Bit of a poor few days

[Stan_Lite]

Just thought I'd share with you.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a couple of fillings done. Last Sunday, the day before I came out to Egypt, one of them started giving me a bit of a pain. There was nothing I could do about it as I had an early flight on Monday. I went on to the rig on Wednesday and was in a fair bit of pain so I went to see the rig doctor. He gave me some painkillers and some mouthwash. About 4 in the afternoon, my face started to swell up so I went back to him and he gave me some antibiotics (Augmentin) and said I should probably go back ashore to see a dentist in Cairo. I said I would see what it was like in the morning. On Thursday morning it looked like this:
http://r1wuga.bay.livefilestore.com/y1psdXyDzVfDwcct2IQvRU8XBGJ6oLJFO7ig3deSb030xXRjaJ AoboZps_y0NAlT_1Q0l359-cXKawEpkANgWsIsdPtPIYFU-Bn/2011-03-24%2002.02.37-1.jpg?psid=1

I decided I should take his advice and arrangements were made for me to go back to Cairo - Luckily, my back to back hadn't left Cairo yet so they turned him around to cover for me.

I got back to Cairo yesterday, having contacted our travel/medical insurance people to arrange a reliable dentist who would invoice the insurance people directly. They couldn't get me an appointment until today so I was just hanging around Cairo yesterday. In the evening, I decided to go to a nearby hotel for dinner as I knew they had a passably good Tex Mex restaurant. When I got there, I decided I would probably need more cash so I went to the ATM - which promptly ate my card :'(

I called my bank and they told me their policy when a card was retained in a foreign ATM was to stop the card immediately. I don't have any other cards so I'm stuck with what little cash I have.

Anyway. I went to the dentist today and I need a root canal filling. He did the preparatory work today but can't do the filling until the infection has completely cleared. He has made an incision in my gum to drain the infection and put some packing in it. I have to go back every day to get the packing changed until the infection has gone. This could take anywhere from 3 to 10 days he says :shocked:

Looks like I'm going to be stuck in Cairo for god knows how long kicking my heels waiting for the infection to clear. I wouldn't mind but I don't even like bloody Cairo. I can't see my company being too happy about paying me and my hotel bill. I'm not sure what they can claim back from the insurance but I would imagine they'll be out of pocket a fair bit.

I was bored so thought I'd have a bit of a moan - sorry :o

[leowyatt]

Jesus stan you poor bugger

[TinkerBell]

Jesus Christ! Never seen that before *hugs*

*fingers crossed* that it heals super fast so you can get the root canal sorted.

[Knipples]

Aw Stan, that sucks. Hope you get better soon :) x

[Jonny69]

Jesus christ Stan, that looks like a Photoshop. Surprised you can even eat or talk like that.

[Stan_Lite]

Jesus christ Stan, that looks like a Photoshop. Surprised you can even eat or talk like that.

Both were a bit of a struggle to be honest. Scrambled eggs and soup were about all I could manage until the swelling went down a bit. A few kind souls aboard the rig nicknamed me John Merrick ;D

Just had some soup and a bit of fish which is the best I've eaten in a couple of days. Hopefully as time goes on and the swelling comes down some more I can branch out into something more exotic - like chips :p

A lot of the fluid has migrated from the infection site to my neck and I now have an underchin like Johny Vegas which I can feel sloshing about when I walk :D although, that is starting to reduce as well.

Thank you for your kind words folks. I'm glad to say, there isn't much pain anymore - as long as I remember not to try and chew on that side of my mouth.

I also got an anti-inflammatory jag up the arse :(

Thankfully, I have a well stocked Kindle, my iPad, netbook and phone with me so I should be able to keep myself occupied while I'm holed up in Cairo. The dentist said I should avoid alcohol if possible, although the odd one wouldn't hurt now and then. I might treat myself to a glass of wine with dinner tomorrow night.

[Blackstar]

*hugs* poor Stanley

[Dee]

Ah no Stan :( Extra hugs reserved for May :) x

[Mark]

:(

Hoping it's much closer to three days than to ten and that Cairo doesn't get you down too much.

[Will]

Awww Stan you poor bugger. :( Hope you get well soon matey! *big manly hugs - tender to avoid pain, but rough enough not to be gay*

[Psymonkee]

Ow! :(

Get well soon! :)

[Zico]

Ouch!!

I can't say that I have been through the same pain/problem but I used to have fun trying to eat when I had massive mouth ulcers (4 or 5 the size of 50p's) before I was diagnosed with Crohn's. Since then my med's have thankfully stopped them coming back or at least not as many and as big.

