In Which I Further Explore My Toothache
I've gone through all of my pain pills but one, which I'm eyeing at this moment. They were supposed to last me until Tuesday morning. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory is what I found on the web about them, kind of like ibuprofen, only way more expensive. Eighteen bucks for eight of them. If the doc won't give me anything stronger today I'll be wolfing down handfuls of Advil to get to sleep tonight.
I tried to remember when was the last time I'd felt pain like this, if ever, and I remembered back to the early nineties when I had a similar tooth problem. I remember walking, in some degree of heat, from near the corner of Sunset and La Brea to Crescent Heights and Third. I remember thinking that I knew the walk would eventually end, and that shortly afterward the pain would stop.
At the time I had dutifully been doing my studies of metaphysics and whatnot over at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz (I was in to the Kabala before Madonna was out of her underwear. What, she's still in her underwear? And Rabbi Berg is still a fraud? Who knew?) and I remember trying exercises in my head to try and isolate the sensation. After I got to the dentist's office and signed in I sat down I closed my eyes and imagined going to the source of the pain. I imagined traveling there and settling right into its source, and 'embracing' the pain.
It worked, and afterward I got into the big chair and had the thing yanked, and I talked the doctor into letting me have the then black and offensive item. I buried it according to some ritual I had picked up (remember my mystical state of mind) and went back to my life, albeit for a short time exploring the new hole in my jaw with my tongue. All this came back to me last night as I popped pill number six.
No Jedi mind tricks of this nature wanted to work. The only consistent experience was that when I stood up and walked around, the pain started to subside. It helped to try and think of other things as well; imaginary conversations, whatever, any kind of distraction. I found that the pain came back especially strong when I just lay down quickly, which led me to experimenting with the concept. I started a series of sitting, standing, reclining moves. I got to sleep within the hour.
While writing that last bit I took a reckless swig of warm (not hot) coffee, and as the liquid washed over my tooth it stood me up. I instinctively went right to the freezer and got an ice cube to rub on my face. It's time to try and get the doc on the phone, which should be a neat trick as it's Sunday.
Minutes later: I'm off to the pharmacy for something else I've never heard of in a 100 mg version.
