What a difference six days make

Last Friday I woke up with a throbbing pain in my upper back molar (right side). Having had a crown put on that tooth in 2010, I knew it was not nerve related. As I had done before, I figured I had caused it with my relentless teeth grinding while asleep. I had gone to the dentist and had a fitted mouth guard made. But I couldn’t get used to it and it interfered with my sleep. Nothing interferes with my sleep. So the mouth guard remained in its case in the medicine cabinet. Thus, the self inflicted tooth ache. But I thought “Hey, this pain is nothing that my 2010 Tylenol 3s (left over from my root canal) won’t cure!” I was of course, so very wrong.

 

 

I had Friday off work so I wasn’t missing work. And I generally live by the philosophy that if you ignore something long enough, it will go away. This can apply to most annoying situations in life. Friday turned into Saturday and the tooth pain revealed itself as a full blown sinus infection on the right side of face. The left side felt fine. The right side of my face felt as though it belonged to someone else.  

I had to cancel my plans for Saturday night. Before I knew it, it was Monday, and I was not getting better. Mom was calling everyday to check in with me, which I so appreciated. Every day she said “I think perhaps you should go to see your doctor?” I kept putting it off. Tuesday morning, however, I had had enough. I wasn’t eating, but what was worse, I wasn’t sleeping! So I made the trek up to York U. to see my Doctor. Within an hour of getting to the walk-in clinic, I had seen my Dr. and was waiting for my prescription to be filled. I had come prepared with a snack Ziploc that contained 4 small blocks of cheese. I bought a small container of chocolate milk and nibbled on the cheese. As soon as my meds were ready I paid the whopping $4.50 (thank you dear medical plan), ripped the package open and gobbled down my first antibiotic. The student cashier looked at me like I was growing an antler. I so did not care.

Going to the doctor yesterday, I had half a notion of going to work after. This quickly turned into a no-notion. I could not believe how wobbly I was. I guess six days of not eating or sleeping very much does that to a person. It also resulted in a loss of seven pounds (which is always fabulous!). I went home and as soon as the meds kicked in, I fell into a coma. I slept 11am to 3pm and then from 8pm to 5am...smokin’.

This morning I went back to work and was so glad to do so. I was still a little wobbly but it felt good to be back in my routine. But I still had a nagging pain in my face. I wondered if I could perhaps take Tylenol to take this edge off, but wasn’t sure if I could take it while taking an Antibiotic. A quick Google search said I could, but one shouldn’t believe everything they read - especially on the Internet. So I went to the fountain of medical information – my mama. I decided to contact Mom via my brother David and now know that it played out something like this:

• I emailed David and asked him to get Mom to call me at work.
• Yes, I am one of three people in Toronto who is not velcroed to some sort of mobile device.
• What I didn’t realize is that David was just about to make a presentation to two government Ministers on something...fire related of course.
• David called home: May I speak to Mom.
• Dad: Who is this?
• David: Who do you think is asking for Mom?
• Dad: Mom is at the clothesline - what do you want?
• David: (In an attempt to get off the phone quickly due to the impending presentation) Tell her to call Neat, I dunno, I think it has something to do about her plane ticket.
• Mom comes in, immediately calls me and asks what is wrong.
• Me: As I start talking an email notification appears on my computer screen from David telling me Mom is at the clothesline.
• Me: I was just wondering if I can take Tylenol with my Antibiotic?
• Mom says it is fine and admits she is standing there still with her jacket on – she had a scare thinking something was wrong with her upcoming plane ticket.
• Me: No, why would you think that?
• Mom: Because that is what Dad said – tsk, ohhhh, he must have got that screwed up
• Me: (Puzzled face) Okay....

David called this evening and explained everything. I laughed my head off. I felt bad at having called him just before an important presentation with such a silly request, but he reassured me that it made him laugh. D'oh! I promised (and keep promising) to get a cell phone sometime this century.

Those six days are a blur. I wasn’t able to focus enough to do some writing, so I watched a few movies, a lot of really bad TV, and spent a lot of time with my heating pad on my face. I was able to finish my latest rug hooking pieces so all was not in vain. All that remains is to sew the backs of the pieces on.

I am quickly getting back to 100% and am ready for my Mama’s visit. Let the good times unfold. I can’t wait to see what the next six days will bring.

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness

"To the left of the archway there is a two-roomed cottage comprising the guest room and Dad’s office. It is a thatched, brick structure inclined to be porous to wildlife. I open the door and wait. Nothing launches itself at my ankles, so I make my way to the bed and sit down, feet drawn up onto the bed. Big H brings me a clean towel, then stands around surveying the place. “Frogs,” she observes at last. As my eyes become accustomed to the gloom, I see what she means. The place is smothered in large, foam-nesting tree frogs, white as alabaster. They are hanging from the mosquito net, glued to the walls, attached to the door, hopping across the floor. Later, I find that if I drink half a box of South African wine and take a sleeping pill, a frog will come attached to my cheek while I sleep and will stay there unnoticed until morning. “How lucky for you,” Mum says. “You can write about that in one of your awful books."

- Alexandra Fuller
Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness