Comfortably numb...

I saw my dentist today (I see my dentist so regularly I wouldn't be surprised if people in the surgery were beginning to talk... *raises eyebrow* ) Often we exchange shopping for Doc Martens tips, share a nostalgic sigh over English beer and its scarcity in Scotland, reminisce over childrens' TV programmes de temps perdu - basically, she treats me like a person, not just a set of stained enamels and amalgam filings with periodontitis. This is good in a dentist, I find. Good in anybody indeed.

Today however, she did something above and beyond the usual dental duties: having heard my tale of dental woe from the last time I was at the dental hospital (I'm adrenaline sensitive and can't have regular anaesthesia... the drug I need is no longer manufactured in the UK and the US version isn't licensed...the "next best" anaesthetic wore off before procedure finished... sutures duly sewn without pain relief... agony beyond compare...yada yada yada...) she hastened to her drug cupboard and handed me four vials of anaesthetic to take with me when I next go for surgery. I left the surgery feeling like a drug courier and a lot more optimistic that I won't have to suffer in quite the same way again. What a gal!...

In other news, I had a chat about a possible PhD yesterday. Like all "informal chats" I treated it like a slightly conversational interview and attempted to dazzle and shine. I don't think I achieved shininess, but my nodding, grinning and expostulating (accompanied by appropriate gesticulation) must have shown enough enthusiasm to be taken seriously: my interviewer has lent me a book ("...so you have to come back") and is arranging for me to meet some other dcotoral candidates in similar fields in order to help me prepare a proposal...

I haven't been this hungry for studying since... well, ever! I have to keep telling myself, "Don't fuck this up" - fingers crossed, eh?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

as a dental student i think you've got a great dentist there. Just one thing.... how can you be sensitive to adrenaline when your body is producing it naturally? And i assure you it is or else you'd be dead.

The Gripes of Wrath said...

Oh, don't get clever with me, student dentist-type!
-When I am given the more common anaesthesia- containing adrenaline - my heart goes like the clappers for up to two hours, palpitations, sweats, the lot... I go grey apparently.
(I also would appear to have some adrenal associated anxiety issues too... basically, I have an exaggerated physical response to adrenaline... so - nyahhhhhh! I know need adrenaline, but I react badly to it when administered in hypodermic form...)

Oh, and I totally agree: my dentist is an absolute diamond. And NHS, to boot...