First, the Good News: the winners of the Beloved samples are Starscent and Elizabeth C. Please contact me at my gmail addy : evilauntieanita, give me your details I will get it out to you!
The ‘loser’ is me. Ol’ Toothy Musette.
What was I THINKING? It’s been a generation since I’ve had a tooth extracted and with the wisdom teeth roots I have, I am officially qualified to go run down a Brontosaur. I won’t bore or queasify you overmuch with the gory details – I’ll just regale you with Things I Have Learned About Tooth Extraction.
1. Gums. They’re just not that into you. Here’s the thing. I think gums are vengeful. Seriously. Think about it – teeth get ALL the attention: bonding, bleaching,veneers…. gums are either diseased or they’re nothing – nobody ever says “wow, what pretty..GUMS you have”. And gums resent that. Even when you go for the extraction, all the focus is on , you guessed it, THE TOOTH. “when was the last time you said “I’m going to have my poor gums stuck with a giant needle SIX TIMES, ripped to shreds and then sewn back up?” Noooo. It’s always THE TOOTH. So gums feel the disrespect. And the minute they get the opportunity for payback, it’s AWN! And where’s Tooth, then? Reposing in some plastic case, without a care in the world. While the gum-bass is bumpin’ in the jawline and the socket is screamin’ “How You Like Me NOW?”. Evil. Gums are evil.
2. Vicodin. It is a gal’s best friend. I’m not big on pain meds in general – but The Gums Made Me Do It. Five hits of novocaine and one of those scary “oooh, this is going to take a minute”….things….and the saw….then even MORE needle (it’s 2012, people and STILL the needle? c’mon!). At that point, you are knowing that Lady Vi is going to be hanging around for a day or so. And you are ever so grateful.
3. Manual Labor. Don’t knock it. Novocaine gone, the next day Gums had their revenge. And Lady Vi, in her valiant fight, left me too loopy even to sleep. I shoveled a half-ton of mushroom compost out of the back of a pickup, ripped up about 3000 weeds and finished hand-tilling the vegetable garden. Note:ymmv and this stuff is for basic gum stuff ONLY (no heart/hernia/appendectony/etc – okay? Don’t want you having to shovel your guts back in along with the compost) Just make sure you don’t let on that you’re trying to distract from the pain. Gums are suspicious and they are already crabby enough. Just tell ’em you want to show off their fancy new stitches to those cute little weeds!!
4. What to Wear for Surgery. I chose Mitsouko. Pre-reforumlation/contemporary. You know, the Honey Badger One. She. Don’t. Care. She grabbed that saw, and the pliers and the nitrous and all the other Instruments of Pain, crushed them in her cruel talons and threw them to the floor in a blind fury. I love her.
5. What to Wear After Surgery. Beats me, which is why you are not getting a review this week. I had the surg on Thursday around 1. Mitsouko stuck by me through the post-op snooze. From then on it’s a blur. I remember wearing some Luxor (a rose perfume oil from Dubai) but mostly because it was on the table. Yeah. I’m feeling “like that” right now. It’s not that I can’t smell stuff. It’s that I don’t care. Friday I was too hopped-up on Lady Vi – I could’ve been spraying myself with rhino urine. I’m better now (though I’m old, as Patty keeps reminding me, so healing is taking a bit longer)…but it still hurts more than I’d like it to. So I still don’t care. I was going to review Mohur but it needs some actual focus. I ain’t got no stinkin’ focus today. I’ll be better in a bit.
So …let’s talk pain. What scents do YOU wear to get you through difficult physical trauma? And why, oh WHY, are there so many nerves in your gums?
Oh, Musette! That picture! Whose green hands are those? It’s as though the Hulk turned into a dentist and is doing Hulk-ish things to the teeth. **Shudder**
I still have one last wisdom tooth hanging on, but the others didn’t go quietly. And Demerol (which is what they’ve always prescribed when I’ve had them removed – one at a time) makes me sick, so I’ve had to deal with the removal of impacted wisdom teeth on nothing more than Ibuprofen and ice, lots and lots of ice. I’ve never used perfume when I’ve been in pain, for all the reasons other commenters have noted already, but I just gave myself a big squirt of Jungle l’elephant in your honor. It’s so loud it would take your mind off the pain if you were here. 🙂 Hoping you feel better soon.
