"But Can I Have Wine When In Boston?"

Six years ago, I had to have an emergency root canal done. A year and a half earlier, I had a small cavity in one of my back molars. It hadn't been sealed properly by the dentist in NYC, and by the time I was settled in Boston and preparing to get married, it got worse.

It became infected because bacteria got trapped in the small opening. The dentist had to shoot Novocaine directly into my nerve, which hurt like hell. And afterwards, he prescribed me liquid painkillers... Since I couldn't swallow pills. I took them twice and never again. They knocked me out for two days. (I don't understand how people can function while high on painkillers. They make you nauseous and sleepy.)

Flash forward six years to last month... I had a pain in my far back molar, next to the one I'd previously had a root canal on years ago. The dentist took x-rays and determined I needed a root canal on the back tooth. But as he examined the x-ray, he said to me, "Your previous root canal looks to be infected as well. You're going to need that redone soon."

I walked out of that appointment with my one tooth fixed perfectly. I figured I wouldn't have to think about the old root canal for months. But I was wrong. Last week, the old root canal was in pain. So off to a specialist I went, as my dentist could not redo a root canal. He was only allowed to do new ones.

The specialist dentist gave me two options:

1. Extract the tooth completely, in the event it is fractured and no longer usable.
2. Open up the gums, clean out the infection that has come back because the root canal was not done properly, seal it back up with stitches.

Based on his opinion, I went with the second option.

"You're young," he said. "You should try to hold onto the tooth for as long as you can."

So today I went back in for the procedure. He numbed me with a topical. Then gave me three shots of Novocaine... Which numbed my entire mouth. An hour later, he was putting in stitches. And I felt nothing.

Well, that's not true.

I felt the thread he was using to sew in the stitches, as the excess lay across my face. But other than that, I felt nothing. And he didn't need to give me painkillers for afterwards. He only had a few rules for me for the next week, while I have the stitches in...

• No hot foods or drinks for the next two days. (Boo! No hot coffee!)
• Keep an ice pack on my face for the next few hours. (Boo! Meant no yoga tonight!)
• Eat ice cream and cold foods for dinner. (Yay and boo! I love ice cream... But I am craving soup.)
• Switch to soft foods only, for the rest of the week, while the stitches are still in. (They come out next Wednesday.)

These were all rules I could follow. But there was one thing I needed to ask him, before I leave for Boston this coming Saturday...

"Can I have wine when I am in Boston this weekend?"

He smiled.

"Yes," he confirmed. "But only if it is good wine."

And all is right in the world.

Even with an ice pack held up to my face.