Looking like a Pumpkin

If it’s one thing in the world that scares the hell out of me, it’s dentists. That and serial killers who target penguin fanatics, but mostly dentists. Call it childhood trauma, but I’ve never been enamored with the idea of dentistry and feel that, as a science, it has a lot to be desired.

That’s probably why, when I broke a tooth a while ago, I decided to say screw it and just live with it. As a life policy it seemed to work out quite well for me. I didn’t have any pain with the tooth and the spiky feeling of it aside, it didn’t really bother me. When I went into the hospital I did have an infection in that tooth, but, you know, antibiotics fixed me and what not. Then about a month ago, another chunk of the tooth broke off. It was time to get it looked at.

As expected, the dentist told me that I would have to have a root canal, or just extract the tooth. The former wouldn’t be the best of ideas since my expected life span is at least a few more decades and the root canal’d tooth would likely only last for maybe 10 years. So extraction it is.

I have the extraction scheduled for tomorrow, of all days. In the end I’m pretty sure that I am going to look like one of the pumpkins I carved with my family tonight. Yes, I’ll have more teeth than the pumpkin, but it’s still funny to think about.

I’m curious to see, though, how my blood sugar plays out with this whole experience. On one hand, I could under eat tomorrow and find that my blood sugar tanks while I’m in the chair. On the other hand, I could eat my normal amount and watch my blood sugar skyrocket thanks to the severe amount of stress and anxiety I am continually feeling about this process tomorrow.

There is always that chance that my anxiety over the extraction will lead me to cardiac arrest, or convulsions that cause the dental spacer they’ll use to keep my mouth open to fall out, get lodged in my throat, and cause me to choke to death. You know, either way…

At least I’m going to lose more weight in the next few days, since eating is going to be struggle. I’ll really be interested to see how my body reacts to that dietary change!!

Today’s Numbers