My trip to the oral surgeon was successful this morning. The doctor confirmed my suspicions that I had developed the dreaded dry socket (although a pretty mild case). For the sake of your eyes, don't Google image the term. The results are disturbing. In short, all that means is that my body somehow dissolved (or I dislodged) the clot that protects the spot where my wisdom tooth used to live. That pretty much leaves nothing but air between the world and my unhealed jaw bone. Jaw bones aren't used to feeling air, so that causes them to scream. Luckily, mine was merely refraining from using its inside voice by the time I got to the office.
To provide a barrier and some relief, the oral surgeon placed what looked like fine tufts of chewing tobacco in the spot that hurt. In reality it was some sort of dissolving dressing soaked in clove oil. Clove oil? Really? Amazingly, it provided instant relief that (knock on wood) is still going. The oral surgeon said it should last for a couple of days and by that time I should be healing on my own. He swore to me that people usually don't have to come back for a second round. However, one side effect of my miracle dressing is that I constantly taste cloves. It was pretty intense at first and actually made me a little nauseous, but has mellowed out over the course of the day, so I don't mind.
I was thinking this afternoon that instead of dry socket, I'll call it my Christmas socket, since it tastes like mulling spices. Maybe I'll have a glass of warm apple cider after dinner to enhance the experience. I will also raise my glass to the oil of cloves for restoring my sanity!
My my stupid, ugly, asshead wisdom tooth battle wounds started aching last night on the right side. I looked at my "What to do if..." sheet from the oral surgeon and realized that this should not be happening, especially since I've been pain free for a couple of days. I popped a super duper strength ibuprofen and tried to go to sleep as visions of my face falling off danced through my head.
I woke up this morning feeling about the same as I did last night and was actually quite pleased. I had sort of self diagnosed my condition before drifting off to sleep, which included phrases like "pain so excruciating you'll think that you're dying." Thanks internet, that will teach me for straying from the Mayo Clinic website. I called the oral surgeon this morning and scheduled a visit at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow. If it's what I think it is, he'll be able to help and I'll have immediate relief, but a longer healing process. I'm not going to mention my self diagnosis, because then you'll Google it and hate me for what you find. Boo!! I hate you wisdom teeth!
Can you tell that I'm holding off on solid foods again due to the pain? Cranky Brasilliant is back with a vengeance. I've consumed approximately three giant tubs of yogurt over the course of the week and swallowed whole a number of foods that probably are a choking hazard -- eggs, ravioli, frozen blueberries, and not-so-tiny pieces of chicken. Since I didn't feel like I was dying, just starving, I decided that I needed to take care of a few errands in preparation for our trip to Los Angeles. Given my lack of nutrition, my brain was not firing all circuits. I stopped by Kohls as a last ditch effort to try and find a black cardigan to go with the dress I made last weekend. If you've ever been to Kohls, you know that they are usually located in a strip mall. I spent quite a lot of time in the store, checking out underwear, sheets, and other things that had nothing to do with the mission at hand. I paid for my merchandise and decided to head home.
I walked to my parking spot, which was empty. I shrugged it off, thinking that maybe I just misjudged the row. I walked up and down the rows of parking spots and my car was nowhere in sight. There weren't that many, so it's not like it was tucked behind an SUV. Immediately, I started looking around, thinking that maybe I hadn't put on the parking brake and it rolled somewhere (stupid, I know). I tried to retrace my steps and realized that someone had stolen the car. I went to the bench out in front of the department store and sobbed for a good five minutes. Once I was over my self pity, I called Jesse, but he didn't answer. I didn't want to call 911 because it really wasn't an emergency, so I walked back into the store toward customer service to get the number for the local police department.
While walking through the store, I got really angry because I was going to have to take a taxi home and probably again in the morning to the oral surgeon's office at 6am. As I was fighting back tears again, this time from frustration, I saw natural light shining into the side of the store. What? A second entrance? That never happens at strip malls -- except on days when I'm emotionally unbalanced and clearly not thinking. In the end, I found my car. Just where I had parked it. I also found a rainbow, which was lovely, but seemed to be mocking me. I know, I'm nuts. I also can't wait for this week to finally end!
I keep seeing that Dell guy's vacant stare and hearing him yell at teenagers on the television screen, "Dude! You Got a Dell!" As I was de-fragmenting my hard drive yesterday and hating life because my laptop sucks, I wondered whatever happened to the Dell dude? I have to admit I felt a bit of satisfaction when I found that he got arrested for buying pot and Dell dropped him from the campaign. (As as side note, what was Dell thinking? Buying pot only gave him street cred. I mean, they did hire a total stoner to sell laptops to prospective college students). Anyway, he's now a bartender/waiter somewhere in NY.
To get to the point, my 2-year-old Dell is a total piece of crap. The only reason that it hasn't flown out the window this week is that I'd much rather pay rent than buy a new laptop in April. So, we're stuck with each other for a little while longer. As of April 1st, it's missing three keys and the left click button is worn and not very clickable anymore. Also, it crashes whenever I try to use the control panel. I've learned to deal with Vista's setup (I can finally find things once they are buried in the "user friendly" configurations). However, I can't get over the fact that my 4 year old laptop actually performed better -- even when it was dying.
