My Trip To The ER

Okay, so when Junior got home from work yesterday, I told him I was ready for some relief. I knew it was too late to go to the dentist, so he took me to the ER. On the way, a storm hits, complete with lightning and thunder. We get to the hospital, and the ER parking lot is PACKED! I was happy I grabbed my James Patterson book as we headed out the door...at least I had something to pass the time. As we were walking in the parking lot, my flip flop hit a slick spot, and I went down on one knee, and my pants got all wet. I skinned my knee pretty good, too. Of course, there were tons of people around, and I was completely embarrassed.

We walk in the ER, and there are people everywhere. In this hospital, you go through stages before you see the doctor. There is the main waiting room when you first walk in, and this is where you wait if the receptionist is busy. Luckily, we walked right up, and I told her my jaw and ear hurt. She sent me to triage, which is behind the closed doors of the ER. After triage, you are sent to the second waiting room, where you wait forever to get into an exam room. While in triage yesterday, the nurse asked why I was there, and I told him that my jaw and ear hurt. I don't know if he thought I was having a heart attack or something, but he sent me directly to an exam room. Nice.

When the nurse came in the exam room, she asked why I was there, and I told her. She finally asked if I injured my jaw in any way, and I told her the pain started in my tooth a couple of weeks ago, but now it was in my jaw and ear. She looked in my mouth, felt my jaw, and said the doctor would be in in a couple of minutes. (I have been here before...a couple of minutes usually means about two hours!) Not ten minutes later, the doctor came in, and he checked out my ear, jaw, and mouth. He said my ear was white (it should be pink) because of all the pressure built up behind it. He also said the muscles are pulled tight over my jaw, because of the swelling, and that is what was causing the pain. Then he looks at me, and says.

"Here's what you do...go see a dentist"

This is where I lost it. I looked at him and was like, you can't help me????

He responded with a "I'm not that mean!".

This is where I lost it. I cried like a baby as he told me he was going to give me antibiotics and pain medicine, and that he would give me something good before I left so I would feel better. He stressed that I needed to have something done with this tooth, though, because the pain will eventually come back. He recommended a dentist...told me to save my pennies...and get it pulled. Then as he left the room, he turned and said,

"God doesn't give you more than you can handle."

That got me crying even more.

Then the nice lady came in with two percocets, and she became my best friend. Although it did make me loopy, it didn't really get rid of the pain. The prescription he gave me for pain is an anti-inflammatory too, but I am still hurting. It makes me sleepy, but I am having trouble staying asleep, because it wasn't enough that my mouth hurts....I started my you know what yesterday, too, and I never sleep good while I have that. I am just glad it happened this week, because we go camping next week, and that really would have sucked.

For now I am sitting with ice on my mouth, trying to decide what to have for supper. Opening my mouth hurts, so I avoid talking and eating. I know, imagine that. The kids have been so good, though. I think they enjoy taking care of me sometimes.