Well of course!

                       Jim and Son #1, around 1 year.  He was ridiculously cute.  Oh, and so was Son #1.

     I survived.  The endodontist was wonderful.  He was very gentle and very aware of how tense I was and how difficult it is to get me numb enough to drill.

The worst part was trying to figure out which of the two teeth had the biggest problem.  But when he put the frozen swab on the back tooth I think I may have removed his tonsils -- from the outside!  After that he was pretty sure which tooth needed help.

He did a great job of getting me numb --- he took his time and worked slowly, which helped a lot.  

However, it was not simple.  Oh no.  Never is.  When he took the x-rays and then looked at them he informed me that my canals had a lot of calcification.  I replied, "Of course they do."  He also told me they were incredibly narrow.  I told him that I had no doubt.  

I just pretty much know that if something has to be difficult, I have it.  I'm not saying this with self-pity, or being morose --- it is just a fact of life.  Of my life.  It doesn't bother me .... anymore.  It just is.  

I am a living, breathing example of Murphy's law.  Google it.  I'm sure you'll see my picture.  I hope it's a good one.

Anyway, back to my extremely narrow and calcified canals --- it took two hours for him to clean them out.  He pushed and prodded and put all of his weight into it.  He kept apologizing and I kept indicating (couldn't talk because of my stretched-open mouth) that I was OK.  Heck, as long as I was numb I didn't care if he root-canaled every single tooth.  But he was worried about tonight --- when the Novocaine wears off.  In fact, he just called to check on me.

I'm feeling better .... thank God for pain meds.  

I have really enjoyed the utility stories.  At least I'm not alone in thinking those people are crazy. Or that their goal is to drive me crazy.  I have been told that the water company probably "estimated" my usage.  Are you kidding me???  My average bill during the year is $60 and they "estimated" it to be almost $600????  Someone at the company has huge ........ gumption (like how I cleaned that up?).

Do they think that most people won't notice?  Puh-lease!  I know I have a problem with memory loss, but not that much!!!!

OK, it's taken me about 4 hours to finish this post.  It doesn't seem to be going anywhere so I'd better close it out.

Oh, and if I were back on "All My Children", Tad would've already had an affair with my mom and my identical twin would've showed up and married Adam Chandler, the father of my first-born child. who spent an entire year "taking a nap upstairs" and then showed up one day at the age of 23.

Nebraska or Pine Valley?  Hmmmmmmmmmm ....... I shall have to ponder that for a while.