Nitrous

Dreaded message that swept into my voicemail yesterday:

"Hi, this is Carol from Dr. Vicki's office. This is just a reminder of your 8.30 dental appointment tomorrow morning. See you then, bye!"

Lovely. i totally did not see that one coming. i hadn't written it down in my calendar for obvious reasons. i went back to work. My happy mood left quietly out the back door. Later in the day, i received another voicemail. Carol, again:

"Hi again, this is Carol from Dr. Vicki's office. Just want to let you know that our nitrous machine is not working properly, so it will not be available for your appointment tomorrow. Hope that's OK!"

OK? What is the world coming to? The nitrous machine is not working properly?? What will they offer instead? A shot of whiskey? Some rope to tie around my arm for distraction? Nitrous, along with Vicodin, are what i call consolation prizes for an hour's worth of torment. Take those away, or the prospect of either, and you've got Penny with a 1978 kind of attitude..."i don't want to go! You can't make me!"

What happened to the nitrous machine?? i started to visualise the possibilities. Maybe someone forgot to turn it off before leaving the office, leaving a slithering hissss to flood the office overnight. Maybe the next morning Carol was leaving messages to patients like "Heeeeeeyyy, it's Carol! You gonna come in for your filling tomorrow? You know you love it! Wheeeeeee! That's what i'm talking about!" Frightening--on many levels.

So anyway, it turned out this morning that there wasn't enough time for the procedure that needed a shot (hence the nitrous...) This is both a blessing and a curse. i am spared today, but i have to make yet another appointment.

In a few weeks it will be another round of "Hey it's Carol from Dr. Vicki..." another pre-procedure night of anxiety, perhaps another whiny blog entry, another reluctant trip up Park Boulevard...

Let's hope that the nitrous machine gets "fixed" by then!