Just finished reading a really great book

One of my favourite modern chick-lit authors is Marian Keyes. She writes such great, endearing stories, that are full of great characters and her stories are so easy to read - they are really "un-put-downable" books. I really get into the storyline and characters and miss them when I finish reading them.

I have read every single one of her novels and have them all, but one in my collection of books (I love to read and I really love lots of different genres). The one I didn't have, I borrowed from a friend - "The Brightest Star in The Sky" - such a beautiful, whimsical story, so lovely and sweet, almost magical really. It was so nice to read and I finished all 612 pages in about two days!  I will buy it one day soon.

While this novel was rather whimsical, there were some really dark, poignant moments in there too, which were a bit hard to read (for me), but she covered them really well.

Reading her novels it made me think that she covers certain subjects so well, that maybe it was because she experienced them herself. Just a feeling I got after reading the novel before this one - This Charming Man - about a very handsome and charming man who was actually abusive. She has also written about alcohol abuse (Rachel's Holiday) and depression (Anybody Out There) and again, it struck me that the way she wrote about the character's experiences with these seemed to come from personal and intimate experience.  I found out recently that I was right about my hunch. On her web site Marian Keyes talks about her experience with alcoholism, depression and men who didn't treat her well.

The last time I checked Marian Keyes' site, which was in January 2010, she was greatly afflicted with depression to a debilitating level. I wonder if writing about rape, depression and children in her current book (The Brightest Star in The Sky) may have sent her over the edge into the pits of depression. She and her husband have tried to have children and have not been able to conceive, she has been depressed in the past and is currently experiencing it and about the rape, maybe she experienced that too. I just thought that maybe writing about all of these personal experiences into her characters, instead of being cathartic, was maybe too much for her to deal with, so her mind spiralled downward into feeling depressed. Her depression started some time after the book was released, so it may have taken a bit of time to get to the depressed state. 

Poor thing, I hope she gets better. She writes the most wonderful books. I love her chatty, engaging writing style.

Dentists confirms abscess at root of the tooth

No wonder I have been getting such severe pain in my tooth - there is an abscess under the root, near the nerve.

I started taking some antibiotics on Sunday afternoon, because I thought that maybe if the tooth was this painful, there may be an abscess underneath in the root area, that was causing the huge pain.

By the time it was Monday morning, I was in such severe pain that it hurt to even swallow my own saliva! The pressure from my tongue in my mouth was irritating the exposed nerve in that tooth and it hurt really badly.  Not only did that hurt, but the whole of my right side of my jaw, upper and lower hurts so much too. It's just awful.

I don't have a dentist here, so I had to ring around to find someone, but two of the dentists I tried were not available until Wednesday, which was in two days time. That was not soon enough for me, as the pain was excruciating!  I finally found a dentist who could take me in, in a few hours, as they had a spot available in their emergency appointment schedule - thank goodness!

Breakfast consisted of half a glass of a smoothie I made - to give me some energy. I had to drink it through a straw because any of the liquid that touched the tooth hurt so much.

When I saw the dentist, I explained to her the problem and the pain, as well as my bad experiences with dentists in the past, together with my very low threshold of pain and the fact that I get sinus issues, which makes working on my top teeth very difficult, because the vibrations of the drill vibrate the sinus passages and that causes pain, even with anaesthetic injected.


The dentist recommended that I undertake the treatment to the tooth under light sedation. Because the tooth and surrounding area is so sore, she advised me that she may not be able to get the area numbed enough to be able to treat the tooth. That was disappointing, but at least she was honest and had integrity enough to let me know what my best option was. She gave me two phone number of dentists, one who she really recommended, but didn't know if he did sedation and the other she didn't really know, but knew he did sedation.

I called the first practice, who confirmed they did not do sedation there and gave me the phone number of another dentist (not on the list) who did sedation and who was really good. God, I hope he is, as I am petrified of going to the dentist!

Today when I woke up, the right side of my face was visibly swollen. Not a lot, but enough to be visible that there was an issue underneath. The gum near the tooth was also sore, as was my jaw at the joint. I rang the dental surgery who explained that it was not anything to worry about too much unless the swelling got worse and that I would be okay as I was seeing the other dentist tomorrow.

My appointment with the dentist who does the sedation work is tomorrow morning - it is for a consultation to see what he can do for this tooth. The first dentist already sent over my file and x-ray to their practice, so they know what they're dealing with.