The Terrors of Tendonitis

Last week I woke up feeling like someone was sticking ice picks in my right shoulder. This did not bode well for spending two hours in the dentist's chair (see my last post). I couldn't get an appointment with the orthopedist until Tuesday, so I ended up at the ER. I got a shot of some painkiller that's supposed to be 10x stronger than morphine and prescriptions for megavicodin and a steroid 6-day pack.

After the shot wore off, I found that I had to take the vicodin strictly on schedule. If I didn't, I turned into a crying, screaming meemie. It took half an hour to work out the least unpainful position for my arm at night, and everytime I woke up in pain I had to start all over again. I think I got about 3 hours of sleep a night. :o(

I hurt in the shoulder joint, the elbow, and the wrist. After a few days, my wrist stopped hurting, but my thumb went kind of numb. All I wanted to do was sleep, but it was too painful to try more than once a day.

All of this was occurring while I worked the Halloween rush, with all sorts of crazy (and crazed) people coming in for stuff to make their costumes. I couldn't do much other than run the register -- you can't cut fabric if you can't use your arm. We didn't get out before 10 any night, and usually it was later. Much later.

Yesterday I went to the doctor, who confirmed my self-diagnosis of tendonitis. (I had it in my left shoulder four years ago.) This time I got a shot of cortisone and a script for mobic once a day (a once-a-day pain pill? how's that supposed to work?).

24 hours later, I can report that both seem to be working. Despite working last night, I was able to fall asleep quickly and slept SEVEN hours!!!!!! All right, I woke up once, but it was to answer a call of nature, NOT because of the pain. :o) My shoulder still hurts, but not as badly. My elbow doesn't hurt at all. My thumb's still a bit numb, but I wouldn't be surprised if I have a pinched nerve as well.

Crowns, cleanings, and crappy insurance

I got my third permanent crown this morning. He had to test fit it several times to get it the right depth (even my teeth are short!), but all in all it went pretty quickly. No shots, no drill, no problem. Next came a full set of xrays -- uncomfortable, but not truly painful. I've got a couple of spots that will need a little work, but all things considered, I'm in pretty decent shape.

Then came the real fun --- a thorough cleaning. :o(.

I have always hated having my teeth cleaned. He was lucky to get me in once a year for the torture session. It's been several years since my last one (yeah, I know, I'm a very baaaaad girl), so it was definitely NOT a fun experience. I think he probably rinsed my mouth at least 20 times to get rid of the blood and the "boulders" of plaque (his word, not mine). He would like to do a follow-up cleaning in a month or so, but my insurance says 6 months, not just twice a year. Which leads me to my next topic, my crappy dental insurance.

It apparently doesn't pay for crowns. I mean zip, nothing, nada. On my urgent visit in June (diagnosis: abscess/infection and root canal required), it paid exactly $23. And when I had my root canal, it only paid about $150. I pay for my (extremely) minimal dental/vision coverage through payroll deductions, and I'm seriously contemplating dropping it during the next adjustment period. Since virtually all of this is coming out of my pocket anyway, I might as well put the extra money in the bank for the next round of dental bills.

I'm going to get my teeth cleaned every six months in future to avoid the pain.
I'm going to get my teeth cleaned every six months in future to avoid the pain.
I'm going to get my teeth cleaned every six months in future to avoid the pain.
(I'd write this 100 times, but that would make this post waaaaaaaay too long.)

Cross my heart and hope to spit.

Halloween Micromitts!!!!!!!

I finally got the mitts finished, photographed, and listed today. One of my sisters is visiting for her high school reunion, so I got her to help with the photos --- it's a lot easier to take a photo of someone else's hand than your own. LOL Anyway, here they are.

Halloween Hearts!

I made some of my heartpads in cute Halloween fabrics! They protect your whole hand from burns and spills. I sure hope someone likes them as much as I do! :o)

I'm working on some matching micromitts, like these. Since I don't have to work tomorrow (what! a day off this week?) I should have some of them finished and listed by tomorrow night.

Follow me!

I just added the Followers widget to my blog. If you like what you read here, sign up to be a follower and you'll be notified when I update my blog. It's very easy; just click on Follow this blog and follow the instructions. :o)

All my sales should be this easy . . . . . . .

My eldest sister came to visit for the weekend. She always ends up buying something, and this time was no exception. She bought this walker bag (before I'd even listed it!), and ordered two sets of micromitts for herself and her daughter-in-law. :o)

Mama mentioned to her that my uncle had recently left some hand-turned pens with me to see if they would sell on Etsy, and she ended up buying 6 of those for various family members. I'll add a photo later of what she got. This bodes well for listing them. :-)

Crown and carnival

I went to the dentist today to start work on the crown on the tooth I had a root canal in. It wasn't too bad, except for the nasty taste of the pre-numbing medicine, and the shot to deaden my palate. The main problem was the temperature --- it was freezing! He ended up putting the lead apron on my legs to warm me up a little. At least it kept the AC from blowing on my legs. When I go back to get the permanent crown I'm wearing a sweater and taking a blanket!

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The carnival at Kaufman went okay. We could have done better, but we've done a lot worse. It felt odd not being able to pop into the rectory to use the bathroom or get a glass of water. And it was really odd not staying the night and packing up on Sunday. By the time we got home and unpacked the car it was almost 9, and 10 before I got some supper.

I was sooooooooo tired on Sunday. I went to bed by 12:30 Saturday night, and got up at 6:30. After Mass I went back to bed for 3 hours (!!), had some lunch, and took another 1 1/2 hour nap. Sunday night I could not keep my eyes open. So I went to bed at 11:30 and didn't get up until 8:00! I had about 18 hours of sleep in a day and a half, and I was still kind of tired on Monday. The last time I did anything like that I was fighting some kind of infection.