Up until about 30 minutes ago I hated my dentist. I mean, really truly hated the guy.

I had to have a cavity refilled today at lunchtime. Not the greatest way to spend a lunch hour, but it had to be done. The dentist who started the practice -- and who was extremely gentle with me when I had a cavity filled several months ago -- recently sold to two other dentists (who I had yet to meet) and moved to Colorado with his family.

When I walked into the office at noon and the nurse asked me how I was she said, "Oh, I know, you'd rather not be here! I learned that last time." We had a good laugh about that. I sat down in the chair and chatted with the nurse and then with my favorite hygienist. The nurse was looking at pictures of my cavity when she said, "We might not even need to numb you because these spots are so small."

"Are you freakin' kidding me?!?" I blurted out. I seriously thought she was kidding. I told her how I'd rather deal with the pain and discomfort of the shot in the jaw than deal with the anticipation of pain while drilling.

So my favorite hygienist said she'd numb me for the doctor and I reminded her that last time I was here the doctor had to juice me twice. No problem, B said, I'll just give you some extra from the beginning. Great, I thought. I'll deal with the initial discomfort and then it'll be mostly smooth sailing.

Should have known it wouldn't be that easy. I started feeling queezy almost the second B started to numb me. I was able to hang on until she pulled the needle out. And then I had to lie back so I wouldn't faint. B wanted to give me some more novacaine, but I told her she needed to wait. Which she did, and when I started feeling better she juiced me again.

I thought I'd have a few minutes to let it soak in and relax before the doctor came in, but I was wrong! Dr. B and the nurse came in saying "we're just going to look around." I told him that I have type 1 and that I tested before I got here. He really wanted me to know that it was better for me to come in the mornings. I didn't feel like asking him why, nor explaining the nuances of my schedule to him, so I just nodded and said OK.

And then he started working! And B was saying from the other room "I just gave her a little extra a second ago." And I was screaming inside to WAIT! But he didn't. And I was more tense than I have been at the dentist in a very long time. No matter what I did the tension was nearly unbearable. I tried to consciously tell myself to relax but it wasn't working.

I kept squirming and moaning but Dr. B had put some device in my mouth to keep my jaw open and it was horribly uncomfortable. (I have searched endlessly for pictures of this for you, but haven't been successful.) I guess they were used to people squirming and moaning because they didn't stop to ask if I was OK. Finally I remembered to raise my hand. I could feel it when the nurse used that air blower thing on my teeth. So Dr. B gave me some more novacaine.

I couldn't feel anything but I was still horribly tense. And that damn device keeping my jaw open was getting pretty painful. I was shocked at how fast everything seemed to be going.

When they were done, I still felt faint, so I laid back in the chair for a few minutes, checked my sugar, laid back down for a few more minutes. By the time I got to the front desk to check out, I felt queezy again and had to rush to the waiting room to sit down. I tested again and was fine. I made it to the car and drove the 5 min. home but had to sit down as soon as I got inside because I felt faint. When I finally felt well enough to stand up, I made myself soup for lunch. Seriously, when it's 104 outside soup isn't the best meal but I was so sore I could barely open my mouth.

All afternoon my jaw ached and I wound up taking some prescription ibuprofen. It was about 5 hours later when the numbness wore off. And so did the ibuprofen.

So, like I said, I was not liking Dr. B one bit up until about 8:30 p.m. I was ready to let him know he needed to be more delicate with me the next time I'm in his office. But then he called! To see how I was feeling! I was kind of shocked and then I was surprisingly happy that he had taken the time to check up on me. Didn't matter that I didn't know if this was his practice with every patient or if it was just me.

My attitude had done almost a 180 toward Dr. B. Yes, I'm still sort of traumatized by the experience and yes I will ask them to give me a little more time in the future to get fully numb, but I certainly don't hate Dr. B (who looks a little like the Dog Whisperer) anymore.