Tennessee Elephants

While doing a little research on non-profit organizations listed with the Better Business Bureau - I happened upon The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald Tennessee.

"The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, is the nation's largest natural-habitat refuge developed specifically to meet the needs of endangered elephants. It is a non-profit organization, licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and accredited by the Association of Sanctuaries, designed specifically for old, sick or needy elephants who have been retired from zoos and circuses. Utilizing more than 2700 acres, it provides three separate and protected, natural-habitat environments for Asian and African elephants. Our residents are not required to perform or entertain for the public; instead, they are encouraged to live like elephants."

www.elephants.com

A bike lock and toaster!

My first personal experience with general anesthesia happened yesterday (Friday morning). I did try to talk the oral surgeon into doing a partial level of anesthesia - but he looked at me gently with professional concern and repeated the part about four impacted wisdom teeth and needing to remove chips of my jaw bone to extract the upper set. So I signed the consent form.

I don't remember waking up... A fuzzy memory of walking to the car and feeling tippy. Then I was in Walmart. And sweet Kelsey encouraging me to sit down and explaining to the sales clerk that I had just had my wisdom teeth removed. Apparently they were having trouble understanding me because my lips felt like two flat tires bumping together (I think I still had large wads of gauze between my back molars at this point as well).

It took a while for them to fill the prescriptions. So while waiting it occurred to my foggy brain that it was an ideal time to go shopping - we were at Walmart after all! And I needed to purchase a bike lock and a toaster. It was clearly the most sensible thing to do... Kelsey was prompting me to type my pin number, and then I was home stumbling up the steps and telling patient Kesley that I wanted to go with her to the gym and go swimming.

After I woke up about sundown I ravenously downed four or five bowls of creamy potato leek soup. When my mom called that evening and asked how my day was, I told her that I had gotten my wisdom teeth removed and then gone shopping for a toaster and a bike lock on the way home - and we laughed!