Grant gets all coked up... at the dentist.

"The Association of the American Hospital of Paris was created in 1906 by several members of the American community in Paris. Their wish was to create a Paris-based hospital which would provide American expatriates residing in France with American-trained medical care in their own language, regardless of their financial means.

"January 30, 1913, the United States Congress officially recognizes the American Hospital of Paris, granting it federal status.

"In March 1918, in recognition of services rendered to France during the First World War, the French government decrees the Hospital American of Paris to be 'an institution of public benefit,' authorizing it to receive donations and bequests." --www.american-hospital.org



Saturday, September 28, 1918:

American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine

Went to Neuilly[-sur-Seine] this A.M. to get my teeth looked at. Thought I was having trouble with my gold crown. After an x-ray I was told that nothing ailed the tooth with the gold crown, but that I ought to have a molar pulled. I wasn’t feeling very strong, but I didn’t dare say no. Dentists are rare birds at the front and one oughtn’t pass up a good one. So I said “go ahead.” In the next half hour I experienced many new sensations. He cocained my lower, left jaw which, incidentally, included my tongue and throat, so that after 15 minutes I couldn’t talk so as to be understood. Then he climbed up on my chest and went to it with a pair of tongs and a cork screw. Well, he didn’t hurt my tooth any because my jaw in that district was dead, but I thought the weight of his body would snap the jaw hinges. After heaving, prying, picking, pushing and pulling for about 15 minutes (it seemed 15 hours) he produced the tooth clamped firmly in a pair of pliers. And what a monster that tooth was! Then he turned me loose and I came back to the chalet after being advised by the doctor to take aspirin and go to bed. At dinner my tongue and jaw were still dead and eating was difficult. I found out later that I had chewed my cheek in several places.

This afternoon, instead of taking the doctor’s advice, I went into Paris to look up my trunk and do a bit of shopping. Found my trunk in good condition and took my sheepskin coat back to the chalet. By four o’clock I was feeling rotten and ate very little supper. My jaw was very sore. Went bed immediately after dinner with a good dose of aspirin.

Sunday, September 29:

Cloudy and cold. Feeling about the same. Can hardly open my mouth my jaw is so sore. My throat also is sore. But the news from the front takes all hard feeling right out of a man. Cambrai & St. Quentin are both about to fall. Bulgaria is practically out of it and Allenby’s forces in the Orient have put the Turks to rout. Wonder where our section is.

Spent a quiet day here writing letters and reading in our reading room.