Comments

  1. HappyHead says

    My root canal didn’t hurt at all, and frankly took longer for them to set up and clean up afterwards.

    It probably helped that there was no nerve left in the tooth, and it was mostly already hollow. The dentist just came into the room, said “here we go” stabbed the drill into my mouth, pulled it out, and said “and we’re done, clean up” and left. I think I had his attention for about 20 seconds total.

  2. cartomancer says

    Depends whether your barber-surgeon remembers to switch instruments between the two procedures…

  3. Rich Woods says

    Don’t ask me — I’ve not seen the inside of a barber’s shop since I was 15.

  4. Matrim says

    Root canals rarely if ever hurt. Destroying the nerve kinda helps in that regard.

    I’m amused that my phone tried to autocorrect that to “riot canals”

  5. Ice Swimmer says

    How much haircuts hurt depends on how hard the barber/hairdresser pulls your hair. Yank my hair too much and I’ll never come back to your salon (hair salons are rather abundant in Helsinki).

  6. Cardinal Shrew says

    Haircuts rarely hurt but I did have a lady catch my ear in the tip of the scissors once … that hurt a bit.

  7. wzrd1 says

    First off, a haircut doesn’t hurt, save if one is paying for it and that pain is exclusively financial.
    That said, dental care can and is expensive for those of us who could not afford it. That was our condition when raising our children and for a short bit after they grew up and moved away.
    Then, add five years in the Persian Gulf, where US citizens did disappear at times of tension.
    Add in another five years of caring for my father, who was declining due to vascular dementia and an assortment of other age related diseases. Care was 24/7/365, preventing employment that would grant dental insurance. Or medical insurance.
    The end result is, a wife with her entire cervical spine disc diseased and pressing upon her spinal cord, plus an L5-S1 herniation that is nearly severing her spinal cord. With a bulging disc on my end at L4-L5, which has likely herniated, as my wife fell a few hours after surgery for a gallbladder and a ruptured cesarean section abdominal muscle scar on top of that, plus cirrhosis of the liver, secondary to either biliary obstruction of fatty liver disease, a biopsy will be required to ascertain that, however, a few hours after surgery, she fell and I caught her.
    Leaving me with massive spasms in my lower calves, where walking is agonizing. A dodgy L4-L5 disc may have failed.
    Meanwhile, I’ve had several teeth fracture, partially due to dental disease, partially due to occult hyperthyroidism, likely a disease that slipped by for well over 20 years and now, massive bone and muscle loss is present.

    Thankfully, that’s now being addressed, well, all save the dental bit, that’ll take time. With a 2.2 cm dilated aorta, my teeth are not really of great interest, as when one hits around 3 cm, it’s an aneurysm. One does that dead thing when one of those pop.
    And meanwhile, I’m *super* interested in keeping my wife out of a wheelchair. More so than even for myself, I can handle a wheelchair.

    So, I’ll say nicely, that joke about a haircut was a bit out of color, but not far enough to actually reach an offensive joke.
    I’ll just remind you, some of us couldn’t cover dental care and care for our children.
    Next up: Figure out how to cover my hearing aids, as the VA decided that I should have worn hearing protection during the early war.
    I’ll address that one politically, where such an address should occur.
    But then, my primary weapon has remained what it always was. It has a caliber, it has voluminous resources, it even has a system – my nervous system, for that weapons has always been my mind.
    Yeah, occasionally, I’ll fire a blank and adjust upon experience. Other times, not effectively and be considered an asshole.
    But, I mean well and try to help everyone out.
    Despite my lack of the ability to enjoy an ear of corn on the cob, 45 db of hearing loss and severe tinnitus and some days, barely able to walk, due to pain.
    For, I want to leave this world, at least, a little bit better than what I arrived to find and helped to fuck up.

    Confused by the missive? I’ve posted here under a different moniker.
    Today, I learned that my wife of over 34 years has significant liver disease, of ill understood origin. It might be from decades of ill treated pain, from herniated disc and the narcotics and acetaminophen, it might be due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, it might be due to bilary obstructive disease.
    Meanwhile, while assisting her in her recovery from gallbladder surgery and repair of a umbilical hernia reconstruction, she fell and I caught her. The umbilical hernia, secondary to a failed caesarean section closure. 30+ years later, it failed.
    So, I’m in a significant amount of physical and emotional pain.
    Pain refractory to 10 mg of hydrocodone, tizanidine 4mg and a hell of a lot of experience in very, very, very uncomfortable things military.
    I’m trying to create a bridge to find common ground.
    Meanwhile, my primary account isn’t working.

    All, while I feel like my lower legs are trying to twist my ankles clean off.
    Would that I could have my teeth back.
    But then, would that antigravity actually existed, mornings would go *sooo* well with that.

    Well, I have to get ready for work in six hours and part of my usual rest time was spent getting my work PC fixed, a significant part after, doctor’s appointments.
    The delay in the work computer makes me want to set up a 155 mm supersoaker…
    And yeah, I mean supersoaker, not anything harmful.
    That said, I’m big on water balloons. It’s damned hot here. ;)
    Which is where I prefer to be, the silly side of life. :)

  8. Athywren - not the moon you're looking for says

    Hair cuts are the worst. First they make you sit in front of a mirror. Then? Then they want to TALK! Like, pick one, guys. I can look at myself and be transfixed by horror, or I can chat about my holiday plans. Which is it?!

  9. ebotebo says

    Haircuts! Haircuts! Haircuts make me anxious! It’s been 4.5 + yrs. since I went through that torture, and I feel that the time is nigh.

  10. says

    Get some electric clippers, set to 5mm and you can mow your own hair even without a mirror. Works for me ;-)

  11. Cliff Hendroval says

    Wow, I thought I was the only person to actually doze off during a root canal.

  12. magistramarla says

    Ah, wzrd1,
    I feel for you and your dear wife.
    I’m also suffering with back problems. I had fusion surgery on L3/L4 and L4/L5 in April, 2015. A year later I learned that the fusion at L3/L4 failed completely, with loose hardware and the fusion at L4/L5 may be there, but barely.
    I’ve found a better surgeon out-of-town, and after several painful but necessary tests that the previous surgeon never bothered with, it’s now evident that much of my pain comes from L5/S1. I’m now looking at a much larger revision surgery.
    Oh, and there is the complication that I’m highly allergic to opioids, so most pain medications are out of the question for me.
    You didn’t mention your wife’s prognosis. What can be done for her? I wish you luck with your health issues and with those of your wife.

  13. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Okay, maybe Mr rogers did say HDNH, but I got that lesson from a much more endearing educator with a helmet, red cape, & blue curly fur.

  14. emergence says

    How common is that thing where someone grows an extra tooth inside of their sinus cavity?