I started off today with an early-morning dentist appointment, for my six-month checkup and regular cleaning. It went well, in so far as there’s nothing wrong with my teeth, no cavities or gum disease or even too much tartar, but the whole thing took considerably longer than I’d expected, or at least had hoped. I spent more time in the waiting room than anything else — although, admittedly, I spent some of it reading reading an interesting article in the latest issue of Discover, about the possibility that DNA-embedded viruses are the root cause of schizophrenia (as well as bipolar disorder, multiple sclerosis, and some other diseases).
I spent considerably less time actually in the dentist’s chair, except for the time when I was getting my teeth x-rayed, which seemed to go on forever. (I have a narrow mouth, the technician cheerfully informed me, as my gag reflex conspired against the both of us and made a couple of repeat attempts necessary. She also informed me that these were safer than medical x-rays, a lower dose of radiation, and we could take up twenty of them without it being a problem. I’m not sure about that math, even if in general she’s probably correct, but dear god, I thought, we’re not actually going to test this awful theory out, are we?)
I was a little annoyed when I scheduled my next six-month appointment and the receptionist asked if I’d like another 8:30 appointment. “Well actually,” I wanted to tell her, “my appointment today was for eight o’clock. You just kept me waiting around for forty-five minutes.” (Doctors and dentists seem like the only people who can get away with this kind of thing.) But I just scheduled an appointment late in the day, some Thursday in November.
After that, I came home — my dentist is just five minutes away, actually — and killed some time before my late train into Manhattan. I took the dog out to pee, played around with the iPad, and spoke with my mother, who’s feeling considerably better. She’s still not 100%, but she’s much more alert, and she was even up and around a little bit today. I think the worst of the pneumonia is past.
I got into the office around 11:30, which is always a weird thing to do, and an hour later we had our annual — or semi-annual; I forget how often these things happen — recognition luncheon. It wasn’t quite as swanky as the one we had last September, which was on a boat. But there was good food, and we each got $10 gift cards for Target, so I can’t complain. Of course, I’ve never actually won one of these recognition awards…and those came with $100 gift cards… Oh well. There’s always next time. One lives (and works) in hope.
Beyond that, not much to report.
I’m headed to the dentist on Tuesday for a cleaning, and I’m not looking forward to it…I have a mortal terror of the dentist. I’m thinking that I don’t want the xrays – I had a bunch last year before an MRI, and I think I’ve had quite enough radiation for a while. I’m not a fan of the dental xrays in general, though.