The internet is a blessing and a curse. And I just used it to either save my dive trip or completely fuck it up. Woke up yesterday with a toothache. Enough to go see my dentist. They got me in, took a look, told me I needed a root canal which is what I figured would happen- my teeth don't go bad by half, it's all or nothing with the bastards. When I told them I'm going on a dive trip in a few days they said they'd give me antibiotics and do it next week when I get back.

Fair enough, except that prescription drugs scare the crap out of me. Well, over the counters are pretty ominous to me too. They gave me a scrip for an antibiotic and a painkiller, got them filled out, and haven't opened the packet. Spent the night not sleeping, partly cos of the pain and partly cos of worrying about the trip.

So of course I went online. Found a great website that has a discussion forum about diving and medical issues, and on just about every post I could find about it they said get the root canal done asap, just make sure there's no airspace left. . .not sure how they go about doing that, but I'm going to find out today at 3pm. So either the internet just gave me good advice and there'll be no problems on my trip, or I'm going to get down to 50 feet and my tooth's going to explode, flying out of my skull and taking out a passing cod, which in its death throes will turn the water pink with blood, attracting every shark in the vicinity.

Okay, now I'm just being silly. You don't get cod in the Caribbean.

But the internet is both a blessing (because it allows so much access to so much information) and a curse (because it allows so much access to so much information). Usually I'm not one to be a hypochondriac, but I'm going on this dive trip instead of getting a therapist so I'm extra paranoid that something's going to stop me diving and then I'll have even more issues. If it all works out I promise to do my best to not be a smug git and go around boasting about it (although I do reserve the right to tell everyone about how awesome it is and encourage them to do trips of their own). If it doesn't work out, then it's probably you buggers who'll have to sit and listen to me complaining about it in the bar for about a year.