“Remoted” Day 348 (Saturday)

Another Saturday and another dentist visit. It stinks sacrificing Saturday to sit in a dental chair, but it beats taking time off from work. It seems like it would have been wise to get a dentist closer to home, but that didn’t happen and I’m not dentist shopping now. There is enough going on already.

There was finger poking and prodding and blown cold air and electrical tests and yes, another x-ray, but this time it was a panoramic that did not require opening wide, which as we know, would have been impossible.

The mystery continues. Again, there was no sign of infection in the tooth that was crowned over the summer. This is the tooth that broke a year ago on popcorn that was made more out of boredom than any desire for popcorn, resulting in Valentine’s Day 2020, a scheduled vacation day, being spent in the dentist chair. A temporary crown was installed, and before the permanent crown could be done, the pandemic shutdowns happened. When we were finally able to get back to it months later, the crown didn’t fit, requiring a new crown and another visit. In a nutshell, I spent an inordinate amount of free time in July at the dentist. And now, it’s an encore performance for February and March.

Today, much attention was bestowed upon the crowned tooth and the molar above it. Those teeth are closest to the jaw problem. Nothing showed up in the panoramic x-ray to explain the unyielding jaw. The warm, moist compresses and muscle relaxers will continue, along with checking a million times a day to see if I will be able to eat anything interesting yet.

After arriving home, it was time for my current favorite socially distant, socially acceptable activity—napping. The dogs and I were cuddled on the couch in a lovely tableau until they suddenly began barking and fighting their ways out from under the blanket and running to the door. I jumped off the couch faster than I should have, because rapid positional changes and I do not get along. It’s a low blood pressure thing that has resulted in dizziness, and worse, fainting. I know I’m not supposed to get up quickly, but sometimes I’m already up before I have time to think about it.

I hate this door,

The dogs were heralding the presence of two strangers standing in the enclosed porch, an average looking man and a younger female. Because there is a stupid glass panel down the center of the door, I could see them, and they could see me, and there was no graceful way to not open the door. I hate that stupid door. 

The man said, “Hi! Don’t worry, we’re not here to convert you!” And I’m thinking, “Great, so what are you selling?” but I just leaned on the doorframe for support, mildly miffed from being awoken. Then the guy hands me a brochure and launches into a spiel about his company moving from Salem, NH into Dracut and they clean floors of all surfaces including carpet and hardwood and a bunch of my neighbors have already signed on for services and which are the high traffic areas of my house?

By this time, the dogs are still jumping and running out to the porch and back into the house and I’m fading fast and clutching the doorframe. Finally, I interrupted with “Umm, I’m not feeling so great and standing here like this is not helping. Sorry, I gotta go.” Then I shut the stupid door with the stupid glass panel that doesn’t let you not open it after you’ve been spotted and I went and back to the couch to lie down before I keeled over from getting up too fast. There was no fainting, and the nap resumed and it was good. That door with the stupid glass panel I’ve hated since moving in has moved higher on the house list.