It's Funny

that my last post was Tuesday of last week and it was Wednesday when everything went downhill. Where to begin? I guess it all started 10 years ago when I broke my tooth while I was living in Iowa for a summer job after my first year at BYU. I had no dental insurance and my former YW President got me into her dentist to have the tooth cleaned and a temporary crown put on it. Well, my dental insurance status didn't change while I was at BYU, and the tooth never bothered me, so I didn't do anything about it. That is, until 3 weeks before my wedding, it all went south. I ended up having to have a root canal and a crown. That was 7 years ago and up until last week, I hadn't really though of the tooth at all.

So, I got into see my dentist on Wednesday of last week to have him check it out and when he realizes it's the tooth that's already had a root canal on it, he immediately refers me to an Endodontist. I saw the Endodontist that afternoon and her xrays reveal that I have an abscess in the tooth and need another root canal. JOY! She wanted to do the procedure in 2 sessions, so she cleaned it out and temporarily sealed it up. I guess the abscess was pretty severe and she was surprised that it had just recently started hurting me. She told me to take Tylenol - even though ibuprofen is better for the inflammation - since I'm pregnant, and I was on my way.

Thursday and Friday proceeded without incident. I took some Tylenol every now and then to control the discomfort, but it wasn't anything too intense. Then, Saturday night I woke up around 3am with some pain and took some Tylenol. It was the first time that I hadn't been able to sleep since the procedure. I was up for a few hours, but then I was able to get back to sleep. The rest of Saturday was just downhill. The pain started to get really intense, it brought me to tears and I didn't know what to do. I tried calling the Endodontist's office around 7pm, hoping for an answering service or something, but the phone just rang and rang. Saturday night I slept a total of one hour - it was awful and I thought I was going to die. Around 3:30am I finally broke down and took some ibuprofen, hoping it would offer some relief. It did and that's why I was able to sleep from 7-8am.

At 8:30 on Sunday I headed straight for Urgent Care at my medical group. I wanted to find out what I could take for the pain, since I couldn't get in touch with the Endodontist until Monday. The on-call doctor was really nice. He told me since I wasn't 32 weeks yet, I was okay to take ibuprofen and he said if that wasn't managing the pain, he'd write me a Vicodin prescription. I took him up on that offer, since I knew even though I was feeling ok at that moment, the minute the clock struck 5pm and Urgent Care closed, I'd be in excruciating pain.

I did pretty well most of Sunday, there were a few times I felt uncomfortable, but I was thinking - Hey, I can make it to Monday morning. We had Aunt H come over that night to eat dinner and stay over so that she'd be here to watch The Boy and Baby T for me if I could get in ASAP on Monday since Will was supposed to go to LA for the week. Then, 10pm hit and I seriously thought my head was going to explode! I wasn't due for a Vicodin until 10:30pm, so I was trying to hold out. Big mistake. It just got worse and then even after I took the Vicodin, nothing. The pain was searing, I woke Will up to give me a blessing and just prayed that I could endure until 8am. Thank goodness for the priesthood - that's all I have to say. I felt like taking a hot shower would be a good idea and it was during that shower, I discovered that the hot water on my face alleviated about 50% of the pain. So after the shower, I heated up my crunchy little cornbag, and sat up with Aunt H watching House until 12:30am, when I finally passed out. That night I slept upright on the couch, with the cornbag, and only woke up at 3am and 7am to take my Vicodin. The pain never came back as severe as it had at 10pm the night before - thank goodness - as long as I kept the warm cornbag on my face.

I called the Endodontist's office promptly at 8am and she told me they were booked full for today and to keep taking my Motrin and they'd see me on Tuesday. I politely (and I was really surprised at myself for maintaining my composure) reminded her that I was 25 weeks pregnant and they'd told me I shouldn't take ibuprofen (even though I had been taking it since I'd seen the urgent care doctor) - she remembered who I was. She said, "Oh, that's right. Just a second, let me check, but I don't know if finishing you up will help much with the pain." I almost swore at her! It was a good thing she put me on hold. I was like what the BLEEEEEEEEEEEEP! It better help the pain to finish this mofo so that I can live a normal life again. She got back on and said they could get me in at 1:30 and I took it.

The problem is that Aunt H is in grad school and needed to leave for class at 2pm:) So, luckily Will was able to rearrange his teaching schedule in LA and he was here to watch the kids. When I got to the office the cute little dental assistant asked how I was doing and I bluntly told her - TERRIBLE! I think she was a little surprised by my answer, but I was done beating around the bush. This sucker hurt! The Endodontist came in and asked if I'd had any relief after the first visit. I told her that the first 2 days after had been no problem, but it was all downhill from there. Once she got the temporary out, she saw why - I was all inflamed and infected again. Just my luck. They seriously cleaned me out for an hour and the Endodontist decided she needed to do one more session. She was worried if she sealed me up permanently and something like this happened again, it would be a big mess. So, I'm still not done. However, I am feeling much relief and I'm hoping to make it to my appointment next Tuesday without incident. As I was leaving the Endodontist told me to call - even on the weekends - if the pressure returned. So, when I got to the desk and made my appointment, I asked the receptionist how to get in touch with the office after hours. She told me to just call the regular number and the answering service will pick up. When I informed her that I had tried that twice over the weekend and it just rang and rang, she realized that no one had (1) turned it on after she left early on Friday or (2) the service had a problem. So, she gave me the doctor's cell phone to call in case I encounter any problems with the answering service.

So, that's my funny story. Not so funny, huh? I called my OB this afternoon to ask her about medication - just to verify - and she said I am good to take ibuprofen for about another month. She said she was just hurting for me, hearing my story and if the ibuprofen ever quit helping to give her a call and she would put in a prescription for me. I should have called her after my appointment last week, but because I was doing okay on Tylenol, I didn't even think about it.

I'm sure you're bored to tears by now, but I had to share my series of unfortunate events. Today while Aunt H was here and Baby T was taking her morning nap, I passed out on the couch. The Boy says to her, "Baby T is sleeping and mommy is dead." When she assured him that I was just sleeping he again said, "No, she's dead." So, Aunt H had to stand up and check me out to make sure I was still breathing - I was:) I think I took about an hour and a half nap while Aunt H took care of The Boy. Thank goodness for Aunt H!!!! I thought I wasn't out that deep, but my consciousness must have been a dream, because Aunt H told me that The Boy stood right next to my head on two occasions and shouted, "I have to go potty!" and I didn't even flinch. Like I said, thank goodness for Aunt H.

Before I forget, Friday night was a blast. I had some girlfriends and family over to play games and eat food and we laughed ourselves to death. The Boy and Will went over to one of my friend's house, to play with her husband and boys, while she was here. It was perfect and I can't wait to do it again! So, see, there is a silver lining this story:)