I can feel the pain. Even if he can't.

Paul had a dentist appointment this morning. He asked me to make it for him because he said his jaw was hurting. I immediately told him it was probably his wisdom teeth. My mom took him to the dentist for me so I wouldn’t have to miss work. I figured they'd look around, take some pictures and then schedule a time for him to come back and have the surgery. That’s what they did when I had mine taken out.

Instead, I got a phone call at work about 10:30. It was the dentist office asking if I would give my permission for my mom to sign consent forms. They were going to remove his wisdom teeth right there on the spot. I couldn’t believe it! They said they prefer to do all four at once, but that Paul had insisted they just take out the two that were bothering him for now and that he would come back later to have the others removed. He's going to Nashville next week and he said he was in too much pain to wait.

I immediately told work I had to go and drove across town to the dentist office. When I got there my mom told me they weren’t going to put Paul under. They were just going to give him a local anesthetic. For an hour and a half we sat in the waiting room worrying about him. I could only imagine how awful it must be having your wisdom teeth taken out while you’re still awake! I didn’t like the idea at all that my baby was going through that.

When he walked out Paul almost looked normal. His lips were chapped, his face a little swollen, and I could see some blood when he opened his mouth. “I’m fine,” he said “You can take me back to school.” What kind of a weird kid did I raise? Needless to say, I did not take him back to school.

He’s at home resting comfortably all hopped up on drugs..