The Consolation Prize

I had a dentist appointment scheduled for the afternoon. It would be the first of two visits to get a new crown on one of my upper left teeth. A complicating factor was that I already HAD a crown on that tooth that would need to be removed first. I suspected it would take some effort to get it off, but I'd been through this sort of thing before, so I was trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing.

My husband and I talked over our plans for the day. Our dentist is in Philipsburg, where my husband used to live. We could do the dentist thing, which I somehow envisioned to take about an hour, then come home through Black Moshannon, and perhaps go for a swim or a hike. Tiny Tiger and the Moose hopped in my daysack, with the Moose looking forward to going back to the "Moose Stream."

When I got to my dentist's office, I had the presence of mind to ask how long the appointment would take. The lady said it was a two-hour slot. So it was that I spent my afternoon in a chair in the dentist's office. The appointment actually ended up taking more than two and a half hours, all told.

The old crown had to come off first, and it was a real bugger. They had to chip, pry, scrape, and grind the old crown to get it off. Then they cleaned up the decay underneath, took impressions, and put on a temporary crown. My next and final appointment will be in early July, to take the temporary crown off and put the real one on.

Perhaps it's been a while since you've had a crown, but let me refresh your memory. The procedure involves bright lights, loud, grinding noises, bad and worrisome smells, injections of novocaine, and lots of hands in your mouth, generally several people at a time. They numbed me up as they started. It was a tooth in the top left so my top lip and left nostril went numb. That was weird. It was weirder yet when feeling started to come back. 

My mouth was open the entire time, with one lady flushing the site with water, and sucking it up with a little sucky thing. At one point, I felt cold water running out of the side of my mouth, down my neck, and onto my shirt. Yuck.

My husband went off and did some things while I was in the chair, and when I was done, I paid (half due at first visit, rest due at second), and set my next appointment. I walked outside and got in the car. It was late in the afternoon by now, chilly, overcast, with a threatening sky and a stiff breeze.

"I don't think we're going swimming," my husband said. We agreed that it was too late for afternoon adventures at Blackie, which was a disappointment to me and to the Moose, in particular. Instead, we would finish up our day by running a few errands back in State College. Once there, we parked the car; my husband went one direction, I went another.

This was my reward at the end of the afternoon, or at least a consolation prize: a large strawberry shake from McDonald's on North Atherton, shown in the photo. It was pretty empty inside and the people there seemed surly, but the shake was good, and cool, and refreshing.

Just one last thing. This was not my best day ever. While running across Atherton Street from where we parked to get to McDonald's, I hopped up on the curb . . . and pulled something in my left knee. 

Oh no! I was hobbled. I spent the evening icing it down and keeping weight off it. I suspect I will need to be careful with it for a while. A similar injury to my right knee in late November bothered me and disrupted my walking for months; I'm hopeful that won't be the case with this one.

So this was the story of my bang-up Monday. A dentist appointment. A strawberry shake. A pulled left knee. Better days ahead, baby; we're hoping for better days ahead!

My soundtrack song is Bruce Springsteen, with Better Days.