Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Hope

If I had to give a theme to the past four to six weeks of my life, I think it would be Health and Welfare. It seems that everything and anything has been attacking that area of my life, or some component of it has been my focus. First it started with my quitting smoking. And, yes, I am still a quitter. As a matter of fact, I no longer rely on nicotine at all. It was six weeks as of last Saturday . According to the schedule, I was supposed to remain on the patch until late October. However, I was having some problems last week and decided to discontinue all ingestion of medicines except the Wellbutrin.  I only continued with that one because some anti-depressants will give you flu-like symptoms if you quit them cold turkey. Causing those symptoms would not have helped what I was trying to achieve. Actually, more like what I was trying to discover. For several days last week I felt edgy and out of balance. I couldn't quite describe what exactly it was that I was feeling but I knew I wasn't feeling right, like myself. The best description I could muster was that it felt like I was hungover. I had that weak, jittery, tired, dehydrated feeling you have after a late night of binge drinking. Considering I haven't been drunk in over ten years, I assumed that it had to be a recent medication that I was ingesting. Since I went from only ever smoking cigarettes and popping over-the-counter sinus meds to ingesting Wellbutrin, popping sinus meds which recently had an ingredient change, Nicotine patches, Rhinocort, Flexiril, and 880mg of Alleve daily. I figured something wasn't jiving with something else, or I had developed some kind of toxicity. As such, I dropped it all and here I am adding back 800mg of Ibuprofen and 500mg of Amoxicillin every eight hours.

I can't win for losing. I've had sinus headaches, ear-aches, high blood pressure, back strain, and as of yesterday I suffered through three teeth being extracted. I'm seriously afraid to ask what's next. I already had a close call with a crazy driver who managed to crash his car into a brick wall right in front of me as I was driving home from work. I really hope there's nothing else possible. A girl can hope. Right?

Speaking of hope, there was an adorable little boy in the dentist's office yesterday. He asked his dad why he was kicked out of the house. It sounded to me like mommy needed some "alone time" and insisted that her husband take the precocious child along with him to his dental appointment. You could tell the father wasn't the primary care giver. Most of what he talked to his son about was WAY over the head of a child who looked to be no older than three or four. However, he was a smart little one. His father asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said a pilot, then an astronaut. I was seriously impressed. When I was a little girl, not all that much older than him, I thought it would be awesome to grow up and become a secretary. If only I had higher aspirations, maybe I would have figured out my career path a lot earlier on in life. 

A different dentist than my usual two pulled my teeth out yesterday. Other than the pain and fear, I didn't mind so much. He was a cutey-pie! In his attempt to make small talk, he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was an Accountant but if it would help my cause any at that moment I'd lie and say I was a lawyer. He chuckled but I noticed he went over the procedures and patient waiver quite thoroughly. As he was straining and stressing to remove the teeth while suffering through my whining and near panic attack, I thought who the hell thinks as a child that they'd like to grow up and become a dentist. Y'ah know, I think the same thing about proctologists, podiatrists, and nursing home attendants. It must begin with a masochistic disposition. I just can't imagine a cute little four year-old telling his father  that one day he wanted to pick at peoples' teeth, poke their butts, clean out their toe-jam, and clean up shit for eight to ten hours every day. At least, I hope not.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey robbie!
sorry about all the health problems!  man....
I hope your feeling better soon.  :(
you remind me though..I have to see the dentist.
ewww.
feel better soon, and congrats on the no smoking!! :)

Anonymous said...

Detox, ugh ... it shouldn't last long though
and you should be feeling much better soon.
Happy Wednesday Robbie ... heres to health
and welfare.
              *** Coy ***


Anonymous said...

Robbie,
So sorry to hear you aren't feeling
so good.  I hope you feel better
soon!
Connie

Anonymous said...

Robbie, I'm so impressed that you quit smoking.  Sorry you're not feeling that great right now, but you'll feel so much better in the long run.

Anonymous said...

Hope the detoxing is going well! Have you always had sinus problems? Or do you think it was related to the smoking?

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you've stayed on the "not smoking" wagon.  It must be kind of tough, though...the word is that you will feel BETTER when you quit.  Looks like that hasn't happened for you yet!  I had a couple of teeth extracted years ago, and it wasn't nearly as bad an experience as I thought it would be.  They filled me so full of novacaine you could have driven a truck through the side of my face and I would never have felt it.  Dr. Dentist worked very quickly and efficiently, and I never felt a thing.  Sorry your experience wasn't so good.

Sure hope you start feeling better soon!  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

Robbie...Sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well.  I hope that the detox will help a myriad of issues.

I'm terrified of the dentist and I can't imagine who in their right minds would want to be one.  I once heard that it's a profession with a high suicide rate...something about the look of terror in the patient's eyes, and the fact that NOBODY likes the dentist!

Anonymous said...

I loved your thinking in the last paragraph and I agree!  Who thinks when they are 4 years old that they want to become a gynecologist so they can look at women's private parts all day long.  LOL!  I am so sorry you are going through all the crap you are medically.  But, I have to say, HOORAY for you quitting smoking!!!!  That is an incredible feat to accomplish and you did it!!!  All those meds you were on probably were having a bad reaction within your system.  You did the right thing, you KNOW your body better than any doctor!  I hope you feel back to your normal self soon.
Hugs and love,
Lisa who yes, still has you on my alerts.  ;)

Anonymous said...

Poor Robber Bobber. Did the dentist give you a nifty little plastic treasure chest for your teeth? (Mine did!)

(Heh, heh, heh.)

And I bet those butt, foot and skin doctors decided to BEcome such because at some time in their life, they suffered that kind of ailment or had a loved one who did. Under all the layers, people are genuinely compassionate. I really believe that.

Well, 70% of the time.

Anonymous said...

I hope that you feel better soon............ judi

Anonymous said...

Be good,

Be well,

*Win Win*

God Speed,

Barbie @>------

Anonymous said...

Please, feel well.
Great news about the smokes...
V

Anonymous said...

Congrats on being a non smoker.  I hope you begin to feel 100% soon.  Yay for the hot dentist.  Every little bit helps!  -Kari

Anonymous said...

You are very brave. Two teeth at once. I had one taken out a long time ago. I remember the doctor putting his knee in my chest...maybe it was just a bad dream. Congrats on the not smoking.

Anonymous said...

yer nuts you know that right?

" I just can't imagine a cute little four year-old telling his father  that one day he wanted to pick at peoples' teeth, poke their butts, clean out their toe-jam, and clean up shit for eight to ten hours every day. At least, I hope not. "

Only you could come up with that!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey, don't forget about nurses!  We do a little of all that and then some...LOL.  

Congratulations on the smoking cessation.  It's a hard thing to do...I've been there.  

Glad you're back!

Love,
b

Anonymous said...

Yeah, as so you chose to do something, situation steps in to make it that much more difficult.

I am truly proud of you for stopping smoking. It is tough and I can't encourage you enough. I've been there and even though it was 19 years ago, I remember it and could go back so easily. Quitting was hard, but rewarding.

You go girl! You can survive anything. I'm convinced of that.

Gordy
the cycling curmudgeon

Anonymous said...

Oh, sorry you're having a bad time of it. I can relate......But I'm so much older. At your age, you shouldn't be feeling so lousy. Quitting smoking does make weird symptoms appear too. You'll be okay. Take good care of you more.

Anonymous said...

Sooo proud of you for being a quitter!!

I think the change in season is a lot of this...crap...hope everything is going better now. Think good thoughts.
~ Dawg