Elephant Man

or Woman, to be more precise:

Let's just put bad lighting and the lack of make-up aside.

Last night, I was watching TV and it felt like my face was swelling slightly.  I asked Gary and he said that he noticed it was a bit puffy at dinner.  I was still having shooting pains and lots of throbbing so I look a Tylenol #3 and went to bed around midnight.

Fast forward to a mere 3 hours later... I was awakened by throbbing pain and a stretching sensation on my cheekbone.  I stumbled through the dark to the medicine cabinet and took a 400mg ibuprofen and went back to bed, not bothering to check in the mirror.

I slept off and on until 7am, when I heard the kids getting ready for school.  By this time, I knew that my face was swollen, since I could barely open my left eye.  I stayed in bed until the kids were gone, not wanting to alarm them.  Then I shuffled out to the kitchen in my slippers.

"Feeling better?" Gary asked, typing away on the laptop.

"Uh... not really." I replied.

He looked up then and did a double take.  I felt like the Elephant Man, with the entire left side of my face swollen from eye brow to neck.  I was so swollen that my eyelids (upper and lower) had disappeared!

I waited until 8:45am when I knew the dentist office was open and popped in.  One look from the receptionist and she said, "Oh, that looks painful.  Let me check your file."

Turned out that Dr. M had written a prescription, on the off chance that I would need it before she was back in the office, and had left it in my file.  The other dentist in residence took one look at me and suggested that I start the meds by doubling the first dose.

Here's another photo - it's out of focus and dark, but it was taken from head on, so you can see the difference better:

The photos above was taken about six hours after the first doubled dose - and some of the swelling has already disappeared!  Let's hope it works its' magic through the night tonight - Katrina and her family are coming to spend the weekend with us!