An Evening to Remember

     Not really an evening to remember, but one  I surely want to forget!!!  Here's the deal folks.  My crappy day began at only noon yesterday, so it was not a total washout; however, it ended with a "bang"-- but more literally -- a "POP!"  Then nothing.  You see, I was eating a piece of hard candy when all of a sudden the left side of my jaw popped out of its socket.  OUCH!!! Oh the tears!!!  But then the jaw got numb, so I thought it had corrected itself.  NOT!!!  Therefore (and here comes the icky part), as a way to try to avoid the ER -- I tried to jam it back into place.  Okay, yeah, I know -- "What the hell was I thinking?!!!"  Well, I really wasn't thinking because A) my jaw was throbing with pain, and B) . . . well, mostly A.  I finished the day at work, walked back to Town Center about a mile away, then caught my bus home.  When I walked into my closet of a room, my jaw was in such pain that I was getting dizzy.

     Now here comes the one SMART thing I did today.  I called our former trainer and now good friend, Ruth (you remember Ruth from earlier blogs), to see if she could drive me to the ER, since I had NO CLUE as to where the hospital was located.  Well, she was stuck in traffic over towards London on her way home from work, so I did the next best thing.  I caught a bus and headed towards town since I knew that the hospital was "that way."  The extremely nice and compassionate busdriver, let me off the bus as close as he could to there, then guided me to the Royal Berkshire Hospital.  When I arrived at the hospital, I honestly thought I was lookeing at a musium or a huge library.  I'm looking at it through teary eyes asking myself if I heard the busdriver correctly?  UMMM . . . that's a yes!  Go check it out on-line.  Then, I could not find the damn ER, which was way around the otherside of the building!!!!!!!  I hope most of you are laughiung at this point because if I didn't laugh at it, my pain would have been much worse.

     Once inside the ER (7:00pm), the wait was on.  You should have seen this hospital ER -- looked like I was in from a little hick town in the hills of WV.  O.M.G!!!!  The "not-so-friendly" women behind the reception desk had the patients stand there (one kid was double-over in pain) and YELL through a glass panel on "Why are you here?"  Well, you idiot, let me scream it to you so everyone can hear.  Where the hell in the confidentiality around here?!!!  Since I could bearly talk at this time, I MADE her give ma a piece of paper so I could write down my issue.  That took care of the  confidentiality issue -- so I thought.  After typing all my inforamtion, she YELLS it back to me just so she could check if it was right.  Folks, I started laughing again because this was "actually was happening to me."  Then, I had to wait again.. . . . . . . .

And wait (8:00pm) . . .

And wait (8:45pm) . . .

Until finally at 9:07pm, I was taken into the back and seated in a cubicle while the RN (or whatever they call them over here), took my blood pressure, my pulse, and my temperature.  Good thing this was an ER where the critical jpatients come for treatment.  Oh yeah, you bet I was pissed at this time!!!  After the blood pressure thingy, they had me (and the rest of the ones they brought back) "sit in the gray chairs" until we could be seen by a doctor.  I was living a nightmare!!!  By now, my face is totally swollen on the left side, my throat was sore because my face was SO swollen, and the kid next to me was SCREAMING SO LOAD that it gave me a splitting headache!!!  I hope you are still laughing because at this point, I was not.  At this point, I wanted to chokle the next attendant who walked by and did not stop to help anyone.  I think the doctor took a lunch break or something.

  Anyway, HAD ME WALK to the xray room where they took an xray; and low-and-behold; the left jawbone was out of the socket.  Holy crap, they could just have looked at my face to know that.  I know, I know, hospital procedure.  At this time, I must pause to commend the xray staff on their quickness and efficiency, since they seemed to be the only department doing anything that might resemble an ER.  Okee-dokey!!!  Then, once back in "hell," the doctor comes into the "stall"/ "cubical"/ "closet" and tells me that he is going to "snap" (yup, he used the word "snap") my jawbone back into place.  Good thing I already knew this or I would have fainted there.   But, NO!!!  I fainted when I heard AND FELT the "POP!!!!!!!!!!!"  Yup, a "POP!!!" Then nothing.  I passed out.  Thank you, God , for having mercy on me to let me faint at this point.

