The Practical Escape: A Hot Bath
Thursday last week I had one of my lower wisdom teeth pulled and on that particular day, I was smug. I bragged about how little pain I felt and although I had a tiny bit of swelling, I figured I’d made it through the whole process with ease. Little did I know that often it’s on the second or third day that the aching jaw and throbbing begins and the real swelling takes effect. Friday I came into work swaggering, sure that I was a super human who had no need for pain medication or icepacks after going through a little wisdom tooth extraction. By noon I was ready to cry like a baby. I dosed myself with the Vicodin the dentist had prescribed for me and went home to nurse my wounds. All weekend I was on the couch, making tea, reading, watching TV, taking looooong hot baths and whimpering.
Applesauce, soup and popsicles were the only things I felt like eating. Bland and creamy boring food suitable for a nursing home was my fare for 3 days in a row. I was in pain and for once, food was uninspiring.
It’s not often I’m thankful for my husband’s absence, but it worked out for the best that he was gone over the weekend with friends in Trout Lake. I was able to wallow in my pathetic state with no embarrassment. He couldn’t see me as I schlepped around the house in my sweats and bathrobe with a frozen bag of uncooked rice held to my jaw. I wore my most comfortable faded unflattering sweats, watched endless episodes of Sex in the City, read and re-read all of my old Domino magazines magazines and made a pillow fort on the couch. I reveled in sort of a self-prescribed hibernation and spent several hours in the tub listening to my favorite sad song over and over while drinking peppermint tea. (I would have preferred the bottle of sparkling Shiraz I picked up at the coast a couple weekends ago but that wouldn't have gone together well with pain meds)
I felt about as feminine and attractive as Jay Leno.
As a weekend hermit however, I did get the chance to try out a couple of delightful products that I’d ordered for myself as a splurge a few weeks ago and I am now completely addicted to a couple of yummy smelling, natural bath products. My favorite new shampoo and conditioner smelled like warm vanilla with a hint of spice and made my wild tangl-y red hair smooth and shiny. And THIS lovely coconut cream body scrub made my skin glow. (While I was soaking away my misery, at least I smelled like an exquisite dessert)
My advice for anytime you recovering from a visit to the dentist, feeling the effects of the winter blues, trying to get over a break-up, unwind from the stress of the day or if you just need to escape people and life for a couple hours is this: Run the tub. Pour in some scented oil and Epsom salts, light a candle, turn down the lights, put on some music, have a glass of wine and drift away for a little while. Lock the door, tell everyone to leave you alone. Just for a little while...
A hot bath can cure just about anything.
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