Wiping My Tears

I'm just back from the dentist. Supposedly the cause of the excruciating pain I've been experiencing since last Thursday when the tooth itself was extracted is now caused from dry socket which is something that happens in 3-5% of tooth extractions, especially with molars. The pain has been shooting into my ear, my temple and down into the lymph nodes in my throat that are so swollen I can barely swallow. I ran out of the vicodin which was getting me through my days and nights and fortunately my dentist was able to get me in at noon today. Without warning I started crying as soon as he sat down and touched me and the tears kept coming. His sweet assistant was wiping my tears and he was being so gentle with me and talking so kindly. And even though I was really hurting physically, I wasn't crying because of the pain but rather because I am so emotionally wiped out from dealing with all of this for a month now. And I knew the stress was getting to me but I was unaware of exactly how raw and on the edge I've really been. I'm starting to feel like such a crybaby at that place. It's really rather embarrassing having certain people always see you at your worst. I'm just waiting for my opportunity to go and see him again and act like a big girl with a smile on my face.

So now I have a clove pack stuffed down the hole where the roots to my tooth used to be and I have a fancy little syringe to shoot salt water into it along with a new prescription for vicodin. He told me to take ibuprofen and vicodin together which I've already been doing but it scared me when he told me to do that because I was hoping that his clove pack treatment would leave me pain free. He doesn't think so but hopes it will be better by Friday or I'm supposed to go back in and see him before the weekend. Good god.