I am the proud new owner of a root canal!

Well, the endodontist was not Tom Sellecky as Corey described.... He was more this guy... (minus glasses and hat, but that is who he looked like.I could tell the second I saw him)

But his heart was this guy.

(My mom and her daddy)

(Me and my grandpa, look! I look a bit stinkerish like Kate. Sad.)

But that is why I can see why Corey thought he was Tom Sellecky. When you combine the first guy with the second guy you get GOLD.

The second guy is my very beloved Grandpa. When I was thinking about this post and how to describe how I felt about the endodontist I thought "what man do I know of who has an absolutely wonderful heart?" ...and it only took one tenth of a second to think of my Grandpa "Shady". No one can compare. He is pure goodness. Pure kindness. Pure goldness. Pure do anything for anybodyness. He raised my mom and her brother from age 5, when her blood father was consumed by alcoholism. He wasn't able to actually adopt her until age 15. Then my mom was married at 17.

But he was her daddy anyways. You know how some dads are daddies and some dads are just dads? He was a daddy in the purest sense. He is still called to this day, by his three daughters, "daddy". We named our little Kate after him. It was the first kid of ours I was free to do WHATEVER I wanted with the middle name. And I chose him. It wasn't even a a question. Don't worry though. Her middle name isn't Shady (or daddy).... although I did try to make that work (Shady). It just couldn't. No matter what.

Anyways back to the endodontist.... I did my whole cry routine again. The smell of his office made me want to throw up and through all my gracefullness I managed to share that with him. But he was so sweet and good and he made sure I was really numb (amazingly the shots are not the part of my worries) and he got me a new battery for my MP3 player and he let me fuss with it the whole time as I was frantic about finding the right song to distract me.

I discovered one of the keys to making sure I don't have a massive freak out in the endodontist chair, especially when they put that blue dam(?) on my tooth to trap any fly debris (BLECK, ACK, ECK) is to make sure I am properly suction other wise I feel like I am choking and that bothers me. So they left a permanent suctioner in my mouth the whole time and that made me very happy. I know. It's embarrassing. I have all these rules.

Corey told me the endodontist was fast and he was. His hands were like super fast and it didn't hurt and the noises were far less atrocious than at the dentist. I jump when I hear those drills. And I didn't smell my own tooth being drilled either! And this morning I have the appointment to get my permanent crown on and I have hardly even thought twice about the appointment and I think my FEAR is going away! Yea and PHEW for me. (I like my dentist becasue we share good books to read. He like youthish type books and it makes me smile. Plus he has put up with so much dental drama from us. Rhett throwing up, Bo's rotting mouth, me being a freakaziod, forgetting to pay him for a long time....)

Through out this, I am just thankful for compassionate people in the wake of such a actually minor procedure, compared to people who are really having medical issues. In general we are so lucky to be able to be so pain free during procedures most of the time. I swear I saw Dr. Quinn pull her own tooth out with pliers! I am sure that kind of thing happened before. And probably still does is other countries. I feel so truly blessed to be able to be cared for so compassionately. From giving birth, to my carpal tunnel to this dumb tooth. All excellent compassionate care.

I also feel a little sad and worried and panicky and stupid at how truly soft we are as people, because we are spoiled and don't have to endure much pain (in general). That worries me. We are so wimpified. And so are our kids.

So anyway, to my dentist and endodontist, even thought I am a wimpy, soft, can't endure an ounce of discomfort or pain kind of girl, thanks for all your help and for my new tooth. I haven't been able to eat on that side of my mouth for years!

Aaaannnnnddddd the endodontist called that night to check up on me....swoon....