Oh, the Ironicness of It All

Sunday, Apr. 27, 2003
2:46 PM

Sometimes, in the past two and a half months, I have wondered why I had my wisdom teeth out. Now I really wonder. It seems that on my lower right jaw, I now have a pretty serious abscess where my tooth used to be. Smurfy. I noticed a lump there a week ago, it was a little swollen and slightly tender. I called my oral surgeon the next day and talked to the nurse.

"Does it hurt?"
"Not very much. It's a little tender."
"Well, this is pretty normal for three to four weeks post surgery."
"Yes, but it's been two and a half months."
"If it doesn't hurt much it's probably fine. Keep an eye on it and if it gets worse call us back."

Right.

I should have trusted my instinct and gone in that day. On the other hand, the nurse should have realized that something was wrong and made an appointment. My jaw got more and more tender as the week went on and when I woke up Friday it actively hurt. I called back that morning.

"Hi, I called on Monday about this lump in my jaw and now it's more swollen and it hurts."
"OK. [pause] Can you come in now?"

Now? Sure.

So it turns out that the wound where my tooth used to be closed over before it fully healed and it's been percolating with all sorts of nasty stuff ever since. They put in a drain and gave me super kick-ass meds. Dr. B, my oral surgeon, failed to see the irony in the fact that I'd had my wisdom teeth out to prevent getting an infection.

"Isn't that kind of ironic?"
"No, it isn't really," he said in all seriousness. "The surgery is what caused your infection, since the mouth is such a dirty environment."

I refrained from saying, That's my point, ya moron! If I hadn't had the surgery, I wouldn't have an infection right now! I guess Dr. B doesn't have the same sense of the absurd that I do.

So, several painful shots of anesthetic and a 30 second procedure later, I was heading out the door to get my prescriptions filled. I have to go back to Dr. B tomorrow to have the drain removed. I'm trying really hard not to think about what is draining, I will just gross myself out if I do. I am on some serious antibiotics and painkillers, which, when combined, have some funky side effects. I have intermittently been queasy, dizzy and shaky (sounds like three of the seven dwarves withdrawing from drug addiction... or something) all weekend. This morning I skipped the painkiller and just took Advil so I would be OK to drive home. Fortunately the lump seems to be getting smaller and is much less painful, so I guess all this is working.

Aside from all that ickiness, I had a pretty good weekend. I got to my parents' around 8:30 on Friday night, after sitting through rush hour traffic just to get out of NoVA. What is normally a 2.5 hour trip took roughly four hours, the first hour and a half or so was sitting on I66 west. =P When I finally got there we went out to dinner, at the Lovingston Cafe. This is one of the few eating establishments in my hometown, and it has actually stayed around in one form or another for around twelve years. I worked there briefly, the summer after my freshman year in college - eleven years ago, which just makes me feel old. That was my first and last experience of waiting tables. The place has changed hands a couple of times, with good results. The menu looked pretty good - I had an Asian chicken salad which was awesome. I was a little surprised. A couple of girls that my mom teaches work there, and that made me feel old too. They were so young! But it was a really good meal even though I was practically falling asleep in it.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, aside from being shaky and queasy feeling off and on. I finally got the mosaic backsplash I made for my parents installed - and it worked this time and everything. I ended up gluing the sections onto mesh and that worked out really well. I am not totally happy with the end result, but I sure did learn a lot from the project. I'm also really glad it's finally done - I've been working on it for the better part of a year. I think my folks really like it, which is the most important part. Naturally I forgot to take the digital camera with me, but we got some shots of it with my dad's 35mm. As soon as he gets the pictures developed, I'll scan them and put them up on my website.

We also finished up most of the work on the Glastonbury chairs. Mostly they just needed sanding, but we found a measurement error on some of the legs so we had to do those over. Thankfully we had enough wood left over. These are some seriously spiffy chairs and I hope they last forever because I never want to make them again. Actually, that's too strong a statement - but I'm not planning to follow in my dad's footsteps and become a woodworker. It's just not my forte. Though I really do admire my dad for having a successful business for more than twenty years and becoming a master at his craft. He's one of the most efficient, hardworking people I know - I try to emulate him but fall short every time. I guess I will keep trying.

While I'm on the subject, I gotta give major props to my dad. He really helped us out on this chair project - heck, he did a lot of the work himself (probably because it's just faster for him to do it than to watch us...). When I got to the house this weekend he had already fitted together the backs and seats of our chairs and glued them together and everything. He did a lot of the sanding and did a bunch of other stuff while I was in the house, lying on the couch and shaking. He also helped me install the backsplash, which made the whole job go faster and easier. Dad's just the bomb.

It was really fun to watch him with my niece. My sister came down with Cailin yesterday morning, to hang out with Mom and then go to a quilt show with her this afternoon. The second they came in the house, Dad's eyes lit up and you could practically hear him go Grandbaby! He held her and played with her and fed her - we just about had to pry her away from him so the rest of us could play with her. It was really cute. I'm not used to seeing my dad with a really little baby, but I think it's pretty cool. He's not a real gushy emotional kind of person, but he gets kind of gushy around Cailin. Mom does too, but I expect that from her. ;-)

Cailin is two months old and starting to be more aware of what's going on around her. She's definitely gotten bigger and she's starting to hold her head up now. She can almost roll over on her back, but not quite. I'm sure she'll master that pretty soon. She can recognize faces now too. It's amazing to watch her grow and learn so many new things. It's good, too, to watch Heather grow into her role as a new mom. Before Cailin was born, I had a hard time imagining my sister as a mother. But she's a really good mom, and I think it's good for her to have this little person to take care of.

So that's been my weekend. I got two big projects basically finished, got to hang out with my family and had some really weird medication-induced dreams. I miss my bear though. He went to a Marinus event with the Susie and crashed with the Puckeater, and hopefully will be home soon. In the meantime, I think I'll take a nap.

Ciao!