. I really feel that they will. The dental procedure plus the muscle tension really can cause these types of HA’s. I hope you got some pics today, and hopefully the tour tom will be as wonderful for all as todays was. I will most definitely be coming down this summer for one of your tours!!!!
    Deb in TX
    BTW….I think everyone is a ninny while sitting in that scary dental chair …..truth be told…so there your not alone!!!!

  2. Yay! So glad to hear it went well! I’m still praying for your headaches, but I’m sure you will feel amazingly better all the way around!

    Gerard Depardieu is a French actor, kinda roughish looking with long hair. And he’s big, Like a bear. The only American movie I can remember him in was “Green Card” which was kinda cute.

    I’m off! Like a flash! To find him on this internet thing.

  3. I’m so glad to hear that you’re finally over it all! Hopefully you’ll be feeling back to normal soon. I’ll be out of touch the next few weeks. I’ll email when I can.

    Thanks, Kim. No headache today!!!