Saturday, April 21, 2012

RAKs & Root Canals

It is unfortunately one of those "wake up at 2:30, get out of bed at 3:30, write a blog post at 4:30" mornings.  My intention was to say how "overwhelming" life has been lately but then I thought "overwhelming" doesn't really cut it ... there must be a stronger word I could use to really get the point across of how "beyond overwhelming" it has been.  I therefore started researching this on Google & do you know what I found?  Not one word meaning "beyond overwhelming" but did you know that "whelm" is actually a word?  How many times have you ever heard "whelm" uttered in a sentence or seen it in print somewhere?  Merriam-Webster says it means "1.  To turn (as a dish or vessel) upside down usually to cover something; cover or engulf completely with disastrous effect.  2.  To overcome in thought or feeling, as in 'whelmed with a rush of joy' or 'the news so whelmed them they were stunned into silence.'  3.  To pass or go over something so as to bury or submerge it."  My working life was spent as a transcriber, proofreader & editor but in all that time ... in all my life ... I never had any exposure to the word "whelm."  I guess waking up at 2:30 sometimes has its advantages.  Today I learned a new word.

Continuing along ... things have been "beyond overwhelming" lately.  Sometimes I just want to go into a closet, close the door, curl up in a ball & stay there till Jesus comes to get me.  I'll spare you the details but suffice to say that "beyond overwhelming" covers it.

I had a root canal recently.  I've had root canals in the past & I don't remember them being horrendous so I didn't give this one a second thought.  Believe me, I'll remember this one because it was indeed horrendous.  The tooth was supposed to have one nerve but when the dentist starting working on it she discovered it had two.  Each was roughly 1-1/8 inches long.  She had numbed me well but because there were two nerves to deal with the work took longer than planned.  By the time she was shoving her little file up there to file away the second nerve I was not having a good experience.  However, the real horror came after I got home & the anesthetic wore off.  I had several days of pain due to the trauma of all the filing & drilling & poking around she had to do.  I was informed that what she had done was just the first part of a two-part procedure.  I had to return 10 days later to be filed & drilled & poked again in order to put some kind of filler material in the spaces where the nerves used to be.  The filler material was put in place this past Thursday & then HEATED (!) to make it expand.  Even though I made sure she used lots of anesthetic this time around, heating up that filler material was again not a good experience.  I am now beginning this round's Day 2 of ingesting prescription pain killers & this will continue for a few more days I'm sure.

Just before going in for my second part of the root canal procedure my TMJ started acting up.  I've had this for years & saw two different specialists about it but both of them said it wasn't bad enough for surgery.  (Surgery, by the way, doesn't always take the pain away & can sometimes make it worse.)  There are times when the TMJ will be dormant for long periods of time & then suddenly one day I'll open my mouth to yawn or take a bite of something & tremendous pain will begin & last ... well, it's anyone's guess how long it will last.  This bout has been lasting a few days now & I say enough already!  I can tell the pain is starting to subside but I have to be very careful because it can easily flare up again if I move my jaw "the wrong way."  Of course I don't know what "the wrong way" is until it occurs.

On a happier note, I sent out 2 RAKs this week & one has been received!  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of them before mailing them so I have borrowed a photo from the blog of the first recipient to receive her RAK ... Marly at Samplers & Santas.  Hopefully she does not mind   : )

Marly's RAK is this ornament made using a Homespun Elegance pattern called Sampler Santa.  I really enjoyed stitching it & plan to make one for myself one of these days   : )   I did all the stitching of course but then sent it away to Faye at Carolina Stitcher for her professional finishing expertise.

Speaking of Marly, God bless her!  Blogger's sudden change to my dashboard freaked me out but she posted how to get it back to what I was used to.  You can read her instructions here   : )

Although I began writing this blog post at 4:30 this morning I ended up going back to bed at 6:30, slept till 7:30 & then got up again.  It's 9 p.m. now.  It's been a cool, rainy day.  This, coupled with the lack of sleep last night, naturally meant napping took place.  I also did a bit of housework, some stitching for IHSW (I finished stitching my house on my Stacy Nash ... HOORAY ... although this is a bit of a story in itself that I will save for another post), made chicken noodle soup which turned out pretty good (another future blog post), & John & I watched our Saturday night movie.  I foresee it being an "early to bed" night.  Hopefully I'll sleep ... fingers crossed   : )   

10 comments:

TheCrankyCrow said...

Awww....Sweet Shirlee - so to hear you've once again been plagued by the dental demon....I truly hope the pain passes quickly and you're done for awhile....and arghh - TMJ on top of it. Yikes.... Your stars must be truly crossed. I love, love, love that sampler santa piece you did for Marly - so perfect for her!! Praying and hoping there's good news and happy things on your horizon (right about now, though, pain killers, naps, and cloudy, cool days and movie nights sound pretty good....) Blessed Sunday to you dear friend....Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin

marly said...

Shirlee, after reading your post, if my dentist tells me I need a root canal I'll just tell him to pull it! I'm sorry you're having so much trouble and I'm hoping the TMJ settles down. This whole episode has whelmed you into needing additional rest. I LOVE my santa. Thank you again. I was so whelmed with excitement!

~*Sharee*~ said...

Sorry to hear your still having problems w/the dentist; I have to go May 1 and am already thinking of reasons to cancel & after reading your post I'm coming up with some great ideas!! LOL Love the Santa Sampler hun; where did you find the pattern? I just looked at 123 Stitch & Stitcher's Closet and they don't carry it..

Hope your feeling better real soon.
Hugs, Shar

Michelle said...

Sorry about your problems with the dentist Shirlee. I am so scared of them. Hope you feel ebetter soon. Lovely RAK beautifully stitched.

Isobel -Argante- said...

What a lovely Santa!!! I love it Shirlee :-)
I have to go to my dentist tomorrow...... :-(((((((
have a lovely sunday dear

Isobel

Sally said...

Oh Shirlee what a horrible time you're having. I do hope you're feeling much better real soon. I am never having a root canal!

Love the Santa. There's no wonder Marly loved it:)

Take care my friend {{{hugs}}}

Vickie said...

Oh Shirlee! Please don't curl up in the closet!! I have had the horrible root canal experience too. I actually began to sweat just reading about your experience here! Yes it is horrid. Think of little Annie, "The sun will come out tomorrow!" I drive my kids nuts singing that sometimes when things aren't going so well. It always brings a smile from them though. Prayers sent for you dear Shirlee. ♥

dulcinella said...

You know, root canal work can also be beyond awful:-( I do hope the second time goes better and the pain will be a lot less. I think you sent a beautiful RAK and I enjoyed your 'overwhelming' issue. As English is not my native language, I sure learned some new things:-)Hope things will go much better for you from now on!

Anonymous said...

Ouch! I already disliked a lot to go to the dentist! Now, it is beyond disliking! I will have to be careful and not let them do anything of taht kind to me!!!!!
You have so much on your mind lately no wonder it is hard to sleep. One step at the time my friend, if possible!
Hugs

Pam in IL said...

Sorry you're going through so much with the root canal and now the TMJ too. My TMJ was aggravated by having my mouth open for so long when I had a root canal. And, if it makes a difference, I had the same horrendous experience as you with the root canal. I've been afraid to go the dentist ever since!