Tuesday, May 17, 2016

That Week of the Pantry Eating Challenge where I landed in the hospital

A month ago, my pantry eating challenge started.  The whole idea was we would eat things we had in the house and not buy groceries. Seems simple enough, right?  Especially for a couponer who has a pantry that screams that is a hobby of mine.  When our house insurance agent did a walk through, she took asked me without prompting how long I had been using coupons.  It surprises people when I say twenty five years because I just don't look old enough.  But I digress.


So, last week in my pantry eating challenge I said I didn't know how I would do the next week because I had a tooth sitting on a nerve and was having a lot of dental pain.  The mere fact I was having so much dental pain was enough to have me send my husband to the store and buy some soft foods.  I ate nothing but mashed potatoes or tomato soup for a few days.  On Wednesday of last week I woke, and my face was extremely swollen, so I made an appointment with the emergency dental clinic.  After multiple X-rays they found I had an infection.  (Probably my body was alerting me to it when the dentist told me that I had a wisdom tooth sitting on a nerve.  I knew something was wrong, and it took six visits to the dentist over a few months for them to be able to see anything.  I tell doctors I will often know before they do when something is wrong.)  So, I ended up having to have a healthy tooth pulled because we didn't have enough in our emergency fund for me to have any other options, and I was sent home.  The next day the side of my face was huge.  Back to the emergency dentist.  Once again, a team of dental students, assistants, and professors gathered about and didn't know what to do with me.  (Hey, I'm not surprised, I often don't know what to do with myself, and having to have a group come to a conclusion about how to handle me, well, that gets everyone all in a panic.)

Four years ago I had a severe bone infection in my jaw and after a number of doctor and dental visits, no one knew what was wrong with me.  When my primary care physician told me to go to the ER, even they didn't know what was wrong, but said they were going to admit me and put me on IV antibiotics.  I was on IV antibiotics at that time for nine days and on oral antibiotics for 10 months.  That long of a course of antibiotics changed the taste of chocolate for me, and that's why I no longer eat it.

Well, everything this time was so reminiscent of before, and the dentists were unsure if I should be admitted or not.  They conferred, and with my input (because I felt too sick to ride the hour home) it was decided I would be admitted overnight and evaluated the next day.  I had to sit in the lobby of the dental school for three hours until a bed was ready.  No pain pills, no antibiotics, just waiting.

I had a really restless night because would you believe my roommate had the name birth month, birth day, and only one year off from my mother?  Also, she had the same medical problems my mother did.  I woke myself up at different times when someone was with my roommate in the night asking her questions -- because I was trying to answer the dosages of medicine my mother took, correct the year when they asked her birthdate, etc.  You could certainly tell I was my mother's primary care giver before she passed away.

I was still very swollen the next day, but my labs revealed no infection, just like they did when I had the severe bone infection in 2012.  So the dentist did some really painful stuff to my tooth and sent me home.  I go back for a follow up tomorrow.  If I am sounding vague, it's because I don't know what they did but that it hurt like hell.

So how did the pantry eating challenge end?  Well, I don't know.  It just didn't.  Fizzled out.  Imagine that sound that Pac-Man makes when caught by a ghost.  That's how the pantry eating challenge ended.  I hope to do it again sometime, and hopefully that time I won't land in the hospital.

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! Im so sorry to hear about your pain.I ended up with gum disease that rots my teeth from the roots.When I was pregnant at 20 that also made my tooth decay worse.I think it pulls calcium from my teeth.When I was 25 I had all my teeth pulled.I ate baby food and soft foods for about 6 months.It was hereditary. Everyone on my dads side have/had dentures including my dad.I didnt have dental coverage for a few years so I wasnt able to get my dentures alignment done.Now I have my insurance again so I can get them fixed.Over the years my gums shrink so when that happens it time for an alignment.I hope you find out whats going on.I will keep you in my prayers. Good Luck & God Bless

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  2. Oh my gosh! Im so sorry to hear about your pain.I ended up with gum disease that rots my teeth from the roots.When I was pregnant at 20 that also made my tooth decay worse.I think it pulls calcium from my teeth.When I was 25 I had all my teeth pulled.I ate baby food and soft foods for about 6 months.It was hereditary. Everyone on my dads side have/had dentures including my dad.I didnt have dental coverage for a few years so I wasnt able to get my dentures alignment done.Now I have my insurance again so I can get them fixed.Over the years my gums shrink so when that happens it time for an alignment.I hope you find out whats going on.I will keep you in my prayers. Good Luck & God Bless

    ReplyDelete