put your money where your mouth is
July 15, 2015

Took Spouse for oral surgery yesterday; boy, was that something. It took all morning, and the end result was a buttload of dental work. This is the result of 15 years of complete dental neglect: THREE extractions (four, if you count the extraction of large amounts of cash from my wallet!) and a root canal with a filling.

Three large. 3-0-0-0 smackeroonies. And with my shite dental insurance, I don't figure to see it cover more than 50%, at most.

On the plus side: I do believe we've found him a dentist he genuinely likes! Very determined to keep patients pain-free, and to keep them informed through every step of the process. He actually puts everything up on a giant TV screen above the patient's head, and explains it all as he goes along. Spouse was amazed. No pain, no panic!

It makes sense, though--the two problems he has with dentists is unsufficient numbing, and his whole control-freak, gotta know exactly what's going on thing. This dentist adressed both, so he was fine, and no sedation needed!

And--well, I also gave him a stern talking-to before we went about TELLING the dentist when it hurts, and not pulling any stupid macho bullshit. You can't pull that "I'm fine, I'm fine" crap, and then complain when the dentist doesn't get you sufficiently numb.

So he was in the chair for nearly three hours, and I was stuck in the waiting room, just messing around on my phone. Boring, but whatcha gonna do? Once he was out, and I got the bill (partially) paid, we stopped at Costco for a supply of Ibuprofen, and then I took him home. He had some toast, because he was starving, and then went to lie down--he was feeling understandably seedy.

I relaxed in my recliner, and even dozed a bit, before we all got a rude awakening from the doorbell. It was UPS with my new pens--they shipped directly from Industries for the Blind in West Allis this time, and it only took a couple of days.

LOVING the fine-point FP, (AND the medium ballpoint, believe it or not!. The FP has a beautifully behaved nib. I popped an international standard converter from Goulet into it, loaded it up with Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red, and wow--smooth, clear and sweet. Gold-toned metal under a lovely, rich burgundy lacquer, and they both have a slim, attractive, well-made look that belies the ridiculously inexpensive price--total for both, with tax & shipping, was only $10.54. Even the ballpoint writes well--for a ballpoint!

Of course, I had to snap some pics and put them on my tumblr, I made ham, mashed potatoes, and peas for dinner--wanted something easy for Spouse to get through, but substantial enough to satisfy. And since I'd made him orange Jello and instant chocolate pudding the night before, he had nice, easy desserts too. It seemed to satisfy him, anyway. We threw the window open, since it had turned quite beautiful outside, then said goodnight--he was still pretty wiped out, so he took some ibuprofen and benadryl and went to bed. I futzed around till 9-ish, and went to bed myself. Not the most spectacular day off in the world. But we got Spouse's teeth squared away, so that's something, I guess.