Ow, ow, ow!

I was going to say it’s my worst nightmare, but that would be a ridiculous assertion. There are much worse  nightmares. That said, very close to the top of  my list of things I do not want is toothache.

I got one while Irmani and I were in the Okanagan. It lasted four days. Extra strength Tylenol helped reduce the pain from excruciating to a dull ache. Annoying, but it went away. Thank heavens.

Too good to be true? Yes.

A couple of nights ago it came back. I woke up yesterday morning feeling like death warmed up. Not only was my tooth still painful, but I seemed to have come down with a summer cold. My glands were so swollen I could hardly breathe. And, to add insult to insult, apparently I’d burnt the roof of my mouth whilst eating dinner the night before, as there was definitely a painful blister.

Spent the entire day on the sofa playing spider solitaire to take my mind off how sorry I felt for myself. Well, playing spider solitaire and watching the clock to see if it was time to take more Tylenol. Distracted myself for a couple of hours in the evening watching the second Democratic leadership debate. (Go, Kamala!)

The toothache was so bad it woke me up at six in the morning. Got up, took some Tylenols and went back to bed.

It wasn’t until I woke up the second time that I realised there was no summer cold. Nor had I burnt my mouth eating dinner the previous night. The swollen glands, the big blister (no doubt full of pus) were part and parcel of the fucking toothache. Obviously I have an abscess of some sort. Fuck.

Bit the bullet and called the dentist’s office. No, I could not get in today. And the dentist is on holiday next week. A quick phone consult confirms my suspicion of an abscess and the need for antibiotics to treat same before the actual dental problem can be addressed. Ring my doctor’s office. No chance of an actual appointment today, but, given that, as I explained, if I have to deal with this pain all weekend I might just lose my mind, it is agreed that I should turn up this afternoon with my book and just wait. Which I am about to do.

Fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck.

This sucks on many levels.

First and foremost is the fact that I am a complete dentophobe. Yes, that is a real thing. An absolute phobia about dentists.

Second, the tooth in question is a front tooth. Which means that whatever the problem is, I can’t just tell them to pull it out and have done with it.

Which, third, means it is almost certain this is going to cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Because greedy fucking dentists in Canada refused to be part of the government health care plan. So, if you don’t have a work-related dental plan, you’re stuck with whatever the hell they want to charge you.

I’ve ranted about this before, so  I won’t today.

Honestly, I cannot catch a break.

I am by no stretch of the imagination well-to-do, but a couple of months ago I thought I was just about okay. I thought I could afford to get a load of wood in the shed in May, so it would have the summer to season well. I even thought I might be able to afford to have a maple tree taken down and bucked for future firewood. Then the exhaust system went on the car. Sigh. Okay, the firewood would have to wait a couple of months and the maple tree might have to wait until next year. So be it. I could fill the woodshed in July. Still time for it to season.

Yeah, right. Whatever the problem turns out to be, however much it costs to address, I am not willing to go without a front tooth.

I hate dentists.