PAIN!!! (and real life)

Real Life #1
I didn't want to post about this until today so here goes.  On tuesday, I went to the bank (that's where I went up to my GP and asked to be seen after my appointment) as I really needed to do something financially.  As with most people, I have a reasonable sized debt.  Some from my last year at University, some for medical costs that I incured from having not medical insurance, a few items for setting my new room up (TV, furniature, bed in a bag etc) and, most recently, my trip to Baltimore last summer for the EDS Conference.  My dad went with me and we were hoping to be able to get a line of credit to transfer my credit card debt to so I could pay it off.  As it stood all I could pay was the monthly interest and not get the balance to go down at all.  During the meeting the lady seemed very interested in EDS and we talked at great lengths about it.  She even wrote it down so she could go home and look it up and included it in the papers to send to get approval.  As it turns out they don't give credit lines for the purpose I needed so instead she set it up as a loan.  Got a call the next day that everything went through, I got an even lower interest rate than we thought and should be completely debt free in about 4 years (that's if I don't pay earlier with saved up money or money coming in for whatever reason).  So very happy about that, I hate having debt and it's even worse having debt that you know you just can't get paid off when you have little income and such high interest rates.

PAIN #1
I wasn't feeling well on wednesday and woke up on thursday in excrutiating pain!  My ear was killing me, half of my teeth were so sore I couldn't even close my mouth and I could barely eat as I couldnt bite down.  I did the icing, salt rinse, pain killers etc and nothing even dulled it.  I called the dentist and the earliest I could get in was next wednesday (because of my prior commitments not there's, they could have had me in the next day).  I just kept taking advil and my pain killers and trying to just ignore it but it was tough.  As a side note, things like oragel or other toothache topicals that you can buy - they don't work. The active ingredient in them is lidocaine which does absolultly nothing for me at all.  So it's just grin and bear it as much as possible.  This pain is just horrible!!

Real Life #2
But of course real life has to happen even when you are in such pain.  I had wanted to go shopping in the states for quite awhile and dad came in and asked if I wanted to go over to the states to do some shopping as he wanted to go over and fill up the truck before we go to the clinic on tuesday (he saves about $25 per fill getting it over there).  I was in a lot of pain but decided that I might as well go over with dad.  I could be in pain sitting here at home or go out and be in pain but get some things accomplished over there.  Got a lot of great deals, picked up 4 books (The Vampire Diaries: The Return #3: Midnight -LJ Sith; The Breakdown Lane - Jacquelyn Mitchard; Can You Keep A Secret - Sophie Kinsella; Look Again - Lisa Scottoline) as I am a bookaholic!, got lot's of dog treats for the puppies and picked up a few odds and ends food wise that we can't get here.  All in all we went to Walmart, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and Target.  Then I treated my dad out for supper, he is a huge seafood lover (none of the rest of us are) so I took him to Red Lobster as he hasn't been in years.  He got a huge lobster and shrimp meal, I got fish and chips and we both got ceaser salad and cheese baked biscuits.  I then ordered cheesecake for dessert but had to take it and half of my supper home as I was so full!

PAIN #2
Was in so much pain that night between my teeth / ear / jaw business and my knee acting up after doing so much walking (dad is a fast walker and I had to keep asking him to slow down!) that I barely got any sleep despite the pain killers and exhaustion.  Figured I would do what was needed the next day then come back and sleep.  Then that real life thing happened again.

Real Life #3
Had to go over to the bank to sign all the papers for the loan agreement (and was very happy as I got an even lower interest rate as my credit rating is perfect and all the other stuff the lady attached to it) so mom took me over and we got that done.  Came home to find Dad and K out with their bikes and notice that K's is way too small for him.  Well when dad and I were at Walmart in the states we noticed a pretty decent 20" bike over there on sale for $58!  So we decided to pack us all up (mom, dad, K and I) and headed into town to see if we could find a bike for around that price here.  No such luck as the cheapest one here that he liked was $110.  As it was lunch time we ended up going to Dairy Queen to get some lunch (I just got fries as I didn't think I could really eat meat with the state my mouth was in then also got an ice cream sundae which felt really really good!) and then we crossed the border and headed to the other Walmart.  Dad needed to get dog food for his friend again so we went to that section and then decided to split up so I could grab a few things and they could go look at the bikes.  I got a few things (body spray and face cleanser) that we can't get at home then we went to find the boys.  K loved the bike and had already picked out a helmet so we were almost good to go until K asked if he could go to the toys and get something small.  So we split up again this time dad and I and mom with K.  I went to the food section to get some chocolates (Lindt is so much cheaper there!) and into the clothing section and found a zip up sweater / hoodie I liked.  We all met back up again and on our way to the cash register I see a sweater I like better so tried it on (it was a bit more money but $13 is still cheaper than anything here!) and K switched the toy he wanted.  Dad filled the van up with gas and we headed back home.

PAIN #3
While we were waiting at customs I was almost in tears I was in so much pain and was starting to get nauseated.  Got home and I went right to get a cold drink to take pain killers (had been taking them all day anyway but took a bit stronger dose now that I was home) and some gravol grabbed some ice packs and went to bed.  I did get a few pictures of K on his new bike first though (will try to figure out pictures on here later) before I crawled into bed.  I had little cat naps and even though I wasn't going to get up for supper, mom went and got a little roasted chicken from the grocery store so I figured I might as well go up and eat.  Woke up again on saturday with still a lot of pain so have been sticking close to some ice packs and keeping up on my pain medications and advil.  Mom had an idea about a product that is actually used to treat sores caused by dentures but that she used to use for toothaches so dad, who was just heading out to the store, took me over to shoppers to look for it.  No such luck and all the toothache remedies and such all were benzocaine (?) can't remember exactly but there were in the 'caine' family which means that they would do absolutly nothing for me.

I once had a (now ex-) friend tell me that I couldn't be in as much pain as I claimed to be in because I was out doing things like shopping or having family time or nephew time.  That is such a lie!  Everyone who has experienced chronic daily pain knows that there are times that you just have to suffer through that pain so you can have some real life moments.  You know that you will be in a lot more pain later, but important life moments always have to come first.  Especially if you have a child in your life.  They are worth so much more than a few extra days of pain.