The Sick Saga

When one becomes pregnant, one automatically assumes some degree of discomfort and pain.  (It's part of the hidden clause in the fine print in alphabetical order including items such as heart burn, swollen ankles and vomiting.)

Lately though, I feel like I've been hit with one thing after another, none of which I can blame on the pregnancy clause.  Week #1, I got sick with some weird cold with chills and other strange symptoms such as delirium and cravings for citrus fruit.

The next week, the kids got it.  I was thankfully feeling a bit better, so we can pretend that Week #2 was a "good week".

When week #3 rolled around, I was feeling hopeful.  I had a vague nagging pressure/ache in one of my teeth, but I assumed it was because I was grinding my teeth at night due to unresolved knitting issues.  Chewing on only one side of my mouth and eating mostly cream of wheat worked only so well, because halfway through Week #3 the ache reached near childbirth-agony proportions.  I went to my dentist on Thursday morning, only to be told that they couldn't do anything until the next day, and that "yes, you had an abcess and it popped, and that's why your jaw hurts because it's eating into your jaw bone."

(It's never a good sign when the dentist looks in your mouth and turns slightly green and calls in other dentists to take a look.)

The aching tooth was pulled on Friday and a bridge put in, and I was feeling hopeful that perhaps Week #4 would be better.

Week #4 has basically consisted of a steady diet of 3 Tylenol pills taken every 4 hours (including the hours in which I should be sleeping) and yet more cream of wheat.

Did you know that when cream of wheat cools you can use it like play dough and make all sorts of interesting designs to eat?   

(My husband is convinced that a combination of two bottles of tylenol in a week plus sleep deprivation plus agonizing pain has resulted in my being in a drug-induced narcotic coma.)

Week #5 has begun with the the cheery opening of yet more debilitating tooth pain. (Seriously, how can my tooth still be hurting when it's gone?  I'm convinced the spirit of my pulled tooth is haunting me.  Anyone know a good tooth exorcist?).

This morning?  I woke up with a sore throat and a cold.

Please pardon me while I weep with frustration.