I just got off the phone with the oral surgeon’s office. I needed to ask the questions I should have asked when I called the first time but was too freaked out (and in pain) at the time to ask.

The whole thing is only going to take an hour and a half. My gods. That quick? I have had worse hours in my life and not benefited from them at all. The first hour and a half when the tooth pain struck was pure freaking hell, and I had to be awake for it. This hour and a half of my life is going to pass in the blink of an eye, thanks to IV sedation, so, it’s going to be quick … and I won’t even notice anything happening.

I only really need someone to be with me the first day, so Lin doesn’t have to take days off from work and mom doesn’t have to come, if she doesn’t want to come. She really wants to. I think it will end up being a lot of hassle for everyone that isn’t really necessary. I’ll probably let her come over for a couple of days anyway. She seems to be freaking out as much as I am about it all, and I guess freaking out about it in the same house as me would be better for her than being far away and freaking out. I’m going to try to convince her she doesn’t have to, because I’d really rather get together when it’s all over and I am feeling better … to have fun rather than sitting around watching me be grumpy while healing. I am never any fun to be around when I don’t feel good.

The best news was that I had seriously overestimated how much it’s going to cost. Certainly, it’s a huge unexpected expense, and there’s still going to be a lot of stress caused by having to pay that much out in one day when we weren’t planning on it, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be the end of the world as I know it. We’ll have to be super careful with the money and make some cuts here and there for a while, but we aren’t going to end up homeless or sitting in a house without utilities or going hungry. Phew. Still going to suck like crazy, but not as badly as I feared. That’s a load off my frazzled nerves.

Speaking of frazzled nerves: yesterday I had a really good tooth pain day. I didn’t have to take anything all day, not even an ibuprofen. That made me happy, because I don’t like messing with my body chemistry all day every day. It was nice to be able to take a break from popping pills. This morning has been another story altogether. I woke up with a mouth full of pain again, so as soon as I post this, I am going to be swallowing one of the powerful pills and likely becoming completely useless for the rest of the day.

I am still terrified of this whole dental surgery thing, but the part of me that is capable of imagining how nice it will be when it’s all over and my teeth aren’t in such bad shape anymore is really beginning to look forward to June 3. I think a lot of things in my life are going to get better after this is all done.