Emergency Surgery

[Guest guest]

Hi Everybody:

I have not been in touch in eons, as the winter months have not

been kind to my body & psyche, so I've been sorta' hibernating. I

have been dealing with having higher fevers & horrible fatigue that's

snowballed since last July & has come to a head last month & is still

continuing, but the reason may have been found, leading to my having

to undergo emergency surgery, albeit oral surgery, it's still surgery

nonetheless! It may actually turn out to be BIG time, ugly, admit to

the hospital surgery, I am not sure as of yet, but I am FREAKING out

& am on edge, watching the clock tick the minutes off.

Of course I have the story for you & I promise to try to keep it to

a novella in size. It makes for an interesting read, as I have

proven to be interesting enough to have had signed permission to use

this for educational purposes for doctors & dentists. So here goes:

I was given a top priority, medical emergency dental appointment

to have a really nasty rotted molar removed on Tuesday morning. I

was all set to go & the assistant & dentist got as far as taking the

X-ray & then left me to sit in the room for 45 minutes until the

nurse came in & put the X-ray on the screen, kinda hidden behind the

clasp bar & told me that the dentist would be in a few minutes. I

was so anxious & had to pee, so I went & told the receptionist that I

needed to use the potty & would be right back. I did so & came back

to the room & waited for another half hour or so until the dentist

came in the room. She pulled the X-ray out onto the viewing screen &

looked at it. She tilted her head, this way & that way, then said

that she wanted to have the other dentists look at it. I knew

something was up & just figured that there was a nasty abscess

brewing up a gnarly infection (which there is, quite a large area

too) & then when the other dentists came in, she pointed to this

weird thing on the X-ray that turned out to be something in my

sinus. She asked the other dentists what they thought it was, all

the while I'm sitting in the chair wondering: " whaaaaaaaaaaaaa? " Two

of the dentists were basically scratching their heads when one of

the " still green behind the ears " resident dentists said: " well, to

me, that looks like another tooth growing in the sinus! " The others

looked at it again & agreed. It seems that there is a friggin' tooth

that had grown up into my sinus & being next to the rotted out tooth,

it was surrounded by a huge black pocket of infection.

The gaggle of dentists left the room & I was left alone with

the " head " dentist who proceeded to tell me that she was not

comfortable extracting the infected tooth due to there being nothing

to grab onto & it needing a surgical extraction & mostly, she was

afraid that this " sinus " tooth was actually more of a severe problem

that will also require emergency surgical extraction due to it

showing to be surrounded by a huge area of infection. She blabbed on

& on about the oral surgery clinic in another hospital (it's the

hospital that saved my mom's life when she had the incarcerated

hernia, so I know all about the place, but it is in the ghetto!) &

told that they are much better equipped to handle this sort of

emergency which needs to be done under general anesthesia & done by

an oral surgeon. She said to keep taking the antibiotic (well DUH!)

& to get to the oral surgery clinic by tomorrow (which was actually

Wednesday, but the clinic patients were only seen on Monday, Tuesday,

Thursday & Friday.) She gave me instructions to call & explain my

situation & to let them know that this is a medical emergency since I

have SLE & am immuno-compromised. At this point in the dental chair,

I just kinda' had a meltdown. I started crying because I am so tired

of never getting a break. It seems that I can never have things go

right, a simple tooth extraction has now turned into a major surgery

event. I was a mess & went out to the waiting room to get my Mom so

the dentist could explain all this crap to her as I was just sort of

in shock & wanted her there with me. The dentist started explaining

to my mother that since I have lupus & asthma, as well as taking

narcotics for pain, that this surgery was just too risky for them to

even attempt taking out the rotten tooth, let alone address

this " sinus " tooth. They talked for a while & I just sort of went

off into my thoughts & floated away on an ocean of tears.

I called the oral surgery clinic when I got to my parents' house &

explained all that happened & told of what was seen in the X-ray &

how this was an emergency. I was told to show up on Thursday at 7:00

am & was given instructions not to eat or drink anything after

midnight on Wednesday since I will have to be under general

anesthesia & to bring my asthma rescue inhaler with me. I was also

told to expect to be admitted & be aware that the surgery may be put

off until Friday or Monday, depending on where this tooth is located

in my sinus. JOY! I like hospitals about as much as I like being

slammed onto hot pavement from a 10 foot drop & being shaved bald

with a dull razor & being made to bathe in perfume afterwards. In

other words, I'm none too fond of the experience & I am petrified by

the thought of general anesthesia. I had a very bad & memorable

experience from when I was 5 & had to have my jaw wired shut to mend

it. (I had been hit by a car & had my left leg shattered, as well as

having a concussion, broken nose, & my jaw had been broken in three

places.) I also had a hard time shaking off the anesthesia when I

had my cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal) last year. My recovery

was lengthy & what is normally a 1 to 2 day hospital stay had turned

into just shy of a week for me.

