I Survived

Yesterday I had half my wisdom teeth out and I'm still alive. I was supposed to get all four out, but the dentist used up the maximum amount of local anestesia that can be used in one sitting. The bottom left tooth wanted to come out less than I wanted it to come out, and it caused some problems for the dentist and some discomfort for me during the surgery. I was given laughing gas to ease my anxiety, but I certainly wasn't laughing. In fact, I felt no effect and I was still quite tense. After he put in my freezing I felt my heart rate go way up and I was shaking. At the end of the appointment I finally let go of my arm and my hands were sore from gripping.
I wasn't in much pain for most of the ordeal. Every once in a while he would reach a point in his "digging" where the freezing hadn't quite done it's job and I would tell him it hurt. It was mostly gross. Throughout the cracking, grinding and dripping down my throat, (and the horrible bitter taste when he would drill my tooth to break it) I was trying not to picture what was going on. I tried desperately to watch the bronze medal hockey game going on on the TV behind the hygenist's head and I took some deep breath's of nitrous oxcide in hopes that I wouldn't pay as much attention to the terrible sensations.
Scott came to pick me up, but I was fine. I could walk and I took the bus home instead of a cab. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate taking drugs of any sort so it wouldn't be a surprise that I decided to try things out without pain killers. When I got home I sat with some gauze in mouth waiting for the bleeding to stop. I thought it was time to gargle some salt water to stay on top of infections. I did this, spit out some bloody water and sat down. Searing pain suddenly shot through my jaw as the salt made it's way down through the wound. Sunddenly the whole left side of my face was throbbing. I asked Scott to pause the movie we were watching (Cinderella Man - good movie) and go get my prescription filled at the pharmacy across the street. When he brought it back I read the enclosed papers and thought about how much I didn't want to take anything. My hands were shaking and I felt nauseated with the pain so I gave in and took a Tylenol 3. Within half an hour I started to feel a little better and I could tolerate the pain the the Tylenol 3 couldn't quite mask. When I went to bed at 8:00 I took a couple regular strength Ibuprofen and I slept considerably well. I awoke easily, but I wasn't in too much pain. Upon waking up this morning I still had some pain and I feel more swollen, but I've decided not to take any drugs. I was going to take my anti-biotics, but since I'm allergic to Penicillen they gave me something else. It says it should be taken only with serious infections because in rare cases people develop intestinal problems that can be fatal. I decided to wait it out and maybe just gargle with salt water more often.
So I survived. I've always thought I had a high threshold of pain, but I do let people know that I'm feeling bad...I don't consider it whining :). On a scale of 1- 10 I'd consider the short-lived pain an 8...I'd put strep throat at a 9 or 10. I've felt worse.
I get to go through it again in a month for the other side, though. I think I'll do better then knowing that it doesn't last too long.

25!

I turned 25 today, but it turned out pretty good and I didn't feel like an adult all of a sudden (When does that actually happen?). Scott woke me up this morning to give me a nice card and a membership for me and him to the Vancouver Aquarium. I love going there so I'm really happy about it. He took me out for dinner and then I got free gelato at the little place down the street that gives it out on birthdays.

It was really nice to hear from all my family friends today too. It's so nice when people want to celebrate the day that you came into the world. I got to talk to people I don't regularly talk to like my brother's wife, Monique in New Brunswick and Scott's brother, Paul. It was a nice day.

Weekends are too short!

Scott and I just got back today from a great weekend on the Sunshine Coast. It was so relaxing and I wish we could have stayed longer. The weather was gorgeous. It was sunny and the temperature ranged from about 2 degrees to 7 degrees depending on whether you were in the shade or not. We had a cute little log cabin nestled in some trees with a fireplace. It took us a while to get the fire going, but eventually it took off. There was a hot tub in the back yard that we enjoyed a couple of times too. We had to walk up a little path and it was sheltered in some trees with a patio built around it. The cabin was at the foot of a big mountain and was just a few steps from the ocean. I look forward to going back again.

Nice Days

It's hard not to love the weather these days in Vancouver when the sun is shining and the daffodils are up and smiling. Yesterday I stayed in for the morning to get my housework done. It was so nice to have the curtains open and let the sun shine in and warm our apartment. Also, it was nice to be able to see the mountains. We have a great view of them on a clear day, but most of the winter we can't see them because the rain brings in the fog over Burrard Inlet around Stanley Park and we can just see white.

Yesterday was great. After I finished doing housework (including ironing!) I walked downtown to meet my friend Kim for a smoothie followed by a matinee. We saw The New World with Colin Farrell. I reccommend it if you want to see a beautiful movie. It could have been another one of those crazy big time movies with gratuitous violence and sex, but it was nothing like that. It was artfully portrayed with glorious scenery and "real" people. I don't think the girl playing Pocahontas had on a stitch of make-up and it added to the credibility of her character. It was a story told because there was a story there to be told.

After the movie we met our husbands for some supper at Earl's restaurant. I had an amzing grilled chicken sandwhich on ciabatta bread with roasted apples, fig jam, spinach and brie. Mmmm...

It was such a great day. Today was another great sunny, 10 degree day. Wonderful!

My Surprise

Scott brought me flowers today without a special occasion. I just have to say that he is such a sweet guy!

My Sunday

Scott's out playing pinball right now and I'm going to go to church soon. I'm looking forward to getting outside, though, since it's finally sunny and supposed to stay that way all day. I can handle the fact that it's only 3 degrees too (haha...that almost feels cold to me...I've turned into a wimp out here).
I'm going to go to the big church by my work this morning because I forgot my running shoes there and I need them to go for a walk in the park. I still haven't found a church I like and I'm getting frustrated. I go to the Catholic church more frequently because I generally like the srcipture readings and the homily, but I don't really feel like I belong there anymore since I have a Potestant marriage. I went to the Alliance church a few times, but they sing way too much there. They sing for an hour and I'm not crazy about that. There is one pastor I like to listen to there, but the last time I went there was a different man there and I felt like I was at a Jimmy Swaggart show. I miss Next!

Creativity

What's in the water in Kingston? I don't mean whatever it was that made my leg get infected after cutting it on the ladder in Lake Ontario...I mean whatever it is that makes so many Kingstonians musically creative. There are tonnes of people there who are creative in other ways too, but being someone who used to love checking out the local music scene, that's what I know. But seriously, who from Kingston isn't aquainted with at least one succesful musician..or at least one member of The Tragically Hip?

I guess I didn't drink enough of the water because I missed out. I know I'm creative, because I'm not at all logical so I must be right-brained. Or at least I like to think so. In grade 11 I failed a math test because on the last page the solution was supposed to take up the whole page and I drew a full page picture of a fairy. Needless to say, I went on to also fail the class. The problem was that my fairy didn't even look that good.

I'm one of those people who likes to try new things, but gives up when it gets too challenging. My grade 9 art teacher was critical of my work so I didn't take another class. I refused to take my piano exams because I was too nervous and I later quit piano all together because I switched schools and I was too shy around my new teacher. After two years of being in Drama and excelling, I quit because the teacher changed and the group became too clique-like. I can only play songs on the guitar that don't have bar chords...

This goes for things that are a little more logically challenging too...crossword puzzles, Rubiks Cube (I came so close), and the Sudoku puzzles. It's very frustrating, but really it's my own fault. Maybe next time I'm in K-Town I'll have to go take a big gulp of water from the lake...I'm sure it'll make some intersting things happen to me!