Yesterday morning I went into the periodontist for minor surgery. I had a gum graft on my bottom row of teeth. My gum recession is significant and it was time to act. If you let your gum receed and receed, eventually your teeth will fall out. That's pretty scary to me. Before picture:
(No after picture yet, because I can't be pulling on my lips).
We got to the doctor's office for my 8 am appointment. Before they put me under, I tried on my surgical stent (to protect the roof of my mouth), and my night guard (to be used while I sleep after I'm all the way recovered in an attempt to slow down recession on my top row of teeth). I have to admit going under was a very pleasurable experience for me. They either put the anethesia into my IV or in a breathing tube that was on my nose. They called the breathing tube oxygen, but it had a smell to it, and I don't think oxygen has an odor. Anyway, I went into that place were everything just fades away.
Next thing I new I was waking up. I don't remember much from waking up and getting home. I probably started crying as this is a general reaction for me on anethesia. Brian got me home and settled on the couch. I know I was asking Brian the same questions over and over again (how long did the surgery last, did he call my mom yet, did the doctor say anything...). I knew that I was doing that but I could not stop myself. Brian didn't hold it against me though and didn't mind answering the same questions over and over again.
All I did yesterday was slept. I would wake up and want to stay up (I was getting bored sleeping), but after about 15 minutes my eyelids would be too heavy to keep up. Really I had no chance of staying awake. I have 4 different prescriptions to take and I think they all have the side affect of drowsiness. One of them is making me itchy, but that affect has been bearable.
Today I'm definitely in more pain. Probably because most to all of the local and general anethesia is worn off. (My bottom lip and chin still feel tingly). It's painful to talk too much, and eating is next to impossible. I can get by drinking ok so I'm glad I stocked up on protein shakes.
The worst part so far was when the roof of my mouth started bleeding...gushing. This is normal and expected according to the doc's office. This did not make it any less awful. What I had to do was push on my stent (roof of my mouth) for 10 minutes to get the bleeding to stop. That's only happened once and I'm hoping it doesn't happen again.
My face is puffy, and a little bruised. I'm going to try to post a picture of my chubby face.
The dogs have been very comforting. They can tell something is going on. Heineken has been snuggling at my feet most of the time, and Stella hasn't jumped on me.
Ok...better sign off before I fall asleep midsentence.
Before - Notice the low gums especially on the front 2 teeth. Notice the small membrane that connected my lip to my gums (between the front 2 teeth) - this is probably hard to see, but it's there.
After - Notice the difference in the gum line. Notice how that small membrane is removed (a major cause of the massive gum recession). Notice the white stuff...those are the smaller stitches that are there for another 2 weeks. They don't bother me yet. You can click on this picture to enlarge it...it's scary to see my face that large, but you can also make out the stitches this way. Also feel free to notice those bright nicely manicured nails!
This is a bonus picture. I accidently uploaded this one instead of the before picture. This is Stella being really sleepy (her eyes are actually open in the picture). She spends the night in the crate so this night it was extremely difficult to get her to budge off the bed and into her crate. She's already really spoiled and enjoys sleeping on the bed and couches when the opportunity is there - especially when she has a human body part as a pillow (Brian's foot in this case).
