Salivary Gland Stone

So, as is the case with me...whenever Jeff leaves town, SOMETHING happens to make life a bit more difficult. I have come to expect it...though not so much that I cause catastrophe...it is just something that I am not surprised by when he leaves town. Just for example. One year, pregnant with MaKenna, Nacho (grumpy chihuahua) decided to wrip the screen door...then dragged a dead bunny in the house and proceed to knaw on said bunny on my bed leaving blood and bunny hair trails through out the house. Nice. Not only was I pregnant, but I had two other small people to watch out for...AND I had no idea what kind of diseases rabbits carry. Another time pregnant again...not sure with which one...pop was sprayed throughout the kitchen...floor...ceiling...cabinets...walls...appliances you name it. There was a multiple pop explosions...I can't really remember the circumstances that led to this multipole pop spraying explosion extravaganza...but I CLEARLY remember being on my hands and knees, stools, ladders, etc, all weekend, trying to clean the sticky substance off of everything.

Those are just two examples. There are more...but I don't want to bore you.

This trip was no different. I was hit with the "Jeff's out of town...let's get her" demon. Jeff left Wednesday. I felt like I was getting a cold sore in my mouth on Wednesday. Thursday it hurt REALLY bad and it was VERY swollen inside my mouth. I have NEVER had a swollen cold sore before. I couldn't eat or talk without chomping down on my swollen inner cheek. From the outside...all looked fine...but the inside of my mouth was being tortured. I also noticed on Thursday that my lymph nodes on that side of my head were swollen and VERY sensitive. Hmm...odd little cold sore. What made it even weirder was when I tried to attack it with a Q-Tip full of Hydrogen Peroxide...there was no fizzing taking place. Hmmm...I thought I would give it some time. So Friday it was even worse. It hurt SOOO bad. I finally called the doctor. I felt stupid though. I told the nurse I didn't want to come in just for him to tell me it was a nasty cold sore....but at the same time...it was close to the weekend and I needed to know if it was something more. She asked the doctor and he wanted me to come in.

I dropped the kids off at Papa's and I headed to the doctor. He took one look in my mouth and said, "Whoa...wow...yup...I bet that hurts. Gosh....hmmm..." I was dying of suspense! Finally he told me....I had a Salivary Duct Stone. WHO KNEW???? DID ANYONE OUT THERE IN CYBER SPACE HAVE ANY IDEA THAT YOU COULD GET A SALIVARY GLAND STONE???? I find it funny because I AM famous in my family for getting the WEIRDEST ailments....but it also would have to happen when Jeff was gone. Anyway...he said it was badly infected and that my dry mouth (which I attributed to exercising...therefore I was drinking more), was due to the fact that one of my ducts was blocked with that stone...causing the infection...causing the swelling...causing the swollen and very tender lymph nodes. So...he put me on a hefty antibiotic and gave me a steroid cream. He said if it wasn't better by Monday he would manually remove the stone. I didn't even WANT to know what that would consist of. By Sunday the pain was better...I was still a bit swollen...but the pain was better. Monday, no pain....still a little swelling...but no pain...no more dry mouth. Yes...the stone passed!! I feel SO weird saying that...but, it did! No...a week later, no more sign of clogged ducts....no clogged salivary ducts, no clogged milk ducts...no clogged tear ducts...I am ALL CLEAR! Whew! My ducts are running properly! So....now you know...........I am becoming a Salivary Duct Stone Advocate..... :-)