THE TALE OF THE INCREDIBLE TOOTH ABCESS

Everything was going along fairly swimmingly until I ate lunch last Tuesday.  Now, I have racked my brain as to what in particular set it all off about that lunch and I have settled upon the poppy seeds in the muffin - sort of like The Princess and the Pea stuff. 

What occurred was that a bolt of lightening - or what I think that would feel like - struck me in tooth 14 of my mouth.  I know all about tooth numbers nowadays which amuses me to no small extent, having had them bandied about over my head when a dentist and endodontrist were discussing my fate with their respective assistants.

Having had issues with this tooth for a while which issues usually settled down after about 15 minutes, I soothed it all with my tongue and got on with the business at hand which was probably my inbox which is where I spend most of my working day.

No settling down occurred though - not a smidgeon.  I barely slept that night despite the largest quantity of painkillers I had ever consumed and it was worse by Wednesday by which time I could barely talk let alone eat. 

My husband, having been observing the proceedings from the night before, had taken to bringing soup home for lunch and supper - it was literally all I could get into my mouth because chewing was THAT painful and had also made an emergency appointment with a dentist for Thursday.  He had to FIND a dentist because of the move we have just made on top of it all and that dentist had to be willing to see me as a matter of urgency and be contracted in to our health insurance scheme.

By Thursday, I was crying involuntarily, making putting makeup on night on impossible but I managed to dry up just before my dentist's appointment which was set for 12h30 and which I had gotten into a state of utter anticipation for, being sure that they would do something about my pain.

Sadly, he merely took an x-ray, prescribed an antibiotic and some stronger painkillers and told me I needed to see an endodontrist.  It is the first time I have sat in a pharmacy and actually wept because I had to wait for drugs - I am deadly serious about this too.  We got home, emergency endodontrist appointment was made for the next day and I took my doses and then I think I went to hell.

My mouth felt as if it literally exploded.  The pain was so severe I think I actually passed out from it because all I remember about the rest of Thursday is lying on my bed flipping my pillow because I kept drenching it with all my weeping and then waking up, basically pain free at about midnight.

The endodontrist did the usual root canal procedure on Friday and I now continue with my antibiotics, never having needed another painkiller after the first one on Thursday on our return from the dentist and pharmacy.

What you are probably wondering, does any of this have to do with a blog about transitioning.  I'll tell you .....

I have known about that tooth being in trouble for a good 3 years now and, I have done NOTHING about it because I was THAT scared of root canal.  Result, more pain than any root canal could have ever caused me and a whole lot of rushing aruond and pill taking and haphazard medical provider choosing instead of a nice planned affair.  Total coroboration of my mantra of getting as much knowledge as you can about what you need to do so that you can transition gracefully and so that fear doesn't paralyse you.

I keep saying it but herewitth then the proof that it would appear I don't always listen to my own advice andso,  I got an incredibly rude reminder last week - I won't forget again.