re: #158 Teddy’s Person

I had the world’s worst dentist as a kid, both in terms of skill and “bedside manner”. So when it came time for me to get my wisdom teeth removed decades later, I was not looking forward to it.

I opted for “conscious sedation” which added about $300 to the bill, but believe me it was a small price to pay. I’d actually been worried that I would be able to fight off or ride out the sedative, and would end up just feeling mildly stoned while my teeth were being busted out. I could not have been more wrong. The doc started an IV (nowhere near as bad as I’d feared — I wasn’t afraid of the needle, but it was the first time I’d ever had a needle that was going to stay put for a while). After a few seconds he said, “OK here comes the good stuff” and injected The Good Stuff into my IV line. About 15 seconds after that, he said, “are you feeling it yet?” I said, “yeah I think so.” I thought so.

About 15 seconds after THAT, I started to became aware of someone slapping the side of my foot. I thought maybe my foot was in the way somehow. It turned out that my 75-minute procedure was over, and they were trying to get me to wake up and leave.