A Night in the E.R...

As some of you may recall, last week I had a wisdom tooth extracted (the same morning as my excellent haircut at Fox & Boy!). I am fortunate to have been born with only 2 wisdom teeth ("more highly evolved," as my dentist says), but that did not save me the pain of a tooth that needed to come out. Initially I was almost smug about how smoothly the procedure had gone, but in the subsequent days, my tooth and, worse, my HEAD, began to hurt to the point where I could barely focus, or sleep, or eat. This was particularly troublesome given that I was in my first few days on my new job, and that I had a packed week to look forward to. Many exciting things happened-- I will blog about them shortly--but I was so distracted by the pain that I could barely bring myself to do the things I would ordinarily do with pleasure and ease.

On Friday night, a week to the day of my tooth extraction, I was lying in bed with searing pain and weeping silently. My good father urged me (over the phone) to go to the E.R. The goodly Bunny saved the day. Between 12am and 8.30am on Saturday morning we waited uncomfortably in a chaotic E.R. filled with some of the craziest people you'll ever encounter (racists demanding white doctors, people with bullet wounds, injured drunk people discussing the lawsuits they were going to file for the damage they clearly brought upon themselves...).

The doctors worried that the wisdom tooth extraction had caused a brain infection, or that, perhaps, a random hemorrhage had caused bleeding in my brain. In order to check, they ran contrast fluid through my body, which required kidney testing, blood samples, an I.V., and, finally, a CT scan. They gave me a muscle relaxer to ease the pain. Hours passed while we waited for the CT results. Everything came back clear, which led the doctors to the ultimate conclusion that I suffered nerve damage during the tooth extraction. The searing/burning pain I experienced is, apparently, symptomatic of nerve injury.

Two days of rest, liquids, soft foods, and muscle relaxers has me feeling much better, though far from perfect. But what an ordeal to go through! I received some truly excellent support from friends new and old, and I cannot thank you all enough for it. Being in the E.R., even with my excellent boyfriend by my side, was still a very scary, frustrating, overwhelming and, at times, boring experience. I'm glad it's over, and that I am feeling a bit better each day.

Now, a bit of back-blogging to capture some of the GOOD aspects about last week!
Cxx.