Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow

I made it through the horrible dentist's appointment alive.  Barely.

See, the Novocaine didn't deaden all my nerves.  They even gave me an extra shot after I told them I could still feel my lip.  Granted, things were definitely deadened, but I could pretty much feel them drilling the whole time, which meant I lay there in the dentist's chair shaking like a little leaf in a stiff Fall breeze.  Four cavities is a lot to have done at once even when the Novocaine does work its magic.

So with four dentists' tools,  two hands and one jaw-propper in my mouth I tried not to move and stared into the glaringly bright dentist's lamp trying to think about nice things like lambs and puppies. The hygienist would pat my arm and say, "We're almost done...no, wait, I'm sorry, there's still one more" and comforting things like that.

An hour later, it was over.

The unfortunate part was that the dentist had been yanking on my cheek so hard to try to get to the cavity on my lower gums that my mouth refused to open more than about a centimeter.  So I headed straight to the chiropractor to see if he could adjust my jaw.

"WOW," he said, when he felt the muscle knot in my cheek.  "This is really bad."

So he whipped out a little plastic thingy which he put on his index finger and said, "I'm going to have to try to massage the cheek muscle from the inside of your mouth.  Do you think you can handle that?"

Did I have much choice? 

I gingerly opened my poor mouth as far as I could and tried not to bite my chiropractor as he attempted to get my locked up cheek muscle to release.  It hurt like crazy. Three attempts later, I could open my mouth about an inch, which is enough to do just about anything, really. (Except, I'm finding, eat my lunch.  Food keeps falling out my mouth and onto my desk, which is embarrassing.)

Oh, did I mention I stopped by my dermatologist to give them some of my blood, too?  This morning has been a real pain.  All told, I just want to go back to bed. 

My face is still numb...why couldn't my NERVES have been numb?!