By lowuh lib ith on da flooh

We are parked in a large lot adjacent to the dentist's office (map). I believe this lot actually belongs to a different multi-tenant office building than the dentist's, but it's close enough, large enough, and mostly empty so I don't think anyone will complain. With any luck, we can spend the night here undisturbed, and I can wander back into the office in the morning for a follow-up.

The lidocaine is finally starting to wear off. He had started the work without it, but the prep is very, very close to the nerve and even the little bit of work he had to do had me in excruciating pain. I'm difficult to numb, so he also had to inject me three times. And, of course, like many my age, I can't sit numb in the chair without thinking of the Bill Cosby routine about the dentist.

In any case, my new crown is in place, and I am hopeful that, after the residual pain from the drilling trauma subsides, it will have formed a complete seal and I will have no further trouble with it. I am to report in tomorrow on how it feels. We may have to remain in the area for another few days to make sure it is healing properly. I am a bit concerned that he ground the porcelain off all the way down to the metal in one spot to get the bite right, as the bare metal will conduct temperature differences to the nerve more quickly than if the porcelain was intact. It's just a pinhead-sized spot, though.

We ended up staying at the Elks lodge right up until this afternoon. Jerry and Kay did not head back to Monterey until yesterday morning, so we ended up having family dinners every night through Sunday. Yesterday we had a relaxing day at home, and I got the fuel filter changed as well as a bad gas strut on the curb side wet-bay door. We will need to stop at Cummins on our way out of town to pick up some spare filters, especially with the rate the new ULSD is causing them to plug.

Since I am proscribed from chewing too hard tonight, we are going to head over to Olive Garden, where I'll have a big plate of whole wheat pasta. By tomorrow afternoon, we should have a handle on when we will be leaving here.