   Once I regained consciousness, the doctor gave me IBUPROFEN to take for pain.  WHAT?!!!!!!  I asked him point blank, got anything stronger, maybe like Tylenol with codine, vicadan, anything?????  He told me that the drugs over here are different than in the US.  NO SHIT SHERLOCK, but I know you have stronger stuff than ibuprofen.  Nope -- I was sent away with the instructions to take two tablets four times a day.  I waited . . . and waited. . . and waited for the doctor to do this???  I could have just had a person punch me before I went in and it would have had the same effect.

    Oh yeah, another thing.   You ARE permitted to use your cell phones in the ER.  Who wudda thunk it???  I called my now savior, Ruth, to come pick me up and take me home because I was in such pain.  Bless her heart, Ruth picked me up, then started LAUGHING at my story.  Okay Miss Irish Eyes, I'm in pain and you're laughing at me!!!  Well, so was I.  When I started to unravel the events of the day, I could not believe what I was saying!!!  Also, her laugh is so contagious and infectious that one could not help but to laugh.  SHEEZ!!!  Ruth dropped me off back at my closet, I entered it reluctantly, then collapsed on the bed.  OMG, I had to tell someone, so I decided to write my blog last night, which you all know turned out "crappy."  Therefore, I called a friend at home (thank you, and you know who you are), so I could get someone to feel for me.  Once again, thank you my friend for having SOME compassion for me.

     Well, just when you thought the story was over; it wasn't.  There was the final act of trying to fall asleep in thriving pain while the baby screamed in the next room.  Remember that folks?  JMJ (Jesus, Mary & Joseph)!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Where's the gun??????  As I lay there trying to fall asleep, my jaw hurt sooooooooooo much that I had to something cold on it.  That idiot doctor didn't even give me an icepack.  And, we do nothing like ice cubes or frozen veggies or the like -- the fridge is the size of a college dorm fridge.  So, I did the next best thing.  I pulled a frozen French-bread pizza out of the freezer and used that.  It worked!!!  Don't knock it folks.  Once that dough melts a bit, you should see how well it forms to your face.  There should be a label on there stating that it's a "multi-purpose" product.  Honestly and sadly, this all did happen.  And, if it were not for Ruth having a part of this whole experience to back up most of my words, then I would have thought this was just a nightmare -- which I was, and still am. 

     This morning, I shot an email to another friend, who is probably in hyterics and tears at this point -- along with the rest of you -- just to let someone else know.  hen I jthought, this MUST go on my blog page or no one would believe it actually happened.  I am still in MUCH pain; however, it is less than yersterday.  Plus, the swelling has gone down so the French-bread pizza idea is something to think about the next time you shopping.  You may need a back-up plan someday.  Hey, they come in twos.  As you can tell  from this blog that all is well, so to speak, and I'm headed out he door soon to do some shopping for my new house next week.  I have migraine medicine that I will use for the pain right now until I see the General Practitioner (GP) on Tuesday.  God, let's pray he's better than the doctor in the ER.  Thanks for listening to my "crappy" day yesterday and laughing with me this morning friends and family.  If you call, then I will have to talk and that's going to hurt.

     My apologies top those of you who are from the UK, but this is what I'm experiencing over here and I will only tell the truth on this page.  I believe I was just a in the middle of a bad luck-of-the-draw.  Sometimes you draw four Aces . . . then the next time you draw "naught" (zeros).  Please pray that my day goes a bit better today.  And please, I really do want to hear your comments on this entry.  I know ther will be some dosies!!!  A night to remember . . . or not.   Cheers folks.