It's been a strange, off-kilter week.  Starting Sunday, Alan was attending the STC convention held downtown at the Hyatt Regency. I stayed at the hotel with him Sunday night, came home after work Monday to check on the house and puppies, spent Tuesday night at the hotel with him after a lovely dinner.  Then when things wound up Wednesday, I picked him up, we went to lunch together here (the chicken tortilla soup is FABULOUS) and then he worked from my office the rest of the day. That was all good things and fun, but being off my everyday schedule really throws me off.  I'm a creature of order, schedule and routine and it leaves me a bit discombobulated to have that routine disrupted, even if it's for pleasant reasons.

Then, oh, wow, what a rough couple of days! Thursday morning bright and early, I had my second dental surgery. I was Valium-ed up so I didn't have another panic attack but it was still awful and very much Not Fun. Alan drove me, and after it was over (2.5 hours later), he dropped me home and I climbed in bed. As soon as Alan returned with my prescription, I took a pain pill and was out for hours.  It was a vicious cycle: as soon as the pain pill wore off, the pain woke me up, I'd take another pill and be zonked out again.

The situation was not without humor, however.  My dentist had me so numbed up before the procedure, and I needed additional anesthetic during, so by the time it was over I couldn't feel most of my face, any of my upper lip and (this is the funny part) my NOSE!  From the tip down, including the sides, I could not feel my nose!  Disgusting but funny bit (highlight if you want to read):  I have really bad allergies, though they are getting better through my shots, but at one point I needed to wipe my nose, only I had no idea since I could feel neither nose nor upper lip.  Thankfully this happened at home and not at the dentist's office.

The numbness persisted throughout the day and evening, and here's a valuable tip for you, should you need major dental work:  it's really hard to drink water, whether from the bottle or a glass, if you can't feel your upper lip.  I am on a 'soft foods only' diet for the time being, which so far has consisted of banana milkshakes from Steak N' Shake and potatoes and gravy from KFC.

Friday morning first thing, I had to return to the dentist for him to check everything out, which should have been pretty routine but - it's me here - there were some issues.  A bit over an hour later, I climbed back into bed, swallowed my pain pill and slept.  I had foolishly thought I would be able to go in to work after the follow-up appointment.  Ha!  Silly Helly!

Back to my diet:  when Alan asked what I wanted for lunch today, I was all for a banana milkshake.

"You can't live on just milkshakes, sweetheart," said Alan.

"Why not?" I asked.

There was a pause.  A long pause.  "You know, I really can't fault your logic," he said.

I had cream of chicken soup for lunch.  Alan is tyrannical.  More soup, yogurt and mashed potatoes were purchased at Publix today.  Publix also had, after a long draught, one of my ALL TIME VERY FAVORITE CHEESES, at the peak of the time when I couldn't eat it - well, I could eat the cheese, but not crackers with it, or drink wine - and wine goes with cheese as much as crackers!  Why do you taunt me, Publix - why???  We bought the cheese anyway, and I attempted a cracker but it hurt.  I'm going for crackerless cheese, I guess, but I have foregone my afternoon pain med so maybe I can have a small glass of wine.  There is no pain so great that it can cause me to abjure huntsman's cheese.

On the positive side, I now have a mouth full of very beautiful, very white, perfect teeth.  I would share a photo, but my cheeks and particularly my upper lip are still very puffy, two days later, and I rather look like a chimpanzee (albeit one with perfect teeth).  And in case you were wondering, no, it's not a good look for me.