so that's what a root canal feels like !

i guess the big news of the past week or so was my inaugural experience with the dreaded 'root canal'. way back whenever, my super dentist buddy richard had filled a monster cavity with the intention of saving my poor tooth. it was monster because i was a big chicken and took forever to get it fixed. it seemed to have worked fine until about 10 days ago when things started going wrong. first it ached when i drank coffee, then it ached when i rode my bike, then my ear started to ache, and when i bit down on it, my brain shook. so i called richard and told him what was going on. 'come on in k/o, and we'll take a look at it.' 'yep, i think it's on it's way out.' 'bad news - you need a 'root canal' and i will refer you to the best guy i know.' more bad news - his office is in mississauga. i don't drive south of 7 ! even more bad news, it'll cost about a thousand dollars. argh! so i call the office of dr. kenneth serota and make an appointment for may 11th. i beg my good buddy wayne to drive me down - which he agrees to with no hesitation.

so tuesday comes, and we head to mississauga. wayne drops me off and i reluctantly climb the stairs to the third floor. nice place - for a dentist office! after filling out some paperwork, and signing my life away, a nice girl named jenn gets me to sit in the chair. in walks the dentist who reminds me a little of donald sutherland.

he chats me up a bit and notices that i have my hands balled into fists, and am pretty much sitting an inch off the chair. 'little nervous there are you', to which i yell 'YES, I AM'. 'okay then, here's what you're going to do - put your hands down by your sides, unclench your fists and relax your shoulders.' 'we're going to put this big heavy blanket on you to make you feel more secure' (and make it so i can't swing my arms!) then he says, 'oh my, you have a very small mouth, we'd better jam one of these plastic rings in there to keep it open'. 'and now i'm going to give you some freezing, open really wide (like a had a choice) and keep staring at my eyes.' after 4 needles, i guess he figured i was good so he started poking around. OW! 'oh, did you feel that - why are you feeling that - how about this . . .' OW! 'what, you're still feeling that?' 'well, we'd better take care of that' and he proceeds to stick 2 MORE needles in my mouth. 'so how's that, any sensation now?' to which i reply, 'mfwfmblpffff' and to which he replies, 'good - we're ready to go - make sure and keep your eyes closed during the proceedure.' i recall lots of drilling, the smell of something burning, and the occasional flash of bright yellow light - similar to what you'd see coming off an arc welder. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT??

and after about 40 minutes, he was done. i must say, it wasn't near as bad as i thought it would be. he was incredible. just before he left, he told me he figured i would be frozen for about 8 or 9 hours - nnnnice! jenn got me up out of the chair, and i wobbled out to the reception desk to pay my bill. i casually asked the nice lady if it was normal for my right eye to be numb. 'oh yes,' she replied, 'but that should go away in 10 or 15 minutes.' hmmmm. i went back down the stairs and sat on a bench outside to wait for wayne. i thought drinking from my water bottle wouldn't be a problem until i looked down and saw the whole front of my hoodie was wet. okay, we won't try that for awhile. wayne got me back to bolton and managed not to laugh at my puffy face or at the fact that i was drooling out the side of my mouth. thanks wayne!!! and as i sat in the treehouse, i figured the worst was over. well, maybe not quite. i started to get really really cold, and i got the shivers. then my neck started to ache and my head was throbbing (at least the side that i could feel). i got real worried when my chest started to hurt. OH GREAT! I'M GOING TO DIE FROM A FUCKING ROOT CANAL! (i can be such a drama queen) i frantically emailed richard and asked if this was normal, to which he replied, '. . . could be from the anesthetic, or your bod dealing with the germs etc. i can guarantee you can have a hot or cold drink and not feel anything now.' somewhat reassured, i bundled myself up on the couch under 3 blankets and tried to calm down. it worked - i can be such an idiot. i'd have to say that that was really the worst part of the whole ordeal. AND i'm trying real hard not to think about dr. serota mentioning that he noticed another tooth would have to be done in the future . . .

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH !!!

so, remember the honeymooners ??? i had a good laugh on friday when my client 'paul the tank' threatened to 'send me to the moon alice' after a particularly hard workout. awesome! i loved jackie gleason.

let's see, highlights from crossfit. yummy dillon actually convinced me i could not only do a 24 inch box jump, but that i could also do handstand pushups. and he was right! whoda thought? he's really good at talking us into stuff!

above is a pic of the lovely sonia and i doing our jumping pullups. on friday, the mighty alex made us do 100 power cleans. wicked! saturday i made the mistake of having a piece of ice cream cake at the glp's before crossfit, and almost barfed during 29 minutes of deadlifts, KB swings and rowing. DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!


i had friday afternoon free, so me, richard and christine took the rail trail over to inglewood. it was a saweet day for a ride and the pace was nice and casual. i love the reaction richard gets from his recumbent bike!

and finally, after crossfit on saturday, i tagged along while christine drove over to woodbridge to pick up some tiles. and of course, i just HAD to be stoopid when we spotted this!!!! hahaha!

tomorrow, i think i might finally attempt running again. it's been since april 28 - the longest i've been off in years. so here's to soft trails and happy feet.