Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!
Well two months after giving birth in I go to have a tooth pulled. I must be a masochist or something to continually put myself in pain. From the extraction on it has been a painful and complicated process. I had my wisdom teeth out a couple of years ago and it was not that bad. Two days of pain and heavy medication and then you move on, but this was anything but that. First when I went in he told me he would have to cut it in two but that seemed fairly routine for this type of tooth. So they set me up for nitrous oxide (which I love), he told me it would be a ten minute process but when I woke up it had been about an hour. Then of course the guilt washed over me as I was coming to because there was my nurse looking so very tired and telling her family on the phone that she had gotten tied up and would no longer be coming home early but now would be late. My doctor told my husband in the waiting room that he was no longer going to the golf course because he was too tired, and from all of the sedation I too was extremely groggy. The nurse gave me the instructions for caring for the wound, a prescription and off I went.
That night the pain started to become unbearable. The tylenol three with codeine was not enough to dull it even a little bit and a call was put into the doctor. He wrote a prescription up for Percacet for us to pick up in the morning and after a night of hell Gil picked up the prescription and off I was to na-na land. Luckily we had made plans for the girls so that they were with their Aunt and that way Gil only had to worry about Christopher. Later that night I knew that we were still having issues because when I had my wisdom teeth out the pain was not that bad. It wasn't the dull ache of healing that is normally what I feel it was a sharp stabbing pain that went through my jaw in my ear and my cheek-bone. The Percacet was doing absolutely nothing to come close to even dulling the pain. I was icing my face trying to sleep, trying to ignore the pain but it grew worse. Monday morning rolled in and I could no longer cope, we put another call into the doctor who prescribed more Percacet and suggested I come in to see him. He said he thought I had a dry socket. Having never heard of that before I really didn't know what he meant. He explained it to me and gave me some Penicillin for infection and anti-inflammatories and said it should help although it would take longer to heal than a normal tooth extraction. So off we went back home again. The girls were home by now and I was still barely coping, but when the pharmacist heard that I had a dry socket the look of fear and pity on her face told me that I was in for a long haul. Apparently a dry socket is when the wound does not fill with blood. Normally, that blood eventually becomes bone but instead it is dry and you can look right down into the socket and the bone surounding the tooth is exposed to the air and all the elements and that is what causes the pain.
Two days later the pain was back in full force, and had gotten even worse. It was unbearable and definitely worse than child-birth and I've had four so I should know. I made another appointment and went in. He told me I had another option that had a few risks but would take care of the pain. It's called a pack and what it does is freeze the nerve endings that are causing the pain and deaden them, however there is a risk of paralyzing the nerve in your lower jaw, and since the nerve was so close to the wound the risk was even greater with me. He said in all his years he had never paralyzed anyone but he had to warn me and let me make the decision. I decided to take the risk. He put in this yucky brownish/iodine looking pack and told me to wait for 20 minutes in the lobby. In ten he returned, I had been reading and not paying attention to my mouth at all when he asked how the pain level was, it was then that it came to my attention the pain had dissapeared completely. I was stunned it all felt too good to be true and relieved, I left the office. After another week the pack was removed, the pain had dissapeared completely and as of yet has not returned. There is still a giant hole in my mouth that hopefully soon will heal over but for now I am just happy to be able to think again without this throbbing pain in my face and I hope never to have to relive that experience in this lifetime.
That night the pain started to become unbearable. The tylenol three with codeine was not enough to dull it even a little bit and a call was put into the doctor. He wrote a prescription up for Percacet for us to pick up in the morning and after a night of hell Gil picked up the prescription and off I was to na-na land. Luckily we had made plans for the girls so that they were with their Aunt and that way Gil only had to worry about Christopher. Later that night I knew that we were still having issues because when I had my wisdom teeth out the pain was not that bad. It wasn't the dull ache of healing that is normally what I feel it was a sharp stabbing pain that went through my jaw in my ear and my cheek-bone. The Percacet was doing absolutely nothing to come close to even dulling the pain. I was icing my face trying to sleep, trying to ignore the pain but it grew worse. Monday morning rolled in and I could no longer cope, we put another call into the doctor who prescribed more Percacet and suggested I come in to see him. He said he thought I had a dry socket. Having never heard of that before I really didn't know what he meant. He explained it to me and gave me some Penicillin for infection and anti-inflammatories and said it should help although it would take longer to heal than a normal tooth extraction. So off we went back home again. The girls were home by now and I was still barely coping, but when the pharmacist heard that I had a dry socket the look of fear and pity on her face told me that I was in for a long haul. Apparently a dry socket is when the wound does not fill with blood. Normally, that blood eventually becomes bone but instead it is dry and you can look right down into the socket and the bone surounding the tooth is exposed to the air and all the elements and that is what causes the pain.
Two days later the pain was back in full force, and had gotten even worse. It was unbearable and definitely worse than child-birth and I've had four so I should know. I made another appointment and went in. He told me I had another option that had a few risks but would take care of the pain. It's called a pack and what it does is freeze the nerve endings that are causing the pain and deaden them, however there is a risk of paralyzing the nerve in your lower jaw, and since the nerve was so close to the wound the risk was even greater with me. He said in all his years he had never paralyzed anyone but he had to warn me and let me make the decision. I decided to take the risk. He put in this yucky brownish/iodine looking pack and told me to wait for 20 minutes in the lobby. In ten he returned, I had been reading and not paying attention to my mouth at all when he asked how the pain level was, it was then that it came to my attention the pain had dissapeared completely. I was stunned it all felt too good to be true and relieved, I left the office. After another week the pack was removed, the pain had dissapeared completely and as of yet has not returned. There is still a giant hole in my mouth that hopefully soon will heal over but for now I am just happy to be able to think again without this throbbing pain in my face and I hope never to have to relive that experience in this lifetime.
posted by Anne | 7:46 PM
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