Monday, February 18, 2008

Recovering

Well, it's been two weeks since I had my teeth extracted. I'm recovering - SLOWLY but surely! On surgery day, I was told no sucking on straws, no spitting, and no carbonated beverages for 48 hours to prevent dry socket. Just to be on the safe side, I waited at least a week or longer. For the past week, when I brush my teeth, I spit VERY lightly. I had my first carbonated beverage this past Saturday. I still haven't sucked on a straw. However, I believe I've developed a partial dry socket!! If I spit too forcefully, I get an "electric shock" in my top right extraction site. If I talk to excitedly, I get "electric shocks" in that same site. (Which means no yelling at the kids & the hubby; they're happy!) If I say the "p", "b", and "f" sounds to forcefully I receive that very nice "electric shock." Otherwise, I have no pain in that site.

Because my oral surgeon is in SF, my Ortho said he'd see me if I developed any problems or had questions about my surgery. A week ago I stopped into my Ortho's office to confirm that I'm healing properly because I was still in quite a bit of discomfort. He assured me I was healing fine and said it's normal to still be in discomfort as I had a pretty major surgery done. He volunteered to remove my sutures which were all still in (I only lost one, that I know of, on my own). My oral surgeon had said they'd dissolve in 2 to 5 days. Well, they didn't. I asked the Ortho if there was anything wrong with leaving them in. He said, no, but that if they weren't out by last Thursday I should stop back to have them removed. Well, guess what?! Last Thursday they were still there! So I stopped back and my Ortho removed them. It was a rather painless but uncomfortable process! He kept commenting about how many I had. Yeah, I know tell me about it. I've had to feel them for the past 10 days! YUCK!! Also, my Ortho thought I was still healing fine. He didn't think I had a dry socket but that if it really bothered me or got worse that I should contact my oral surgeon. When I got back to my office, I realized the Ortho had missed a suture - a LONG one!

So when I got home at the end of the day, I decided Dean & I had to play dentist. I sterilized small scissors and tweezers. I didn't want to just pull on the suture in case it hadn't been cut by the Ortho so I had Dean try to cut the suture but he just couldn't do it. (I would call this, failure to perform!) So I finally grabbed the tweezers and gave it a pull and out it came! I gave a HUGE sigh of relief and Dean laughed at me!

I am still eating only soft foods which is getting rather boring and frusturating! For two weeks I've lived off of: applesauce, pudding, yogurt, soup, mashed potatoes, peaches, mandarin oranges, malt-o-meal, cottage cheese, and scrambled eggs. I added fluffy pancakes yesterday. I tried some pasta last night and that just gets stuck to my teeth and gums. It's a pain to eat right now. So far I've lost at least 7 pounds. I'm pretty happy about that and hope to lose a bit more! I've cut out all snacks because it's just a pain in the butt to have to clean out my extraction sites everytime I eat. Therefore, I'm eating only 3 meals a day - which feels weird!

On Saturday I had my first can of diet coke in almost two weeks! Prior to my surgery I was a diet coke-aholic! I always had one in the morning to start my day and then if decided to have another, I made sure it was a caffeine-free diet coke. So generally I had two cans a day! So Saturday when I opened my pop and took a whiff I was in heaven! Oh, I just couldn't hardly contain myself. I couldn't wait to take a drink! However, when I actually had a taste, it just didn't taste right. I kept drinking it but I just didn't enjoy it like I used to. THEY BROKE ME!!! I want my love for diet coke back!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!


HAPPY

VALENTINE'S

DAY

May you get kisses from everyone you love

And chocolate from everyone else!

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

I'm Taking the Plunge!

No, I'm getting married (I already am)! I've finally decided to get braces to fix my gaps and overbite.

To understand how huge of a deal this is for me, you need to understand what happened during my childhood. When I was approximately 12 years old, I started the process of getting braces. This involved extracting three or four teeth. Then I was to have braces and the last step would be a couple bridges to replace teeth I am missing. (They say missing teeth is usually genetic but my parents and grandparents do not have missing teeth so maybe it goes farther back??)

The first step involved extracting teeth. My childhood dentist, who I wasn't too fond of then and definitely hate now, got the honors. Well, to say the least, it was NOT a pleasant experience. I don't know if I didn't have enough local or what but I was crying and moaning and he was yelling at me to, "grow up!" From that point on, I NEVER looked forward to going to the dentist, even for a cleaning. So after the extractions, I went to the ortho my parents had chosen (because he made trips to my small town) and had my records appointment, which involves xrays and molds. He was a very large man with very large hands and was not gentle about anything. Shortly after that, I called it quits. There was no way I was getting braces!!! My dad tried to talk me into getting braces by saying, "you'll never get married if you don't get your teeth fixed." Now please understand, I was daddy's little girl and my dad & I are still close. As you may know, I did get married and my teeth did not deter him!

So fast forward approximately 20 years and here I am - making the decision to finally get braces! The number one reason - because I want that perfect smile! The second reason - because both of my kids will need braces and I will NOT allow them to refuse treatment!

Last December I had my first consult. I originally went to see if I could do the Invis*align but was told that it wouldn't work for me. So then I contemplated whether I was truly going to do this and in January, I had a second consult. Even though the second ortho is almost $1000 more, I felt better with the doctor, the staff, the office, and all the technology!

Both orthos told me I had to have teeth extracted which seems counterproductive considering I am missing teeth! The problem is that I still had four baby teeth, two of which were fused to the bone and the other two possibly were. Plus I had a partially erupted wisdom tooth that needed to come out, which my dentist had warned me about, because it was coming in at an angle. He had decided being it wasn't bothering me that we'd wait until it was fully erupted or it bothered me. But now that I was having four teeth removed, we decided to take the wisdom tooth now.

Because of my past experience with extractions, my ortho suggested I see an oral surgeon and because I had a complex case involving teeth that were fused to the bone. That appointment was yesterday! I had 5 teeth extracted!!! And I survived!!! However, it hasn't been easy road to recovery. Sure, they totally put me out so the last thing I remember was being given general anesthesia and then I awoke in the recovery room. But recovery has been slow and uncomfortable. The most pain was yesterday two to four hours after the surgery when I had let the local wear off but didn't yet have my prescriptions to take being we had the surgery in SF and had to drive back to W to get them filled. Then when I finally got everything in me - Sudafed, Ibuprofen, Vicodin, and Amoxicillin - they didn't stay in me for long. My medication schedule is crazy - take this one every 4-6 hours, take this one every 6-8 hours, take this one every 6 hours, and take this one twice day. Plus today I had to add a prescription mouth rinse, Peridex, to the schedule twice a day! The only way to keep track of this is to carry around a notepad with me and jot down each time I take a pill and when I can take it again! And let me tell you, it's not easy swallowing these HUGE pills with a sore mouth and pokey stitches!!!

I have been on a liquid / soft food diet the past two days and I'm sure it will continue tomorrow. My jaw / mouth is VERY stiff - probably from not chewing and talking. Yesterday I was icing it quite often and today it's a heating pad. I really HATE feeling all the stitches! I can't wait until I'm fully recovered. Braces are sounding like a piece of cake compared to these extractions!