Failure for good reason...

Hydrocodone aka Vicodin
The most frequently reported adverse reactions include: lightheadedness, dizziness, sedation, nausea and vomiting.  Drowsiness, mental clouding, lethargy, impairment of mental and physical performance, anxiety, fear, dysphoria, psychic dependence, mood changes.

Wanna know what it does to me?  Pretty much all of the above. 

As you may have noticed, I failed the NaBloPoMo.  There was no post yesterday.  Why?  Because I had dental work done.

I do not have a great track record with dentists.  I have notoriously bad teeth and I don't visit dentists often (probably because when I do, it's extremely bad news!).  I had a root canal done when I was 17 that I had to pay for out of my own pocket.  I spent several hours on the morning of 9/11 in a dentist chair learning of the attacks on a tv screen above my head.  I was never able to seal my teeth when I was young because I have bad gag reflexes so I have consequently had to have several teeth filled over the years.  And yesterday morning, my 11 year old root canal had to be re-done.  Or started to be redone that is. 

Imagine this...

You wake up with pain (rated at a 12 on a scale from 1-10) radiating from your left cheek to your entire head, neck and shoulder area.  You somehow manage to get dressed and drive to the dentist office for your previously scheduled appoint but don't really remember actually operating the vehicle.  You have a seat in the waiting room until a nice assistant takes you back to a chair that faces a very large window overlooking the snowiness of a winter day outside.  Immediately you realize that you are cold.  Shivering cold, in fact.  Your whole body is all a shiver.  You place your hands in your jacket pockets and cross your legs in an effort to keep yourself warm. 
When the dentist finally gets around to looking at your teeth, you are a tad warmer but still shivering...this time with fear and anxiety.  You put your earphones in your ears but keep your hand on the volume button because you realize that even at the lowest setting you cannot hear when the dentist says to open wider.  Every time you think he is saying something to you, you must unlock and turn down the volume just to realize that he was only speaking to his assistant about the snow in his driveway or his stupid dog.  You do your best to remain calm while he uses drill after drill on your mouth and at one point gag immensely because his fat latex gloved finger touched your tender tongue.  He informs you that you have to "hang in there" and that if you swallow one of his instruments "you will have big problems".  You try not to bite his condescending finger off his chubby hand. 
When he finally finishes his torturous routine, you walk to the front desk and part yourself with the first large installment of payment.  You then make your way to the pharmacy to pick  up prescriptions for pain meds and antibiotics before heading home (all the while cussing out the receptionist that told you the procedure would take only an hour--not two!-- and result in little to no pain so you would be able to go back to work). 
Fast forward several hours...you are in bed after having thrown up for the second time.  You call the dentist's office who offers to call you in another prescription-this one to settle your stomach so you can stop puking but still allow you the pain relief you need.  You call up your dearest to pick up said prescription because you are incapable of getting out of bed long enough to go to the pharmacy.  You puke twice more before he shows up with the new medication, which you choke down with a bowl of mac-n-cheese (not the good kind, either). 

Did you imagine all of that?  Yeah?  Okay now imagine day 2...pills taken correctly cause you to be drowsy, your fingers to not cooperate properly on the keyboard and the rest of your body to be restless.  Your coworkers tease you mercilessly about not being able to open your mouth wide enough to form a greeting sentence when you answer the phone. 

Fun, fun, right?  Yep.  That has been my experiences in the past two days.  Don't you just wish you were me???