The saga...

So here's the story.

(I know it's ridiculously long.)

For about 2 weeks I was having frequent headaches and some deep pain in my lower left jaw. It was obviously tooth-related, but I continued to ignore it, hoping it would go away. When the pain reached a point that Tylenol was no longer helping, I made an appointment with my dentist for Friday morning - hoping to avoid a pain-filled weekend.

He found a cracked filling in a molar - 2nd to the back on the lower left side. It didn't seem to be a very big deal, and in fact, he felt like I had more pressing issues in almost every other area of my mouth (cavities that needed to be filled, a couple of broken teeth, etc) but since this was the one causing me pain, he made me promise to come back in a few weeks and proceeded to shoot me full of Novocain. For the next hour, he kept my jaw completely unhinged while he drilled out the old filling and replaced it. He put a temporary crown on and made an appointment 3 weeks out for me to have a cleaning and the permanent crown on.

Then he said it was going to HURT for a while. That it should be worse for a day or so, then begin to get better. He gave me a rx for 800mg Ibuprofen and said to take one every 4 hours for the next 4 days, so that the root didn't become inflamed and die, otherwise he'd end up doing a root canal. He said he could write me a rx for pain meds, too, if I needed them...

I said, no, I'd be fine.

Sure enough, the pain got worse right away. It was unbearable for the next couple days, despite the flood of ibuprofen. Luckily, Matt and I never finish all our pain medication, and we have a cabinet full of Lortab and Percocet. After the first 3 days the pain got a bit better, but within 24 hours started worsening again - it seemed like an over strenuous workout caused a backslide, and I figured I'd just take it easy for a couple of days.

Anyway, Lortab was suddenly my best friend - I was taking one every single night – the whole left side of my head throbbed and ached intensely, especially in the evening.

And that was just the beginning.

Day One

Friday morning (one week past my original dentist appointment) I woke up hurting. I skipped my normal cereal for breakfast, not wanting to chew anything hard, and just drank tea instead. Later that morning I did some yard work - mowed both my lawn and the neighbors (the neighbor that occasionally plowed my driveway for me last winter) because I knew he’d been sick and would appreciate the help. He has a BIG lawn, though, and it was a lot of work.

That afternoon I took the kids to the mall to have their pictures taken and do a bit of shopping. Tessa somehow managed to leave the house without shoes on, so I ended up pushing my almost 50 pound daughter around in a stroller, which was also quite a workout (especially since she bounces around and leans all over the place.)

As we were finishing up at the mall my jaw started to throb. By the time we got in the truck the pain was sharp enough to bring tears to my eyes. I called Matt to find out when he'd be home and he told me to call the dentist right away, which I did. Unfortunately, Dentist Pete was out of town. Again, I figured that between the mornings yard work and the afternoons stroller derby the pain had been brought on by doing too much.

When we got home Matt was already there, and as I told about the pain was I started to cry. He always does that to me – he always takes such good care of me – I end up crying even when I don’t mean to! These were just the first tears in a literal downpour over the next week.

I was reluctant to chew much again that night, so Matt made me mashed potatoes for dinner, and I spent the evening on the couch, fighting the pain.

Even with pain medication it got worse and worse that night, until I called Dentist Pete on his cell phone - which he did not answer. I left a message and began the wait to hear back from him.

Day Two

Saturday I was in a lot of pain all day. Tessa was invited to a Birthday party and we needed a few groceries, so we left the house, but I was in bad shape. After we dropped Tessa at her party we stopped by Matt’s parents house to kill some time because I didn’t feel like walking around a store for that long. Jesse was just finishing up some hot coleslaw and rice with sausage gravy that he was making for his lunch. It smelled so good that after Matt and Asher had dug in, I figured the hunger was worse than the pain from chewing and ate some, too. After a bit, we ran to Target and then picked Tessa up from her party. I started to get nauseous from the pain just before we started home, and then ended up folded over the toilet all night. Doubtful I’ll ever be able to eat rice with sausage gravy or hot coleslaw again. Yuck.

Day Three

Dentist Pete finally called back Sunday morning, and after hearing about my symptoms, said he thought I had an abscess, although he couldn't quite figure out how that would be, since the tooth had been alive only a week before and they normally take months to die.

He said he was going to be back late that night, and that he would have his receptionist see if she could get me in Monday or Tuesday.

Sunday afternoon my jaw began to swell.

I was fine one minute, and the next time I looked in the mirror my face was suddenly misshapen.

The horribly stupid, ironic thing about it is that for that first hour or so, I was actually GLAD to see the swelling. I was looking at it as a little bit of physical manifestation so that the whole world didn't think I was just a giant baby, crying over a toothache.

