I know I owe you all part two of a day in the life of a well traveled sock, but I think I should explain my long blog silence to those of you who don’t see me on a regular basis and get most of your news about me from this blog.

Nov 1 was a very bad, no good day. Well, mostly no good. It was our last day of vacation and we had to check out of our resort by 9. So we packed and loaded up the cars. We drove over to Disney World, and while Dad was following the parking attendants’ gestures to a parking space, I experienced what I call sparkle vision: also known as the first sign of an impending migraine. Once we were parked, I took a Maxalt to impede the headache and a Compazine to prevent the vomiting that was likely to come next as the headache tried to progress.

I told the family I would just lie down in first aid and so sent Mom, Heather, and Micah on ahead. I tried to send Dad, but he wanted to stay with me. Eventually I was able to convince him to go on. No need for him to miss out (Bear Country had just opened after a month of refurbishment and we wanted to see it before we left as it was Micah’s favorite attraction when we were kids). There was nothing Dad could do anyways, but turns out there is no First Aid at the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center) so I had to hop the ferry and ride over to the Magic Kingdom to go to first aid (which is between Casey’s Hotdogs and the Crystal Palace).

I didn’t get very far. I made it to the guest services instead. They had to call paramedics (standard procedure) even though I knew I had done all they could do to help. I’m sure the unstoppable tears are what did it. In less than 4 minutes, I was surrounded by Disney staff and paramedics. They were all very kind and thoroughly considerate if a bit overwhelming. After I told the paramedics 3 times that I didn’t need to go to the ER, they allowed a cast member to take me to the first aid station where I was taken to a quiet, semi-dark, semi-private room and allowed to sleep for a few hours. The nurse, Debi from NY, was an angel. She brought me ice and cold compresses and didn’t make a fuss which was exactly what I needed.

Our flight to CA departed at 6:45pm so the family came to collect me around 2:30ish (though I don’t remember exactly–the Maxalt makes things a bit fuzzy) so we could do final shopping and get out of the park before the parade at 3. The first aid folks let us keep the wheelchair for the trip out of the park, which was really very kind of them as I was still a bit wobbly. We shopped too long and ended up seeing most of the parade. Seems they reversed it. I remember it starting at the base of main street and ending in Adventureland, but this parade started I don’t know where and ended at the beginning of Main Street.

We left the park, returned the rental cars, and made our flight with ease. If only the flight itself had been all ease. My headache never really progressed, but it seems the compazine only delayed the vomit, didn’t prevent it. I spent the majority of the flight in the bathroom. Had to change clothes (I thank God I had a spare set of clothes with me–usually I don’t bother to carry clothes for return flights). It was miserable. Thankfully Mom offered to let me ride shotgun for the drive from LAX to home. My claustrophobia was on overload after spending most of the flight in the tiny bathroom so riding up front with the big window was a huge relief. So yeah, Nov 1 was a very bad no good day.

Bright spot of the month: Nov 4th. Since then, I’ve had 3 or 4 dreams about working for President-elect Obama. Not that I’ve ever been that political or ambitious enough for Washington, but when I walked out of the polling station, I realized that for the first time in my voting career I hadn’t voted for the lesser-of-two-evils. I had voted for a candidate I actually respected, and as a result I felt a sense of civic pride. And obviously my brain likes to remind me of that feeling via dreams.

Maybe because that feeling was replaced with deep sorrow on Nov 6th when my sister Heather went into early labor. She has written about it on her blog, so I feel ok to write a little bit about it here. Cordelia Smith was still born on November 6th. She was so beautiful, but too early. There was nothing the doctor could do. And Heather was in danger as well, though at the time we didn’t realize how much danger she was in. The ob/gyn was worried about losing both mother and child. Heather is now fully recovered physically. Emotionally, I think we are all apt to be sad, appropriately sad, for some time now.

Now I’ll skip ahead to Nov 18th and my first visit to the oral surgeon. My wisdom teeth had become a problem so my dentist wanted them taken out, and not knowing if dental insurance would be offered by my employer for 2009 I figured it was best to get it done now. Another xray by the oral surgeon found that not only were my wisdom teeth impacted and the lower ones putting extreme pressure on my teeth, but that a 1.25 cm cyst from a wisdom had invaded my nerve canal on the lower left side. We scheduled surgery to remove all 4 teeth and the cyst on Wednesday, November 26th.

The surgery was scheduled at 8:00 am for 45 minutes to an hour. It ended up taking just under 2 hours, and I was semi-awake for the last 10 minutes. Thankfully the memory of the pain experienced in those 10 minutes has faded (thank you drugs). But still, my Thanksgiving day was spent puffy and swollen and on Darvocet.

I stayed on Heather’s sofa for 5 days. She was an angel. Not overly fussy and yet never inattentive. The perfect balance of care and respect. My sister rocks.

Still, after 5 days I felt like she deserved some privacy. So she took me home and let me snuggle with Bingley during the days. Since I still had to sleep in a semi-upright position (an impossible feat in my loft), I slept for a few more nights at Mom and Dad’s in a recliner.

As of this moment, I still have some deep pain in my left jaw, but it is less than yesterday which was less than the day before…and all of my stitches have dissolved. I haven’t needed a darvocet for a day now and can make it through on ibuprofen alone. Other good news, the cyst was benign and the removal did not cause any permanent nerve damage.

Most importantly, I can almost chew without pain! Over two weeks of protein smoothies, yogurt, pudding, and mashed potatoes was starting to drive me nuttier than usual. Crunchy and super chewy things are still on the wait list, but that’s ok for now.

So that was my November. How was yours?