Started Friday morning:
I went to the ER last night, the first time I have ever gone for myself (that I can remember; I assume my parents took me after I fell off a chair and broke my collarbone at 18 months of age).
Why? Because the left side of my face is swollen up to my lower eyelid.
Monday night is when I first noticed the pain. It was confined to a specific tooth then, and from experience I realized it was infected.
The pain kept me up all night.
Tuesday I noticed the swelling. The pain had spread to the canine next to the incisor. I called the dentist, but the earliest they could get me in was Friday.
Wednesday I saw the doctor at the school clinic. He prescribed antibiotics and Tylenol 3 (tylenol with codeine).
Thursday I was so swollen, so miserable that I asked Sister M to take me to the ER. They could not do much. Prescribed me some Vicodin and gave me a shot of antibiotics.
I'm allergic to penicillin and sulfa drugs, so that really limits antibiotic options. Basically the only thing they could give me was Cleocin.
I'm finishing this post now, on Saturday evening.
Friday, despite getting a shot of antibiotics, the swelling was worse. I did not leave my room except to head to the dentist, at which point I kept the left side of my face covered with a cold compress.
The dentist took X-rays, did a quick examination, and said I needed to see an endodontist, a root canal specialist. So M took me over there while I got bitchy because the vicodin was wearing off.
I won't go into what Dr. N (the endodontist) did, because it's not pretty to think about, but he was all kinds of awesome and I'm really grateful to M for being there with me and rubbing my shins while he shot me up with novocaine.
Once the procedure was over, we went back to the ER, where people stared at me.
In the ER, I got blood drawn, IV antibiotics, morphine, a hospital gown, and a CT scan. I was admitted to the hospital and spoke with the maxillo-facial-something-or-other doctor on call (Dr. A), who declared that I would need a minor operation in order to continue what Dr. N had started. Up to the OR I went, where there was a pretty cute OR nurse who let me hold his hand after I woke up.
Chilled in the recovery room, then got moved to an actual room, where M joined me.
I get to see both Drs. A and N Monday, then if Dr. N thinks the swelling has gone down I will have a root canal Wednesday.
Here is a picture of me as of writing this:
dailybooth.com/katzpotter/1017…So that's what I did this week! Hope your week was better!