My mouth can’t catch a break

So, I mentioned this on Facebook yesterday but it’s all I can think about today since my mouth is still absolutely killing me, so pardon me but I’m going to rant for a minute … I hope I don’t seem melodramatic with this, but with everything that’s been going on, this just about put me at my breaking point.

Yesterday I was at Charlotte Douglas Airport about to catch a flight to Cleveland, leaving from gate A10. I had 5 minutes before boarding was to begin (I’d been at the airport for hours trying to catch a standby flight on US Airways, but they were all full so I switched to a Continental flight with just enough time to get to Terminal A, get my boarding passes printed, and grab a snack.)

The closest thing to Gate A10 was Cinnabon.

Lemme say this: I don’t really care for Cinnabon. I think it smells better than it tastes. I think the food is ok at best and I don’t even want to think about the calories / fat / sugar that one must be ingesting for “ok” food. In fact, the last time I had Cinnabon was years ago at Chris’ house when he had gotten some. I refused to eat it and he jokingly tried to force some into my mouth. Actually, now that I think about it, I didn’t even eat it then, so who knows the last time I had it. (For the record, his attempted force feeding made me like Cinnabon even less.)

I digress. Cinnabon was the closest thing to the gate. And I really needed some coffee because I was exhausted, having been under the weather with my injuries and then spending the entire day at the airport. I should also mention this is the first time I’ve truly been “on my own” since my fainting spell. Even when Jeff was out of town for a couple of days he had people checking on me around the clock. The airport felt so isolated. Not only was I alone, no one I knew could even get past security if  they wanted to, but here I am lugging around a suitcase and a laptop case and a purse. A lot of work for a girl who has spent the past several weeks recovering from injury.

I was managing, though. And I was just about home free. I would be getting on a plane and at the other end (after a layover in Cleveland, then on to Phoenix) would be Anil, who has taken great care of me and I knew I could relax at his place just as easily as I can relax at home. I went to Cinnabon and ordered “a coffee, a water, and a Cinnabon.” The lady was very kind and repeated my order back to me. “You want a cup of coffee, a cup of water, and a Cinnabon.” Yes, please.

I paid and went to get my order. In hindsight, I can see she was distracted. There were two cups sitting there but no Cinnabon. “Did you order a Cinnabon?” she asked. Keep in mind I was the only customer and maybe 30 seconds to a minute had passed. But no worries, I am patient. I confirmed and she gave it to me.

My medicine makes me dehydrated, and I was feeling it. So I was so happy to have the water, maybe even more so than the coffee next to it. Some of you may not know this but I cannot drink hot coffee. I have to wait about 30-45 minutes after I order a black coffee to even sip it. (less time if it’s a latte or something.) I have an extremely sensitive mouth and if I don’t wait, I will feel pain on my tongue for a day or so. And of course, since I’ve been injured I’ve been even more careful. I am sensitive to both heat and cold. I have to drink cold liquids through a straw so they don’t touch my front teeth that were injured.

So, I was dehydrated and I needed water before coffee. I eagerly stuck a straw in the water cup and took a huge gulp.

And in that moment, I thought I had swallowed poison. Everything burned and hurt. What I had actually ingested was hot water. I ordered a water, and the lady served me hot water. HOT water.

I exclaimed, “Oh my God this is hot!”

“Yes,” she said, “it’s hot water.”

“I need ice water!” I said. “Please hurry, my mouth is burning.”

She looked at me oddly. “I thought you wanted hot water.”

“No!” I said. “I wanted cold water. Please hurry, it is hurting!”

I don’t know if she wasn’t processing what I was saying or what, but she took her time getting a new cup out, putting ice in it, putting water in it, and putting a lid on the cup. Was she trying to torture me???

“Wow, I thought you wanted hot water,” she chuckled. “I hope it didn’t burn you.”

“Yes, it did! It’s burning me right now!”

She finally handed me the cold water and I drank it eagerly. As I finished I made a face since my mouth was still absolutely hurting me. “What’s wrong?” she said.

“It burned me!” I said. “It hurts really bad.”

“I thought you wanted hot water,” she repeated.

I thought about this point later: My coffee had the typical lid that you peel back to sip hot drinks with. The water had a typical lid that you would place a straw in, in order to drink cold drinks. If she actually thought I wanted hot water, wouldn’t she have given me a hot-drink lid? Why would I drink hot water out of a straw?

I had to catch my flight so I left at that point. I thought I heard her chuckling behind me to the woman who had taken my payment. I managed to make it onto the flight with the ice from the water (I had drank the water in about 2 gulps) and I had intended to throw the water away before getting on the plane. Getting on a plane with two drinks, food, plus all my luggage was not something I’d planned to do. But I managed to do it, settled into my window seat, and started feeding myself ice chips. I had to be careful not to touch my front teeth because they were not only cold sensitive, but were now throbbing from the heat of the hot water.

After about 45 minutes, I was still starving so I took out the Cinnabon. Cut myself a small bite (I still can’t chew with my front teeth) and placed in in my mouth. Instant pain. I ended up throwing it away along with the full cup of coffee. So not only did I waste all the money I spent at Cinnabon (maybe $5 or $6, not much, but still, it’s the principle), but I couldn’t get what I needed to eat/drink. I had to get a smoothie in Cleveland even though it wasn’t what I wanted, but it was the only thing my mouth could handle. I tried to eat a burrito last night, thinking the soft food would help, but the spices were burning my mouth.

I feel as if I’ve just regressed by weeks in my recovery. My tongue had blisters on it last night and the roof of my mouth has an awful texture to it now. I feel like someone is holding a hot match to it; it’s on fire. It’s absolutely the worst mouth burn I’ve ever had. On top of all the pain I was already in.

I contacted Cinnabon and this is what I said to them (warning, it repeats a lot of what I already said, so you don’t have to read again if you don’t want to). And as I re-read it now, I realize I’m ranting a bit but I wanted to get it all out! The editor in me apologizes:

I ordered a cup of water, a small coffee and a cinnabon. I was given the food/drinks, and I put a straw in the water cup and took a huge gulp. To my dismay, she had served me HOT water! My tongue is blistered. The roof of my mouth feels as if someone held a match to it. I had to throw away both the coffee and the cinnabon because my mouth hurt too badly to eat/drink, so I wasted money. Why would she think I wanted hot water??? And why would she serve it in a cup with a cold-drink lid on it? My coffee had the typical hot drink lid that you peel back to drink. The hot water should not have had the ability to put a straw in it! On top of all this, I am recovering from injuries to my mouth that landed me 3 days in the hospital. This one gulp of water set back my pain by weeks. My teeth that were prior injured are now throbbing and I will likely have to return to my dentist. This is the worst burn I have ever had to my mouth and I am extremely upset about this. This was at Charlotte Douglas Airport, terminal A. Your web site cuts off before it lets me choose which terminal so I selected the first option – assuming that’s terminal A but I’m not sure. I am unable to eat hot foods a day later. Everything hurts inside my mouth and I’m having to hold ice chips to my tongue and the roof of my mouth. My prior injuries make my teeth cold sensitive so I am not a happy camper right now. This was the absolute worst timing for me. Please respond. I would like to hear what she was thinking when she served me hot water when I asked for a water. I’d like to know why she decided that putting a cold drink lid, with the availability for a straw, was even an option.

I’m curious how they will respond. I’m so disappointed right now.