Back home

after spending the night over at my friends' home so they could keep an eye on me post-oral surgery. I had to be watched for at least five hours and couldn't drive for 24 hours. YKWIA woke up every time I rolled over or made a noise, even though he was all the way at the other side of the house. I really appreciate that; I feel very loved. I'm doing pretty well. I woke up last night and went to the bathroom and thought I looked like a vampire, there was blood all around my lips. And I did have to have one more pulled than planned, so it was seven in all. (Well, six and a half, as this all started when a tooth broke off inside a crown at Christmas. Two other crowns came off, one during the impressions (and it turned out that tooth had some issues, so it was either make a new crown or take that one off), and one during surgery (but that should be able to be put back on, as that tooth was okay).) The pain's not bad, and I'm dispensing with the Tylenol 3, which just made me sick anyway. Going back to work tomorrow. Still eating soft food, but I managed a bit of canned peas just now. Once the grogginess wore off and I was up today, I got to do fun things like watch the first couple of episodes of 'American Horror Story: Murder House'. :) So thanks to Brenda, who got me there, took me to fill my meds, bought me a milkshake while we were waiting (and no, I used a spoon; straws can cause dry socket, although the cherry kind of oozed out because I still had gauze in my mouth and it was just too solid--guess I should have asked them to leave off the cherry at McDonald's), and got me back to the guys' house, and to the friends who let me stay overnight, kept watch on me, and then helped me get everything back into the car. (I had a 2-piece carry-on luggage set, my CPAP, the laptop, two pillows, a backpack, a couple of bags and a small case of things like applesauce, yoghurt, and pudding, an air mattress, and a foot pump.) I think they thought I was moving in. :) Anyways, thanks everyone. Tomorrow I return to work, but have to leave long enough for them to take another type of bite impression, and then Friday I should get my partials and should have a better chance eating real food. Yay!

PS I managed string cheese (soft mozzarella) as well. Yippee! I checked, and there are normally 32 permanent teeth in the mouth. I had my wisdom teeth and one tooth out several years ago. Then there were two that had to be taken out after that, after they broke when I bit down on something. This time there were seven, so I still have eighteen teeth. But I'm getting partials that will fill in the gaps, and it will be a better solution I think for me than costly implants or trying to save the teeth when I keep having trouble with crowned teeth anyway. And yes, while that's a lot to lose (and my penchant for drinking diet sodas may very well be a big part of it, as YKWIA insists, along with genes, my tendency to grind and grit my teeth, and the fact I never had my teeth straightened like many kids do) by my age (46), my mother lost her top teeth in her 20s not because of problems with the teeth (which as near as I can tell were small, straight, and perfect--I have my dad's teeth in my mom's small mouth), but rather by losing the bone support for them somehow. So I've kept the majority of them longer than I thought I would. The good thing about the partials (even though that has a whole set of issues, such as cleaning, etc. that come up) is that I'll be able to fully chew on the right side, where I had a couple of molars in the back missing in addition to my wisdom tooth on the bottom and so my left side has been taking up the slack, and as a result, having more pressure put upon it. This will even things out. So while it was a bit painful, it will be better and lest costly in the long run than trying to save each individual tooth, especially in terms of upkeep when I might not have insurance a couple of years down the road.