I had a good chuckle yesterday when Jesse read me an article about how the Texas State government just made a provision in one of it's laws that bans any state agency from buying Vista. It's nice that they can choose -- I was strong-armed into having it loaded with my new computer. "Vista or nothing," said the Dell customer service guy when I called to ask for XP instead. I wonder how much kickback they got from Microsoft for pushing the shitty product? Maybe I'll ask that when I write a letter this week to Steve Ballmer. I'm going to request a complimentary copy of the new operating system when it's released. Fat chance, I know, but I feel that I should ask anyway. Call it a "retention bonus," because they're about to lose a lifelong PC user. (Yes, I said it, my next laptop will likely be a Mac.) I just can't take it anymore.
To end on a more positive note, I did disable a lot of features that make the Vista system unique and the Dell and I are getting along much better today. Also, I got a our first house plant! I think this is the longest I've gone without having any flowers or foliage around. I guess I still don't feel like this is our permanent place and haven't made a huge effort to make it feel like more of a home. However, it was so gloomy the other day that I felt we needed a little sunshine. I'm thinking of planting a few herbs next -- Jesse does love a nice summer pesto.
Today I had my last cavity filled. Last night I had a nightmare (for the third time) that the dentist realized that all of my teeth were totally shot and the only solution was extract them one by one. This scenario wasn't entirely in my imagination, it happened to a friend's cat. Nonetheless, it was terrifying and I woke up with sweat on my brow. I was so anxious to get this last appointment over with that I actually showed up nearly 30 minutes early to the dentist's. The appointment went rather well, pleasant even. I really like my dentist.
I found out that I don't have to go back until September for my routine cleaning. I was so excited to hear the news that I actually had a bounce in my step. I feel like a new woman and almost jogged home with excitement -- like when my dog, Coco, is freshly bathed and gets frisky and bolts around the house. Despite the fact that it rained and hailed on me during my walk home, spring has sprung. Everything in Portland is green and ready to burst into action (as soon as the temperature decides to climb above 45 degrees). I'm not sure how I'm going to spend the rest of my day, but whatever I do will feel so much better knowing that I'm in tip-top shape (teeth wise). Well, except for those pesky wisdom teeth, but I'll think about that another day!
I'm starting to think that no news is not good news on the job proposal front, so maybe I'll direct more attention at my resume and start practicing my typing and word processing skills so I'm ready to sign up with the temp agency if that plan falls through. Although, maybe I'll take a break for the afternoon and work on a few sewing projects that need to be finished ASAP!
Now that the school survey proposal is in (submitted last week), I have nothing to do but wait. Since I have a lot of time on my hands again, I decided to go ahead and establish doctors here in Portland and get through all of the first appointment stuff. Yesterday, I had my new patient visit at the dentist and spent 2 hours in the chair being cleaned, polished, and worked over. I also found out that my dentist in D.C. was not so stellar. I had two cavities filled back in July and now, the fillings are popping out -- in fact the dentist asked me if they had been there for a decade or so. When I told her that they were less than a year old, her eyes bugged out.
However, she kept complimenting me on my bones. "Great Bones," she shouted, "Like a teenager!" while throwing her hands in the air (whatever that means). I kept wondering if it was akin to compliments paid to the ugly girl like, "yeah, but she has a great personality." With that said, I would be remiss in not giving you a hint of my history with dentists. My mom used to joke that when I was in utero, teeth were sort of thrown in my mouth at random -- a cruel joke that the dentists and orthodontist profited greatly from over the course of my life. A large number of my adult teeth on the bottom didn't push out the baby ones, so I had to have quite a few pulled as a kid. My friends at the time thought it was awesome that I had teeth in rows like a shark. And with over three years of braces, head gear, you name it, even the coldest of souls could understand why I loathe that dentist chair. At least I have good bones. Right?
Anyway, I also learned that I need to have my wisdom teeth pulled, which was not a surprise. Last year the one on the bottom reared its ugly head and well, for a while it's been uncomfortable now and again. So, today after dropping Jesse off at the airport (again) I'll be back in the dentist chair to have one of the fillings fixed -- the one that terrified my dentist. I'll also schedule an appointment with the oral surgeon to have the wisdom teeth pulled sometime after Jesse is finished with all of his traveling. Yay! Who wants to trade places and experience my awesome life?!
To provide a barrier and some relief, the oral surgeon placed what looked like fine tufts of chewing tobacco in the spot that hurt. In reality it was some sort of dissolving dressing soaked in clove oil. Clove oil? Really? Amazingly, it provided instant relief that (knock on wood) is still going. The oral surgeon said it should last for a couple of days and by that time I should be healing on my own. He swore to me that people usually don't have to come back for a second round. However, one side effect of my miracle dressing is that I constantly taste cloves. It was pretty intense at first and actually made me a little nauseous, but has mellowed out over the course of the day, so I don't mind.