(a.k.a. Olfacta) I’ve been through the medical mill in recent months, starting with knee surgery (whatever they put in the IV + 2 percocets administered by kind nurse in recovery) left me higher than I think I’ve ever been — went home, sniffed perfume samples for most of the night, too wired to sleep. (I wrote about this on the blog. Then, a month later, a tongue biopsy — odd spot on tongue, but it’s not cancer thank God — for which I had some newish combo of good ol’ vico + ibuprofen. It worked ok. I came home, sprayed myself with something orange blossom, lots of it. I think that is key. Lots and lots and lots of it.
Olfacta,
At this point (I am back to 8 on the 1-10 pain scale, since the dentist had to use one of those freakin’ terrifying DENTAL PICKS FROM HELL to poke around – yes POKE AROUND the healing cavity, to make sure there was no bone, etc in there….so at this point, the thing I am wanting lots and lots of is VICODIN. Maybe Vicodin and Percocet. And a bottle of vodka.
Barring that (since that way lies either a vegetative state or a coffin) I will stick with the Lady Vi and just take a nap, like rosarita said.
xoxox :Devil:
Feel better soon, dear Anita. So sorry you are going through this misery. I had all four impacted wisdom teeth out at once, and I came out of it swollen like a chipmunk, but not feeling too badly. This was eons ago in college.
When I’m having a migraine, I don’t wear scent. When I’m suffering some other illness, I might wear something light and easy like Infusion d’Iris or a green tea scent. Those seem to go down easy when I’m feeling weary and worn.
Sending good vibes & healing prayers your way!
Dina
Green tea scents are very soothing, aren’t they?
xo :Devil:
Wow, I am so sorry, that sounds awful! Could you ask your dentist if you can mix Vicodin and Exedren together? I know Exedren extra strength probably sounds completely ineffectual right now, and maybe it would be, but when I have any problems with the area of my head (mouth included) it really seems to help.
When I am in pain I usually use a couple squirts of J’adore L’eau Cologne Florale. I swear it’s has antidepressant properties, and I it usually makes me feel at least a little uplifted and not like the pain is as strong (yes, I am talking about physical pain, it just seems like when I hurt it pulls the rest of me down, too). And it’s fresh and light, and before I can get sick of it, it’s gone :Pleasure: .
I stopped back by here on the way to bed (apres-dog walk. Like gums and honey badgers, Dogs Don’t Care) – and I’m so loopy on the meds I…well, for a second I thought you meant you squirted J’adore IN YOUR MOUTH!
I need to go to bed !
xo :Devil:
That is hilarious! I’ve never done that, although if I ever get desperate enough, maybe I’ll give it a try! :Wink: (Just kidding).
Lady Vi for kicks, Ibuprofen for dental pain, dear lady. (Motrin or Advil, 600 mgs)
God Bless Lady Vi!!!
xo :Devil:
Ahhhh — Anita/Musette…..NO ONE writes like you! I adore, idolize, appreciate, etc., your way with words. I soooooooo look forward to your posts.
I send you hugs — enough to show Those Gums not to mess with “Our Girl Musette”. I hope you soon will be feeling Fine as Frog’s Hair (And, my dear girl, Frog’s hair is mighty Fine)
LOL! and THANK YOU!
btw – turns out it IS an infection. Not a huge one – but no dry socket, so there’s that. But his associate used a little dental pick to poke around in there. ….good thing I wasn’t totin’ a machine gun…
so Lady Vi, Lady Val and now Mr Amoxycillin. What a trio! My new BFFs!
xo :Devil:
That’s the other treasonous thing about gums – they are FULL OF GERMS – NASTY!!! That amoxicillin will fix you up.
