Dental pain and government offices

Sunday evening I began to notice a slight sore spot by my nose.

I figured it was an underground attack zit just waiting for my next photo opportunity to pop out and say "hello".

Nope.

That would have been nice.

Monday, the soreness was more clearly from a tooth.

#11 to be precise.

So I went into work a tiny bit early and asked our assistant to please x-ray 

that tooth and see what was going on.

Since I have worked in the dental office for a year now, 

I could see right away that I have a "halo" around the root ... meaning infection.

It was ok the rest of that day...

then, as if my own body was mocking me...

evening fell.

By Tuesday morning, I was DONE.

I texted my mom (.../boss/office manager) and said this tooth needed to come out. 

Today. 

Like 3 hours ago.

Well... my stepdad who is the dentist said it can come out, 

but there would be more to deal with than just the normal placing the implant, abutment and crown. 

So... he called a friend to get me in to have a root canal.

Their earliest appointment was today at 10:30.

By 3pm yesterday I was begging for a shot of anesthetic.

So, he numbed it up nicely and wrote a prescription to get me through the night.

Later that same day... I was in excruciating pain. The anesthetic wore off, the lortab was not working, and my stomach was upset since I couldn't eat and was taking all these pills.

I laid on the couch with a heating pad most of the night. I fell asleep for 30 minutes here and there, but vividly remember almost every hour on the clock all night long. 

Finally, morning came. I began to be aware that I was incredibly itchy and it was not localized to any one area.

My eyeballs itched.

My ears itched.

The bottom of my feet itched.

My knees itched. 

The webbing between my fingers itched.

I called the pharmacy to find out if it was the combination of the lortab, the amoxicillin, advil and tylenol pm...

or if it could be something else all together.

She asked if I had ever taken lortab before. 

Nope. 

I never take anything like that.

Guess who has an allergic reaction to hydrocodone?

Yep.

And I am STILL itchy (8 hours since my last 1/2 pill).

So... I got the root canal phase 1 finished at least.

I am swollen to the point that I look like I tried to stuff my face full of marshmallows.

So... once my pain subsided to the point where I could think about anything else...

I began to think... I have not heard back from the congresswoman's office about my USCIS case yet!

So... I tried to call. Guess what? The person I need to speak with is not there.

So I sent ANOTHER email.

I hate waiting on people to do stuff like this.

My paperwork is literally sitting on someone's desk waiting to be approved.

If I don't get that paperwork or at least a verbal approval, I can't get my court date for whenever it is first scheduled. They will reschedule my date. 

I don't want that to happen.

Anyway...

Also the past couple of weeks our agency has matched nearly 20 referrals THAT I KNOW OF!

Not that I don't love hearing about those referrals.

Not that I am not happy for all of the new parents.

BUT... 

Some of these referrals are for tiny itty bitty babies and they JUST came into care.

I really will feel frustrated if those families get court dates and travel dates before me (or my other WCP friends who have kids who have been in care for a year already).

Not that I don't want them to get their babies soon... because I do.

I just feel like the longer a child has been waiting... the faster they should be allowed to come home.

Maybe that's wrong.

But, that's where I am today.