The evening

After arriving home, I showered (carefully, to avoid getting my sutures wet) and called my parents to let them know that I had made it. I realized that, as it was Sunday, the pharmacies might close early, so I should go to pick up my prescription for Vicodin as soon as possible. While I’ve generally tended to avoid using painkillers (I didn’t use any when I had my wisdom teeth out), I decided that it would be good to have them on hand, just in case. Checking online, I found that none of the area pharmacies was open later than 6PM. I hurried to catch a bus to the nearest Long’s Pharmacy, arriving in the pharmacy line at 5:45PM. Fortunately, they were still able to fill my prescription.

I also looked for Fixodent, which an EMT recommended to me earlier to temporarily seal my teeth until I could see a dentist. However, I found that this product came in several different kinds, all of which were intended to be used with dentures, so I decided to wait until I could talk to a dentist to see what to do.

I arrived home to realize that I needed to buy straws so that I could drink without getting the sutures on my lip wet. Even without the sutures, drinking without a straw would be a challenge because my lower lip was swollen. I planned to take a walk out to Andronico’s, the nearest grocery store (and one I dislike very much), to buy a box of straws. This was complicated by the fact–for which I am very much appreciative–that the ride leader was planning on bringing my bicycle to my apartment from the fire station, and I didn’t have my cell phone, which was with my bicycle. When I managed to convince myself that I had enough time for the trip, I made the trek down to the store. I looked through what I thought was the entire store twice without finding any straws, so I settled on buying the cheapest package of juiceboxes that I could find. These, of course, come with small straws. I did find the straws after paying for the juiceboxes; they were along the wall at the end of the checkout lines.

I returned to my apartment and blended a can of Amy’s Lentil Soup and then drank it through one of the juicebox straws. I don’t generally find canned soups to be very filling, but I wasn’t very hungry, so this was enough.

The ride leader stopped by with my bicycle. He was very nice and apologetic about the accident, which I assured him was exclusively my fault. Along with my bicycle was my phone (in good working order), and my helmet, which doesn’t appear to have been damaged in the slightest (I will replace it out of caution nonetheless).

I’m going to go to bed soon. I made an attempt to brush my teeth not long ago, but it was not successful due to the level of swelling in my mouth. I also haven’t taken the Vicodin that I rushed out to buy, and I don’t plan to do so before going to bed.