To nobody's surprise (except mine) I'm still here.

Yeah, I know. It was a tooth, not a quadruple bypass. But the worst thing about irrational terror is that you know it's irrational but you're still terrified. Actually, it was a big nothing. They put a needle in my arm. I remember thinking, This isn't working. I'm still awake. Then I heard the doctor say, I'm done. They sat me in a reclining chair for a while, and then they sent me home with an ice pack and three squares of gauze, and told me I'd been very brave. It's easy to be brave when you're unconscious.

Thank you, everybody who commented. It made me feel loved.

Bao was delighted to see me. I went to bed and slept, and there's nothing Bao likes better than spending the afternoon curled up in bed next to me. They said I should only eat soft things, so we had ice cream for dinner. He loved that, too.

But I'm wondering -- why can't they give dogs twilight sleep, when they clean their teeth? Wouldn't it be safer than a general anesthetic?