Thursday, July 05, 2007

traumatised

To say I am traumatised about yesterday’s dental appointment is probably an understatement. It involved blood, pain, me sobbing my eyes out (and I don’t cry that often – crying in public, except at my children’s nativity play, is almost unheard of), and a discussion about whether I fall into the (apparently much narrowed) criteria to have an extraction done under sedation. I feel a bit of a wuss but, as the lovely receptionist said, I’ve been in pain since Friday and it’s affected my sleep so my pain threshold will be lowered; plus I have an infection in my tooth, and that means it can’t be numbed fully so of course it was going to hurt too much to take it out right then. Especially as it’s a back tooth.

‘A bit uncomfortable’ is what I was offered; the kind of pain level I got was considerably more than that. (Yes, it DOES beg the question why we didn’t get rid of the infection first so we could numb the thing properly, but I was being brave. No, not brave: stupid. Because I was too tired to think straight and work it out for myself: it was not the right thing to do.) I’m going back in 12 days to see my own dentist, and the suggestion is that we do the extraction then… but right now I can only face doing this under sedation. My lovely best friend has offered to come up and hold my hand (or look after the kids so DH can hold my hand). It’s incredibly wussy of me and I should probably be ashamed of myself, but I spent a lot of yesterday in tears, with the taste of blood in my mouth (ick, ick, ick – I could so NOT be a vampire) and my mouth hurting. Am now on antibiotics and back on the dihydrocodeine. (I talked to the pharmacist at my GP’s surgery about what’s the best stuff, and he’s given me the green light to keep on it, as long as I stay within limits.) Though it's not actually getting rid of the pain: just dulling it to bearable levels.

OK. Time for glass half full stuff. Something nice must’ve happened yesterday. Ah yes, got a brilliant new book for research (Sprigings and Chambers: Acute Medicine) and a copy of Kate Harrison’s The Self-Preservation Society. And I managed to read a bit more of CJ Sansom’s Sovereign in the dentist’s waiting room. Had a lovely review from Cataromance for Giovanni (will post that later) and a nice note from the features ed of my local paper about my Disasters book. And something to look forward to today: next lot of winners, and my next guest, who’s absolutely lovely. See next post…

6 comments:

Diane said...

I'm so sorry you're still suffering. (Hugs.) Let's hope they sort it out soon. For me ... well, I told Shirley there really was no need for her to come all that way but she did insist ... ;o) Feel better soon.

Nell Dixon said...

((((Kate)))) Ouchie, hope it feels better soon.

Kate Hardy said...

Thank you both. Am counting down the minutes until my next dose! (But... I should lose weight. If there is any justice, I should lose weight.)

Unknown said...

Oh Kate - ouch, ouch, ouch.
I cant believe your still partying. Well actually I cant believe you can still type!!! Go and lay down. Forget us - we can party without you (although it wont be as fun)

And just to look at the glass half empty side for a teeny tiny second. Let me break this to you Kate - as gently as I can - you will probably come out of this 2 kilos heavier. Your body and mine are very efficient machines. They know when we're in pain/discomfort/stressed/upset/wanderng in the dessert and know its essential to store fat. Thats just us - top of the survivalist gene pool.
Now back to the half full stuff...

Unknown said...

Oh dear - what a Freudian slip. Wandering in the dessert instead of the desert. See - destined to store fat. Even my slips involve calories!!!
And I forgot to sign my name again. Doh!

Amy Andrews

Anonymous said...

I have a dentist phobia so your story made me want to cry for you. HUGS.