Don't read if your squeamish

By 2pm yesterday I'd had enough. I'd managed to get about an hours sleep but the pain just kept intensifying. I called Mr H in floods of tears and left what is probably the most harrowing voicemail he'll have received to date! I then called my Mum who got on the case right away. She called the dentist, told them that they had to see me and at 3pm I had a call from the Dentist saying they'd see me sometime after 4.30pm. I found it a little patronising when the receptionist at the dentist said 'I understand your in a little bit of pain'... A LITTLE? heck lady, I'm sobbing down the phone to you and you think this is because of a little bit of pain?! I'm taking prescription strength pain killers and they are doing nothing, NOTHING!

So anyway, I had a shower and got in the car to drive the 20 miles to my Dentist. I'm still not sure whether I should have driven in the condition I was in, but if relief was at the end of it, it was worth it.

At about 4.45pm the Dentist who actually owns the surgery saw me. I've never seen him before. I got to go to the upstairs room (which means I've now visited all 3 rooms in the surgery, which considering I've been a patient there for about 18 years has taken some time). My how the other half of the private patients live - a flat screen TV on the ceiling, showing Finders Keepers! Result. The Dental Nurse apologised for the viewing and I told her I was quite happy to watch Finders Keepers, though when it came down to it I shut my eyes!!

The Dentist was really understanding, I told him I'd been off work since Friday, was taking 50mg of Diclofenac 3 times a day and I hadn't slept properly since Friday night. He asked what sort of pain I was in, I think 'the worst kind' was my answer.

For the 3rd time in 5 days he opened up the tooth and set about cleaning it out. He managed to clean 2 of the roots out completely, but the third root was a bit of a problem. There is something in it. He said he wasn't sure if it was a rogue piece of root canal filling... or..... a broken off piece of dental instrument... WHAT THE F*CK?!?!! A broken off piece of dental instrument, how the heck long would that have been in there for? 10 years since it was done originally?

I'd imagine the look on my face said it all! He said he didn't want to risk trying to get whatever it was out because he might end up pushing it in further. He then sealed up the tooth, with another good splodge of antisceptic and sent me on my way with a lovely numb face and another course of antibiotics to take along side the antibiotics I'm already taking. I'm must be rattling inside! He advised me that if I was still in major pain tomorrow, he was working and he would extract it. I never thought I'd be so happy to hear those words. It gave me some hope that there would be an end in sight if the pain persisted.

I went back to my Mums house where I managed to eat the first meal I've had in days, I had Baked Beans, Sausage & Mashed Potato, followed by a chocolate mousse. Unfortunately because my mouth was numb, I didn't taste anything! It was good to eat though, specially as I couldn't feel a thing whilst I was doing it.

I drove home and went straight to my doctors appointment for my shoulder. I was in and out in about 3 minutes and he's referred me to a shoulder specialist at the private clinic in Winchester. I should be receiving a letter shortly advising me of my appointment. He thinks its possibly Shoulder Subluxation.

I got home about 7.45 and picked up a text from one of my friends. Despite the fact she knows I've had dental problems, she was inviting me over for dinner. Haha! Talk about missing the point. I gave her a call and explained that although I'd love to consider eating and going out and having a good natter, it is just all too much right now.

Later in the evening the pain started to return :( I had an early night, turning in around 10pm (after Junior Apprentice... what a bunch of weirdos!). The pain during the night was bad again. I managed to sleep but went through a very similar routine to previous nights...

12am - wake up, take pain killers
1am - start falling back to sleep
4am - wake up, take pain killers
5am - start falling back to sleep
7am - wake up, Mr H leaving for work, doze back off (don't know if I took pain killers or not)
8am - wake up, not in any major amount of pain, but I can't remember when I last took pain killers.

Just after 8am I got out of bed. My face felt different. Following a check in the mirror I can see that its quite swollen again. Following a further check in the mirror up close, OMG, what the heck is next to my tooth. Fantastic, I now have a visible boil next to my troublesome tooth. Just in case it subsides, I've recorded it on the camera for Mr H to review. I'm such a cruel wife wanting to share such a horror with him.

Spoke to my dentists again, who eventually called me back at 10.30am. They are happy to let me just get on with things if I'm not in severe amounts of pain. Hopefully the lump should subside with the antibiotics I'm taking. Somewhere deep down, I strangely wanted them to drain it. If the pain gets worse again, I'll have to go back in and have it re-assessed with a view to possibly removing it. Good thing is that so long as I don't open my mouth very much, I'm comfortable. I'm still taking paracetomol to take the edge off the pain and they are working.

I'm still not really able to eat much. I tried eating a banana this morning. It is too sore to open my mouth wide, so I tried cutting it into pound coin thick slices, that was sore to try and chew. So I ended up mushing it up with a fork to eat. I ♥ mushed banana.

Not sure what else I'll eat today, the banana has left me feeling quite full! I guess I'll just eat when I'm hungry and make sure its soft and mushy. I won't be due anymore antibiotics now until around 6pm, so thats really the next time I have to eat. For now, I'm going to try and get a bit more sleep as I've done a bit of work this morning and it's left me feeling exhausted. Got to try and power myself back up for a little bit more work at 3pm!!