Tag: root canal

One pain replaced with another

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, HealthLeave a comment

I usually joke about how I must be paying for my bad karma from a previous life because I always find myself having the worst pain. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

I’ve been sick for a few days. We went to Dollar General and there was a woman coughing up a storm. I didn’t notice at first when I got in line behind her and then my mind said to get away from her because I’ll end up sick just like her. I backed off but it didn’t do me any good because I was sick the next day. I woke up with a sore throat and gradually throughout the day more symptoms were added to the list. Coughing, stuffed up nose and chest congestion. Then to top it off, my tooth started hurting. It’s a bad tooth that needs a root canal, but I can’t afford $1000 for the procedure since my insurance no longer covers anything but emergency extractions. I can’t afford to lose any more teeth.

We called Walgreens to find out what I can put on the tooth besides anbesol and they said it sounds like I have an infection and need an antibiotic. We have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow so I will get a prescription for an antibiotic.

Fortunately the tooth pain has subsided, but it’s still there. I now have a swollen lymph node which is where the tooth hurts, and that hurts now. So the pain seems to be gone from the tooth just to give me pain in my lymph node. I’ve been taking Vicodin that I still have from when I broke my arm, but that hasn’t done me any good. I took some today and my pain went away, but it seems to be coming back so I wonder if the pain medicine finally decided to work and that’s why I haven’t had pain all day. Since the pain seems to be coming back, I decided to take another one, but I only have a couple of pills left so I hope the antibiotic helps tomorrow, otherwise I’ll have to make a dentist appointment for an emergency extraction. I hate to lose more teeth.

I’ve been resting for the sore throat, coughing, chest congestion and stuffed up nose issues and taking NyQuil and sucking on cough drops and that has helped.

I haven’t been riding my bike because, well, I’m sick lol. So I do look forward to getting back on the bike again.

So we will go to the doctor’s office tomorrow, get medicine and hopefully not be in anymore pain. Hopefully…

Dentist Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, HealthLeave a comment

I went to the Dentist (Western Dental) on Saturday last week because the pain in my tooth was so unbearable and they wouldn’t see me without a medical release.  So I had to wait until Monday, got it, they saw me, did a partial root canal (they didn’t have to do a full one because he got the decay and it wasn’t near the soft tissue so no need to finish) and filled the tooth and I made an appointment for Tuesday.

Yesterday I go in and he fills in my broken tooth on the bottom but same side of the mouth as Monday.  No problem, made an appointment for today.

Today comes, I go in and I wait for 30 min in the waiting room and Nurse Ratchet calls Mr. McDonald.  Normally they just say my first name.  So I go in, she doesn’t let me sit down yet, she asks why I’m here, I tell her root canal and I point at my top left tooth.  She says there is no authorization for a root canal.  She looks at my papers and says we don’t even have your doctors authorization.  I said look some more.  She looks and finds it.

She pushes the button on the chair to lower it so I can sit down and she says Mr. McDonald you were here at 10am, can I ask why you were here so early?  And I said uh, that’s my appointment time.  She says well the doctor isn’t even scheduled to be here until 11am.  What the hell does she expect me to do?  I don’t know their dentists schedules.  They didn’t email me with his full schedule lol.

Then the white devil, yes, that’s what she is, the white devil, starts setting everything up being her bitchy cheerful self.  She tells me well he won’t be here for another half hour what would you like to do?  What the hell is she asking me?  They normally sit you in the chair and keep you waiting for an hour anyway so uh hello?  Just leave me here and go run over some puppies, I don’t give a crap.  Do what you normally do.  She continues setting me up and she goes to put the paper on my chest, the bib if you will.  But instead of clipping that chain with roach clips (yes, I said roach clips) she tucks it into my shirt at which point 1 eyebrow raises and I look from side to side and she starts giggling from my facial expression.  She informs me they don’t have any clips.

So 11 comes and the dentist comes in and he’s arguing with her about what I’m here for today and he comes to me and tells me he is out of gloves and that I can either wait until 3pm or come back this evening because he doesn’t know when they are coming in.  Excuse me?  3pm?  I’m not going to sit there with Ms. Sunshine for 4 more hours.  No, I’ll reschedule.

So I go back on Friday.