Bonjour tout le monde!
I'm writing this first post from our kitchen table in Texas. If you are going to follow my adventures in Europe, I think it is important for you to know what has happened pre-departure because I have a slight feeling it's going to affect at least the first part of my experience.
About five days ago, on Friday night, I had some intense issues with my temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) that is often caused by stress (I have been studying french nearly everyday for hours since school got out in mid-May...go figure). Shortly after the pain subsided from the joint on Monday, the inside of my mouth started to hurt REALLY BAD. We thought it was just some soreness from the TMJ muscle spasms, but it was different. Tuesday morning, I woke up and was still not able to chew anything or even brush my teeth from tenderness. So, to save the world from horridly bad breathe, I attempted to brush my teeth just a little bit. Once I spat into the sink, the pain shot through the right side of my face like a needle.
For the rest of the day I couldn't eat or even swallow. Over the counter pain meds weren't helping, so we upped it to some mild narcotics. Those took the edge off a little. My dad (a doctor) was confused as to why it would be hurting so badly that I wouldn't even swallow without wanting to cry...
Low and behold, he looked in my mouth and the gums around my last upper-right moler and my palet were swollen to - what to me looked like a golfball, but that's a bit exaggerated - a significantly BIG tooth infection.
So, early this morning (Wednesday) I sat on our couch like I have been for the past five days with an ice pack on the right side of my face, a pained/pitiful look on my face, stomach growling ravenously and waiting for pain killers to kick in.
My mom came and talked to me and we had to address the possibility that if this ends up being a really huge deal, then I have to be prepared to not go to France. There was no way they were sending me on a plane to another country for a month if I wasn't healed.
I finally got in to see the dentist mid-morning. She asked me what was going on and I told her the whole she-bang. She apparently completely underestimated this thing. Once she looked in there, she gasped, awed for my pain, took x-rays and did a few taps to see exactly which tooth it was and told me that she would get me an appointment with an endodontist that could do a root canal.
Mind you, I leave the day after tomorrow to leave the country...
So, when I got to the endodontist, whom I had never met before, we chit-chatted about where I go to school in Alabama and how far away I was from the tornado. Then, he asked me to give a recollection of what was going on with my mouth. He, too, clearly underestimated the magnitude of this thing. When he looked in to examine the suspect, he went "OH! Wow!"...They then proceeded with the laughing gas (and let me tell ya...I have never been so relaxed...) and began to numb me up, which was fine. He then went outside to my mom in the waiting room and told her that I had a really significant infection.
Except for when he numbed my palet...
Now, for all of you queezy people, I suggest you skip this paragraph. For anyone else: The infection had gone into my palet and around my tooth, so he had to make a tiny incision in order to drain the puss out. Thus, he had to numb my palet, which was extremely inflamed. So, yes, it hurt really bad.
But at this point in my dental journey, I was just ready for them to do whatever they had to do so I could eat again.
So, he took out my filling and did the first half of the root canal and I did not feel it one bit. And right after that he made the incision in my palet and said, "I just popped the biggest pimple you will ever have in your life." (Sorry, I had to throw that in there. It really made me laugh.)
We asked him if I would be able to leave on Friday and he said yes! We will finish the root canal tomorrow, but I should be good to go by the time I leave.
So, now that the novel is done...I wanted to tell that story because it is something that I know alot of people (Bradbury Lane girls) will want to know how it's going. I'm going to France with my antibiotics and narcotics on hand!
I don't necessarily know when exactly I will blog next. Maybe in the airport on Friday. But I will be pretty busy up until Tuesday. After that, I will probably start getting into a routine and feeling more comfortable. I'll find an internet cafe somewhere and tell you about my days, adventures, new words and the people of France!
I know many of the people I know are prayer warriors and want to know what they can be praying for me, so I will post prayer requests on here as well.
I love you all and cannot wait to see you when I get back!
(Hopefully I will be a better version of the person I am now)
Je vous aime beaucoup!
