Lanny Eugene Vernon Kampfe, gives the best root canals ever but....

....is definitely not a people person.

So yesterday I had my root canal completed. For those of you out there less experienced in the world of denistry, which I imagine most of you are less experienced than I have had the misery of being, root canals require two appointments approximately 10 days apart. The first day the endodontist is opens the tooth, then with a wire, he cleans out the root and puts a temporary filling in so that the infection can drain. If you are having bad enough tooth pain the root canal can be almost a joyous occasion. Now, yesterday I had the second part of my root canal completed with my endodontist, Lanny Kampfe ( I don't usually use real names but this is for Depressionista's benefit). Lanny is one of the best root canal guys I have ever experienced. I can say this because I had a root canal experience from hell prior to going to Lanny...I cannot even begin to describe the horror here...suffice to say that it was a foriegn dentist who should have not been doing root canals. Lanny can get in there, open up a tooth, clean it out and have you on your way in usually about 15-20 minutes....Which is good, Because this is about all I can handle of listening to him talk. He has the best dental skills ever....his "social" skills suck. I have to sit there with my mouth wide open, with a rubber dam in it listening to him talk to his assistant about what ever sporting activity he went to the day before. Then, I think his wife, Janet, must go to "Bible study" every fucking day because he is always, always talking about Bible study! ....he said the words "Bible study" five times, I counted, in about 10 minutes yesterday. I have had about 5 root canals done by this guy...He has never asked me anything about myself. This time he had the audacity to tell me that "I should make sure I get the tooth that I had the root canal in in early January crowned soon and if I dont have enough insurance, I could do a permanent filling of some kind until I could get the crown"...Have you looked at my teeth or maybe the thick ass file you have here at your office?!?! Maybe I know a bit about dental care and that I need to get yet another fucking crown on that tooth soon?? I was very brief and to the point with the man...Maybe I am too aware of interacting with people due to my chosen line of work...Then to top the appointment off he says "you know the real secret is to not have anything else to fix for the rest of the year" in regards to not using up my dental insurance...I didnt even respond...I did say "well, I do have 2 dental plans"...and wanted to follow up with, "I am having a fucking upper GI next week to help determine what may be causing the acid reflux that is eating away my teeth". But that was way more of a conversation than I felt like I really wanted to have at the time....The moral of the story for me is...they really need to supply people in the medical/dental field with more training on how to basically "interact" with members of the human race in a way that makes those humans want to be around them at all...

Other than the root canal, in my attempt to "get healthier" this week, I have had salads for one meal a day for the past couple of days. Of course, my coworker had to bring in bagels and I felt I had to eat one and another coworker had to bring in this fabulous spice cake--all today. Wed I had three smokes, Thursday I had four smokes and today, Friday, I and my work spouse, Mel, both ended up buying packs of smokes. Mel makes me carry them...for her so I have two packs of smokes in my possession at this time...so for today, I completely fell off the wagon.... My goal is to enjoy myself this weekend and climb back on the wagon on Monday. This weekend I hope to start going for some walks and lifting the hand weights. I need to get more active. I feel better then!! Well, my faithful readers, I believe I am going to go "lay peacefully"...and probably eat something bad for me!! Have a good weekend!