owie
Yesterday, I woke up at 7:00am (so really 6:00am to my body – thanks Daylight Savings Time) with the most terrible toothache of my life. It was like the kind of sharp excruciating pain that makes you want to scream, except you can’t scream because your tooth is killing you. I quickly took a Darvocet that I had leftover from something or the other and sprayed the tooth with some Chloraseptic to numb it. The Chloraseptic gave me about 20 seconds of relief before the pain came back and I wanted to smash my head into the wall.
I was trying not to wake Jim up, but finaly I woke him up and asked him to call the dentist. All this happened between sprays of Chloraseptic – it was starting to make me sick but it was the only way I could handle the pain. Seriously, I told Jim that I’d rather be having a baby than suffering that toothache. The dentist called me in some Vicodin and some antibiotics and Jim got me a shot of Vodka to hold in my mouth.
Vodka at 8:00am, when you’re feeling sick to begin with, is not very enjoyable. I finally couldn’t handle it any more and tried just holding some water in my mouth. Surprisingly it helped. And it’s what I did for the next 4 hours. I took another Darvocet around 9:00am, and just sat there watching the clock, with a mouthful of water, waiting for 45 minutes to pass so I could get some relief. It didn’t help. And I just started to cry, which was really hard with a mouthful of water. I was so frustrated by the pain and the lack of relief, I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep and that I’d be up all night, holding water in my mouth. I just couldn’t take it. Honor was sitting on the couch, and he kept asking, “Mommy are you crying?” And he started to cry. I felt so bad, he was worried about me. And he was being so sweet, giving me hugs and touching my cheek.
Finally, after two Vicodin and some antibiotics, I threw up. And for some reason, my tooth started to feel better. (I think the antibiotics started to help.) I was finally able to sleep. Since then it’s gotten better and better. Although, I’m still taking Vicodin every 4 hours, I’m scared for the pain to come back.
I went to the dentist this morning, and I have to have a root canal. A SIXTEEN HUNDRED DOLLAR root canal. Either that or have my tooth pulled. So I went ahead and scheduled it for Wednesday, but I’m sitting here thinking, is my tooth worth $1600? That’s like a down payment on a car. I think I’m going to go ahead and do it, but geeze this sucks. I’m just glad I’m not dying from pain anymore.
Category: daily 12 comments »
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:08 am
Oh, I feel for you! Dental pain is like no other because it’s so physically close to your head/brain/eyes/mind; it’s not like a stubbed toe, which is WAY down there at the end of your leg… Good luck with the root canal. The costs for quality dental care are always shocking, but worth it, in my opinion. You can always make more money, but you can never get your teeth back once they’re gone. Hang in there.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:45 am
Oh man… not fun! I’m so sorry.
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Ack! I had what I thought was tooth pain last year that made me think I was dying. Turns out, it was a really bad ear infection and I was kind of hoping by the middle of your story that that’s all it was for you. Sorry you have to do all that!
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:28 pm
I’m SO sorry! I’ve felt that pain. I had to get a root canal last year. Thankfully, the prcoedure itself was the not nightmare people told me it would be. I hope it goes well.
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I’m with Karin–the teeth you have are the teeth you get, unless you pay to have more, and even then it’s never a very elegant solution.
I’m soooooo sorry to hear about that awful pain. I really dislike pain. Yup, not a fan in the least. And to think–even vodka didn’t make it better. Maybe you should have tried tequilla.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:00 pm
That is horrid. So sorry that you had to suffer!
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:56 pm
UGH! How horrible!
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:30 pm
That’s exactly how my recent abcess tooth was… way worse than childbirth. And the bill was painful, too. They gave me codeine and it didn’t help much at all, though getting the root canal did. It’ll go smoothly I’m sure – and Honor was being so sweet!
April 3rd, 2006 at 6:46 pm
All me and the hole in my mouth have to say is, ask your dentist if there are any minute cracks in your tooth that will render a root canal worthless…because I went through a filling and then a root canal, and after it STILL hurt, we discovered a crack in it and not wanting to add yet another trip to the dentist for the dern tooth, I just had him pull it….but anyways…
Hope it goes like it should!
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Oh you poor thing! I so sympathize. Toothaches are absolutely THE WORST but this sounds downright torturous. God. And yes, dental work is an absolute bank robbery!
April 4th, 2006 at 9:27 am
I’m sorry! I’ve been there!
I don’t know if my tooth would have been worth the $1600, especially if it treated me that way!
April 4th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Ouch! I’m sorry. I’ve been there and can totally comiserate. Last year I had thousands of dollars (with dental insurance!) of work done. It was not fun. I hope you feel better soon.