This is such a nightmare. I just wanted to get this stupid tooth

out because it is causing me pain that is just God awful. I can't

sleep & haven't really since this Monday when I was ordered by my PCP

to have an emergency dental extraction done the following day (on

Tuesday) since dentists freak me out, surgeons downright frighten me

& I'm overtly anxious because I had never expected I'd have to

undergo such a horrifying ordeal all because of a stupid, rotten

tooth masking the symptoms of an " anomaly " that needs to be

surgically removed ASAP.

I just needed one stupid thing to go right after dealing with the

multitude of crap that I've been dealing with during the winter.

Jeezily Crow, I just expected to have this tooth removed & to start

my way to having the rest of my teeth removed so I can get dentures,

instead I'm asked if they could use my " story " & X-ray for " teaching

purposes. " JOY!

So, that's that. I am actually feeling winded & sleepy. I think

I shall do my best to get some sleep. If all goes smoothly &

the " sinus " tooth isn't too far up, I'll be knocked out & en route to

having this nastiness removed. I am hoping that I'll be able to

write in again soon saying that I feel " human " again since I am

hoping that this " anomaly " is what has made me feel so poorly.

Thanks for reading this & I wish happiness & health for you all.

Take care...

Hugs & Stuff,

Kerry

[Guest guest]

Wow Kerry, that is really something. Can you get paid for being such a

case? Maybe you should inquire about that.

Listen, you take care of yourself and hopefully, this one thing will go

right for you and you will be out of there quickly without any problems. I

know you can't see this message before the surgery, it is after 8am, so I'm

sure you're already in. Still, whether you see it or not doesn't change the

fact that my thoughts are with you and I will be looking forward to an

update.

Please let us know as soon as you feel up to it, or have someone else give

us an update if possible.

Mojo

Emergency Surgery

> Hi Everybody:

> I have not been in touch in eons, as the winter months have not

> been kind to my body & psyche, so I've been sorta' hibernating. I

> have been dealing with having higher fevers & horrible fatigue that's

> snowballed since last July & has come to a head last month & is still

> continuing, but the reason may have been found, leading to my having

> to undergo emergency surgery, albeit oral surgery, it's still surgery

> nonetheless! It may actually turn out to be BIG time, ugly, admit to

> the hospital surgery, I am not sure as of yet, but I am FREAKING out

> & am on edge, watching the clock tick the minutes off.

> Of course I have the story for you & I promise to try to keep it to

> a novella in size. It makes for an interesting read, as I have

> proven to be interesting enough to have had signed permission to use

> this for educational purposes for doctors & dentists. So here goes:

> I was given a top priority, medical emergency dental appointment

> to have a really nasty rotted molar removed on Tuesday morning. I

> was all set to go & the assistant & dentist got as far as taking the

> X-ray & then left me to sit in the room for 45 minutes until the

> nurse came in & put the X-ray on the screen, kinda hidden behind the

> clasp bar & told me that the dentist would be in a few minutes. I

> was so anxious & had to pee, so I went & told the receptionist that I

> needed to use the potty & would be right back. I did so & came back

> to the room & waited for another half hour or so until the dentist

> came in the room. She pulled the X-ray out onto the viewing screen &

> looked at it. She tilted her head, this way & that way, then said

> that she wanted to have the other dentists look at it. I knew

> something was up & just figured that there was a nasty abscess

> brewing up a gnarly infection (which there is, quite a large area

> too) & then when the other dentists came in, she pointed to this

> weird thing on the X-ray that turned out to be something in my

> sinus. She asked the other dentists what they thought it was, all

> the while I'm sitting in the chair wondering: " whaaaaaaaaaaaaa? " Two

> of the dentists were basically scratching their heads when one of

> the " still green behind the ears " resident dentists said: " well, to

> me, that looks like another tooth growing in the sinus! " The others

> looked at it again & agreed. It seems that there is a friggin' tooth

> that had grown up into my sinus & being next to the rotted out tooth,

> it was surrounded by a huge black pocket of infection.

> The gaggle of dentists left the room & I was left alone with

> the " head " dentist who proceeded to tell me that she was not

> comfortable extracting the infected tooth due to there being nothing

> to grab onto & it needing a surgical extraction & mostly, she was

> afraid that this " sinus " tooth was actually more of a severe problem

> that will also require emergency surgical extraction due to it

> showing to be surrounded by a huge area of infection. She blabbed on

> & on about the oral surgery clinic in another hospital (it's the

> hospital that saved my mom's life when she had the incarcerated

> hernia, so I know all about the place, but it is in the ghetto!) &

> told that they are much better equipped to handle this sort of

> emergency which needs to be done under general anesthesia & done by

> an oral surgeon. She said to keep taking the antibiotic (well DUH!)