Oh, sweetheart. I’m late to the party today and I am so SORRY about your poor gums! Sorry and like everyone else, dying laughing over the fact that “gums – they’re just not that into us”!! I hate teeth and dentists and gums and all that stuff. However, I’m very fond of chewing, so there’s that. The comments to this post are entertaining as all get out (like they’re not always – some very, very funny people on the Posse.) My fragrance of choice for procedures is usually a quiet musk, Musc Samarkind or Clair de Musc. Then I put on a cloud of Shalimar when I get home.
Sending you big fragrant hugs, a sympathetic ear, some homemade custard, and sternly fussing at you to stay out of the garden for a couple of days. Not often you get a chance to stay in bed and let life go on without you for a little while, enjoy it while you can – xxx
Gums hate our guts!!
And you’re right – I’m out of the garden, except to water the newly planted (nobody else here right now). They think I might be mildly infected – so antibiotics plus my girls Vi and Val. And I plan to sleeeeeep.
xooxxo:Devil:
So sorry you’re hurting! I had my wisdom teeth out—all of them at once—about 28 years ago, and just reading your post, I can remember exactly how much it hurt in the days after the surgery, and how those stitches felt. It can only better from this point, though.
I think the top ones were the ones that were removed about 40 years ago (maybe a bit earlier than that)….whatever they took to make way for braces, etc, was in the back – I don’t think I was in quite this much discomfort back then but…hey, as PATTY keeps reminding me…I WAS MUCH YOUNGER THEN! (just pulling her chain – she’s right, though. Were I 15, I’d probably have been done with this by Saturday!
xo :Devil:
Holy Cats and Crackers! I just googled “Alabama Slammer’ – OMG! You folks are crazy!!!!
Then again…. :Conceited:
You poor dear! I had a friend with Crohn’s. (he’s fine – the ‘had’ is attrition from my first marriage, nothing worse) – I remember the exquisite pain that caused him. Give Mr T a kiss for me and tell him to stick close by you!!!
xoxoxo :Devil:
Ouch! So sorry to hear that you are still hurting. I tend to to avoid fragrance when I am in physical pain as it just doesn’t appeal to me. I dont have the appetite for it at those times. Like now, as I am having a Crohn’s disease flare up and I have been good friends with Mr. T (tramadol in the UK- I think Demerol is the closest US equivalent?) for the last several weeks to deal with pain. I have been largely ‘naked’ bar one or two days lately and I so want to be in the mood for it.
I’m with the white wine/Alabama Slammer crowd- some painkillers, some wine, a responsible adult to slap you/call 999 if you pass out and you should be a happy bunny. Damn those gums- every time they twinge, whisper ‘Gingivitis’ in your most menacing voice and get your Rottie to growl! Hope it passes soon!
When I’m not feeling great, I have to wear something comforting. But when I go to the dentist, I wear something crisp and clean, to which I have no emotional attachment. So if I have a traumatic experience and can never wear that perfect again (because it’s so associated with said experience), I don’t care. Before I gave my bottle away, I wore Narciso Essence. (The dental assistant said, “Oh, I like your perfume. It smells just like Dove Body Spray. Is that what you’re wearing?”) Since then, I’ve worn Prada Infusion d’Iris. Which I definitely like–but don’t love. Perfect for that kinda thing.
Doesn’t that just chap your cheese? Erm….’does’ it smell like Dove Body Spray?
I can’t smell that Prada at all. Not one bit. I can smell water better than that perfume – weird, huh?
xo :Devil:
I hope you get better soon! That’s one of the things that I like about Mitsouko even though I do have trouble with her. She is the steel corset when you really need to get something done. I haven’t gotten around to trying the pre-reformulation. For some reason, in times of trouble I wear Amouage’s Epic because people think that the smell is kind of off-putting. Chanel no. 19 is another one that I love to wear (just found out that Chanel is selling no. 19 in parfum form. It only comes in a quarter of an ounce).
Epic? OFF-PUTTING? You tell those people to get over themselves. Epic is the smell of VICTORY! If somebody complains about Epic to me I will punch them in the gums. With a bottle of Epic. See how they like it then! 😀
I love Epic – especially the body products. But you already know that.
