Price Sheet Template Available for Download

Hello again dearies! As I mentioned in my last post, a reader had requested that I help her create a similar price sheet like the one the Tall Cute Guy and I cooked up to help me track the prices of items I purchase on a regular basis. I use this sheet to see at which stores I would score the best deals. TCG has a lot more spreadsheet experience than I do, so instead of me trying and inevitably failing to explain the formula he used to create the columns that generate the unit price, best price and best stores, I just turned the version I use into a blank template that you can just download and fill in with your own information. Let's get started!

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I Want an Epidural For My Face, and I Want it NOW!

I'm back-ish.  The ongoing tooth/mouth pain I've been dealing with spiraled out of control in the last couple of weeks, so here is the update on that:

I had two more back molars that were thought to be the root of all this pain, and the decision was made to have them extracted and be done with it. I had that procedure done last Thursday, and I left the office happy as a clam thinking that FINALLY I would get some much needed relief. Only, by the next day, my mouth pain was worse. Now, I have had teeth pulled before and know what the healing process is supposed to feel like and the pain I was in was not normal. I called my dentist's emergency line that following Saturday and she ordered me more pain medication to get me through to Monday when I could go see her in the office. The pain meds did NOTHING. It was pure agony. I felt like all the teeth on the right side of my mouth had been smashed with a hammer, there were electric shocks that would run through my jaw, down my neck and to my shoulder. And then there was the muscle spasms.  For you ladies who have had children, imagine labor pains in your MOUTH. For weeks. There were times I wanted to die.

Monday came and I got to the dentist (my sister had to drive me because by this point I could barely go a few minutes without having another pain attack, and I had been awake for over 24 hours due to the pain). She checked me for things like dry socket at the extraction sites, and I had more x-rays. Nothing abnormal showed up. The diagnosis was is that I have facial neuralgia, which basically means the nerves on that side of my face have gone haywire. It can be very hard to treat and is very often mis-diagnosed. The best my dentist could do for me is give me a muscle relaxant to try and calm the muscle spasms, and thank god, they are helping. As long as I take them the intense "for-the-love-of-god-kill-me-now" pain has subsided to a manageable level. The down side-they make me so tired and loopy it's hard to function. I can't drive, and I basically wander around like a zombie when I'm awake. It's actually taken me days to write this one post. There have been a few times where the Tall Cute Guy has called me and apparently I answered the phone, but he barely recognized my voice and I have little to no memory of those calls.

The upside is, there has at least been improvement in my condition. For some people, neuralgia never goes away, and it's literally known to be one of the most painful conditions known to man. It even has earned the nickname "The Suicide Disease". Other treatments can include anti-seizure medication and laser surgery.  If I don't continue to improve the next step for me will be a neurologist, but due to my lack of health insurance, that's not really an option. Fun.

Anyway, just as a heads up- one of my readers (Momma F) asked if I would please share my price list spreadsheet that I showed you in this post. Don't worry Momma, I haven't forgotten you in my pain and drug-induced stupor, and that post should be up by tomorrow.

Till then, I'll be where I've been spending most of my time lately- zonked the heck out. By the way-the title of this post is literally something I said to my dentist. In the nicest way possible of course.  

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Owie.

I. Am. In. So. Much. Pain.  It's not even funny.  For about the past 6 months I have been dealing with the seemingly never ending saga of getting my teeth fixed.  Fillings. Root canals.  Extractions.  Not fun. But, that's what happens when you don't have dental insurance and earn poverty-level wages.  I only have a few things left to get worked on, but at the moment my most pressing issues are two back molars that have already been worked on, but to no avail.  The fillings are  very deep and the nerves are very agitated.  I could get them root-canaled, but that costs about $1,000 each.  Not really an option.  Instead, I am going to have them pulled, but after having nearly gone into shock from the trauma the last time I had one pulled, I am insisting I be knocked-the-hell-out this time.  (Note: I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled with only local-anesthetic, and I did just fine, so when the oral surgeon wanted to pull my #15 molar local-only, I didn't think it would be a big deal.  I was wrong.  I left the office shaking, dizzy, sweating, and crying.  Never again.)  Because I want to be asleep with no memory of the event this time around, I have to go to a consult appointment with the oral surgeon first.  That appointment is for Monday.  If all goes according to plan, they will be pulled Friday, and Friday can't come fast enough.  In the mean time I am hurting.  Bad.  Normally for tooth pain I just take Ibuprofen  and that does the trick nicely.  If I need more help, I add on some Oragel and ice packs.  If that doesn't help, I try warm salt-water rinses.  If THAT doesn't help, it's time to call in the big guns.  My dentist gave me a prescription for Vicodin last week, and she knows that if I ask for pain meds, I must REALLY be hurting.  I almost couldn't take my first dose fast enough.  The problem is, even Vicodin isn't working.  It get a small amount of relief for about 2 hours, and then the pain is back to full-intensity.  It's miserable.  I'm miserable.  I fall asleep with ice packs on my face, and the moment I wake up in the morning the entire right side of my face starts to throb.  Plus, the pain meds make me really sleepy and wonky-feeling, so it's very hard to feel motivated to do anything.  All I want to do is lay in bed and watch Law and Order: SVU on Netflix.  I told you all of this to explain the next part of the story:

Yesterday I was in the drugstore waiting in the pharmacy line to pick up my prescription refill, looking like a hot mess.  I had no makeup on, my hair was in a messy ponytail, and I was wearing scrubby yet comfy clothes. I had big dark circles under my eyes.  The Tall Cute Guy said that he can actually tell how much pain I'm in because he can see it on my face, and it was showing in full view as I stood in that line. As I was waiting, I hear a woman in line behind me chatting on her cell phone about "if you want to wear nude eye shadow, you really need to wear fake lashes so your eyes will pop" and other such beauty-related topics.  After a few minutes I turned around to sneak a peek at her, and realized it was a girl I had gone to high school with. I immediately whipped my head back in the other direction, hoping she didn't spot me looking like such a wreck.  I mentally kicked myself for not following the FlyLady "rule" of getting dressed to shoes, including fixing my hair and makeup.  Now, there I was, looking like death warmed over in front of one of my old classmates, who of course looked completely put together and worthy of being seen in public.  I did not.  It was embarrassing.  I'm pretty sure it was situations like this that the rule was invented in the first place.  I felt like such a loser.

Normally, I DO fix my hair and makeup before going out, and I really enjoy having that confidence of looking put together while I'm out and about.  I felt like I had failed myself big time, and that pain or no pain, I should have sucked it up and put my best face forward.  But then again, maybe this kind of thinking is just my perfectionism getting in the way and I should cut myself some slack?  I don't know.  All I do know is that I'm in pain, and I feel embarrassed.  So, I'm asking you- should I have sucked it up and cleaned myself up before heading out to the pharmacy, or should I cut myself some slack?   

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