MORE CROWN NEWS AND OTHER STORIES FROM THE REALLY BAD DAY

What a day…

First of all, my temporary crown has been bugging me… so I’ve had trouble sleeping because of the pain. Therefore, last night I got about two hour’s worth of sleep. When I woke up this morning, I was really groggy, but I made it to work okay. Thursday is my day to file and find a place to work wherever I can. Usually, I use the conference room across the hall and carry my 2′ stack of filing across the hall along with my “office in a box” — a filing box that has pens, paper, sorting stuff, etc.

I get everything sorted into the starting piles and WHAM! I spilled my coffee all over the conference room table. I splattered only one piece of paper, but otherwise, made a big mess. Fortunately, I stopped the puddle from leaking onto the floor or the chairs (my biggest concerns). One of the angels from housekeeping helped me mop up.

So, new cup of coffee in hand, I settle in to file. At 10, I went upstairs to distribute the mail and when I came back… my piles were gone. Turns out the lady who schedules the rooms forgot I was in there and told another group they could use it.

Of course, I was frustrated. #1, all the piles I made were picked up haphazardly by a stranger who didn’t bother to ask if it was okay to move any of it–I mean, whenever I go in to use another office, I always ask if it’s okay to move things and believe me when I say I use half of this conference table — so it’s quite obvious that the room was being used. #2, I always use that room as an office unless something else has been scheduled in that room and as of 8 a.m. nothing had been.

I don’t blame the scheduling lady. I just didn’t think you could schedule office space (nobody else does), so that’s why I never did and in over a year, this is the first time something like this has happened. It’s just always worked out that if that room was scheduled, one of the other ladies was out and I used her desk. So, to ensure this doesn’t happen again, I am going to schedule the room as my office from now on for Thursday so there will be no further conflicts… and everything worked out today because one of the ladies was leaving for a meeting, so I took over her office until 2. Still, it was a huge disruption after a bad start to my morning.

Oh, and if it just ended there…I would have been in a great mood… but it didn’t…

I called a dentist recommended to me (cost wise/payment plan) for a root canal (my dentist doesn’t do them). $765… though I could possibly pay it out over 12 months. No problem, right? Well, considering I’ve only had full time hours for 6 weeks after nearly a year of barely making ends meet… and I’m now having to go back make up for a bunch of stuff and my salary really isn’t competitive, it’s not like I’m “liquid” you know?

AND… Because I don’t have benefits yet, I still have to budget for those holidays/days off I don’t get paid for and for the time off I have to take to go to the dentist for the other issues. I’m already paying payments to my initial dentist, so I’m all paymented out at this point.

UGH.

So, of course, being all emotional at this time of the month… and being extremely tired, I sat in there and cried for a while. I had to let off some steam, you know? Not only was I tired… I was frustrated, and my tooth was bugging me. My benefits/full time status was still in limbo and I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be able to hold onto this tooth without a root canal.

Finally, I got a grip, pulled it together and kept working. Then, during lunch, as I’m telling my peeps how my day has been going, one of my friends says, “hey, at least it’s not raining!”…and then… (drumroll please)

MY TEMPORARY CROWN FALLS OFF!!

Everything touching my tooth, air, cold water, etc. nearly made me cry. I get an appointment at 4 so I don’t miss too much work. One of my co-workers finds an empty ziploc bag in the bookstore to put the crown in and I go back to work.

The pain gets progressively worse. I used to have an enviable pain tolerance, but pain definitely bothers me more, much more than it used to, but I suck it up and keep working … filing… trying not to inhale through my mouth. I finally used the pain as a motivator and I got an audience with the director of personnel and ask her where they’re at with getting me benefits. She says that since I work for three depts, all three parties have to commit to saying they want me long term. One party is on board, the other dept head keeps thinking it’s taken care of but apparently it wasn’t and then the personnel director says if I can get her on board, she’ll take care of the third person involved.

I leave her office, call party #2 and leave her a message… and find out later, she took care of it. Whew… so I don’t know when I’ll get benefits, but we’re one step closer.

As I drive out to the dentist in my car with no a/c (it was very warm and humid today), I’m more than uncomfortable. I take ibuprofen once I get to the dentist. I hand her my temporary crown and she smiles and says, “the cement will be cold.”

Well, I closed my eyes and went to my happy place. I nearly ripped the arms of the chair off, but it wasn’t worth getting a shot, because I would have had to wait a long time and the shots don’t work on me like they do for “normal” people. So I grip the chair and suck it up. It actually wasn’t so bad… meaning the chair is still in tact.

I ate very soft food for dinner and right now, there is slight pain, much like when I first came home with this crown last week. Never fear. In an hour or so I’m taking two MIDOL (yes, it’s been a GREAT day) and then, I’m going to bed.

Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be better…