With the swelling came a strange numbness in my chin and lower lip. Not a complete numbness, but the kind of "pins and needles" feeling you get when you're coming off Novocain.

My parents and Joey came up to say hello later on that afternoon, and my mom was quite worried about the swelling. She called her friend, Carolyn, (a nurse) when she got home, then called our house and talked to Matt (by this point, the swelling made it hard for me to talk.) She told him that Carolyn had told her swelling was very serious, that it could interfere with my airway, and that all Pete would do was send me to the ER to have it drained before he could do any work on it.

Matt was worried, then, and called Pete back on his cell phone. He left a message, again, but Pete called back pretty fast and (after hearing about the swelling) called in a prescription for a heavy-duty antibiotic. He said I should take one every 6 hours and make sure to get started tonight.

Sunday night was also spent folded over the toilet.

I was a bit concerned about getting my middle of the night antibiotic in and asked Matt to set his alarm, but I needn’t have worried – I was awake most of the night, writhing in pain, anyway.

Day Four

Monday morning my face was even more misshapen, the pain even more pronounced. I called Pete and he said I would need to see an oral surgeon with that type of swelling - possibly to have the tooth removed. He went over the option of extraction vs a root canal in a few days (after the infection had been kicked and the swelling had gone down) and seemed to favor keeping the tooth.

We ended up seeing an oral surgeon Monday at 11. He went over the same pro's and cons that Dentist Pete had about keeping or extracting the tooth - and he favored keeping the tooth, also. We decided to have the swelling drained, in hopes that it would lessen my "discomfort.” Then I’d need to have a root canal in a week or so.

The OS, Dr. Smoot, shot me with Novocain, put me under the gas and did something called a “stab incision” under my tongue and then pushed and poked at my swelling while he vacuumed up whatever grossness came out with his sucker thing. Thanks to the gas and the drugs it didn’t hurt too badly, though I did whimper a bit through the procedure. When it was over he sent me home with a prescription for Demerol, because I was afraid the Lortab was contributing to my nausea. He also told me to keep heat on my face to help break up the infection and reiterated how important the antibiotics were.

Monday afternoon I felt a tiny bit better – maybe because I was hopeful that this would be a “cure” of sorts. However, I suddenly couldn’t open my mouth more than about ¾ of an inch. Not a huge concern (when compared to the excruciating pain and horrific swelling) but irritating.

It was difficult to talk, so I requested pen and paper and wrote notes to Matt. As the days went on, the notes got sillier, but on Monday they were just sad, lol. Here’s a small sample:

“Is Ash watching George?”

“Do you think we should postpone his party 1 week?”

“Let my parents and your family know. We also need to get Becki her invitation.”

“When George is over I’ll watch the news”

“Are you going to stay with me tomorrow?”

“Is it very hot in here?”

“My ear hurts L”

“It’s bath night – Tessa needs to wash her hair with good shampoo”

I slept terribly again Monday night – FYI, Demerol sucks unless you get it through an IV. I swear, I didn’t even feel it.

Day Five

Tuesday was a bit worse again. By this point I was spending every second of the day in bed – most of the time with a heating pad against my throbbing face. The swelling was no better, but also no worse. Matt was playing Mr. Mom like a champ – he made a grocery list and hit Target after taking the kids to swim lessons. Before he left he asked if there was anything I needed. I said no, but then wrote him a note that said

“a fruit smoothie sounds kind of good – something without seeds”

He brought be home a Peachy Keen from Jamba Juice. It was the highlight of my week.

Tuesday afternoon the swelling moved into my throat and started making it hard to breath. That happened while Matt and the kids were gone, of course, so I just tried to find a spot where my head was comfortable and breathe slowly. It was a little panic-inducing, though.

I started using the paper to record when I was taking meds and which kinds and to record my pain level (on a scale of 1 to 10) so that I could better decide what was working for me. My brain was FOGGY in a very weird way. I’ve never been in enough pain for it to affect my thinking before – except when I was in labor and that’s pretty short term. Anyway, I knew I couldn’t trust my memory to tell me how the drugs were working. According to the paper, Tuesday evening I did pretty well. At 9:00 I rated my pain a 3. At 9:15 I rated it a 5.5 and took some Demerol. It just went up from there. Still, Matt and I were both hoping that Wednesday would be a big improvement, especially since he had to go in to work in the morning, at least for a few hours.

Tuesday night when the kids came in to tell me goodnight I cried. I felt so disconnected from regular life! I missed taking care of my babies. I was exhausted and emotional, obviously.

Day Six

Matt left the house around 4am, dosing me with Ibuprofen, Tylenol and Demerol before leaving. I said a little prayer for the kids to sleep in late and dozed off.