Oh, please don't take offence but the first thing I thought of when I saw the photo was "get a hat on and you're Desperate Dan".
http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/751/desperatedan.th.gif (http://img846.imageshack.us/i/desperatedan.gif/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[Desmo]

Bloody hell mate, that looks pretty insane from where I'm sitting :eek:

Hope it clears up quickly for you.

[Kitten]

Jesus! x

[Pheebs]

Aw Stan :( How you doing today bubba? xx

[Justsomebloke]

Hope you get better soon mate.

[Desmo]

Jesus! x
I know he looks a bit different, but it's definitely Stan. You can tell by the lack of beard.

[Belmit]

Ouch! Hope you're feeling a bit better today dude. :)

[Piggymon]

Bloody hell Stan ! .. Hope you're ok chap :)

[Roberta]

Get well soon lovely! x

[BBx]

All I can see is a red X but Marie showed me yesterday :(

Ouch! Hope you GWS Mr Stan!

BB x

[Stan_Lite]

Treatment coming along fine. Most of the swelling has now gone and the only discomfort is the packing in the incision in my gum for drainage.

Should hopefully be done with the draining soon and then get the tooth filled and them I'm good to go.

One slight fly in the ointment. My caring compassionate employers have apparently decided they aren't willing to pay me while I'm being treated so I'm flying home tomorrow - halfway through my treatment. Looks like I'll have to finish my treatment at home. I wouldn't have minded so much but there has been no consultation, no arrangements made for treatment back home, no-one has asked the dentist in Cairo if it's wise to fly home with the job half done and no explanation whatsoever. All I've had is an e-mail with my flight details - nothing else at all. It seems to be a case of "Get him out of there so we don't have to pay him" and I'm left to sort it out by myself.

Methinks it's time to polish up my CV.

[BBx]

Methinks it's time to polish up my CV.

I think my boys cover your area of work... so if you are thinking of moving pop your CV across and I will speak to them :)

BB x

OMG just saw the photo again :(

[LeperousDust]

Jesus Stan hope you're getting better! Just got reconnected to the world, and i don't remember you looking like that just before i left to go to Holland/SA!

Not very nice to your employers to just dump you, but it doesnt surprise me as i've never had any employers actually look after me!...

[Stan_Lite]

Getting a lot better now. Took a pic just now and, as you can see, the swelling is mostly gone.

http://r1wuga.bay.livefilestore.com/y1po53FvMH3GGa5sEmZSZvMftpIpiXzq39gGYoRI-mnl1ebt4IlJEENzMnTdf1qpOuG17GTZJwwrM9ZODfQycLEy_Ey-SOdin2r/After.jpg?psid=1

Just got back from the dentist and he says there's still a bit of infection/swelling so he's given me a temporary filling and another course of antibiotics (ones I can't drink with :().
The next appointment they could give me was 14th April but work called today to ask if I could go off to the North Sea on Friday so I asked the dentist if I could make the appointment a few days later so I could go off for 2 weeks - they've given me an appointment for the 19th now.

As I'm going offshore where I can't drink anyway, it looks like the new antibiotics won't be starting until Friday :p

He says there's a 70% chance he can save the tooth. Fingers crossed as I've lost enough already.

[Knipples]

Aw Stan glad the swelling has gone down, if I was nearer I'd come give you a hug. :)

[Pheebs]

Aww Stan stan :( Glad it's not so humongous! Are work being okay about it? Big lubbles x

[Stan_Lite]

Are work being okay about it?

The HR woman is ace. She does appear to be genuinely concerned that I get the treatment I require. The Offshore Operations manager on the other hand is being (and always has been) a c***. I get the impression that he couldn't care less if I'm on my last legs, as long as he gets guys offshore, he couldn't care less about their well-being.

As a company, we're overreaching ourselves at the moment. We've taken on more work than we have guys to cover and he's under a lot of pressure from higher up and from clients to cover the work. I can sort of sympathise with the position he's in but I think his manner and attitude are all wrong. If you want people to put themselves out to help you, the last thing you need to be doing is to be treating them badly.

[Pheebs]

Aww well I'm glad the HR lady is being nicey nice :)

Boo to the other dude. Poke him with a pooey stick. My vote :D

How's toothy tooth? x

[Nutcase]

Bloody Hell not nice - and it's nice to see your work cares...

Hope you get all patched up soon :)