Anyone who isn't interested can skip this post entirely and just go to the next one- but if you want to know here's what happened to me. I'll white it out some of it to spare those who don't want to know...
See, it started out last March- I had a root canal that had been done a couple years ago and I didn't know that the dentist had left an entire infected nerve sealed up inside it. With no way out the situation sat there a long time and invaded inward (I complained of facial pain to my doctors. they declared it 'migraine' I have those too, this wasn't that...) then it went nuts- my face swelled up huge- some of you guys know that I went through quite a hellish time then retreating the tooth because since I'm not a good candidate for implants due to my connective tissue disorder (or even fixed bridges- my genetically inferior teeth are pathetic- I've had 15 root canals on my adult teeth and had 11 crowns) at my age they say that's unheard of these days. Just like what's happened to my eyes- it's nothing I could have prevented.
So anyway- after all that stuff and a recovery that left me exhausted and sick well into May, when I started having chest pain and was in and out of the U for testing (we now think it was caused by these ongoing dental infections, hindsight= 20/20, something for you guys to keep in mind if you ever have 'atypical chest pain' that's ongoing and unexplained- get your teeth re-checked even if you've previously had root canals...) Mine only responded to Nitro- it's better now...) we thought it would be okay.
Then about two weeks after I got back from WDW, it blew up again and we knew it had to come out. By then I was again
really sick from the infection and with all my allergies to antibiotics they were worried about it, especially given the proximity to my eyes.
It turned out the tooth was rooted in the sinuses (all my upper teeth are apparently) and that was when it really got bad. Still, I was hanging in there- a hole in the sinus after the extraction. I had this when they took out the wisdom teeth years ago, but not this bad. They treated it, I was getting through it...then six days later, two teeth on the
other side blew up and I was really, really sick. After several opinions going from one specialist to another in short order, they said they both also had to go.
The sinus "communications" (a nice word for an icky thing!) had to be repaired by the maxillofacial surgeon after the extractions- only the first time it didn't take. That's how I ended up in the ER a few nights later, literally choking on everything and in unmanagable pain. All three sockets were open :(
IV antibiotics later, a shot of something else for pain later, blah blah, six hours later their on-call maxillofacial being (he was so mean to me, I struggle to call him a 'person'- he actually said "have a nice weekend" when he left- though he knew I was really suffering. I couldn't believe it. Even the nurses apologized for the jerk) sent me home without doing anything to help and two days later my surgeon ended up repacking and resuturing everything all over again
So it's been a tricky situation and they're still watching two or three more teeth. I was told at points that I had a tumor that must be removed and biopsied (two surgeons said so looking at the films- but it turned out it was all inflamed sinuses, thankfully) then they said I could have infection heading to my brain- yeah, fun times. I was most worried about my left eye- my good one, which was in a lot of pain and had so much going on all around/behidn it. Fortunately the infection stopped before it got to my eye but not long before it- it was a good thing they took out the teeth when they did.
Luckily it turned out that I only had the major holes in my sinuses that needed to close and be treated with a longer course of antibiotics and all. They're still in process of healing, it'll take awhile and I have to be very careful what I do, but I'm up to eating mushed up pasta now and I'm so happy.
You're right Disneymom, my strength is just through the floor. It's so hard to take meds when you can't eat and when you can't even swallow liquids it's impossible obviously to eat. I've been having salad and red meat fantasies for days- it's now been 22 days since I've had solid food. Hopefully very soon...
thanks for listening (if you're still reading if not I totally understand!) And feel free to keep sharing your news and updates, please. I missed you guys while I've been gone, I really did.
Has anybody heard from Notatourist or Wazzup lately??? What about the resident marsupials and the famous bird?
hugs
bru