They did NOT sleep in, we were all up at 7:00. I sat at the kitchen table and tried to look alert. Tessa whined about having to have cereal for breakfast (how quickly she got used to Daddy making pancakes every morning!) and I fed Asher some yogurt. When I picked him up I accidentally bumped his head into the huge bump on the side of my jaw (not used to my face being so big!) and almost fell over from the pain. Not sure what’s in that thing – but it hurts!

I stripped the sheets off my bed and washed them in hot water, then I draped the comforter over the half wall of the stairs and sprayed it with Febreeze. The mattress and pillows got febreezed, too. I’m almost obsessive about having clean bedding when sick – it seems like wallowing in your own filth to not wash the sheets.

Matt came home blessedly early – was in the house by 9:30am. He set me up on the couch (I didn’t want to be in bed anymore!) and went outside with the kids. I ventured out into the garage – where he was washing my truck – and sat for about 10 minutes, hoping the fresh air would do me good, but went back to the couch pretty quickly.

After lying around for about 3 hours I decided to shower, but first I had to clean the bathroom. Matt came in and found me when I was about halfway through and yelled at me to take it easy – to which I replied (with a sob) “I’ve been laying on the couch doing nothing for 3 hours! I’m just going to clean the bathroom up because it’s disgusting and it’s all my fault!”

The swelling moved into my lower throat that afternoon, which besides being scary was also really ugly. The natural indentation at the base of my throat filled in and I my neck grew about an inch in circumference. I looked like I’d gained about 30 pounds.

Back in bed that evening I wrote a note to him that said “I would kill for a cookie or a big, fat meatball.”

At this point it had been since Thursday night that I’d had any solid food. I was starving. Every food commercial on TV was torture – even the Sizzler looked tasty. Another note that night read “Will you take me to Red Lobster if I ever get better?” (Their “regional favorites” ads were making me crazy!)

Wednesday night was my worst night for pain. The swelling around my neck was so tight that it felt like someone had tried to strangle me and had left bruises. My breathing was labored because my throat was so full, and I couldn’t find a comfortable place to turn my head. My face felt like someone had smashed a 2x4 across my cheekbone. I was awake most of the night, whimpering and moaning, tossing and turning.

Day Seven

Thursday morning dawned with some relief – I did end up sleeping from around 4:30 until 7:30am. The swelling was no better, though, and the pain was only an improvement from the night before, not overall. I started to worry at this point that we were several days in and I was still no better. I asked Matt to bring me my laptop and started googling. The results were scary – tooth abscess’s can lead to any number of terrifying things, including death (in a variety of ways!) The infection can get into your bloodstream and go to your heart. It can cause a brain abscess. It can begin to eat into the soft facial bones and cause permanent disfigurement. If your swelling is severe enough it can cut off your airway and you can suffocate to death.

I called Dentist Pete on his cell phone and left a message. He called back about an hour later and I told him about the pain, the swelling, etc. He said if it was as bad as I was describing, I should probably have the tooth pulled immediately. I told him I’d send him a picture, if he wanted, and he asked me to text him one. When I sent it he replied and said it was the worst swelling he’d ever seen – to have the tooth extracted ASAP.

So Matt called the Dr. Smoot’s office and, after he told them how I was doing, they said to come in right away.

We left the house within 10 minutes, and dropped the kids off to my mom at her Credit Union on the way to the oral surgeons. Becki picked them up from her later and took them swimming for a bit before Matt picked them up.

At the Oral Surgeons I said I wanted to have the tooth pulled under local anesthetic, not general. Dr. Smoot quickly talked me out of that, though, when he told me that there was no way he’d be able to get me completely numb with all the swelling, plus it was going to hurt to crack open my jaw (which still wouldn’t open more than about ¾ of an inch.) He also explained that it wasn’t quite as deep as your normal general anesthetic, that it was more of a deep sedation.

The surgery was over before I knew it – and sleeping through it was a great decision. I woke up feeling no worse than I had when I went in.

Thursday night I actually ate a little bit of solid food – some salmon and mashed potatoes. The swelling had already started to go down that night – mostly in my neck. My chin seemed a bit more pronounced again, instead of just running into my neck.

Day Eight

I woke up Friday morning expecting to be back to normal. Of course I wasn’t. I stayed in bed for a few hours, still fighting the pain. The swelling had reduced more, though not as much as I had hoped. I was optimistic for the weekend, though, and I told Matt that maybe I’d feel well enough to go take family pictures on Sunday. He knows I always over-estimate myself, and just said “maybe!”

