Lesson Learned

In retrospect, it was probably not the best idea to schedule a visit to the periodontist for the day after a post-scan consultation with the oncologist. I'm not a huge fan of dental visits under the best of circumstances, and to have to have my roots scraped the day after being told that my cancer treatment wasn't working was a but much to ask. 

Oh well. I suppose what's done is done. 

And I did learn two important things. First, of all the terrible things that have been done to my body over the past eighteen months, I have to say that the administration of dental anesthetic strikes me as the worst.* Having that gigantic needle jammed in your mouth just has no redeeming qualities at all. 

But second, I learned that part of the reason I hate it so much is that dental anesthetics include one of the hormones that drives your body's fight or flight response. Thus, while numbing your month, the dentist is basically causing a panic attack. It's no wonder I'm not a fan.

But at least now I have clean roots. I'm sure that will eventually somehow be important, even if it doesn't really feel like it at the moment. 


* I'm not sure which is the bigger lie: the periodontist's "little pinch" or the colonoscopy nurse's "now I'm going to give you something to relax you." In both cases, these people are seriously underselling the impact of what they're about to do.