“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 740 (Saturday) – rainfall and a filling

Unlike Friday’s soft focus foggy gray morning that dissolved into a warm, spring-like afternoon, Saturday was a harsher gray, less warm, and much wetter. It was the perfect weather to curl up with a pot of coffee, blanket, and a book. Unfortunately, the morning was booked about six weeks ago with a 9:00 dentist appointment which required being out of bed and out the door at the same time as if it were an office work day. Sunday morning is dance class, and I told myself I can sleep late and then lounge about next Saturday.

Car reading.

Once out the door, the journey featured rainfall intensities varying from light misty drizzle to steady rain. The ride to Fitchburg, necessitated because I failed to change to a dentist closer to home, was completed in 30 minutes. This put me in the parking lot a solid half hour before the appointment time, and the opportunity was seized to spend a few minutes reading my book club book for March (The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett). 

When I entered the building, the waiting room TV was tuned to a home decorating/flipping show, which is what the TV there is always set to. The show was at the point where the designers were revealing their work to the homeowner. The house, an older basic ranch, had gotten a new exterior color and a salvaged front door, which looked great. I missed the part with the before views, but the inside seemed to have been liberated of walls to create an open floorplan of kitchen and living room.

As the camera panned up to what was once probably an attic and was now a cathedral ceiling, I mourned the loss of storage space and the likely skyrocketing heating cost. A loft had been built in one corner with a black metal ladder mounted on the wall to access it, which looked impractical and dangerous for anyone over the age of ten.

The kitchen had received white floor paint and white counters with dark black cabinets and a massive center island. The designer practically squealed, “you can put all your chairs around it!” while talking about the island. Chairs may fit around it, but the shallow overhang provided no room for legs, so good luck trying to eat at this alleged dining spot. 

The kitchen show-stopper turned out to be the massive island, which was not loaded with storage, but had panels that swung open to access a staircase leading down to a basement wine cellar and bar. That’s when the dental assistant arrived to escort me to the torture chair, so I missed the rest of the house, but I googled "kitchen island that opens to a basement" and there was a video clip from HGTV. 

The rain slammed on the metal roof of the office, which was commented on by the assistant and the dentist. During the advance chit chat about dental work, the assistant said she “hadn’t found a good dentist yet” after “dental trauma” from a previous dentist who began to remove the assistant’s wisdom teeth while referring to another patient’s x-rays. The words “haven’t found a good dentist” hung heavy in the air, delivered from the mouth of the assistant who had just likely insulted her dentist boss who was preparing to work in my mouth. If there had been visible cartoon speech bubbles, mine would have read WTF?!?

The replacement of my old filling seemed to be going well until my jaw began twitching. This triggered flashbacks to last year’s 18 x-ray series that resulted in the week of TMJ issues, a prescription for muscle relaxers, and being unable to open my mouth enough to eat for eight days.

After the procedure, the dentist showed me the x-ray of the tooth that received the new filling. The old filing was very close to the nerve and he said if there are any problems a root canal might be needed. That certainly wasn’t anything I wanted to hear, and he even joked about how he never has good news for me. I commented that it had certainly been two years of dental drama with a broken molar, crown, TMJ, dental surgery, and now more hints of a root canal.

Ibuprofen was suggested to avoid inflammation and hopefully ward off a repeat of the jammed-up jaw issue, although not being able to eat for a week would quite possibly be the ideal way to address the tight pants situation.

I was back in the car at 48 minutes after my appointment time. I was still pouring, so any desire to visit the sights and shops of Fitchburg and Leominster were cast aside. It was back onto the highway and homeward bound. After lunch and a couple episodes of The Morning Show on the Apple TV free trial weekend, there was a nap. Suddenly, it was suppertime and another non-work day was gone. Over. Lost. But hey, I have the possibility of a potential root canal to look forward to.