browser life

I guess I should be happy that today was my last appointment, at least for a while, of Stuff That Causes Pain. But I was already damned close to being maxxed out before I even set foot in the dentist's office. You know, when hurt so bad that you keep shifting in your seat trying to get even a smidge more comfortable, and you sweat and turn white as a sheet?

I'm not blaming the dentist. It's my damned Sjogren's, and the fibromyalgia, and possibly the diabetes conspiring to give me out of control nerve pain, gums and cheeks that shred at the slightest contact, and extremely slow healing. And believe it or not, I really had to be there today to give my mouth a chance to get better, even though it meant getting temporarily worse.

You see, while I had the temporary crown, my gums had very little chance to heal around it. With a permanent crown, the gums can fill back in, the area between my two back teeth won't be constantly inflamed, and bite my will be closer to normal and allow the jaw muscles some relief. But in order to achieve this, I had to get through the removal of the temporary crown and the installation of the permanent one.

For most people, this part is pretty much a breeze. But I had to get numbed again because the temp crown didn't want to come off, and all that tugging on the tooth HURT. And because my gums are still raw, they bled whenever touched, and nerve pain kept shooting around the right side of my mouth.

I could have gotten more numbing shots, but those are excruciating, and after the anaesthic wears off, I feel where the needle went in for about four days afterward. So I only got numbed enough for me to not start shrieking while they actually worked on the tooth. I got a nice silver crown because I am told it will be more durable on than a porcelain one.

It took many many tries to get the crown fitted. The dentist wanted to get it exactly right so that I will no longer have a ginormous gap between the two back teeth. A good fit will also lessen the chance that I will have to have any more work on that area.

But every time they'd put the permanent on, it felt like I had a two by four shoved in between my teeth. But they did eventually get it to where they could get dental floss between the crown and the tooth in front of it, so they declared the ordeal over. The dentist told me that over time, the gum tissue between the teeth will stop being inflamed, and I will no longer feel that crowding sensation.

So for now, it's back to soft food, salt rinses and steroid dental paste. I hope this interval of healing is swifter and more complete than the previous ones. I'd like to be able to eat regularly by the end of the month.

In other ouchie news, yesterday I had Dan help me take off the mummy wrap over the biopsy site. I had a rash already, and over half of my left breast was swollen and bruised. I put on an old oversized sports bra to prevent chafing, and that is better today.

But the steri-strip on the incision site was itching horribly when I got up today. I pulled up a bit of it and was less than thrilled when my skin came off with it. I soaked the strip off in the shower, and the whole area that had had adhesive on it was chewed up, and some of it was bleeding.

Had a bit of a dilemma when it came to what the heck I was gonna wear to the dentist since I was both bruised and bleeding. I finally dug up another old sports bra and tried to tuck a piece of gauze inside and threw a giant t-shirt on. Not glamorous, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I know it's gonna get better. Right now, though, there really isn't any major part of my body that doesn't hurt. I feel weak and disoriented and so exhausted that I could swear vampires have drained me of all my blood.

Where is Madam Pomfrey when you need her?