How much stress can you handle?

Last Tuesday I went to school - it's orientation time. Mira has been going with me. Tuesday we came home from school and I was starving.

During the summer it's too hot to eat anything heavy so most people just eat one meal a day and drink large amounts of water. It is a habit I fell into naturally -- fruits, cheese, bread, and water. Sometimes fuul. That's it for one day.

Tuesday I came home starving. So I ordered a grilled chicken - ferakh meshwayya from El Haty, a well known grill restaurant in Cairo. I love their chicken - especially when Hassan's here and we eat it together. I was eating the bread with tahina and I heard a crack in my mouth. Well, it finally happened - I broke another tooth.

This tooth was next to the one I broke some time ago. No more playing around -- it was time to go to the dentist.

I was so worried about school - I went on Wednesday, which was a field trip to the Pyramids and Sphinx in 100+ degrees. Mira and Jasmine came along and had a great time. Actually I went for them because they really wanted to go.

There I am, hot as hell, walking up the hill, with a broken, throbbing tooth, in 100+ heat, dehydrated, dreading the afternoon trip to the dentist.

I have bad experiences with dentists - you know, childhood memories of novacaine and the drill hitting the nerve from a cavity.

I had no choice anymore. This had to be taken care of. I went to the dentist and he pulled the tooth saying "You can come tomorrow (Thursday) morning or September 2 to get your teeth fixed." I thought about it for approximately 1/2 a second and answered "Tomorrow." I know me - if I wait I will never go back.

So I went to the dentist the next day and he started the procedure for two implants. Well, it would have taken only 15 minutes but there was a problem with the bone. At one point he even got out a little hammer to pound at the bone in my mouth - the worst part of it was that he kept showing me the progress. Ugh. I can go without the details.

Alhamdulillah I have 4 stitches, two temporary crowns and virtually no pain whatsoever.

In addition, I am reconsidering my job this year. It just isn't working out - I snapped at work yesterday and I'm sick and tired of fighting the Egyptian way of doing business. Just because other people have to deal with it doesn't mean that I have to also. I work because I love to work and I'm dedicated to what I do - but I need to decide when it's time to stop being a pushover and doormat and get some brass balls to say "no." I should have listened to Hassan in February when he told me not to return to work. He was right.

So I called in sick today - my mouth is swollen and throbbing and in pain from the stress of school and we're still a week away from students arriving. Oh well.

Ma'salaam,

~Marian