> & to get to the oral surgery clinic by tomorrow (which was actually

> Wednesday, but the clinic patients were only seen on Monday, Tuesday,

> Thursday & Friday.) She gave me instructions to call & explain my

> situation & to let them know that this is a medical emergency since I

> have SLE & am immuno-compromised. At this point in the dental chair,

> I just kinda' had a meltdown. I started crying because I am so tired

> of never getting a break. It seems that I can never have things go

> right, a simple tooth extraction has now turned into a major surgery

> event. I was a mess & went out to the waiting room to get my Mom so

> the dentist could explain all this crap to her as I was just sort of

> in shock & wanted her there with me. The dentist started explaining

> to my mother that since I have lupus & asthma, as well as taking

> narcotics for pain, that this surgery was just too risky for them to

> even attempt taking out the rotten tooth, let alone address

> this " sinus " tooth. They talked for a while & I just sort of went

> off into my thoughts & floated away on an ocean of tears.

> I called the oral surgery clinic when I got to my parents' house &

> explained all that happened & told of what was seen in the X-ray &

> how this was an emergency. I was told to show up on Thursday at 7:00

> am & was given instructions not to eat or drink anything after

> midnight on Wednesday since I will have to be under general

> anesthesia & to bring my asthma rescue inhaler with me. I was also

> told to expect to be admitted & be aware that the surgery may be put

> off until Friday or Monday, depending on where this tooth is located

> in my sinus. JOY! I like hospitals about as much as I like being

> slammed onto hot pavement from a 10 foot drop & being shaved bald

> with a dull razor & being made to bathe in perfume afterwards. In

> other words, I'm none too fond of the experience & I am petrified by

> the thought of general anesthesia. I had a very bad & memorable

> experience from when I was 5 & had to have my jaw wired shut to mend

> it. (I had been hit by a car & had my left leg shattered, as well as

> having a concussion, broken nose, & my jaw had been broken in three

> places.) I also had a hard time shaking off the anesthesia when I

> had my cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal) last year. My recovery

> was lengthy & what is normally a 1 to 2 day hospital stay had turned

> into just shy of a week for me.

> This is such a nightmare. I just wanted to get this stupid tooth

> out because it is causing me pain that is just God awful. I can't

> sleep & haven't really since this Monday when I was ordered by my PCP

> to have an emergency dental extraction done the following day (on

> Tuesday) since dentists freak me out, surgeons downright frighten me

> & I'm overtly anxious because I had never expected I'd have to

> undergo such a horrifying ordeal all because of a stupid, rotten

> tooth masking the symptoms of an " anomaly " that needs to be

> surgically removed ASAP.

> I just needed one stupid thing to go right after dealing with the

> multitude of crap that I've been dealing with during the winter.

> Jeezily Crow, I just expected to have this tooth removed & to start

> my way to having the rest of my teeth removed so I can get dentures,

> instead I'm asked if they could use my " story " & X-ray for " teaching

> purposes. " JOY!

> So, that's that. I am actually feeling winded & sleepy. I think

> I shall do my best to get some sleep. If all goes smoothly &

> the " sinus " tooth isn't too far up, I'll be knocked out & en route to

> having this nastiness removed. I am hoping that I'll be able to

> write in again soon saying that I feel " human " again since I am

> hoping that this " anomaly " is what has made me feel so poorly.

> Thanks for reading this & I wish happiness & health for you all.

> Take care...

> Hugs & Stuff,

> Kerry

>

>

>

>

> " The LUPIES Store " Come check out our store...

> http://www.cafepress.com/thelupies

>

> " The LUPIES Web Page "

> http://www.itzarion.com/lupusgroup.html

>

> " The LUPIES online photo albums! "

> Check out what your fellow Lupies look like...

> http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=lupies

>

[Guest guest]

Kerry ...

I will be thinking about you today .. and hope that it gets done today

and they dont put it off.

Yes .. it seems we never catch a break .. but think ..

if this infection is already rooted in your jaw and sinus ..

just how close is it to traveling another inch and settling in your

ears..

or worse .. into your brain.

I for one am GLAD they found it ..

I for one am GLAD they are wanting to do the emergency surgery rather

than take a chance of pulling it out in the office.

I would hate to think what could have happened if this had been

allowed to just go on and on.

Mysterious ways eh? A simple extraction .. was just a way to get you

in and xrayed so a more serious problem could be taken care of ..

good luck hon ..

" Rion "