wisdom teeth hell

Well, I haven't posted in quite awhile...since I had my wisdom teeth yanked from my head. They needed to come out and the older you get, the harder the recovery. Wow, to think that I am too old (or getting there) is crazy. But, as much as I hate to say it, the stats are right. Still recovering as of today, here is run-down of my horrible "shit-magnet-ness."
1. Got teeth out (woke up with my whole mouth swollen and numb). When your mouth is numb (inside and out) it feels like a dead person's skin. Yuck!
2. One day later I apparently got dehydrated and started retching to the point where I could hardly breathe, oh, and you can't blow your nose for a few days, so that was fun.
3. Next day hightail it to the dr.'s office, recevied IV fluids for 2 hours; pepped back up and finally could pee.
4. One day later got dry sockets on both bottom holes; and to think I quit smoking for all of this, and yet dry sockets still came. Had to wait out the weekend, got them packed by the dr. on Monday. As much as i hated the packing (think a mouthful of cloves for about 6 hours after the packing), it helped the pain. At this point, still on pain killers.
5. Got the packing taken out, still dry; got more put back in.
6. Got the packing out, slight infection, put me on antibiotics and more pain pills
7. Infection gone (yay!), dry sockets still there - more packing.
8. Weekend: packing fell out (ouch!), got through the weekend popping a lot of Advil and flushing out the hole even though it brought me to my knees, I almost passed out, and all the orfaces of my face started to "run"
9. Weekend over, go to the dr. "again!" Doc says infection: put me on major antibiotics (most common side effect: DEATH! not kidding, either); have to take 16 pills a day to counter-act the death possibility - I am now on 31 pills a day!! If infection does not get better, must go to hospital. Back on pain meds (good ones too!).
10. Go back to doc b/c the packing fell out. Doc looks and says "for sure" if infection not gone or noticeably better by this Monday, I must go the hospital for 48 hours of IV antibiotics and testing to find out what kind of infection there is. The reason for all this "infection" hype is that the infection went into my jaw bone, and apparently, as is true of all bone infections, they can get in your blood and kill you or re-appear in another bone, which may require amputation.
11. Packing fell out on Thurs. I'm roughing it. Called the doc, finally feel better. Must call back on Monday.

It is is any indication, today went on a short hike nearby (Meramec Highlands). I am feeling much better and getting out of the house after 2 1/2 weeks in bed was sure nice. Blog updates later.

Remember...

"Now, I understand about indecision, but I don't care if I get behind. People living in competition, all I want is to have my peace of mind..." --Boston

Something important (at least for me) to remember. Peace of mind is coming...its called summer. I can't wait until this summer, I have not had one off since I was 15. And now the nerd comment: I can't wait to do a whole bunch of reading this summer!

trunk thought

Saw a bumper sticker on a trunk of a car today: "Birth control and education prevent abortion." Seems like we can all get along now, huh? If abortion is bad, the first two things prevent an abortion, therefore, it seems the problem is solved...

'nuff said...

Here's an interesting tidbit from Harper's Magazine (Feb. 2009):

"A gay penguin couple in China's Polar Land Zoo were ostracized by other penguins and then placed in a separate enclosure after they made repeated attempts to steal the eggs of straight penguin couples and replace them with stones."

Wow, would I have loved to have seen that one!

one last word on cougars

For those who don't believe me, we know it was a cougar because they have very small heads (check), very large back legs (check), and the clincher: their tails are 2/3 the size of their body (i.e. very long, the longest of any mammal) (final check). That makes it a cougar in my book, or as the folks in mid-MO call them: they are "just" mountain lions! I think the word "lion" should denote bad-animal-to-see-in-the-woods. Oh, to go back to the mountain goats in Columbia, they seem so benign now.

Freaking Cougars...?!?!

So, since my last post, I have done some detective work (although most came by luck) and found out that the "body" Theron and I saw on our bike ride was the skeleton of a young cougar! AHH! There was an article in the Post a few months ago about how they are now being spotted in eastern Missouri (I suppose Warren Co. would be ideal, then). Here's the scary part: they can run up to 30-50 mph (there goes the idea of pedaling faster than they can run), they stalk from above (like the bluffs that are always next to you when on the trail), and when they pounce (from up to 45 feet above the prey), they usually break the prey's neck because of the sheer force with which they land (great!). Well, I guess if I get attacked by a cougar, I probably won't know it. Oh, one last chilling detail: of those who have been attacked by cougars and lived, they NEVER saw it coming and never saw it when they were fighting it off - they leap onto your back and hold you from behind while biting off your air supply via the neck! Theron and I are thinking of purchasing some sort of security device to ward of any would-be cougar attacks...a shotgun maybe?