Ow.

Have you ever had an experience that is painful enough that you find yourself shaking, near tears, and wanting to curl up into a ball?  That happened to me today at the dentist.  Close your mouths, I know it's a shock to everyone that there would be pain at the dentist, but it really did happen.  For reals.  I got all numbed up for a root canal and she went to town, told me to raise my hand if I felt anything and needed her to stop.  Well, within about two WHIRRRRRs of the drill I jerked, tensed up, scrunched my eyes, and let out a garbled mouthful of UGH!!  My hand did not go up - but suffice it to say, she's a smart cookie and knew what had happened, stopped immediately, and gave me more anesthetic.  Whew.     

A couple pokes around with her lil metal claw, a "You doin ok?" and a thumbs up from me.  Ok, here we go again...back with the drill, back with a couple more WHIRRRRRs and ZING!! there it was again...me jerking, tensing, scrunching, and UGHHHHing.  More stuff, try number three, same reaction - only I very nearly burst into tears that time.  The pain, and the stress of the fear of more pain, made me shake and tense up so much I think I caught air.

One last try was a shot to the roof of my mouth which, while unpleasant, was totally worth it when it successfully numbed my damn tooth.  I've never had so much trouble with a tooth becoming numb, and now my loathing of the dentist chair has reached ridiculous proportions.

As I type this post I feel as though I've been punched in the right cheek, my head hurts, and I'm tired.  I thought about telling my story to the kids because they will for sure ask how it went, and what feels better than to tell someone about your agonizing pain?  Then I thought about any future trips to the dentist they may have, and their predicted adverse reactions because of the pain Mom went through, so I nixed the idea.  But wait - maybe I'll explain in graphic painful detail, play-by-play, as a way to scare them into keeping their teeth healthy.  Brush your teeth or you'll have to go to the dentist and feel the worst pain you could ever imagine!  There it is folks, parenting at its finest.  I should write a book.

:)