Home from root canal #1, part 1
Home from Root Canal #1, Part 1 (they have to do both of them in two parts over a course of weeks, more on that below.)
This is me ... looking BETTER. Yes, better. My face is still mucho swollen, and red in places. Most of you have seen me in one photo or another, so when I say this is me looking better, you know just how awful I looked yesterday and yesterday night (when I asked Elric to post for me, apologizing I couldn't get back on -- I kept getting dizzy just sitting up in bed, then falling asleep before I could even move. Over and over.)
Enough of the horror pictures.
So, the Great Fundraising Scramble continues, as I try to get enough to get these teeth done. The first one, the one that completely abscessed (OMG when he drilled it open -- HORRIBLE SMELL!), has been drilled open, drained to the best of their ability, packed with some medicine, a little "pocket" left open and then a temporary filling put in to close it up. They're going to leave that to drain into that pocket area for 10 days, then I go back, they drain it again, fill it up with the usual root-filling stuffs, and put another filling on it.
Why a filling, you ask? Well, the other tooth then needs to be done with a root canal (we think it hasn't gone bad -- yet -- finger's crossed and candles lit and gods and goddesses prayed to). After both are done, then he'll put crowns on.
So process will be:
Root Canal #1, stage 1 (drained) <-- complete! Root Canal #1, stage 2 (filling) Root Canal #2, stage 1 (drained) Root Canal #2, stage 2 (filling) Root Canal #1 & 2, stage 3 (temp crowns) Root Canal #1 & 2, stage 4 (permanent crowns)
So this is like a month-long process, or so. I'm not surprised, but not thrilled, either. At least (we think) the worst of the process is over. And (surprise!) I didn't even have to use gas (I really couldn't -- I was dizzy and nauseated today, from the infection): this is the FIRST DENTIST EVER who did the novacaine so well, I didn't have to have extra injections. And when he injected it, it didn't hurt -- at all. I usually have to have multiple injections, and even then it still hurts!
That small, still voice told me this was the right group to go to, when I started looking for someone to replace that Dentist From Hell over in VT. And apparently I listened correctly, because so far (knock wood), this is TERRIFIC.
Well, as terrific as root canals go.
I'm drinking soup and eating yogurt (hurray for Stonyfield being local stuff!) -- I suspect I'll be doing that for the next month. Because my soup-making gadgets (blender, etc.) are still all packed, I'm subsisting on boxed soups from Pacific.
If anyone has any other suggestions for good, nutritious liquid or super-soft food (real food, not Ensure, please) that's easy to make, let me know? So far I can handle teeny, tiny pieces of really well-cooked veggies in the soup, but it has to be almost completely creamy, you know?
I'm feeling a bit better now that the painkiller I took after the root canal has kicked in, and I'm about to go up to my office/studio and take note of what jewelry I need to make for orders, and what I should make up on spec.
IF ANYONE HAS ANY FURTHER JEWELRY REQUESTS, LET ME KNOW, PLEASE.
Those who bought jewelry I had up in the previous post: I can get that stuff out in Priority Mail tomorrow or Saturday.
This is me ... looking BETTER. Yes, better. My face is still mucho swollen, and red in places. Most of you have seen me in one photo or another, so when I say this is me looking better, you know just how awful I looked yesterday and yesterday night (when I asked Elric to post for me, apologizing I couldn't get back on -- I kept getting dizzy just sitting up in bed, then falling asleep before I could even move. Over and over.)
Enough of the horror pictures.
So, the Great Fundraising Scramble continues, as I try to get enough to get these teeth done. The first one, the one that completely abscessed (OMG when he drilled it open -- HORRIBLE SMELL!), has been drilled open, drained to the best of their ability, packed with some medicine, a little "pocket" left open and then a temporary filling put in to close it up. They're going to leave that to drain into that pocket area for 10 days, then I go back, they drain it again, fill it up with the usual root-filling stuffs, and put another filling on it.
Why a filling, you ask? Well, the other tooth then needs to be done with a root canal (we think it hasn't gone bad -- yet -- finger's crossed and candles lit and gods and goddesses prayed to). After both are done, then he'll put crowns on.
So process will be:
So this is like a month-long process, or so. I'm not surprised, but not thrilled, either. At least (we think) the worst of the process is over. And (surprise!) I didn't even have to use gas (I really couldn't -- I was dizzy and nauseated today, from the infection): this is the FIRST DENTIST EVER who did the novacaine so well, I didn't have to have extra injections. And when he injected it, it didn't hurt -- at all. I usually have to have multiple injections, and even then it still hurts!
That small, still voice told me this was the right group to go to, when I started looking for someone to replace that Dentist From Hell over in VT. And apparently I listened correctly, because so far (knock wood), this is TERRIFIC.
Well, as terrific as root canals go.
I'm drinking soup and eating yogurt (hurray for Stonyfield being local stuff!) -- I suspect I'll be doing that for the next month. Because my soup-making gadgets (blender, etc.) are still all packed, I'm subsisting on boxed soups from Pacific.
If anyone has any other suggestions for good, nutritious liquid or super-soft food (real food, not Ensure, please) that's easy to make, let me know? So far I can handle teeny, tiny pieces of really well-cooked veggies in the soup, but it has to be almost completely creamy, you know?
I'm feeling a bit better now that the painkiller I took after the root canal has kicked in, and I'm about to go up to my office/studio and take note of what jewelry I need to make for orders, and what I should make up on spec.
IF ANYONE HAS ANY FURTHER JEWELRY REQUESTS, LET ME KNOW, PLEASE.
Those who bought jewelry I had up in the previous post: I can get that stuff out in Priority Mail tomorrow or Saturday.