Thursday, April 30, 2009

Attitude.

Ava Elisabeth, age 5:

"I don't know why the other kids don't just learn how to read when Ms. Denice teaches them how all the time."

Insert an eye roll, sigh and a big "oh mah gawd".

Methinks somebody is getting a big head.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Spring Has Sprung in Milwaukee


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The awful winters here make days like these all the more sweeter.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

In Which I Talk About My Face Some More

Or: My dentist finally realized that I'm not a crazy crybaby and probably feels bad now but does that really change anything? No.

Here we go again.

I told my dentist two months ago after she put a new crown on that I was in severe pain and hinted that I thought I might need a root canal. I didn't tell her that I came to this conclusion following extensive research on the internet because I figure the last thing a doctor needs to hear is a bunch of people self-diagnosing themselves via Web M.D. However, I consider myself to have a fairly high threshold for pain- a former dancer, given birth to two kids, I run upwards of 20 miles a week and generally and find fun in pushing my body to extremes. So when I can't sleep for a week because of raging pain in my jaw and would actually prefer being in labor for the third time-- I think that something might be amiss.

Back in February when I first dealt with this, my dentist could find no sign of anything wrong on the x-ray and sent me home with some antibiotics, codeine and a raised eyebrow. She even suggested that I might have an ear infection. As if I was the type of person who would show up bawling my eyes out over a little twinge of pain in my ear. (I ended up going to my family doctor just to prove this theory wrong.) Finally, after one last excruciating night where I contemplated going to the emergency room, I woke up the next morning with absolutely no pain. Nothing! Completely gone. My next step was going to be to seek out another dentist for a second opinion but I was so excited to be able to function like a normal person again that I never did it.

Two months later and out of the blue, just as mysteriously as the pain left, it returned within the span of 24 hours and completely knocked me on my butt. I returned to the dentist half expecting them to accuse me of being a drug-seeker when lo and behold! This time the x-ray shows "a little something to be concerned about." Hrm. Now I'm referred to an endodontist for a root canal- only they are so busy that I have to wait a week to get an appointment. This time I was at least given Vicodin, although I swear my body must have a built in resistance to pain medication because it basically just takes the edge off and makes me kind of dizzy and stupid.

God, this has been a lot of complaining. I just feel like nobody has understood how freaking painful this whole thing has been and I just want it to be DONE. I felt completely validated when that x-ray came back but it still doesn't get me to actual relief any faster. Plus, I'm totally annoyed at how this medication is messing with my running schedule. I can either take the medicine and go for a run- not necessarily a good idea if I don't want to fall over halfway through- or I can not take it and pay the price afterwards like I did today.

Does anybody have any good suggestions for food that doesn't require chewing? So far I've been having Cream of Wheat and Starbucks frappucinos. You know, getting all my nutrients in.