19 in parfum is gorgeous. I have smelled it. I’m not normally a 19 fan but in parfum it is resplendent!
xoxo :Devil:
My mom is always giving me the evil eye because according to her, I don’t have a lot of ‘normal’ perfumes they are either ‘strange’ or ‘old lady’. I’m gonna have Chanel send me no. 19 in parfum form every 60 days. So even if the no. 19 EDP never comes back in stock here, I’ll have a steady supply of it.
I’m coming to your house (haunting your mailbox) :All-I-See-is-Love:
xo :Devil:
I’m going through the Chanel website because it has the wonderful option of getting a perfume every 30, 60, or 90 days. Nobody in my house is happy to have the UPS guy come frequently as he does.
Here’s to the gum misery! I suggest you whip out the old blender and make yourself a batch of very frozen Alabama Slammers.Then kick back and apply your favorite scent,turn on some music, and leisurely suck down the contents of your blender while enjoying the finer points of your scent.
By the time you get to the bottom of your blender, the gums will be singing
karaoke, and you and the gums will be best buddies again!
Hope ya feel better soon, sweetie! G
I like how you think!!! :In-Love:
xo :Devil:
LOL, I never know what to expect from you Musette (except for knowing that I will LOVE the post), but number three was the LAST thing I expected.
I had oral surgery recently and was remanded to bed for the first three days to reduce the swelling, and told not to exercise until I know longer needed even over the counter pain killers (2-3 weeks). Also advised to keep ice on it for at least the first 24 hours. (I actually iced it for three days.) Lady Vi stayed with me for a week. There’s nothing better than being REQUIRED to do nothing except sleep, read and take prescription pain killers! (It was better than a vacation, actually, because one usually feels required to cram in as much sight-seeing or whatever during vacations – quite tiring, actually.) I’m already looking forward to Dental Surgery Part 2 in a few months…
By the way, I had it done on a Wednesday, went back to work the following Monday – it would have been better if I’d stayed out a full week. I hope you find time for a bit of a rest and feel better soon, Musette!
I have Lake Blossom from Via del Profumo, which is designed as a caring, healing essence for women. It smells to me like fresh ginger root, but that’s not listed among the notes, so it’s some kind of osmic illusion. Always helpful whenever I feel fragile. Next time I order from VdP I’m going to get some of his “Anti-Sharks” essence that’s supposed to be good for keeping mosquitos and other nasties away.
Sweetie, if I’d had any sense I would’ve taken to mah faintin’ couch and not been so ‘strong’ – and dumb. You know what I think it was? Again, the disrespect! “oh, it’s only (ONLY) a tooth extraction”. Had I had some other invasive procedure (like when they stitched my elbow back together after a motorcycle crash) I would’ve given myself permission to take it easy. But …..have you noticed that in an office environment (for example) the only people who are truly sympathetic to ‘time off’ for dental work are those who have HAD dental work? Everybody else is all “oh, what’s the big deal – it’s just a tooth”. Yah. I would’ve been one of those, I’m ashamed to say. Not anymore.
That Lake Blossom sounds wonderful. Checking it out today!!!
xo :Devil:
Bless your heart, poor baby! Hoping you are so much better by now. Not to laugh at your pain (with you, darling, WITH you) but your gum comedy “How you like me NOW?” had me spewing not only my tea, but my Cheerios, and on top of that, nearly falling out of my computer chair! I was laughing so hard my son looked at me like I had three heads. You’re right, though, gums are evil, sort of. Anyway, big hugs and feel better!
Thanks, love!! My gums are feeling pretty smug right now – they are getting a whole LOT of attention.
xo :Devil:
My #1 comfort scent – Attrape Coeur! Dear M – it will heal!!! Hoping more quickly than not.
Today is MUCH better, thanks!!! Some moist heat, a bit of massage (and Tiger BLAM) 2 Aleve and a half-tab of Lady Vi – I’m doing pretty good!!!
xo :Devil:
Saw? Really? I sat here reading your entire post with a wince on my face, you poor baby. Hope you feel better pronto.
