And The Weekend Continues

I am trying to look on the bright side here. At least I get a four day weekend. Why, you ask?! Well, my back molar, which is already a crown, has been bothering me for the past two months. My dentist said it might need a root canal, but to keep an eye on it. Well it got worse, so painful to hot and cold and sometimes ached all the way to my ear. I don't need a Doctor of Dental Science degree to know that's not good. So I stayed the night at my parents (since my dentist is out that way) and went at 8am this morning. He looked at it and took an x-ray and gave me the bad news, yeah you probably need a root canal. But then he referred me out to an endodontist? If you don't know what that is, it's a dentist who specializes in saving teeth. Okay whatever, told him I'd like someone near Arlington since I didn't think I'd be doing it today. He found some dude and I decided to call them when I got in the car. Talked to the receptionist and she said if I was there in the next hour or so they could get me in. Greaaaaat, Gainesville to Arlington in rush hour. We all know what that's like. Nevertheless, I decide to go for it since it's only 8:25 and I didn't plan on getting to work 'til 10:30am.

Route 66. Nothing more needs to be said. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great. I wanted to curb stomp the imbecile behind me. Subaru station wagon thing. That was his first mistake. His second mistake was tailgating me in 20mph traffic. I'M SORRY SIR, but I cannot go faster when there are 650,000 Northern Virginians in front of me. And please forgive me that I like to maintain a fair amount of space between my car and the car and front of me. CALL ME CRAZY, BUT I LIKE TO AVOID FENDER BENDERS. Not Mr. Subaru though. He decides to cut into the HOV lane and then cut in front of me. WOW, YOU'RE AWESOME. Now you're one whole car length closer to work!! GET A LIFE DOUCHE. (Note: I sound pissed in this post, but I was as cool as a cucumber in the car jamming out to Bieber and found it kind of funny.)

Alright, so I arrive to the endodontist office around 9:45am. Not bad considering I got gas before I left Gainesville. I start filling out all the crap, they make copies of my insurance stuff, blah blah. Then Dr. Root Canal's dental assistant takes me back. Dr. Root Canal is nice looking, somewhat young, pretty blue eyes. He asks what the problem is and I tell him. He then does the cold air thing. Does this hurt? No, not really. He does it on another part and I make a horrendous face and yell out something that sounds like "ahhh" and he says okay, sorry that's all I needed. Yes, you need a root canal.

Dr. Root Canal: Have you ever had one?
Me: No, but I've had orthognathic surgery.
Dr. Root Canal: Oh really, that's different. When did you have that?
Me: (Thinking--no shit, sherlock, it's different, just pointing out that I have been through some serious dental stuff). Umm, a little over two years ago.
Dr. Root Canal: Okay, two years ago; what did they do?
Me: Moved my upper jaw up and forward and lower jaw forward.
Dr. Root Canal: (Looking in my mouth again) Oh, I see. Well, they did a really good job.

So then he asks me some more questions about that. How was it? Painful? Were you wired shut? Truth be told, it wasn't painful. It was just ANNOYING. I was wired shut for 12 days and I forget this sometimes now, but man it made me appreciate food. Everything was liquid for 12 days and I wanted real food. Twelve days doesn't seem like a lot of time, but trust me it is. I lost ten pounds and had no boobs or butt! :) I digress.

So Dr. Root Canal does his thing and it really wasn't bad at all. I really thought it was going to be some kind of horrible. He advises me to take ibuprofen and prescribes me Vicodin? UMM WHAT?! Jeez Louise, if I need that this is not going to be good later. He said that it's like an ankle sprain and that the teeth and jaw will be sore later from all the drilling, pounding, etc. Special. It was at that point I decided not to go into work. And I am already on annual leave tomorrow (I'll explain in another post) so that's how I got my four day weekend.

All was well until I got the bill. Alright, your portion is $588! Whaaaaaaaaaat?! Kill me now. That's after insurance dude. The bill was like $1621 and adjusted to $1000 and after my insurance picks up their part I owe $588. I hope my health insurance picks up some of it, but probably not. It was at that point I realized my biggest fail in life: not going to dental school! Ha, no I never thought about it, but thinking about how much money my mouth/teeth/jaw are worth I really should have gone that route! You see between dental checkups growing up to now, expanders, cavities here and there, wisdom teeth removal, two rounds of braces, crown, orthognathic surgery, and now a root canal I'd venture to say about $75k has been bled from someone's pockets whether it be my parents, mine, insurance company, adjustments, discounts, etc. I think I should insure my mouth! ;) And yes I take care of my teeth, brush twice a day, floss, and six month checkups. I was just a mouth breather as a child since I couldn't breathe out of my mouth because of my enlarged adnoids, which were removed in middle school. My pediatrician and dentist didn't catch it early enough and it messed up the development of my jaw. Thus I had a really small mouth and overcrowding was a huge issue. Wow, that makes me sound kinda messed up, but I'm pretty normal now. Haha, as normal as one can be.

Okay, on another note, the NFL lockout is over and it seems to be all people can talk/facebook/tweet about. And you know what?! I DO NOT GIVE A FLYING F#$%. This is what's wrong with America. Here we have a bunch of rich millionaires acting like children that finally come to an agreement and "save" the NFL season. Meanwhile, our economy continues its steady descent into oblivion and the average American cares more about the freaking.NFL.season. What a joke. Maybe it's because I hate the NFL and pretty much all professional sports, but I really could care less whether the NFL is around tomorrow or twenty years from now. I would be a little sad for all my favorite Hokie players not having a chance at their dream, but my god, there are more important things going on right now than an NFL season!! I guess we have to wait for the other group of rich, spoiled millionaires on the hill to "figure it out" and come to some sort of agreement.