The Beginning

The beginning was benign. I had never had any issues with my teeth as an adult. As a child, I had many fillings, but nothing as an adult. In March 2009, I started having an ache in my right back molar. Just a small pain, nothing too bad. It didn't take long before I had to go to my dentist, there was no more ignoring the pain. My Dentist was out, so I had to see his partner. Turns out a filling had fallen out. "How long had the filling been missing?", the dentist asked me. I had no idea. All I could tell him was that it had been bothering me for a few weeks. He put me on antibiotics, talked about root canals, extractions, etc....I only halfway listened....see, we're the one's Obama keeps talking about. We're the working poor!! We have no dental insurance!!! We're barely making ends meet. There is no money for a root canal and crown. So I let the dentist fill the tooth, check out and go on with my day. I'm a busy working mom. I have no time for a tooth issue nor do I have the money to deal with it. That night, when the medication wears off, the pain returns. Not as badly, but it's there. I don't say anything to my husband, Oren. He has enough on his plate and I really don't want to make him stressed out. I deal with the pain for a few more weeks. Finally, unable to handle the pain any longer, I call my dentist. Fortunately, he is in the office. He checks out the tooth, the filling has fallen out again. He puts in a sedative filling and talks about a root canal. I start crying. Now I've done it. I have to tell him our financial situation. A stranger. Embarrassing. I tell him I want to pull it. My teeth are too beautiful to pull he says. He want to try to save it. He tells me he understands and I can split the payments up into small increments for as long as I need to and he'll make me a deal. He asks if money is why I hadn't brought my son in for his filling. Ashamed, I had to admit it. He tells me to bring both children in and he will take care of whatever is going on with them. Not to worry!

The tooth continues to hurt. We start the root canal but the tooth reinfects before we can finish. Another round of antibiotics. It was the end of May before we finished the root canal. I continued on antibiotics as a preventative measure. Over the course of the summer, I could only eat soft foods and only little amounts of it. The tooth continued to hurt more and more as the weeks went on. I lost so much weight. Between the stress of work, our financial situation and the pain, I became very, very gaunt (as my mother calls me).

Now, It's important to note here that in the past I have worked for doctors and dentists so I know how important it is to tell your doctor when you have dental issues. But the first week of July, I went to see my internist for my semi annual visit and didn't even mention it. It never occurred to me. This should have been my first clue that something was going wrong. Later that week I go back to my dentist. Together we decide that since I'm still in so much pain, that maybe the tooth is fractured in such a way that it is not visible on the x-ray. We decide to extract. Of course, the extraction wasn't easy. I couldn't get numb, it took numerousinjections to get me numb, I had an extra, deformed root that broke off in my jaw, he had to dig it out, etc...finally the tooth was out. I was so numb that when I went to bed that night, I still couldn't feel my face. I took my meds including my birth control and went to sleep. The next afternoon I remembered that I was supposed to start rinsing my mouth. I rinse and my birth control pill comes out. It had lodged itself into the extraction site and because I was so numb, I couldn't feel it. It was this small, crazy little thing that sent everything cascading downward. Because the pill was in the extraction site, the blood clot that was suppose to form couldn't, therefore, I developed a dry socket. One so dry, you could see my jaw bone! Now, anyone who has had a dry socket knows how painful this is. Everyday for a week I had to go to the dentist and he would pack the hole with gauze soaked in clove oil. It hurt like hell but made it feel so much better!!

About three or four days into the packing, my head started feeling really weird!! I couldn't describe it!! I wasn't dizzy, but I wasn't right either. At first, I thought I was reacting to the pain medication. I tried to not take it, but the pain was just unbearable!! My ears felt like they were going to burst. The smallest sound would reverberate through my head. I was still working and trying to take my dance classes (ballet) but something was really wrong with my head! I tried to tell my dentist, but I really couldn't explain it well. Finally the fourth week of July, I went to see my ENT. Having a medical background and a computer, my first words to him were "how do you know when you're septic?". He told me I'd be so much sicker if I was septic. I couldn't imagine feeling any sicker than I was at that moment and told him so. He told me I just had been having this infection so long that I needed to rest, take the week off, stay in bed, no tennis, no dance, just rest and he upped my antibiotics. On Thursday of that week I called him to tell him I wasn't any better. He told me I was expecting miracles. On Saturday, Oren gathered up the kids and took them to Lake Charles for my brother's 50th surprise birthday party. I stayed home by myself. As fate would have it, the kids stayed in Lake Charles with my family. Sunday night when he got home, I told him I was dying. Sweet thing that he is, he tried to reassure me that I wasn't and it would be okay. But I told him something was really, really wrong.

On Monday, I was suppose to go into the office to train our new receptionist. My boss was on vacation. I got up brushed my teeth and passed out. When I came to, I called our office and told the new girl that she would just have to take messages because I wouldn't be able to make it in the office. That was my last memory of that day. I have since remembered that I would wake up a few times that day in several different rooms at different times. My sister, Melissa stated that she started getting weird texts from me. No words, just random letters. She knew something was really wrong. Thank God she called Oren. My next memory, I'm lying on the bathroom floor with Oren standing over me. I can see him, and he's speaking, but I can't hear him or respond to him. I'm so cold!! My ears are going to burst, I can't lift my head. I'm shaking. He carries me to the car and puts me in the back seat. I remember being put into a wheelchair, wrapped in blankets, cold rag on my head, ears feeling like they are going to burst, can't lift my head!! I sat in the waiting room for 2 1/2 hours. I start sweating!! My whole head gets wet!! Oren wheels me to the bathroom, I pass out. When I come to, I'm in a hospital gown, wires everywhere, can't feel my arms, Oren's talking to doctor, but he's not telling the story right. I can't talk, can't tell them it's not right....oh my God!! What's happening!!! They're giving me injections. I'm sleepy. I'm feeling somewhat better. Can talk a little. Doctor is not really listening to me, not really getting what I'm trying to tell him. The next thing I know, he's saying that I'm okay and I can go home!!!! WHAT!! I can't lift my head, it's about to explode, hard to walk, I'm not ok!!! He advises me to go back to the ENT!!! I can't believe this. The nurse promised us they'd help!!! We go home. Oren calls Mom, she will come in the next day. Thank God.

The next morning, Oren takes me back to the ENT, he doesn't even examine me. He states that it must be neurological. His nurse has to wheel me to my car. They are going to make me an appointment with a neurologist. We get home, my good friend comes over to help. She brings me medication, puts heat on my neck and ice on my head and I fall asleep. Mom comes in when I wake up. Later, she tells me I looked just like my father did the day he died. She was really, really frightened. At 5:15 pm the phone rings, it's Oren, the ENT called him to tell him that the neurologist could see me in a week. I start crying.....I'll be dead in a week. Thank goodness Mom is there. One sentence....."Have you called your regular doctor?".....my brain was too messed up, but Oren didn't think of it either. He was probably too scared. My internist knows me. I play tennis with his wife and he treats our whole family!!! Oren calls hims. He wants to see me in the morning.

Mom takes me to see him. I pass out and my doctor has to pick me up and carry me to the exam table. I'm cold and shaking like a leaf!! In his typical style he says, "What the hell is going on"!!! I knew at that point I was going to be okay. Between Mom and I we get the whole story out. He listens patiently, pauses, then says, "I think you have partially treated sepsis and bacterial meningitis. I want you to prepare yourself because all of the test will probably be negative because you've been on antibiotics for five months. I will have to treat you based on your symptoms. I'm not 100% positive that this is what you have, but my gut is telling me it is. You're just gonna have to trust me."

And I did....