First off, I’ll mention that my niece Jourdan is 20 today, so happy birthday to Jourdan.
The other day I noticed that one of my teeth seemed to be a little sensitive. It wasn’t anything severe, and that tooth does occasionally flare up a little, but it never lasts long, so I ignored.
While I was at work on Friday it decided that it would no longer be ignored, and it no longer required that I do something to aggravate it in order to cause me pain, though if I did do something to aggravate it, like gently nudging it with my tongue, it sent me into a paroxysm of agony so soul-shatteringly painful that it could cause me to forget my own name.
Still, by the end of the day it had eased up a bit and I resolved to just bear with it through the weekend and talk to the dentist on Monday.
As soon as I tried to go to bed that night, though, the pain kicked up several notches. It was sufficient to send me out into the cold at around 10:30 to pick up some Orajel, which did absolutely no good.
As I was lying in bed there would be periods during which fatigue would win out over pain, but it was typically a short-lived victory and the pain would actually wake me up after a few minutes. By 2:30 I’d had maybe an hour of sleep. It was obvious that I was not going to be able to get enough sleep to be able to get up at 5 and be able to function at work, so I actually called in and said I wouldn’t be coming in.
This was only the third time I’ve done so in 4 years. The first time was because I’d been in an accident and as a consequence hadn’t gotten home until late and didn’t actually have a car, and so needed to spend the day dealing with all that nonsense.
The second time was back in October when I called in because I was flying home for my dad.
In any case, I flipped through the phone book and say that my dentist actually has Saturday hours, so I decided that I would call in the morning.
By the time I finally got to sleep it was nearly 4 AM, and I slept pretty fitfully.
I got up a bit before 9, waited for a bit, then called my dentist and managed to get squeezed in.
The dentist confirmed what I already knew: the tooth is abscessed.
He couldn’t fit me in for a root canal until Tuesday, so in the meantime he wrote me a prescription for antibiotics and painkillers.
He pretty actively argued against me even getting the prescription for the painkillers filled, saying that if I could get by with non-prescription painkillers I should, but that if I really, really needed the prescription, I had it.
Given that non-prescription painkillers were doing exactly jack shit, I had the prescription filled.
I suppose the reason he was so opposed to me using the prescription is because it was for oxycodone, which a lot of people get hooked on.
Honestly, I can’t understand why or how; it works only marginally better than the non-prescription stuff, and actually makes me feel kind of light-headed – not in a good “high” sort of way – and just generally sort of gross.
Right now it’s been about nine hours since I took one. I’m waiting until it’s almost time to go to bed to take another as the pain is at bearable levels for being awake, but I’d kind of like it to hurt a little less when I’m trying to sleep.
I’ve been having to resort to eating foods that require little to no chewing, which means that I would probably be starving, as broth isn’t especially filling, but the pain manages to keep my mind off hunger, as does the lingering nausea from the painkillers.
I hadn’t mentioned anything about my oral agony at work, but when I called in this morning to give Scott the skinny, I told him, “You may have noticed that in the afternoon I actually stopped eating.” He said, “Now that you mention it, I did notice that. It was kind of strange.”
(I tend to snack like crazy when I’m at work)
Once I got home from the dentist I tried taking a nap, but couldn’t quite manage it, so instead I plopped myself down on the couch and watched TV all day.
In any case, that’s been all the excitement in my life for the past few days.
I find it kind of funny that I’m actually looking forward to getting a root canal, but I guess pain can make you crazy.
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