Root canal = Epic fail

Today started off ok, filled with promises of a lovely relaxing day at home. I had the day off school, as they classed it as a public holiday for those of us that go on a Tuesday and made all the Monday people go instead.

Grace was over the moon that I got to stay for an hour at her school this morning AND stay for morning circle. I used to be stay all the time, but lately it's been more like dump and run or send Grandma along in my place. It was so lovely to catch up with all the other parents between playing dress-ups, cooking and drawing with Grace. It's so sweet and heart warming to watch your child interact with all their friends and see that she is so well liked by all the children - especially with 1 little boy who has a special spot for her. He made her a special bracelet a few weeks ago, something that he had been working on for weeks and was so proud to present it to Grace. She's not too impressed with wearing it, but it hangs proudly on her door knob!

After waving a smiling Grace goodbye, Xav and I headed back home. It was the first day in about 3 months where it has just been Xav and I. It was wonderful to spend some time playing just with him, and of course he insisted that we zoom the cars all around the lounge room floor. Then we got to have a lovely cuddle on the couch reading stories. Bliss.

Duane got to come home early because of the torrential rain we have been having. I headed out to the Dr to pick up blood test results to tell what Immunisation I'd need. I'm already immune to measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, so it's just Hep b that I have to do now. Too bad that's the one that takes 3-4 injections over 4-5 months and I'm supposed to have had it all completed by end of July. Oops!

After the Dr, I drove over to the Dentist for my root canal appointment. Now, I hate needles - especially mouth ones, so I was trying to psych myself up for the big event but in doing this totally lost track of keeping my foot on the brake. Bad move. I shunted (lightly!) the lovely blue ford fiesta in front of me. She pulled over after we left the intersection, so I followed. I was hesitant to get out of the car, in case the occupant was already full of road rage, but she stepped out and didn't look too scary! I apologised, we both looked to see if there was any damage (there wasn't), I apologised again, she said "it's fine, thanks for pulling over" and we parted ways. Then I headed to the next crappy part of my day.

My lovely dentist was ready and waiting for me as I arrived. The top dentist was there too, it had been arranged that she be there as previously getting into my tooth had been difficult. Firstly, Kym had a look around the tooth and asked if I'd had any pain or swelling since my last visit in February. Nope, nothing at all. She said this was a good sign, then went and talked about it with her supervisor. She came back quite happy and said that as it doesn't happen often, due to the absence of symptoms there was a good chance that the abscess had healed itself and root canal would be off the agenda. She just wanted to do a quick x-ray, just to double check and then I could be on my way and only had to come back if there was any signs of pain. Yay! As she headed off to get the x-ray result, I was mentally planning a quick shopping trip to the Robina Mall. I was child-free, with 2 hours to spare! Yippee.

However, it was not meant to be. I would instead be spending my "me" time reclined in the dentist chair. The x-ray showed a pea size abscess nice and clearly at the top of the tooth, so she would have to go in and try to clean it out. This is the hard part. Since I've had a root canal before, there is already a path plowed out and the new path has to follow the old one exactly. And when the path you are trying to follow is only millimetres wide, precision and patience is needed.

It took 1 1/2 hours of chipping away with a sharp file. Every single time she scraped the tooth, it sounded like fingernails down a black board - Horrid! Oh, and very sophisticated products where used, things like bleach and eucalyptus! I was wearing a lovely 'dental dam' covering my mouth, however a few bits slipped through and nearly had me choking on the gross taste. Every few mm, she'd do another x-ray just to double check that she was heading in the right direction. The head lady was there too, watching over and having a turn every now and then. I was an 'interesting' case, apparently. Finally they hit blood, which I was assured was a good sign. It meant that they were through the original canal and through to the abscess, and just needed to be confirmed with another x-ray. After having it flushed out with anti-biotics and re-filled with a metal pole so the x-ray machine would pick it up, it was time for the big reveal. One glance at the dentists dropped face made me instantly realise that the news was not good. Both her and the supervisor shook there heads and said "It's not good news" Seems my lovely front tooth not only is the bearer of an abscess, but a whopping fracture running down the canal. Not good.

So, the deal is now it can't be repaired, so no root canal. Only option is to have it removed and either a bridge or post and implant put in. I can get the bridge done through public fairly cheaply ($400) but I'd have to go private for the post and implant, which could be $5000 +. Not cool. I'm booked in next week to get my first impression for the false tooth, and then extraction and implant happen on the same day. Thank goodness, I was scared that I'd have to spend a week with out my front tooth!

I'm just so annoyed that the root canal didn't work and all that time and effort has been for nothing. I'm also kinda sad that I'm going to be parting with a piece of me that I have become so attached to over the years. I'd also love to give that little brat who slammed me face first into the big rock many moons ago a big kick up the bum. Since being chipped all that time ago, this tooth has given me so much grief. It's re-chipped so many times,including on a surf trip and exposing the nerve (very painful), I missed my class visit to Melbourne Zoo as a 10 y/o as I was getting my first root canal plus all the other dentist visits because of it. So on one hand I'll be glad for it to be gone, but on the other sad to loose my crooked, partially black front tooth.

Anyway, after all that crappy news, the day finally ended on something good. The results are up for the psychology exam I had a few weeks ago, and I surprised myself with 113.5/120 which is a High Distinction! Yay!! They also put up the results for the whole nursing class, not with names, and I got 7th out of nearly 300!! I'm so pleased and surprised, and it's a good confidence boost just when I needed it. Now I'm just waiting for the Anatomy one to come back, I'll just be happy to pass that one!

I'm brushing study to the side, once again, and instead laying on the couch for my regular Tuesday night viewing. The only thing that I watch on Tv is Greys anatomy and Private practice, and I figure it's all medical based so I'm kinda still learning! My tooth is starting to ache too, after all the invasion today, so I'm hoping that's kind to me overnight.