Root Canal

I've had a week from hell. I've had pain in my tooth for the last six months. It wasn't too bothersome and was only when I tried to eat on that side. My dentist thought that the pain was from grinding my teeth, so for six months I just ignored it. Well at my check up a little over a week ago, the dentist was a little more concerned since it had been going on so long, so he told me to make a conscious effort not to grit my teeth and to make sure that I wear my night-guard at night. He said that if the pain wasn't gone in a few weeks that I probably had a cracked tooth (which can't be seen in an Xray) and would have to get a crown, and worse case scenario would be a root canal. Well, that was Thursday. So that following Sunday, Easter I started having severe pain in my tooth. It got progressively worse, so I went into the Dentist on Tuesday. He shoved some rubber spacers between my teeth and told me that I'd have to wear them for a week, and after a week, that would create enough space between my teeth for him to get a metal ring on my tooth like one of those that they put on molars when they put on braces. Once he had the metal ring on, he told me that I'd have to wear that a while, and that would determine whether I would have to just get a crown, or if I was still in pain, then I would have to get a root canal. Well, I went home that night, and the pain was terrible. It would come in waves and I would just curl up in a ball and cry. It was worse than all of my child labor combined. That next day I continued to have these waves of pain. Meanwhile, I still had to take care of my children. I was completely unable to eat or drink. As soon as I would take a few swallows of soup, the pain would become so unbearable that I would have to stop eating and writhe in pain for about twenty minutes before it would even start to lessen. I was so miserable. I was crying right in front of the girls. Ellice asked my why I was crying and Annyah said "happen?" The thought of having to endure this pain for several more weeks was beyond my comprehension. Becky came over after work and was able to help me that evening. Finally Brian came home from work at about 8:30 at night. He had been at a meeting where Karl Furukawa happened to be at also. Karl is a Military dentist. So Brian was able to call Karl at the meeting. Karl offered to come over and have a look at my mouth since he was just down the road. Karl removed the rubber spacers that the dentist had put in and told me to tell my dentist that they were causing too much pain. Karl thought that I would need a root canal. He was right. This morning we called my dentist and he referred me to a specialist to have me get a root canal. Believe it or not, at this point I was sooo excited to be getting a root canal. I just wanted to be free of the pain. So, I got the first part of my root canal done. It was so wonderful. Once I got the Novocaine, I was pretty much pain free. AHHHHH, heaven! They were going to clean out the inside of the tooth today and remove the nerves in the roots and then give me a temporary filling. Then in May, they would go back in and fill in the root with some sort of filling. Then I'd have to go to my dentist to get a crown put on. When they opened up my tooth today, they found that it was so infected and filled with yucky that they actually left a big hole in my tooth so that all the infection can drain. Then next Wednesday they'll put the temporary filling in until May when they finish the procedure. So that was a very long version of my week. I can not describe how wonderful it is to be without pain. It reminds me of when I was in labor for 20 hours and then had finally dilated enough to get the epidural. That feeling of no pain after so many hours of pain is such a relief. The only depressing thing about this is that it is going to cost us $2200. We don't have dental coverage. This is actually the discounted rate. Both the dentist and specialist are Christians so they are giving us the pastors discount rate. This whole experience has been really good for me to lean on the Lord through. I brought my IPod with me to my root canal and was listening to worship music while I was waiting and during my root canal. Songs like "blessed be your name." It is a whole new experience to be singing to God "In Christ Alone" (not out loud) while someone is drilling a hole in my tooth. It is going to be another stretching experience to trust God with our finances with this too.