Whose Afraid of... the Dentist... and Other Ghoulish Tales!

It's another busy week around the Lemonade Stand.  I barely remember the weekend, after having my first dental work in YEARS done on Friday.  Okay.  Confession time.  I am horrifically phobic of the Dentist and because of that, it has been a very long time since I had last been for even a teeth cleaning.  Gross.  I know!

It all started when I was a young girl.  My first recollection of the dentist wasn't too far off the pscyho dentist from Little Shop of Horrors, who loves instilling pain on his patients.  I remember sitting back in the dentist chair, that light shining in my eyes, the sounds... the smells... (I'm starting to have an anxiety attack just thinking about it)... and then the needles.  Yes, I said NEEDLES!  Four of them to be exact.  Dr. Muirhead was not a tender dentist either.  In my mind's eye it was as if the man was standing on my face to get the needles down to the back of my throat.  And you have to ask why would I ever be afraid.  Hmmmfph!

The remainder of my youth and adulthood has been in search of the "perfect" dentist, if there ever could be such a thing.  I've tried many times to get back in the saddle (or dentist chair as it were) only to end up with the heebie jeebies and go cold turkey off the dentist for a long stretch of time.  Up until recently I had been content to ignore the fact that good dental hygiene was up there with godliness, but somehow that nagging ache in my upper right jaw wouldn't let me live in my alternate reality where dentists don't exist any longer.  No wonder these poor guys have the highest suicide rate.  Heck with everyone dissing them constantly!


Thanks be to Google... I typed in "phobic of dentist" and to my surprise (and delight) came up a "rate your doctor" site that had entry after entry of this one doctor/dentist, praising his work and clinic.  Hmm... this is interesting!   I soon learned that this "wonder doctor" was actually in my area, a short 10-15 drive from home.  I was thrilled (or as thrilled as a dental phobic patient can be).  I called the number, figuring that it would take forever to get an appointment.  The delightful Scottish accent on the other end of the phone was not only comforting, but also hugely helpful in getting me in to meet the dentist the following week.  I was shocked!

I went in for the meeting and was immediately put at ease, not only by the kind reception of everyone I encountered, but also by the lack of dentist office smell.  The environment was homey and warm (including the gas fireplace in the room where I met the Dentist).  After x-rays were taken and my teeth were shown to me on a tv screen above my head (and can I just say... there is a reason why it's dark in our mouths!!), we discussed the treatment methods to help ease my fears and get me on my way to regular dental treatment and health.  A teeth cleaning session was booked as well as the first of 2 much needed appointments to replace old decayed fillings and cavities.

I was able to get through my teeth cleaning with just a little anxiety a couple weeks ago with the help of worship music playing on my iPod (drowning out the sounds), the comfy "massage" dental chair and the dental freezing the dentist administered.  My big hurdle would be the actual dental work.  This appointment happened last Friday and well... let's just say it was a huge success because ... I DON'T REMEMBER IT!  Yep... not a thing!  Thanks to this dentist's training as a dentist AND anasthesialogist last thing I remember was chatting to the nurse about which church she attended...(which is the same one as two of my niblings). I vaguely remember the ride home and have snippets of recollection of Hubby feeding me yogurt and apple juice.  Apparently, he tells me, I told him the story about the nurse being a Christian like 40 times on the ride home.  Oops!  Loopy does not describe me apparently!  Hubby told me that next time he plans to videotape me.  After seeing this video... I'm not so sure I want him to - ha ha.  Check out this video on Youtube and you'll get a slight idea of what my Friday was like!

At least I was semi-cognitive enough to remember the calls from my oldest brother and his wife, keeping me abreast of my niece in labor with her first baby.  Little Elijah was born safely on Friday night around 10:20pm.  Thank you Jesus!!  That's SIX great-niblings now!  How blessed am I?!

Saturday I laid pretty low.  After Friday I wasn't looking forward to going anywhere but Hubby really wanted to get out of the house so I dragged myself out with him to do a little shopping before we came home to hibernate with a movie Saturday night.

Sunday was church, a visit from one of our nephews at lunch and then the invasion of Trick or Treaters in the evening.  We were thrilled when our friends dropped by late afternoon with their little 18 month old "Frog" to show us her Halloween costume.  We were sure to load up her little basket with candy... for her folks!  All in all we had drips and drabs of kids over the 2 hours of handing out candy.  Maybe 50 kids in all showed up.  Of course, the one time Hubby ran over to the neighbors was the time the ugly "Scream" masked kid shows up at the door and I am forced to give him candy.  I HATE creepy costumes.  Why must I "reward" the older kids with either lack of creativity (aka not dressing up) or evil, creepy costumes with candy?  I really am not a huge fan of Halloween.  Thankfully the costumes were mostly cute.  By 8pm we shut the door, turned off the light... and head downstairs for our Sunday evening of Reality TV.  Glad it's only one night a year!