TBT:BLACK 'N BLUE in the Times of COVID

AP Photo

 From today's title of Black 'n Blue you might think here she goes again talking about Black Lives Matter and the men in blue, our police who are supposed to protect "us" but be forewarned this is going in another direction throwing back to something that actually happened over a year ago after biting down on a quarter pound burger no less...

Yep, when I chomped down on the Thurday burger special there was a crack in my mouth.  I actually caught part of the beef bone before swallowing it. A dentist visit determined the best guess was there was just an upper tooth involved although the lower opposite tooth might have been involved but the xray didn't show a problem. The upper tooth was fixed and actually paid for by the meat processor's insurance. I had just signed off on the claim last fall. 

Wouldn't you know this summer at an overdue teeth cleaning (overdue bc of COVID) that very same lower tooth had a little cavity AND a fine line crack! The filling appointment was made but 2 days later as I bit down on a piece of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough the part of the back of that very same tooth broke off. Just air passing by it was excruciating. So back to the dentist for a temporary composite as the tooth could be saved.

Last Tuesday I went in to fill the cavity. It's been ages since I had a cavity maybe even since I was a kid as there was already a silver filling in that tooth. The dentist gave me a shot of anesthesia, gave it time to numb. BUT when drilling started it was obvious the entire tooth wasn't numbed as my eyes almost popped out of my head. After 3/4 more tries that side of my mouth was finally numbed. 

My mouth would be numb for a good four hours and I went home with instructions to take Tylenol, be careful not to bite my tongue/ cheek, chew my food on the opposite side, have a smoothie for dinner, avoid tacky foods, seeds, etc... 

3 days later at dinner, Natureman says to me, "you have something black on the bottom of your chin." After trying to gingerly remove it as it was the sore side, he said it was still there.

Much to my surprise upon looking in the bathroom mirror there was a huge bruise and it was black. Now I get it now, a black n blue bruise. OMG. There were also green bruises wherever the needle had been.  

Due to my alarm in its severity I texted the dentist with a photo that night.  The next day it looked worse and I hadn't heard back so I called the dentist. The number had been a pager's. When my daughter saw me on Facetime she thought I had been in a fight and encouraged me to pursue it. It was scary looking.

The dentist did return my call and we discussed that sometimes this happens that a vessel could be involved, bruising can occur and the fact there was still pain wasn't abnormal. The plan was for us to continue to touch base daily with photos included. 

The bruise and swelling have subsided as has the pain, the area is more yellow now. Personally I really would have rather not found out how the term black 'n blue originated...