The short answer to where I’ve been for the last week: sleeping.
The slightly longer answer goes something like this: Last week there was the return of the tooth pain and the right-hand side of my face swelled up like I was using my cheek as a storage pocket for a golf ball. Bugger, says I, that’s not really normal, and so I hie myself off to the dentist in order to do something about it. The dentist takes one look and agrees with me – definitely not normal. Turned out I had myself an acute dental abscess – which largely translates as cavity infection that has spread into other nerves. His first impulse is to pull the infected tooth out, but since I take moderately good care of my teeth (despite what this post may suggest) the decision is made to try and save it, and so I get my first-ever root canal.
Oddly, this wasn’t the bad part. The root canal was surprisingly painless and I’ve been chewing again within twelve hours. Today I actually chewed steak with the right side of my mouth and that hasn’t been something I could do without pain for seven years now. Of course, that may be the drugs talking.
You see, the bad part about all this is the weird grab-bag of medication and anti-inflamatries I’m on to deal with the infection. Still no pain, but these things encourage me to sleep for eighteen hours a day and spent the six hours I’m awake stumbling around like a drunk. Which is kinda weird, given that two of the three have “For the love of all that’s holy, please don’t drink while taking this medication” on the label. My routine since last Wednesday has become wake up, eat, take medication, stay awake for an hour pretending I can be a productive human being, then go nap until it’s time to start the process again.
There’s a lesson in this, I suspect. Not take care of your teeth so much as dentists can perscribe you the really good drugs when you need them. Unforutnately the days when I’d regard that as fun are long behind me – right now I’m dreaming of a productive day of writing or an afternoon where I don’t doze off on the couch.
