Three Days and One Toothache Later...

I mentioned in my last post that I had a toothache. At first, it seemed that I had just clenched my teeth too tightly in my sleep. (I do that...plus grind them.) By late Tuesday evening, however, it became clear that this was going to be a full-fledged, flaming problem. I went to bed with a throbbing jaw, made only a little better by Extra Strength Tylenol. By Wednesday morning, I medicated myself and waited patiently for the dentist's office to open up for the day. It hurt so much that I really didn't even want the dentist to mess with it. Thank goodness, he didn't. I left with a prescription for a powerful antibiotic and a powerful painkiller...but then had to wait for the pharmacy to fill them, then had to find something that I could eat (since chewing was out of the question) before I took the pills.

Tell you what: I'm no weenie to pain. I've had a number of procedures through the years that should have hurt like the dickens in the aftermath, but didn't. The strongest painkiller I've ever taken was Celebrex for some bruised ribs a number of years ago. I've had bellyaches that hurt worse than some of those deals, including the craniotomy where they went into my brain. This toothache, however, provided some serious pain! I am unimpressed with Vicodin. Yesterday, all it did was take away the throbbing. The jaw still hurt. (Of course, I was only taking half of the dosage offered.) Today, with the action of the antibiotics beginning to reduce the swelling, the Vicodin helped more. But really, why is this stuff so popular with prescription drug abusers? There is no euphoria--no "high". I don't consider absence of pain to be euphoric. I call it "normal"!

Once the tooth infection is gone, we will deal with the cause. The dentist told me so!

I figured something like this would happen because I got my tax return a few weeks ago. As soon as a get a few $$ ahead, stuff occurs to suck it all away. Waiting for my car to break down...or my refrigerator. I live by Murphy's Law!