The Toothache

Email from Mary Farley

December 9, 2021

Sometime in the late 90's Jim, Marcia, Becky and Cristin arrived in Bothell on their way home from skiing at Snoqualmie Pass.

Marcia walked in and said she had had enough.  Jim had a toothache all day long and he kept putting ice on it.  The ice helped for a while and then the pain came back more intensely.  He had been agitated all day with the pain and he was clearly in agony.  Marcia told me to take him to the emergency room and get him a shot of Demerol.

I gave him a couple of aspirin and convinced him to rub clove spice powder onto his gum.  The anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of clove spice make it an effective natural remedy to combat tooth pain.*  I gave him the can of spice and a couple of clove buds and we headed to Evergreen Hospital about 9 pm.  I was the nursing supervisor there and the physician and nurse knew me well.

Jim had an abscessed tooth and agreed with the doctor when he said, " I bet you are in a world of hurt".   He ordered IM Demerol and oral antibiotics.  The nurse drew up the shot and asked me if I wanted to give it.  "Now's your chance" she said as she waved the syringe in front of Jim's face. Jim smiled his usual shy smile and looked at me with a bit of worry on his face.   I declined and told her he had always been a good big brother and I didn't need to get even for anything.  

There was a little boy about 6 years old on the stretcher next to Jim and he was crying from an earache and fear.  So, Jim has his pants down far enough to expose his skinny little butt and he pokes his head through the curtains and tells the boy not to be afraid, "they are going to help you."  We went into the waiting room to wait for the meds to be delivered and after a few minutes Jim made a mad dash to the bathroom and vomited all over.  Nausea and vomiting are common side effects of Demerol, but I think Jim is the only person I ever saw actually throw up.

I grabbed several towels and cleaned up the mess on the toilet, floor and walls.  Meanwhile his pain was subsiding, and his tension was gone.   We got his meds just as the boy and his mother were ready to leave.  They were intending to catch a bus home and the bus stop was blocks away.  Jim gave them $20.00 for a cab and he drove us back to Bothell.  Thinking about it now, I should not have let him drive with the Demerol on board, but he was fine, and I probably would not have had any say in the matter anyway.

Marcia and the girls were asleep upstairs.  I put Jim to bed on the living room couch and I set my alarm to give him his next dose of antibiotics and pain meds around 3 or 4 am.  I obviously slept through the alarm.  Dad woke up and gave Jim his meds and both of them went back to sleep. I have never known Dad to wake out of sound sleep except for the times we changed the channel on the TV while he was asleep on the couch.  He would wake up and complain that he was watching that football game or whatever.  He did it on several occasions.  I have heard from other people that this a common paternal trait.  

 I warmed up some mashed potatoes for his breakfast, and he ate them without a problem.   He was hungry and happy to be out of pain.  So were his wife and daughters.

* As soon as Orajel came on the market I bought some for my first aid stock