I felt that last year, askye. it sucked.(in my case it didn't help that my dentist was a noob and didn't know how to explain anything, including things like payment plans. Bonny, I wish you lived close enough to work with my brother's sheltie. He's a sweetie, but he's so fearful, because he was rescued from god-knows-what.

And Will is The World's Best Boyfriend. After this whole thing he suggested we go to Goodwill to look around becuase I always like going there and it cheers me up (it does! and I found shoes and gloves). Then we saw Fury and had lunch and got more soft mushy food for tomorrow.

The big thing though, he said if they would let him and I needed it, he'd go back in the room and be in there while I had the tooth pulled. I don't think they'll let him do that, but he'll be there. And he was there today, even though I didn't need someone to drive me I just needed the emotional support.

Unfortunatley tomorrow he has to go back to work after I'm done with the appointment. Otherwise I would have him stick around we'd watch The Princess Bride. He's never seen it before "Because it doesn't have sword fights or anything interesting".

I told him - it does and Andre the Giant! So as soon as we can we're watching The Princess Bride.

I sit in with people while they are at the dentist all the time. Unless there is truly no room, they will allow Will to be with you.

He hasn't seen The Princess Bride! Whoa!

And askye, you're awesome too and you give as good as you get ;)

Bonny, I wish you lived close enough to work with my brother's sheltie. He's a sweetie, but he's so fearful, because he was rescued from god-knows-what.

Me too, erika. I'd be happy to help! Shelties are notorious for being pretty high strung. They need a job to keep from having all that excess energy make them crazy. Have your brother look up indoor games for dogs on youtube and find some he would enjoy...nose work and/or tricks. Learning to enjoy something like walking through a hoop might really help.

eta: I got to work with a 9 week old Golden Retriever this evening. An adorable cotton ball on wheels. Seriously floofy. Thank goodness the young couple called me. This pooch is going to be huge and rambunctious...totally NOT suitable for their lawyerly lifestyle, but I think they'll be okay.

Thankfully, they are super smart people who will actually do what they paid me to tell them to do!

In the meanwhile...FLOOOOOF!

Will said the title didn't interest him - it's princesses and weddings. And also when it came out I'm pretty sure he was busy with his dairy farm and not going to the movies often.

I have a feeling that when we watch he'll recognize some scenes from seeing it on TV somehow. I started to tell him the whole plot but I stopped myself so there could be some surprises. I was really trying to sell it to him, but he said I had him at Andre the Giant.

Those owners are idiots. One they endangered their animals. But also themselves. Heck, I don't even know what hanta does to a dog. Pretty sure I know what it does to people though. And even if you don't immediately think lepto (which I do), realize that rats can and notoriously do transmit infectious diseases. Dumb people.

I have a Shepherd still slightly puppy because I made bad decisions for good reasons and ended up fostering and now owning a dog. She isn't the right breed for me, truly, but I'm working with her daily to keep her knowing her job and exercised and happy. She wasn't the best choice to potentially be my dog but she's damn well, no take backs my dog now.

I hope the rest of dental goes well, askye.

I avoid but took care of a bunch of things while in PDX. Since moving here, I hate my new dentist, think the crown he put in is jacked and he's ignoring that I feel a sharp edge on a molar. I have a cleaning scheduled and reading this conversation convinced me to call tomorrow and address the situation and if it isn't addressed -in my mouth- at my next cleaning, I am leaving and formally making complaints.

My doctors office sent me a birthday letter (nearly a month early) with my "health report card" telling me my BMI. This is what I need for my birthday? (Or, for three weeks before my birthday?)

bonny, holy crap! I'm torn between utter furious horror at the completely irresponsible owners and you having to negotiate with them by text and deal with 360 lbs. of dog in person, and awe at your professionalism in not exploding and sticking with it and working out a resolution to it all. That is so beyond my abilities I just can't even.

{{{askye}}} Dental issues suck, and the lack of communication sucks, and ITA with everyone else that you are not lazy or bad or anything else. You put off dealing with the dental fears when you had too much else to wrestle with and you *couldn't* do everything, and when you had the resources you dealt with it... and then ran into the pain and the lack of communication and the cost, all of which are things beyond your control that happen to everyone regardless of timing.

I've got a co-worker right now who is the Queen of Keeping On Top Of Shit and also the Hygiene Queen, and she's going through *exactly* the same tooth woes right now, except she doesn't have a Will to distract her with thrifting and watch Princess Bride with her.

(That's going to be so lovely -- the only thing better than watching TPB is sharing someone else's first viewing; I have a feeling he's going to keel over the moment wee Fred Savage squints and asks dubiously, "Is this a kissing book?")

eta: Man, Hil. Is your doctor's office staffed exclusively by assweasels?

askye, I had the same kinds of feelings that you did when I had to have teeth pulled. (Hell, the fact that it's plural STILL makes me cringe.) A lot of it is how I was raised: only hillbillies lost their teeth because they were too poor/stupid/lazy to take care of them. And that is just not true.

Like sarameg, I did manage to ignore the dentist for probably a decade, mostly because I consistently forgot all about it, since there was nothing wrong that would make my brain click over and go "OH GOD TIME FOR THE DENTIST." Since nothing was wrong, it was just never in the forefront of my mind -- AND this was even after my job started offering dental insurance. So yeah, when that first tooth cracked and I had to have it pulled, I was so hard on myself, lamenting that if only I had not been so stupid and gone to the dentist, I'd still have the tooth. (The dentist said absolutely not, that tooth was split vertically because the roots grew in a downward V, basically pulling the damn tooth apart. I could have been the most hypervigilant dental patient and I still would have lost the tooth.)

So, again, I totally get it. I hate the pervasiveness of the idea that anything less than perfect Ubermench health is a moral failing on our part, but I know that's where some of my hangups come from. Human bodies are flawed as hell, and teeth are stupid for no good reason.

And, like sarameg said, the dentist has seen far worse than you. They offer general anesthesia for a reason -- some patients need it. If the dentist thinks you're just being difficult, it's because they're an asshole, not because you're being difficult.

I hope it goes well today.