Needles

On Friday I had my third root canal. I've come a long way since my first root canal back in the early 90s. At that time when my dentist just told me I'd need a root canal, I hyperventilated, fainted, and threw up in his office. So I went from that overly anxious reaction and taking Ativan before my appointments to just tensing up while I get the freezing. I credit this to the fact that I went through much investigation into my "unexplained infertility" and subsequent pregnancy, labour, and c-section. These "challenges", if you will, really put getting dental work into perspective. Anyways, on Friday I wasn't really all that nervous as I knew what to expect, and I've come to realize that once you get the freezing, you don't feel anything so it's not that bad. I am still nervous during the actual freezing process, especially when I had to have a needle in the roof of my mouth. My nervousness shows in that I make fists with my hands, but I don't do that panting sort of breathing that I used to do, which inevitably would lead to hyperventilation. So once I had my freezing, I just closed my eyes and listened to my iPod and let the endodontist do his thing. After it was over and I was standing at the counter waiting to find out how much our benefits covered, Dr. Hall came out and said, "You're a really nervous patient; you should really take Ativan before your appointment." And here I am thinking, "Wow, I was awesome, I'm a great patient!" Little does Dr. Hall know how I used to be!

On Monday we took Ty for his 18-month shots. First he was weighed and measured, and he's 27 pounds (60th percentile for weight) and 36 inches (97th percentile for height); in other words, he's a tall, skinny boy! The nurse was happy with these measurements because she said they're seeing more and more overweight toddlers! That's so sad! And then came the time for his shots, one in each arm. The first one, barely a whimper. With the second one, the nurse warned us that it stings a bit more, and with that one, he did cry, but only for literally 10 seconds. We were so proud of our boy! And then we had a different worker go over a questionnaire we had to fill out regarding Ty's development in other areas, such as gross/fine motor skills, speech, problem solving, socialization, etc. And there were no concerns there, which I didn't think there would be. And now no more needles for Ty until he's 4!