I’ve never had a terribly acute sense of smell – when we’ve been out on walks, Diane would often stop and smell the roses (literally!). She’d ask me if I smelled them, and if I put my nose right next to the rose and breathed deeply, I could usually get a bit of an aroma, so I’d say, “yes”, but I didn’t really get much out of the experience.

A few weeks ago, I needed to refill the garden mint jar. We’d just bought a bagful from Penzeys, and when I opened it, Diane immediately said that it reminded her of our visit a few years ago to Celestial Seasonings in Boulder when we entered the Mint Room and both of us were nearly knocked down by the aroma. That wasn’t the case this time – I didn’t smell anything.

And, thinking back, I realized that I hadn’t smelled much of anything for several weeks before that – one Sunday, I was making lentils in the Crock-Pot and I wasn’t sure anything was happening until I looked and saw water on the lid, but Diane said she could smell it. And I wasn’t noticing anything when I ground my coffee in the morning, either.

I could still taste what I ate and kept my usual appetite – but I couldn’t smell anything. It didn’t match the descriptions I’d read from people who’d lost their sense of smell, but I certainly wasn’t getting the full experience.

This morning after breakfast, it was time to run the dishes. I put in the detergent pod, and suddenly realized that I could smell it quite distinctly! And it wasn’t just the detergent – everything had its aroma back!

And things taste much better now, too – the tastes are much more distinct than they were yesterday.

I don’t know why I lost my sense of smell, or even when it happened. I did stop taking Flonase after I noticed the change, but that was weeks ago. And a quick search for “anosmia” and “tooth extraction” only showed me articles about losing the sense of smell after an extraction, not about regaining it.

Rose season is still a few weeks away – I wonder if it’ll be different this year.

Today was the big day – I was Jokemaster at the Silver Tongued Cats this morning, and I came up with a terrible joke in honor of the date. I will spare you.

After that, I took a brief walk before Diane drove me to Los Gatos Oral and Facial Surgery for my tooth extraction and implant operation.

They were ready for me as soon as I walked in – I paid the bill, and we moved on to the rest of the procedure. The dental assistant got my signature on the last form, verified that I wanted “medium sedation”, and hooked me up to the oxygen monitor, EKG, and IV. Dr. Walker came in, said “hello”, verified that he was going to extract the proper tooth (again – which made me happy), and that’s all I remember until we were in the car on the way to Jamba Juice after the procedure.

I must have been somewhat communicative and conscious in the office, because they made an appointment in six weeks to evaluate the implant to see if it’s ready to have my regular dentist make a crown for it – either that, or they just made a good guess and assumed I’d change the time if needed.

So far, I haven’t had any pain from the procedure – I followed their instructions and took two generic Norco tablets in the first couple of hours I was home, and then one every four hours thereafter. I’m going to have another one just before bedtime – tomorrow, I’m supposed to switch to heavy doses of ibuprofen, which is also supposed to reduce swelling (so far, that hasn’t been a problem either). I’ve also been following the instructions to use an icepack every other half-hour, and that will continue for another couple of days.

My string of closing all three rings on my Apple Watch ended today, of course; it was nice to have a lazy day, but I’d rather have done it voluntarily!