I went to the dentist yesterday to have a crown made.  This is only the second time I’ve needed a crown and for me being almost sixty years old, that’s not too bad (in my opinion.)  If you don’t know, I hate the dentist.  I hate the smell and the sound that the drill makes, and I’m really on edge the entire time I’m there.  The first time I had a crown made, the assistant told me I should consider taking Valium before coming in, and I told her I had already taken it….Huh, no response to that….It’s not like I keep my fears a secret either, as the first thing I told the receptionist was I planned on leaving as soon as her back was turned.  She didn’t take her eyes off me from that moment on, darn it…And once I was in the chair, my anxiety level kept building, until they gave me Nitrous Oxide.  I guess it’s nickname is laughing gas, but I wasn’t laughing.  Although I will say, they scent the mask, and to me, it smells like one of my favorite perfumes, Prada Candy (of course if there’s candy in the name, I’m sold)….I was immediately happier when I smelled that….and I guess I was relaxed, but it’s not at all what I expected.  I thought I would be super mellow and laughing or giggling at everything that happened.  It was more like I wasn’t clenching my jaw and wiggling my toes, (something I do when I’m in pain or having a painful procedure done.)  The dentist did say he was going to stick a needle in the roof of my mouth and it would hurt, but only for five seconds, and he counted as he did it, so I’d know when it was done.  I really liked his honesty, as normally doctors/dentists will say something like “you’ll feel a little pinch” and then you want to scream from the agony they’ve caused.  His counting helped too, because I was focused on the number and by the time he reached four, he was done….I’m not saying it didn’t hurt….I was definitely wiggling my toes during that part, but isn’t as bad as other things I’ve had done in the dentist chair.  And when the procedure was done, I shook his hand and thanked him for doing everything he could to help me through it.  He even gave me a kid’s size block to put in my mouth, so my jaw rested on the block, and I didn’t have to hold it open by myself.  Normally after a cleaning session, my jaw hurts for a couple of days….And when I left the chair, my jaw didn’t hurt at all.  That’s the greatest thing, knowing a dentist listens to you and helps you so you don’t have to hurt in the days following a procedure….
I finished my Thanksgiving thankful cards that I’m sending to my close friends and family.  I really like the way they turned out and hope all of you do too.  I have a few more videos that were ready to go live, but somehow, parts of them are now missing.  I’m especially upset about my sister’s birthday card, as I played with the new Nuvo powders and had a really great time with them….of course that’s the part that’s missing.  I’m crossing my fingers that the memory card shows up, but no matter what kind of system Rich and I put in place to avoid these things happening, they continue to do so.  It’s a really big bummer when I spend a really long time on a project and I can’t show the video….I hope this one finds its way home.

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