Food, glorious food!

Until, that is, the pain, inglorious pain.

This dental thing is like nothing I have encountered before. I take that back, it's a bit like the kidney stones I've had in my few years on this planet. (With the first I spent a dark night writhing in agony on the floor of a night bus to Kathmandu, watching the vomit - not mine - slosh back and forth in the rivulets of the aisle mat. Nepali villagers tended to have a hard time with locomotion...future blogpost. If my readership can handle it.)

But here and now, back to this pain through which Rumi's light is supposed to be able to 'enter' me. It is not an ache, but rather intermittent stabbing, brief jolts of high voltage electric charge. When I swallow, brush my teeth (oh, the irony...), or, especially, masticate. There is no pain associated with pressure on any particular tooth. And no pain at rest - thankfully sleep has been undisturbed. Today talking has become painful - don't call. Ibuprofen and Tylenol haven't helped a bit, though their placebo effect abides - I just put a blindfold on, then swallow.

I have found high correlation between the acidity of the food, and its propensity to cause pain. For lunch, it has long been my custom to have a nice big salad: arugula and other leaves, some nuts, and a liberal dousing of Annie's Goddess. Which you may know is incredibly tangy, which is to say, acidic. So haven't had that for several days. (And as far as plain leaves go, spinach seems much milder than arugula. Fyi.)

How about a p.b. and j. sandwich? Dispatched one for lunch on Saturday and one on Sunday without too much pain. And as I ate, some 'bridging' seemed to occur over the mysterious entry point to the raw nerve - somewhere in the lower left molar region - which would greatly reduce the pain. I considered using caulk or glue to provide a short term barrier. Thought better of that, not sure how short term that would be. Or toxic.

I picked up some Anbesol today on the recommendation of the pharmacist. Before my sandwich I applied some of the paste (which includes three artificial colors, and saccharine - what are they thinking?). And the jolts of electricity only intensified. Maybe the pH was too low, or it acted as an electrolite, or something. Then I put some Vaseline over that (btw, I'm getting huge product placement commissions for some of these), which did nothing to help. One could easily imagine why, trapping the Anbesol for some machine-gun fire in the enclosed space. So, rinsed everything out with tap water, a liquid with neutral pH, and which usually causes no pain. Or only while swallowing. After each of these steps I would try to take a bite of sandwich, but each time, no dice. Like the Buddhist 'hungry ghost,' my vast appetite much larger than my mouth. I then applied a layer of Vaseline, which calmed the jolting a bit, but still could not take a bite.

So, time for a new recipe: take one p.b. and j. sandwich, break in half, place in mixer. Add cup of milk. Blend for one minute. Drink carefully, head tilted far to the right. Followed that with Citrucel, and two medicinal squares of dark chocolate, 71% cocoa butter. Immediately expel these onto plate - the chewing is excruciating - and chop into several pill size pieces, and wash down with water. Rinse out with more water.

This morning as I waited for the local bus that stops by many of the nearby high-rises, some birds swooped down to fly under the valet entrance to our building. One of them attempted to transubstantiate and pass through the glass my left shoulder was leaning against. He didn't pull it off, and plopped onto the ground. He was the shape and size of a robin, but his breast was beige in color - not yellow like the pictures I have found on-line. Within a second he was standing. Within a minute he trotted off, then took flight with a buddy. I felt like giving it a try - maybe the bonk would leave me senseless, or a transmogrification would remove my pain. The bus arrived, and when I went for the glass door I passed right through - whoosh - miracle of miracles. I swallowed and found the tooth pain was still with me. C'est la vie.

The earliest dentist appointment I could find is tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Wish me luck.

Addendum in p.m.: for dinner, a quesadilla/fried egg/water smoothie. This tasted far better than it sounds. Probably not the first savory smoothie ever made, but it was the first I ever had, and it really wasn't bad at all. Then for dessert, a fruit smoothie. Who needs teeth anyway? Of course I can't wait to get full dental potential back; however, I might just make a daalbhaat smoothie for lunch tomorrow (I've got leftovers). With spicy lime pickle, mmm.