I used to work for a fellow that loved it when one just barely missed a sales objective. That way he didn't have to pay any bonus. “Oh, you were close.” He'd follow that up with, “So, where did you get weak?” When Lauren and Colyn would bring home an A- from school, I used to say, “So, where did you get weak?” Lauren, especially, hated that – Colyn would just get pissed. A little harsh? Eh . . . maybe.
Why you suck - weak man
Here's where I got weak. I took off on the 3rd of September, by the 5th of September I started to get a tooth ache. I sort of knew that I was on my way to getting a root canal, but I wasn't completely sure. So, I thought, just maybe, I might be able to ride this thing out all the way through the end of October and get things taken care of when I get back to Vermont. So, I started taking ibuprofen. I've been taking two every 4 hours, literally, since the 5th of September. The teeth seemed to get better; then they’d get worse. The pain arc, however, trended to unbearable.
Suddenly, this past Friday (the 21st of September), my face ballooned up. Saturday morning it was pretty bad; but I went for my walk at the Grand Canyon, in spite of it. I absolutely refused to be beaten. On Sunday morning my face was unrecognizable on the left side. My niece Heidi is a surgical nurse and she told me that I needed to get to an emergency room STAT. (I’ve always wanted to say that. She didn’t really use that acronym. I made that up.)
We drove from Flagstaff, Arizona to Santa Fe, New Mexico and went directly to the emergency room. And here's where you can't make s*** up. A young man who tended to me, a Physician’s Assistant, asked me about my trip and I said, “Have you ever read John Steinbeck?” He said, “I’m reading Travels with Charlie right now. I’m about one third of the way through.” I about fell out of my chair. I told him, “I am Travels with Charlie.” It is the predicate for my trip with my dog. He asked me if I named my car Rocinante, as well. No, I replied, “I named it Rudiari.” We were both quite amused by the coincidence. He gave me a shot in the mouth called a dental block, a prescription for antibiotics and an opioid for the pain.
I filled the prescriptions, went back to the hotel, took one oxycodone and laid down on the bed to half watch and half listen to the Patriots – Lion’s game. I really was in serious pain. The game provided even more pain. The oxycodone is over rated, in my opinion. The bottle instructed me to take one every four hours. I took one every hour for the next three hours, it produced a nice buzz, but did not kill the pain. The ibuprofen was of more help – took a couple more those. Although, I never fell asleep during the game, I did sort of haze out at times. The Lions beat the Pats 26-10. Come on. That was not supposed to happen. As my daughter Dawn texted to me, the game was supposed to be a “bloodbath.” Only the other way around. Well, my friend, Michael Carr says in situations like this, “. . . even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.”
Every night, since the 5th of September, my tooth causes an intense throbbing as soon as I lay down. Typically, it takes me about an hour to get relaxed enough to go to sleep. Fitfully. It really sucks. On Monday morning I was on the road to Larkspur, Colorado at 6:00am, determined to get to my sister’s home by noon. My niece, Heidi, recommended an emergency dental care service in Cherry Creek, Colorado. They couldn't get me in until about 5 PM. The dentist drained my abscess, but he couldn't determine which tooth needed to get the root canal. Believe it or not, one of those teeth already had a root canal. The dentist was concerned that the failed root canal tooth, or the tooth in front of it, needed the root canal. He did not want to make the call. Instead, he referred me to an endodontist.
I totally got lucky by getting in to see them the next day, around noon. The endodontist, a very cool guy from Venezuela, told me that I needed two root canals. Doesn't that just suck? So, I came back at around 1:45 PM and sat in that chair for three hours, absolutely getting dissected. I must go back on Tuesday for another two hours in the chair. Double the pleasure. Then I'll get in the car with Teddie and drive as far south toward Mississippi as I can get that night before I feel like I have to stop. I need to get to Florida to my Aunt Jeanne’s home in Naples by Saturday October the 6th.
This is my excuse for not making more timely blog posts and taking more photos. I'm at least two posts behind. I need to put something on the blog about my visit to my cousin Lynn’s house and my visit to my cousin Jacob’s studio in the arts district of Los Angeles. It's been really hard to focus. All I can think about are my teeth. I'm not through the eye of the needle yet. On a scale of ‘it totally sucks’ to ‘things are awesome’, I’m still at the lower end of the scale, but way better than this past Sunday. I'm hoping that sometime mid-week after my second visit, I'll start to feel a little normal. It's just a speed bump. But, Lauren and Colyn, that's where your dad got weak . . .
