Another boo-boo

I could start out saying that I don't like to whine, but maybe I secretly do. I think I have just had an unfortunate series of events going on. While I am not one to write more than one entry a day, or lately more than one a week, this information didn't belong in that last entry.

Tomorrow morning around 11:15 I want you guys to think of me and help me get to my Happy Place. You know, the one you can get to in your mind so you don't feel pain? If no one ever taught you that, you should work on it. It does come in handy at times. What is going on tomorrow morning, you ask?

Let's start with the back story on this. Only I can make a trip to the oral surgeon make you laugh. It will make you laugh. It really will.

Some time around November I did something that I can't even remember any more and I rewarded myself with a caramel apple. I got a really nice one with crushed peanuts on it. You know the kind? Large firm apple, dipped in gooey caramel, then rolled in crushed peanuts? All that delicious tart apple flavor mixed with the sweet of the caramel amid the salt of the nuts - one of my favorite treats! The difficulty is, my mouth is very small. I have to use a child's toothbrush, even. I find it very hard to get a grip on the apple for the first bite. Yeah, yeah, I could just cut it up, but it's not the same as eating it right off the stick, is it?

I decided to try a new tactic and go for a strong, deep bite at the bottom of the apple where it's smaller, figuring that the stick might help hold it in place for me to get that first wonderful bite.

This is where the problem came in.

The sticks are shoved into the apple via the pointed end of the stick. That leaves the pointed end of the wooden stick at the bottom of the apple. You have the picture now, don't you? I bit very hard, and then the pointed end of the stick went into my gum. All the way through my gum, in fact, to the tooth. If you are wondering, yes that hurt. A lot.

It didn't stop me from eating the apple once the bleeding let up, though. I earned that treat and I wanted it! I expected the gum to heal up and it would be my own little secret. Well, by my advanced age gums tend torecede a bit. Mine have, a bit. One tooth had the gum receded enough that my dentist had suggested I could go see a gum guy to have it lifted. My teeth are also extremely sensitve, so anything newly exposed isn't comfy. I put off the visit for a year. I probably still would be putting it off, to tell the truth. I don't like dental work although I go religiously every 6 months and get done whatever needs to be done. I do this even though sometimes my teeth don't freeze for dental work. Sensitve + not frozen = not pleasant.

So, did I go see my dentist about the gum injury? Nope. I didn't tell anyone. No one. My logic was that it would need to heal before anyone would work on it anyway. It finally sort of healed, but it left a hole in my gum, meaning further recession. It's still very, very tender. I saw the dentist a few weeks ago for my regular 6-month check up and then my little secret wasn't a secret.

I had to confess that I bit into a caramel apple and the pointed end of the stick jammed right through my gum to my tooth. Once we all stopped laughing, I was ordered to see a gum guy. This time, I did.

I am not laughing now. He is a nice young man with a decidedly Polish name. I asked why gums, he said he thought filling teeth forever would be boring. Hey, you should have heard the conversation I had with the guy who did my colonoscopy. I am too curious sometimes for my own good.

So, he explained what needs to be done. He can't just lift my gum. If I don't do something, I will lose at least one tooth. His game plan is to cut a piece of tissue from the roof of my mouth and transplant it, giving me a new gum line. While I was fascinated by this ability of his, my brain was screaming, "Roof of the mouth! SHOTS in the roof of the mouth!" So I asked, do I need a shot in the roof of my mouth for this?

Yes. I do.

Can't I get general anesthesia? Nope. Can I get gas? Yep. It won't do it for me, though. I have had the shot in the roof of my mouth at least 5 times. It's much like sticking a needle into bone, because that tissue is very hard. For me, it's highly painful. He will put goop on first to slightly numb it, blah, blah, blah, but no matter what he says, I will hurt.

He said I can take 5 mg Valium first, if I have a driver. Child is in school tomorrow morning. I will have to either forgo the Valium, or take a Xanax. He didn't say I need a driver if I take a Xanax, so technically I would not be non-compliant. I am considering my need for any pre-medication.

I haven't been to my happy place for a while. Maybe I need to go there before Las Vegas. Oh, that trip, you wonder - how is this going to affect it? My stitches come out of both my palate and my gums two days before I leave.

Let's also hope for not much swelling and no complications are allowed!

Preview: Monday - the hand surgeon for my damaged finger. Oh yes, indeedy, I am dealing with three damaged body parts at once! Let's not forget the feet.

How did I damage a finger, you wonder? I was walking from my bedroom to my living room maybe a month or so ago and my hand hit hard on the edge of a wall or molding. It hurt like hell, but I shook it off so I could continue with whatever chore had my limited attention. Two weeks ago, I showed it to my internist. "I think I broke my finger."

He said, "I think you did too. You need to see a hand guy."

It goes downhill from there. We can finish that story after I see the hand guy.