Crown King

I was back on track and up early on Wednesday. I was downstairs exercising before 5:25am. I checked the weather. It was again about 40 degrees. After push-ups I headed out with Ykraps. I could see filtered moonlight through the cloud cover but not a whole lot. In fact, we were expecting rain. After a brief spell on the PC, I woke Mindy with coffee. She wasn’t going to work, but was going in for an early dental appointment. In fact, I had one Wednesday, too. The funny thing is that all of us, in two days, had dental appointments yet none of us realized they were so bunched together until yesterday. It wasn't planned that way. Not only would our work days be non-standard, but so would the kids school day. This was also their late start day. The bus wouldn’t be picking them up until 1005am. To address it, Mindy planned to take the kids along to her dental appointment figuring to be home well before 10am. I typically do the late start thing but because I’d have to leave work early (145pm) I didn’t want to arrive 2 hours late too. Yikes! That would be irresponsible. I finished my pre-run routine much like any other day. I headed out for my run around 640am. I felt really good and ran four miles. I don’t know that I could’ve felt better. And the predicted rain still hadn't started by the time I finished. For that I was grateful. Mindy and the kids left for her dental appointment shortly after 730am. I had the house all to myself, which on a work day morning is extremely rare. It was nice having the luxury of showering at much more leisurely pace. I made sure I had dental floss in my work grooming kit to use just before heading to my afternoon appointment. I left for work near 810am. We had a couple morning meetings that went up until 1215pm. Because I was leaving for my dental appointment at 145pm the day absolutely flew by. And while the time flew, the rain also fell. I flossed and brushed before departing. It was pouring when I left for the dentist's office. I arrived a few minutes early. I'd just gotten a magazine open when Laura called me back. She looked familiar but I couldn't recall her name. Laura wasted little time getting me prepped for the grind, placing a tasty cotton swab in the general vicinity where the numbing needle would almost certainly be focused. They're totally computerized now, and she slid the monitor in front of me hoping to schedule the seating of my crown. I quickly shared that Colleen had already scheduled it at the time this appointment was made. It was slated for the 22nd. Laura shared that that would be impossible since it takes 3 weeks to get the crown back from the lab. I countered that we should probably stop right now then. I refused to go through the Xmas holiday with a temp crown in my mouth. Dr March must've overheard and quickly said he'd investigate getting it back sooner even if he used an alternative lab. He checked and confirmed. Yep. He could do it. Proceed then. He numbed my gum and let me sit for about ten minutes, enough time for the juice to do its thing. We were ready for the grind. When I shared that the tooth didn't start bothering me until he/they asked during my exam. He countered that they hear that all the time. I'll bet, I joked, you probably drilled a hole in it. Sadly, I know this process well; raise your hand if you feel anything. We'd just gotten started when I raised my hand. ZING! After more numbing juice, it was time to start again. The drilling left an unusually bad taste in my mouth. Dr March said it was the old filling material. Yuck! I could taste it like nobody's business, and it was awful! It took a while to grind the tooth to the nub it needed to become. And I could feel it for the last few minutes but I elected to forego any more numbing juice. I was a little more nervous than usual. The entire process took more than two hours. I forget to mention the mold they took before drilling. It serves as the mold for the permanent porcelain crown and also the temporary 'plastic' crown. Then, after finishing the drilling a second mold is taken, which serves as the mold for the crown's mount. We made my follow-up appointment for December 17th. I am scheduled off that day. It was 415pm when I left. I headed straight home through Upper Arlington, down Tremont, west on Lane, south on Riverside, and west on Trabue. Mindy & the kids seemed surprised that I was home so early. Mindy spent the day Xmas shopping after her early morning dental appointment, and already had the house in ship-shape. The kids were leaving with their daddy and Mindy planned a trip to a funeral home in Grove City to pay her respect to a student's family whose father passed away after complications from the Swine flu. She expected to be home somewhere between 630-730pm. She still wanted to visit Barley's if time permitted. Meanwhile, my mouth was still a little numb from the dental work, but I was feeling some discomfort. I took four Advil to curb it. After the kids left with their daddy I started setting up my new PC. More than anything I had to organize/move my old PC since I planned to keep it up and running for the near term, or until I am comfortable that I have everything I need moved onto my new machine. I organized things so that I could place my old machine and its accessories on the nearby credenza, freeing my desk for the new one. The first order of business was setting up and configuring my new router. That was much easier than I expected. After the router the rest was even easier. The only blip was a small one. My new monitor is HD, so I assumed it came with a HDMI cable. It did not. As an alternative, I had to use a serial connection until I could pick-up and HDMI cable somewhere. The initial configuration of my new PC was simple too. Windows has come a long way over the years. It's truly plug and play. Mindy got home around 640pm. I expressed my desire to stay home and not visit Barley's. My mouth was still sore and I really wanted to remain focused on my PC. She understood. I worked on my new PC until the kids got home. I was comfortable with my progress. I really didn't expect it to go so smoothly. I still need to configure my new printer, make a back-up copy of Windows 7, and move important files over, but that should happen over the next week. I asked Mindy to make me a Jack & Coke. I also took a few Advil. Eventually the mouth pain abated. I plopped down on the sofa and tuned the TV to the Science Channel. It wasn’t too long before I was sawing logs. I felt so right!