I hurt my back rather badly a couple of years ago. I know I didn’t stop wearing perfume for the 5 weeks I was laid up, but heaven help me if I can remember what I wore.
Any time I’m under the weather, I find I turn to 10 Corso Como.
Oddly enough, Francesca, the saw was the least of my worries. The tooth had cracked so he needed to cut it in half. I suspect it is like a little disc grinder, turned on its side – or a mini Stryker (the less seen, the better, imo – like the novocaine needle. Why is that damn thing SO BIG?)….anyhoo, ..I associate that sound with the dentist so I wasn’t freaked.
FIVE WEEKS? Good grief! Is that when you fell down the stairs? Am I remembering this….if so, I remember the exquisite pain you were in. Poor dearest, I can’t imagine. This is nothing to that – nothing.
xo :Devil:
Oh, and I got the dreaded “dry socket” with my wisdom teeth removal, so I completely understand where you’re coming from- get well soon!!
Y’all had me so terrified of ‘dry socket’ that I didn’t take the gauze out for 24 hrs (well, I did – but only to replace it with fresh gauze).
btw – I now totally get the Marathon Man scene. Totally.
xo :Devil:
I made one of my own for pain and/or nausea (I can’t take Vicodin or any synth opiates, makes me very ill, which is sort of counterproductive). So my “cut through pain and nausea” perfume is loaded with camphor, cajeput, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, and some other bracing notes. It smells a little like Tiger Balm (or is that Tiger BLAM!)– It would surely be banned outright by IFRA and the FDA. But it works great! Sort of like the honey badger effect you talked about with Mitsy….
I call it Tiger BLAM, too!!! That perfume sounds perfect! I could make some money for us, M, hanging out at the oral surgeon’s office and selling that perfume out of the trunk of my car….. A propos of that, I massaged my swollen jawline with Tiger BLAM last night – it really seemed to help. I suspect the reason I’m still in a lot of pain is I didn’t take the ‘jaw’ part of the process into consideration. Like I said, it’s been an entire generation (over 40yrs) since I last had an extraction. I was focused on the upper area because….well, that’s the part you can SEE. Well, that part is fine. I should’ve been moist heating/icing the JAW. Now that I am, the pain is lessening pretty quickly. sigh. I’m actually a bit dumber than I look, I guess.
xo :Devil:
You poor darling, I feel your pain and have on many occasions.
Not to bore you with my dental war stories, two words: multiple gum transplants.
I’m not a doctor but my medical advice would be take enough pain reliever to sedate a large circus animal and wash it down with chilled white wine. Sure, you risk pulling a Heath Ledger, but you won’t care.
When you are up to soft food, have your husband prepare a dish we call “chicken taters.”
One can of chicken, white meat and two packets of Bettty’s finest mashers, cooked with half and half and garnished with a boat load of butter, salt and pepper if you can take that.
Comfort food at its finest. Top it off with painkillers, white wine, lather, rinse, repeat.
Okay – we are BOTH going to Hell. You, for the Heath Ledger reference. Me, for laughing like a hyena over the Heath Ledger reference.
That ‘chicken taters’ dish sounds suspiciously fabulous!
Last thing: GUM TRANSPLANTS? :Tired: Something tells me a heart transplant would be less painful. Are you sure you meant GUM transplants? Maybe you meant to say GUN – as in “here. I’ll trade you my double-ought for your .357 so you can shoot that varmint. In the gums.” That’s what you meant, right?
xo :Devil:
It’s a tissue transplant; the torturer–er–dentist scrapes tissue off my hard palate and sews it on to my lower gums. I’m in constant pain and bleed like Carrie at the Prom.
I’ve had two and am due for the third.
So when I say I wash the meds down with chilled Chardonnay, I’m not kidding.
Happy spritzing, everybody!
GREAT WAVY GRAVY!
:Amazed:
words fail…
honey!
