My root canal saga (so far)

A few weeks ago, I lost a bit of tooth; guess the huge old filling had weakened the tooth over the decades. I went to the dentist the next day and it turns out I have an abscess. But, it had to have happened weeks or months earlier because an abscess doesn't develop overnight. I had no idea since there wasn't any pain or swelling. I was a bit nervous about having it done so I went to another dentist for a second opinion and her opinion was don't delay! So I scheduled an appointment with an endodontist. For whatever reason, I was nervous/stressed/uptight/unhappy (pick your favorite negative adjective) about the procedure. Mr. Fix-it kindly offered to drive me, which meant he wouldn't be able work that afternoon. Hmmmm, money vs my emotional state? You know I was uptight since I took him up on his offer.

All in all, it wasn't bad. The staff and dentist were kind, they had good magazines in the waiting room, the procedure took less time than I expected, and it was a couple hundred less than the original estimate. All good things. I was a bit sore that evening (of course!), but the next day (Wednesday), I was fine. I took a couple ibuprofen in the morning and afternoon and that was it. As it turns out, I was overly optimistic.

Thursday, I had to work off site so I filled my little pillbox with ibuprophen, just in case. As it turns out, I was popping them every couple hours and ran out. I called the dental office since I was a little concerned. Since I didn't have any swelling and the pain seemed steady, I was assured this was normal. But later, they called and told me start antibiotics, just in case. Since I wouldn't get home until 8:00 or later that night, I had Mr. Fix-it pick up my perscription. By the time I got home, I was in lots of pain and perscription strength ibuprophen wasn't doing a thing. The pain woke me up every couple hours throughout the night. I was not a happy camper.

Friday morning, I called the office again and was told again that it could take 48 hours for the antibiotics to take effect. But yesterday was just horrible. No matter what pain medicine I took, I'd get relief for about half an hour. Unfortunately, we were at a funeral for Mr. Fix-it's uncle. By the end of the service, I could barely hold it together. At that point, I was taking the max dosage of various pain medicines every two hours. When we got home, I went straight to bed, with the hope that sleep would put me out of my misery.

To my surprise, I slept through the night and woke up with minimum pain. Of course, the new wrinkle is that side of my mouth is terrible swollen. Good thing I started the antibiotics, right? So I decided to start my new "diet" and will be eating only soft foods this weekend. I hope I make it through to Monday. This has not been any fun.