TOOTH TROUBLES

Woke up Monday with a tender tooth.  Not that bad, just tender to pressure.  Normally, over the course of a few hours, it settles down.  It didn't.  But it didn't get any worse, so I ignored it.

Tuesday morning however, it was still annoying, and gaining steam.  Shortly after getting to work, it had gotten to the point that I made the Executive decision to call the Dentist.  It had all the feel of getting nasty and I didn't want to wait for it to go critical mass on me in the middle of the night.

Let my boss know I was taking off, then called the dentist.  I was lucky enough to get squeezed right in.

They took some X-rays, and then he saw me.  I had a problem with this tooth a couple years before and ended up with a root canal.  Long and short of it is, I have an infection under the tooth.  He put me on some high powered antibiotics and told me it should start to feel better today or tomorrow. Great.

At the pharmacy, the lady behind the counter looked at the script, then asked, "Are you going to wait on this?"

Not being in a good mood from the "discomfort", I simply glared at her.

She blinked twice then decided to reread the script.  She looked at what it was, and from whom.  "Oh.  Right.  It'll be ready in a couple minutes.  We'll page you when it's ready."

I wandered around the store for what felt like a week, staring at all kinds of new and goofy things they clutter the shelves with, trying to keep my mind off my tooth.  By the time they called my name, I'm sure all the security cameras in the place were tracking me.  After all, how many people wander around a pharmacy aimlessly for close to 30 minutes, looking at anything and everything?

Bouncing from adult diapers, to mouthwash, to ear syringes, to the toy section, over to greeting cards and spending a good chunk of time in "alternative treatments". (don't ask.  I never did figure out what the Yak-spit was used for)  And who's idea was it in Marketing to push strawberry "flavored" feminine hygiene products?  "Scented" I could understand, but "flavored"?  That's enough to make one rethink their diet.

It also made me wonder just how a company goes about hiring a taste-tester for this?  You know there has to be one out there somewhere.

And I also found an ear wax removal tool, to "safely remove built up ear wax before you need an expensive Doctor's appointment".  It looked like a short plastic ice-pick, with a minuscule ice cream scoop on the end.  Just what hypochondria fueled nightmare sufferer decided a sandwich sword with a scoop on the end was a good idea?  I mean, you could poke an eye out with that.  From the inside.

They finally called my name before the law could arrive.  The older gentleman behind the counter holding my prescription was kind enough to ask what the antibiotics were for, and if there was a script for pain meds as well?  I told him "no" to the pain meds, and the script was for a tooth.  He then proceeded to share his own dental war stories with me.

Ever look forward to going back to work?  And in pain?  Yeah, it's kind of weird.

I went back to work and, just to be safe, put in notice that I may be taking a vacation day today.  Just because I was feeling a bit better about the state of the tooth, I still wanted to cover my bases.  Can't be too safe, right?  As the day wore on, the tooth got more nagging.  So I started taking some analgesics to keep it at bay.  Why not?  It was supposed to feel right as rain in a day or two.

By bedtime, the over the counter stuff just wasn't cutting it.  Dug out some acetaminophen/codeine pain relievers from last year.  Took one before bed.  Slept from about 11, till 3:30.  Pain woke me up.  And decided to keep me awake.

I didn't want to wake up Dudette by turning on a light to find the codeine stuff.  So I looked for the tiny flashlight I keep handy.  Apparently not handy enough, I couldn't find it at that moment.  So my next best plan (and we all know how great plans turn out), was to close the bathroom door and turn on the nightlight, enough to see by, but not enough to wake up the world.  Would have worked too, except I lost my bearings somewhere along the way and ended up walking right into the chest of drawers next to the door.  (I hate it when they move the doors without telling me.)

In case you missed it by now, I did not succeed in carrying out the mission without waking up Dudette.  She did however, go right back to sleep.

And no, I won't share the lunacy behind wearing, nor the fun of trying to remove, my night guard.

The pain killers weren't working so well this morning.  The level of pain was higher than I was.  And that doesn't work so well for me.

When my boss was due to arrive at work, I called to say I wouldn't be in, and to schedule me for another day off, just to be safe.  He was sympathetic and offered his condolences.  I let him know that as soon as the Dentist was in, I was calling to get some pain meds.

And that is what I did, right after Dudette left for work, I called.  They told me it would be as long as tomorrow before I was feeling any relief with the help of the antibiotics.  And they called in a script for some hydrocodone for me.

From the time I talked to my boss, and picked up the script, the side of my face blew up, as did my gums on that side.  Every time I walked past a mirror, I wanted to chant, "I'm not an elephant!" (If you don't catch that line, then you never saw the movie.  And saved the 7.50 it cost to see it when it came out.)

I waited for the obligatory, "Your prescription is ready at XXX Pharmacy, located at YYYY...".  It never came.  So I called.  And went through about 5 minutes of automated Q&E with a computerized voice.  After hitting all the marks right on cue, the phone clicked.  I thought I had been hung up on.  Instead, a HUMAN voice (remember those?) came on the line to help me.  The HUMAN took less time than the first two computerized questions to get me taken care of.  And I was off to the pharmacy.

When I got there, I went to the drive through.  After pulling up and letting them know who I was and what I wanted, this chubby, cheerful, all-smiling, cherub hiding behind the bullet-proof glass, fairly gushed over the fast food talk-box, "And how are you today?"

"Be doing a lot better when I get that bag in your hand."  (at least at the drive through, they wouldn't have time to call the law, and if they did, I'd have a head start anyways.)

He looked at me, then back at the bag.  I guess the second time through reading what was in the bag, finally soaked in.  Someone looking like hell and picking up pain meds should NOT be asked how they are doing.  That is why they have the bullet-proof glass.  Not to stop robberies or theft, but to stop break-ins to get at people like him.

Quickest customer service I've gotten in a while.  I'm  guessing he decided I knew how to park.  No glass on the inside.

The meds have the edge off the pain, which is good.  And of course the hydro has me feeling goofy like it did the last time, but I can live with that.  Though I do have the urge to call people up and chat their ears off.  Same weird side effect we noticed last time.

And the swelling is down a bit.  I can deal with that.  However, the fact that I can still feel some pain, despite the meds, has me convinced tomorrow will most likely be another day spent at home.  Especially when you figure we have a "zero-tolerance" policy.  If it isn't an "over the counter" analgesic for pain, you aren't allowed in to work.  And you have to be "drug-free" for at least 8 hours.

Oh, and I go back to the Dentist next week for more X-rays.  If they don't like how things look after a week on the antibiotics, they are planning to re-drill the root canals and redo them.  Oh, bother.

Infections happen.

Comments

[bod]

ouch dude, that is NOT fun. hope it heals without the driling. it's not even as if you can enjoy your time off.

[bogie]

I sympathize! WS has had troubles and will be getting a root canal soon (he had one in December on another tooth). He was also on antibiotics, but evidently the infection wasn't so bad as yours since his jaw didn't swell up, nor was he in so much pain!