The Unexpected

Apparently my heavenly Father decided I needed another lesson in taking things as they come this week. Sunday night, a tooth that has been bothering me off and on blew into a tooth ache that made me wish I had never been born, and turned me into a crying baby girl who just had her chocolate stolen out of her hand. I counted my breaths as I reclined on my bed, then when I lost count, I counted the beats in the music that was playing from my cell phone beside me. Not even my favorite worship song could get my mind off the pain, so I started reading. I have no idea what the book was about. I do remember the writing of it was almost painful to read in itself, so it didn't last long. My dear husband was beside himself, as he does not remember me being in quite so much pain since childbirth, and I handled that a tiny bit better than I was handling this. Finally after 2 prescription  pain pills, some numbing gel, and pure exhaustion, I was able to sleep. I had a dentist appointment at noon Monday.  I was still in pain, but not quite as bad as the night before, so I drove myself there, and before I knew it they had me in the chair, taking X-rays, and pictures. The dentist herself came in, and said, "yeah, it looks like it's your wisdom tooth that's causing the problem, so we're going to go in and pop that out of there, and you'll be feeling better in no time!" My head came up and my pain-fogged brain made it's first big decision of the day when it screamed "RUN!" I stayed in the chair, mainly because I was too tired to follow orders, and asked, "You're doing this now?" She looked into my wide eyes, and smiled. "Yup!" My head whirled, my blood pressure was rising, and I was approaching a state of sheer panic. And everything I wanted to say, got stuck because I have some self-respect and a 30-something year old woman can't just start screaming for mommy in the dentist's chair. But, oh how I wanted to! With shaking hands and a pounding heart, I explained that this procedure was a bit unexpected, and could I have a minute. After talking it over with my dentist, I realized this was probably the best way to not have any more nights like the night before, so I agreed and signed the papers that were needed. Within minutes the whole process was over, and my tooth was gone! It was all quite painless! I was surprised! I paid the bill, and headed off to work. I had no less than 5 people ask what I was doing there. I explained patiently, that my mother milked cows the day she had teeth pulled, and I come from hardy stock. Two hours into my shift, I realized that either the stock wasn't as hardy in the next generation, or my Novocaine was wearing off. A sub was found and after 2 hours of work, I was sent home to rest. As Ma Ingalls always said, "All's well that ends well." and I have come off my first traumatic dental visit with no extra phobias. I think. I have also learned that with Jesus and Ibuprofen, (in that order) I can handle most anything!