The saga continues ...

Went to the dentist again yesterday -- still working on reparations there. I wasn't sure what to expect ... I remember that the doctor said something about needing to get more impressions before we could proceed ... but was that ALL I was in for? I asked the gal who seated me if I was going to get a face full of Novacaine this time; she checked with Dr. L and came back to say it depends on how sensitive I am. Oh, boy. What does THAT mean, exactly? While I waited, I tried to get myself prepared for whatever would happen next. I thought about it, and realized that I had already had root canals on all the teeth in the area that was to be worked on, so when he came in, I asked him to verify that. Sure enough! No Novacaine required. A crowbar and a jackhammer, maybe, but no Novacaine. Oh, good. my plan to multi-task by doing other errands while I was in the area was safe.

The impression had to be repeated four times before we got a good set. Of course. If ANYbody is going to have to be gagged with impression putty four times to get it right, that would be me. When the dentist was satisfied that he had what he needed, he told the chairside assistant (or whatever her title is) that she needed to get the ElectroSurge ready for him. Say WHAT?!? Did somebody order a lobotomy? What, pray tell, is an ElectroSurge? Whatever it is, it can't be good in MY world. I told them they were scaring me.

Seems my gums went into overdrive in the healing process, and grew more tissue than could be allowed. !!! So now, they were going to ElectroSurge it off. Ohhhhhhhhh dear. Doctor L promised it would only hurt for about 10 seconds. I reminded him I don't DO owchies. He did he level best to be reassuring, but I was verrrrrrrrrry skeptical. He stepped out of the room.

Another gal came in to explain to the first gal how this gadget works. As she slinked out, I heard her say quiety, "If you have to cauterize it ... "

Oh, please!

Well, as it turned out, it was really no big deal. It really hurt less than the 10 seconds promised.

Before I could leave, however, they needed to get photographs. (This is new. Who gets photographed at the dentist's office? I won't go into what kind of things started going thru my head at that point. It's just too crazy for public consumption.) Yet another gal brought in some things I think she called retractors. They look sort of like plastic cutlery that has been melted/morphed into tools for pulling your cheeks out of the way so they can get a good close-up of the teeth. They took a few shots while I stretched my face like a fool for them, then showed me what they got. The best description is that it looks like the "before" in one of those Before & After ads at the back of a cheap magazine. Anyway ... that was it. Dr. L asked me if the day's procedure was too awful, and I had to admit I've hurt myself worse with dental floss than what he did with ElectroSurge.

Enough of that. Here's Penny W's latest (she quilted this here this morning):

... and here's a corner of Cindy M's latest: