Manic Monday

I take a sip of the extra dark hot coffee as I reflect over the mornings events. Manic Mondays don’t happen to me, I usually take the beginning of the work week pretty well. This one, I will remember for a few days at least.

As the coffee burns through me, waking me up with caffeine high, I think about writing this post. Few of my previous blogs have been influenced by the writing style of other bloggers, it is time to find my own. Just like Bishwanath Ghosh’s Shankar in his blog: Confessions of a novelist, I have to awaken my ‘Shankar’ to find his style back.

As I sat awake last night 3 am chatting with Reshma and Chinky, trying to keep my mind off the sudden tooth ache till the pain killers got around to do their job, I was not in desperation or misery, but content that the tooth will be removed in over six hours. The appointment letter for the extraction of a wisdom tooth and its accompanying molar sits on my dresser assuring me that relief is near. My cell phone alarm wakes me up at 6:30 am, I dress up and take Laya out, then proceed to have my breakfast. I had called in on Friday to see if the surgeon needed me to take some medicines or have a particular diet before the appointment, there was no such requirement.

James drops me off at the surgeon’s office. Sven is waiting at work to expect a phone call from the surgeon’s office to pick my heavily sedated butt up. At the office, after filling up the paperwork they take me in for a 360 degree x-ray, which was kinda cool. Definitely better than the shovel they shove in your mouth and take x-rays of one tooth at a time. Then they take me in for consultation. That’s it…consultation. No extraction. Some shit broke loose in the entire communication channel and this session was supposed to be only for a consultation. The doctor, just as nice as most doctors are, asked me about my medical history and other crap like that. It is the administrative assistants that screwed up. I was raging mad for a few moments there, wanted to get on the phone with the clerk at my dentist’s office who fixed me this appointment. The consultation was a good though. The good doctor explained about the entire procedure of extraction with reference to the x-ray. Here is the x-ray. Please click on the picture for a larger version.

Now my close friends, relatives and all people passing though know how my teeth look like.

This is the graphic part of the post. If talking about medical procedures scare you, please don’t read below. If you want to dare yourself or know more about the extraction process, please do. Apparently, Number 31 created an empty space around itself. Due to its position being at the enamel-root part of Number 31, plaque got stuck in the cavity. Plaque is 95% bacteria. This caused Number 31 to decay and weaken, causing it to break off. I guess I wasn’t too ignorant after all. Alright, maybe a little. Anyway, Number 31 needs to go and Number 32 is under the gum line. Also, the roots of number 32 extend sideways, which make it difficult to pull out. It will need some ‘carpentry’ (the doctor’s words, not mine. I would chose something more subtle) to pull it out. The pen markings on number 32 show how it will have to be cut to be extracted.

This is a good picture of Number 31. You can see how it is broken off and only about 70% of it is left. Number 17, the wisdom tooth on the left side of the mouth is doing the same thing. That is something I need to take care of before all hell breaks lose in that side of my jaw too. The wisdom teeth in the upper jaw are coming out pretty well, but may need to be extracted to avoid future problems. The doctor then proceeded to explain all that can go wrong and how to cure those. He drew the nerve line and said if the surgery affects the nerve line, it may take sensation away from my lower lip and tongue for a few months. Wow, I can’t wait enough. The closest date to my ‘actual’ surgery is over two and a half weeks away. Gee. I hope the misdirected administrative assistants can put their act together and get me something sooner. It seems that the surgeon’s admin had promised to do the extraction today, at least that is the impression my dentist’s admin had. I hope they all sort it out soon and get me off these pain killers.

The whole experience has made me pretty numb, emotionally. I am taking medical matters in my hand from now on. I am also buying the books that I mentioned here: link

Update 2007_04_12
The admin to the dentist made me an appointment for Friday (13 Apr 2007)...tomorrow. Wish me luck.