Chewing on the right

Well, I had surgery yesterday.

You know, they kind where they cut out gum tissue from the roof of you mouth, and then graft it onto the front of you lower teeth.

What, you haven't done that? Weird, I figured everyone has at least once...

Yep, I had the first of two gum grafts performed yesterday. Because of the way my mouth is structured, I never really had any true gum tissue in the front of my lower front 8 or so teeth. The tissue that was there was more of the flexible, semi-transperant tissue that covers the inside of your cheeks. Great for being flexible and stretching, but not so great for providing support for teeth. Because of this, the semi-gum tissue has been slowly receding and wearing away (since it wasn't really up for the job in the first place), leaving more and more of those teeth exposed.

Left untreated, eventually the roots would be completely exposed, and without any gum support, they could fall out. Not cool. At this point, they aren't loose, but were getting to the point where the dentist and periodontist were getting more concerned about it. So, yesterday we did the left side. The periodontist cut out tissue from the roof of my mouth (on the left side) and sutured it onto the front of my lower teeth where I was missing gum tissue. After a couple of months we'll do the right side too.

Have I grossed you out yet?

The actual surgery wasn't too bad, since they loaded me up with novocain. The worst parts:

1. Injecting the novocain. Not really that painful, but a lot of needle pokes and prods considering that they had to inject it into the roof of my mouth, the gums near my lower left and front teeth, and parts of my cheek.

2. Feeling like I something was blocking my airway. When the effects of the novocain reach the front of your throat (because it was injected in the roof of my mouth), it feels like you need to clear your throat, like something is there, but it won't go away. Creepy bad feeling that you just have to get used to, all the while feeling like you're about to choke.

3. Antiseptic solution applied to lower gums where the grafts were placed had a horrible taste the lingered and reached the back of my throat, such that I had to consciously try not to gag. This was the worst part. It didn't just taste bad, it really made me want to gag, and it was like that for about 5-10 minutes straight.

4. Stitches. Lots of them. Upper where they extracted the gum tissue from behind my teeth and lower where they grafted it. Not painful, just a weird feeling when you see the doctor sewing in your mouth. He just kept going, and going, and going...

5. Being awake for the whole thing, but not being able to see what was going on. No, I wasn't creeped out by what they were doing, rather, I wanted to watch. I'm the kind of person that likes to watch them stick the needle in while giving blood, and I wanted to see them working in my mouth. Every once in awhile, when his head angle was just right, I could see my mouth in the reflection on periodontist's glasses. The image was so smal though, that it didn't provide a great viewing experience.

You can't really see much of what they did, since everything is covered with a silly-putty-like dressing to prevent infection. There are basically three big globs of putty: one of the roof of my mouth, one of the front of my lower left and front teeth, and one on the back of my lower left and front teeth.

I have the stitches taken out in 2 weeks, but I'll have to eat on one side of my mouth for an entire month. I'm not even supposed to chew with my front teeth, since the left half of them were involved also. No food restrictions though, which is why I was willing to do this before Christmas. Penicillin to prevent infection and Vicodin (extra strength!) for pain.

Oh, and if you thought I was a slow eater before, wait until you see me now! ;-)

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One of those days

Today was one of those days. You know, the kind you wished would just end already, so you can climb back into bed and try again the next day. Well, it's finally almost time to try just that.

The day started off on a low note. I was running late to work. I walked into the garage to leave, and I smelled a strange, sweet scent. I also saw dark stains on the cement floor, orange puddles in the cracks, and my garage door dripped when I opened it. No, it did not rain Hi-C Orange in my garage last night. A quick check under the hood of my car, and sure enough, all of my engine coolant was gone. Problem. Well, so much for driving to work, I think the car is staying right where it is.

In my extreme lack of car knowledge, I did check to see if a hose was leaking somewhere. No such luck. The leak was coming from the bottom corner of the radiator. Bummer.

Later on, in our softball game, my little sis tried to catch a pop fly at shortstop and ended up catching her other hand a bit funny. From the outfield, I couldn't quite tell what was going on, until she and a couple other people left the field heading for their cards. I ended up waiting in the urgent care room with her after the game (which we were leading in until the last inning, when they scored 10 runs and then won), since I had to get a ride to the clinic (see above paragraphs). She hyper-extended two fingers and her wrist, and had some nasty gashes on her fingers. Nothing was broken, but she needed four stitches, a lot of cleaning, and a splint for her wrist and hand.

We finally got home and Ms. Fiance and I managed to get my car over to a repair shop so they can look at it in the morning. I filled the coolant reservoir before leaving, but had to stop once to refill it about half way to the shop. The coolant would just come streaming out whenever the engine was running, and for the first time ever, I was driving my car with the temp gauge not just in the red, but at the farthest end of the red mark. The repair shop was only a couple of miles away, and there my car now sits.

Thinking nothing else could happen today, I then remembered that I still had to sign checks at church. It was already late, but I headed over there in my sister's vehicle after stopping by CVS with little sis to get some prescription pain killers for her. There was a little bit of extra work to do at church besides signing checks, but not bad. I then checked my box in the office, and found a copy of a letter written to one of the church staff from a church member. It was given to each member of the leadership team. It was so full of venom, anger, and hate that it really turned my stomach. How can people be so mean to others, especially in a church? I could not believe what I was reading. Pure venom is the best way to describe it. Unbelievable.

So, it's finally time to go to bed and put this day behind me. Here's to tomorrow!

DotD: Prescription painkillers for softball injuries - $10 copay - What's the cost without insurance, little sis wanted to know? $10.99. Whew, good thing we didn't have to go that route! ;-)

Mom, she's poking me!

My highly-anticipated visit to the allergist is now over. The past couple of years I've suffered through a couple really rough weeks of allergies in the Spring, along with usually feeling a little miserable when I'm outside a lot in the summer (like camping). When I described this to the doctor before we did the testing, she said I probably had some grass pollen allergies. 

So, the testing began. Thirty pokes in the back with different things to see what you react to. Immediately, my back started itching. The doctor came back in about 10 minutes later and was really surprised at the results. My back was lighting up like a Christmas tree with much redness and many large welts.

There were a couple things I didn't react to, so for those they do an additional test by injecting some of the chemical under the skin on your forearm. Two of those four also became very itchy with large welts and redness.

As it turns out, I am really allergic to grass pollen, but am also allergic to tree pollen, dust mites, mold, and cats.

The cat thing was a surprise, since I do have a cat (Charlie, who just walked across my lap as I typed that and is now trying to get to my cereal bowl), and he's never bothered me. My Mom and both of my siblings are allergic to cats, however. I did not react to the cat one on my back, but did have a big reaction when they injected it under my skin.

The doctor's take on this is that if my allergy symptoms start becoming year-round, it could be because of Charlie and I may have to keep him out of my bedroom, for instance, or use that special anti-allergen shampoo on him.

My take on it was that I shouldn't inject Charlie under my skin. 

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