It started with just a simple pinging every now and again and soon developed into a full blown, pulsating throbbing that got worse every time I ate or drank. Anything.
Needless to say...EASIEST DIET EVER!! (Well, next to the cancer one I went on about six years ago but no one except me seems to think that little joke is funny)
I've lost nearly ten pounds in these last few weeks. And I wasn't even trying. This excites me.
The pain? Not so much.
After three or four days of pain, I decided denial was not going to work in this instance and broke down and called Dr. Barbour at Glen Cove Dental (well, since I officially did not have a dentist I called any damn person who was willing to see me the next day and he was the lucky duck with an available slot). They very kindly fit me in the next morning so I packed up The Toots and headed for Sheila's.
I need to brag a bit here because getting us both ready and packed in under two hours is nothing short of a miracle.
Here is what I got done in those two hours (I must tell you because I am still so utterly impressed with myself).
As I said, I still needed to shower and get dressed. Since I was home alone with Tessie, I very quickly showered, ran to check on her, ran to get dressed, threw on some clothes, checked on her again, went back to blow dry hair, ran back to check on her again, then got on my make up and back to check on Toots.
Next was the packing. My stuff was easy. One bag. Done. Back to check on Toots. Then on to packing for her. Ready? Here goes:
*Bag for nebulizer, nebulizer meds, oximeter, and cords and probes for oximeter.
*Bag for diapers, wipes, and chuck pads
*Bag for clothes and extra clothes
*Bag that holds portable suction
*Bag with cans of Keto powder, cans of polycose and salt to mix her food. This bag also needs to have cord for feeding pump, food bags, syringes, extensions for gtube, gram scale for weighing and measuring her food when I mix it, an extra gtube button kit should her's get pulled out, and two extra oxygen tanks.
*Jump bag that has all her emergency meds and oxygen in it for seizures.
*Bag for daily meds, gauze pads and ointment for stoma, and trivial items like brushes, shampoo, etc.
Add Baby Tad and me running to check on Tess about a zillion more times and I think that just about covers it. Then I needed to get The Toots dressed. And bonus, she decided that it was the perfect time to totally let loose and managed to get, well, crap, from one end of her little body to the other. Good times. Good times.
Anyway, See why I was impressed I managed to get all that done and get packed quickly while in pain no less?
The next morning I saw Dr. Barbour and he basically told me that I needed to get rid of two wisdom teeth and a molar. The molar was what was causing the pain. I believe his exacts words were, "Not good, Joanna. This is not good." Then he did what he could to get me out of pain.
I then had to confess that I had not seen a dentist regularly for about five years because the one I used to see got very upset with me when I canceled appointments that I couldn't make because Tess was either sick or had appointments that conflicted with mine. This certain jerk-off told me that I needed to make his appointments a priority and basically learn how to schedule Tessie's better. And he was very angry when he said that to me, as he was doing a root canal on me and I was crying because he was such a jerk. So I never went back.
I explained all this to Dr. Barbour along with the fact that it would probably happen with his office too because I don't have a lot of control over when Tess gets sick or has appointments.
So he gave me a hug and told me I would never be treated like that by him. Then he apologized for the other dentist being such an ass. So naturally, even though I very much disliked the whole, "you need three teeth extracted pronto" message, I loved Dr. Barbour.
I told him I would make the appointment with the oral surgeon but could I do it after Christmas? He said I could try but he didn't really think that I would make it that long with no pain.
And he was right on the money. After about three days the pain was back but sort of in a different spot so I thought something else was up. I called Dr. Barbour, got to talk to him, explained my predicament and that I had a nurse who could stay with Tess if he could fit me in the next day so he called another patient to switch their appointment, and voila, I was in. Of course, the whole packing up Tess quickly went into effect. Lucky for me I was too
He basically told me I needed to get that tooth out. Now.
Silly me. I thought, even as he said that, that I could tough it out for a couple more weeks.
Turns out, I'm not that tough. Fast forward a week...
I got slid in at the oral surgeon's for an emergency consult last Thursday and when I met with Dr. Battell I basically asked her if there was any possible way to do it right then. I went on to explain that I has a nurse for Tess so it would be so helpful to just get it over with. She agreed. But without sedation because she didn't have enough time in her schedule for that part.
Now I am a horrible baby when it comes to the dentist. I get all panicky and shaky under the best of circumstances so this was a bit of a blow. I asked about laughing gas and she said that I should be fine with just that and some novocaine.
I won't get into all the gory detail but you know how they call it laughing gas? Well, I wasn't laughing. And I lost count of the number of shots of Novocaine I needed.
However, I was in and out in under an hour and Dr. Battell was very, very kind and as gentle as that type of procedure can be. Which basically means she beat the hell out of the inside of my mouth but was so nice about it that I didn't hate her for doing it.
I am almost all healed up now. The pain has been very manageable with Advil and ice and hopefully this little bump in the road is over for now.
And because this post was basically stupid and rambling, yet you've loyally read to the end, I will leave you with this little dental joke:
"Open wider," requested the dentist, as he began his examination of the patient. "Good God!" he said startled. "You've got the biggest cavity I've ever seen -- the biggest cavity I've ever seen." "OK Doc!" replied the patient. "I'm scared enough without you saying something like that twice." "I didn't!" said the dentist. "That was the echo."
