On Being Marlon Brando

On Thursday, it started, my tooth with a temporary filling, started getting sore and I knew that I needed antibiotics - but the weekend schedule with football and work wouldn't allow me to escape to the Urgent care. I waited it out, hoping the Ibuprofen would be enough. Oops. By Saturday afternoon, I was trying every remedy I could think of to eliminate the pressure, but it wasn't working. I had made arrangements to take Justin out to dinner and spend the night at a room with a whirlpool to help ease the itchiness from his shingles - so I put it off another day. Saturday night, it hit. The pain was so intense that even after borrowing one of his Lortabs. I couldn't sleep. I paced the floor thinking that this was a rare occurrence - me awake and him sleeping.

Sunday was kind of a blur - I kept taking Ibuprofen every four hours like clockwork - then we had to get ready for Mass. I couldn't stay through the whole service, the nausea from too much Ibuprofen was catching up with me. We had agreed to take Jerra out to dinner - so I ended up at Red Lobster with only a bowl of chowder ( which I couldn't' finish) and a couple of Sprites. As we left, I knew it was the beginning of the end - pulling out of the parking lot my nausea caught up with me. IN all my glory, I escaped the car just in time to throw up all over the parking lot - managing to get my shoes and pants. Next thing I knew Justin was there holding my hair back. You know that only a true friend holds your hair back when you throw up. He walked me around a bit, I rinsed off my feet in a puddle - threw my shoes in the trunk just in case - then realized that my pants were a mess - so I took them off - much to the horror of my kids who had now witnessed me throwing up and sitting in the car in my underwear. Justin took them gingerly and also put them in the trunk.

I took a shower when I got home, and that is when I noticed it - the swelling starting at the jawline on my left side. By 4 am I had such swelling that the left side of my face was numb from the pressure on the nerve - and I looked like Two Face - one side was me - the other was Marlon Brando - the Godfather version not "STELLA" version.

I called in to my boss - and when I couldn't' get her, I went by my office where my coworkers confirmed that I would scare my patients. Luckily for me, Justin's family still uses the dentist he had as a child. His office was very kind and he worked me in before 9.

He looked at my chart, looked at my tooth, reminded me that I should know better than to neglect my own health - and then put me on bedrest for the next three days. (If an abscess becomes systemic, a person can have septicemia - blood poisoning and that is a whole other form of trouble) Oh yea, he made me take the penicillin right there in the office so that he knew I had taken it. I really liked him - and liked that he was concerned enough about me to be a little pushy.

I stayed in bed most of the day yesterday - and the swelling is going down. There is still a lump, but nothing like yesterday morning. I'm back at work today, but since most of the day is spend sitting, I think this should be okay. So, if I am scarce for the next couple of days, you'll know it's because I am trying to restore my face so that my husband is not looking at Marlon Brando when he wakes up!