MORE WINE FOR SWEET SUE! STAT!!!
xoxoxo :Devil:
Aw sweetie, I feel your pain. I had 3 wisdom teeth out at various times so I too never had the luxury of being knocked out for it. For one extraction my dentist was on vacation and his sub used that cheap ass short acting novacaine. Of course that one was a bugger and I had one assistant holding me down by my forehead and shoulder, another on the other shoulder and the dentist had his knee braced on my chest to yank that damn tooth out. Seriously it was like something out of a movie. Teeth are a pain. Gums are a pain. Mine are receding because I brush too much. If I don’t brush enough I get cavities, if I brush enough my gums recede. I can’t win.
I hope you feel better soon. Make sure you keep the area clear and clean of food debris. That’s another whole set of gum issues if you don’t. Get your rest too. And bravo to you for getting all that gardening done!
I try not to wear perfume to the dentist and sometimes when I’m in pain because I don’t want to run the risk of always associating that scent with something unpleasant. If I wear anything it’s a cheap body spray that I have no strong affection for and would not be devastated if I couldn’t wear it again.
Oh, for eff’s SAKE, Poodle! I’m HURTIN’ over here! Don’t make me laugh like that! Of course, I’m not laughing AT you – I can well imagine how that went down. My dentist is so cool – he is totally NOT into pain. I had enough novocaine in me to stop a rutting bull – but it’s the aftermath, alas. Like I said, Gums are Evil. They will wait out the novocaine. Happily.
Yeah, I’m manic about the food debris. 42 seconds after I eat my scrambled eggs (I’m sort of tired of them, btw) I’m in there, with a mouth full of salt water, swirling my head around like a carafe (since I’m not supposed to ‘swoosh’) – I look ridiculous but the socket is food-free (fingers crossed).
Upside: I’m getting thinner by the nanosecond. After breakfast, food just isn’t on my radar much.
xo :Devil:
Like Joanna, I can’t wear perfume when ill or in pain, partly because I can’t bring myself to bother, but also because I don’t want any bad associations later; many are the perfumes that are now forbidden because they give me instant recall of migraines suffered while wearing them – not that they caused them (that’s a whole other category).
Sleep (aided by painkillers) is the best escape for me. Do hope it feels better very soon. Guess you can’t even get relief from comfort-eating, which is usually a great cure for everything else in life!
You know, Jillie, I’ve been saying this for the past 5 years or so (ever since I started this machining biz) Sleep is the New Sex.
And never more so than right now. I have a couple of things that have to be attended to this am, then I’m going to take your (and everyone else’s) sage advice.
xo :Devil:
Hey Chompers, get well soon. I keep tonguing my gums where I had that impacted tooth pulled out from last year and quivering. I feel your pain.
I don’t wear perfume when I’m in pain, physical or emotional. I don’t know why that is, maybe just my mind needing to focus on healing instead of smelling. Maybe you’d just feel better using scented bath products and getting lots of rest?
Impacted! :Amazed: I’d be quivering, too!
I think I’m going to wash with Agraria Bitter Orange today – man, I LOVE that stuff. And it’s got clove, which is close enough to clove oil to count for something, right?
xo :Devil:
Well I’m a freak of nature and never developed wisdom teeth, I just don’t have them. An impacted tooth must have been the universe righting itself and giving me my share of the pain.
Ohhh, Agraria Bitter Orange sounds like my kind of good time. Putting it on the list.
No, actually you are an EVOLVED freak of nature. Apparently Nature is getting with the program – we don’t actually seem to need wisdom teeth any longer so Nature seems to be phasing them out. A lot of kids now don’t have them.
Boo. on the pain. I am thinking Pain Free Dentition. For EVERYBODY!!!
xo :Devil:
Sorry!! I really thought it would be better before quickly!
well, I hoped.
sorry. :Sick:
It is better – sort of. As long as I continue to take the pain meds. I think a lot of the pain is my own damn fault. Trying to muscle through, y’know? Dumb. Gums Don’t Care. At least there’s no infection – I think they’re just pissed off. And who wouldn’t be?
xo :Devil: