Back in October, you may recall, I had a broken tooth that finally went bad in a full blown infection. See here, here, and here for reference. Thanks to the magnificent Tip Jar Hitters, I was able to go to the oral surgeon and get root canal instead of having the tooth pulled which would have also taken all the molars on that side of my upper jaw because the bad tooth holds up a bridge over a space where two other bad teeth had been removed in years gone by (I am prone to these sorts of infections no matter what I do, unfortunately). Half of the root canal was completed and I was given a temporary filling until I could find someone to watch my kids so I could go back and have them finish the job. The fact that I had been without a car also complicated my ability to get back to the dentist's office for followup. My mom has been up visiting for new Year's and my little girl's birthday, and I have my car back, so I was able to go back yesterday to the oral surgeon's office. It went very badly!
When they first did the root canal, they had easily found 2 of the 3 canals they needed to clear, but the 3rd one was hiding, because my tooth was broken for so long before I got there that it had tried to heal over the last canal itself for its own protection (this is at least my understanding of it but I am no dentist so bear with me). Eventually they found it and sealed the tooth up with that temporary filling. During the weeks which turned to months that I could not get back there to finish the job, the temporary filling came out and more of what's left of my tooth broke. While they were drilling and boring up into my tooth yesterday, they discovered that the 3rd canal had "calcified" shut, causing more problems and requiring more digging up there. I had numerous shots of Novocaine, and yet I felt most of everything, and it was very painful! At one point, they stuck something up in the tooth that made me cry out because the pain felt as if it went from the tooth, through my eye socket and directly to my brain - it was horrible. The doctor and the nurse in unison said, "that isn't supposed to hurt!" and that is when they discovered a very bad infection!
If you remember from my holiday post, everyone had gotten sick in my house and I had developed a sinus infection. Well, the doctor said that the tooth going bad again and the sinus above it infected each other, so all he could do was clean it up, give it another temporary filling and send me home with antibiotics - this after having been up in there drilling and digging for over an hour. I can't go back to get the job finished until the infection is cleared up. The doctor warned me that the pain was going to be far worse than it already was once the Novocaine wore off and he wasn't kidding! Unfortunately, because I am already on pain meds due to my nerve damage problem, I could not accept any additional medication to help with the pain, and it hurts something fierce! At least I now know why I'd been feeling horrible, with fevers and chills, and where that headache which will not go away on the right side of my face is coming from.
Yesterday's visit was covered from the payment I had made to them last time with help from the benevolence of the people who had hit my tip jar. I could not get anesthetized yesterday though because it would have cost extra and I didn't have it, but at least the visit itself did not cost extra, thank God. I am not sure if I will need more money for the next visit, and I am afraid that I might because of the complications, but I was so miserable by the time they let me out of there that I didn't ask (and was afraid to). Last night was rough, and this morning is worse with the pain in my mouth, but hopefully now that the infection is being treated, it will get better and hopefully now that the holidays are over, my mother-in-law (who works in retail so was very busy the past few weeks) will be able to watch the kids so I can get the rest of this taken care of in a week or two.
I just wanted to let you all know what was going on. I am planning an exciting new post for as soon as the throbbing fire in my head subsides a bit, so stay tuned for that. If you can spare a prayer or hit the tip jar to help me to be prepared for the rest of this dental mess, it would be truly appreciated. Sorry that my first post of the new year is miserable, but stuff happens sometimes.
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