Friday afternoon I moved to the couch for a few hours to watch TV. While Matt ran out with the kids I called my mom and complained about the swelling. What was left was very hard and felt bony to me – I was worried that it could possibly be permanent. My mom made fun of me like only she can – laughed at my vanity and told me I was a basket case…it helped.

When Jeopardy was on that evening I said “the questions are so easy tonight!” (it was teen tournament week) and Matt said they’d been that easy all week – I’d just been dopey on pain meds! I chattered his ear off that afternoon/evening – it was the first time I felt well enough to talk in a whole week!

That night we watched a movie in bed, half of which I actually stayed awake for. I was still in a good deal of pain, but the improvement was obvious.

Day Nine

Saturday was Asher’s Birthday. I got out of bed in the morning and came out the kitchen. We spent a very mellow morning, playing with the kids and just hanging out. In the afternoon Matt and I lay in bed and watched the rest of the movie I had missed the night before while Asher was napping. I was disappointed that I was still swollen, but after comparing photographs that night conceded that there had been more improvement. Matt said that my lips were once again in the center of my face, so that was a change for the better!

Saturday afternoon I sat out front with the kids while Matt ran out for a few things. It was nice to be outside and to be in charge again! It was far more exhausting than I thought it would be, though. After dinner that night we played outside with the kids again. Physically I felt at about 75% of normal on Saturday. My one major complaint was that I still couldn’t open my mouth. In fact, after Thursdays surgery the amount I could open actually narrowed to about ½ an inch. By Saturday I actually felt well enough to eat – had I been able to fit anything in my mouth!

Day Ten

Sunday was a bad day. I was in more pain than the day before, and mentally I was beginning to freak out again. I was just so anxious for everything to be back to normal, and the big, painful lump on the side of my face combined with the fact that I couldn’t EAT were far from normal. I spent a lot of time online, trying to find a home remedy for lockjaw –unsuccessfully.

It was a long day…a hungry day. For ten days I’d lived on broth, mashed potatoes and cream of wheat, with the occasional smoothie. I wanted something that was at least sort of solid. For dinner on Sunday I made corn chowder and Matt cooked some bacon to crumble on top. It was good, but chewing the bacon gave me an awful headache. I felt depressed that I still wasn’t better. I don’t hate much worse than I hate self pity – but it was a pity party day.

Presently

Yesterday I had a post-op appointment with Dr. Smoot. He poked and prodded at my swelling, pushing hard enough to make me gasp, and concluded that whatever infection I have is a monster. So far I’ve taken 4 days worth of the heavy-duty antibiotic that Dentist Pete prescribed, then 2 days worth of double dosing the same drug, plus 3 days of a different heavy-duty antibiotic that Dr. Smooth prescribed. BOTH drugs, by the way, have to be taken every 6 hours, which means I wake up in the middle of the night to take one dose. On top of the antibiotic that he currently had me on (which still has 7 days left) he prescribed me another one – also to be taken 4 times a day. The side effects of the two drugs are lovely. All the normal ones – nausea, upset stomach, vomiting, headache, dizziness…one says constipation may be a side effect – the other says diarrhea. One says appetite loss is a side effect – I can only hope! The most interesting side effects listed are a ‘metallic taste’ and a ‘black, hairy tongue.’

Thank God I haven’t experienced that last one!

I’m still swollen – Dr. Smoot says that’s the infection – but it’s not too terrible anymore. My open is so narrow at the point that I had to buy a child sized tooth brush so I could brush between my back teeth – and even it doesn’t fit without being totally squished. Dr. Smoot says that’s because my jaw muscles have been completely traumatized. Yeah, well, so have I – but I’m still functioning normally. Stupid jaw.

I am rinsing with salt water a million times a day for 5 minutes each time, applying heat constantly and taking 3 or 4 800mg tablets of ibuprofen plus 6-8 500mg tablets of Tylenol daily – in addition to my 8 antibiotics. If I skip the ibuprofen and/or Tylenol I develop a low grade fever, which seems completely impossible for someone on so many antibiotics, but it’s true.

The worst part about the whole thing is that it’s not over. In a few weeks, when everything has calmed down, I have to go have a bridge put on or something done to fill in the big hole in my mouth from the extraction. I don’t know how my jaw will react to that, but I’m not really looking forward to it.

At the point, the pain is very manageable, but I’m still not 100%. I hate not being able to do all the normal things I do – the lawn needs to be mowed, the fence needs to be stained, and the treadmill needs to be used, but I’m stuck taking it easy. It’s enough to make me scream – if I could open my mouth wide enough! LOL

Fingers crossed it’s almost over. I told my mom this was the most traumatic thing I’d ever been through and she told me I was pretty lucky if that was the case. She’s right, of course, but I still hate it!