I woke up from another glorious night's sleep in the recliner this morning. I made myself some Ensure breakfast and then played some games on my iPad. I spent most of the morning like that, since I was home alone. It was nice to just do nothing.
Eventually, I went upstairs and got myself together. I brushed my teeth and rinsed. You see, I can brush the outside of teeth, and then have an array of rinses that I use for inside my mouth. I have my ACT fluoride rinse, a regular Listerine cleaning rinse, my prescription Peridex and Hydrogen Peroxide. This is all in addition to rinsing with saline after every time I eat. The other rinses I use in rotation, but it is quite the regimen. I played around a bit more with it today since my mouth was tasting kind of bad and Dad said my breath smelled especially bad. Oh dad, such a way with words.
After my teeth, I decided that I was going to try and take a shower. Since the surgery, I have only taken baths, but the doctor cleared me to shower. I've been hesitant though because my jaw still feels very fragile and weak every time I lean my head back. But I figured, now is as good as a time than any. I'm happy to report that the shower felt glorious and I did not injure myself. I couldn't tilt my head back very far but I made it work. It felt like such an accomplishment.
After my shower, Dad picked me up to head to my weekly appointment with Dr. Fujimoto. For now, I'll continue to see him weekly until I get my wires off. We didn't have to wait very long and we were in to see the doc. He asked how I was feeling and then examined inside my mouth. I told him I was a little worried that my teeth were able to move within the plastic splint. He checked it out and said it was all in my head. Imagine that. After he finished checking inside my mouth, he delivered the bad news: I have an infection in my stitches. :( TMI alert: I guess there was pus coming out of my stitches, which is probably where the bad smell is coming from. I hadn't noticed because my cheeks are still pretty swollen back there and I never wanted to rip my cheek to the side to be able to see that far back. He said I was lucky though. You see, during the surgery, the tissue is separated from the jaw bone, and it is possible to develop an infection in that space between. In order to cure that infection, they have to cut open your cheek and drain it, from the outside. Normally, the tissue will reattach to the bone within 2 weeks so mine is probably healed already. Mine is just a surface infection, in my stitches. He said that I need to do a better job rinsing vigorously with the saline after eating anything. I had been taking it easy in the back of my mouth, since the stitches are back there and I didn't want to disturb them. He said the time for gentleness is over. He prescribed my some antibiotics and said that besides that, everything seems to be going well. He said that not everything could go smoothly, and that this was just a little bump in the road. I'll see him again next week and see how it's doing.
So I left the office a little bummed out. And frustrated, to say the least. I'm angry at myself that I didn't notice the infection, and that I let it come to this. I thought I was doing so well, but now I realize that I need to be a little more…I don't know…rough with my recovery. The time for meekness is over! I'm determined to put an end to this damn infection. Anyways, after the appointment, Dad and I headed over to CVS to fill my prescription and buy some more Ensure. Then we made our way home and visited with Mom's coworker, Wendy. (Hi Wendy!)
Later in the evening, Amy came over. She had offered to paint my nails and I took her up on it. It was so nice to see and visit with her! She caught me up on what was going on in the world, since I feel like I've been on my own planet. After a while, she pulled out her Mary Poppins-like bag of nail polishes and got to work. Damn if she didn't give me one of the best manicures ever! Thanks Amy :)
After being pampered, I wolfed down 4 syringes of chicken noodle soup, damaging my nails in the process and dribbling food all over my shirt. But it tasted good! And Amy even fixed my nails after. I could get used to being this pampered! We ended the evening watching Game of Thrones (big surprise) and then it was time for bed.
Here's my progress picture for the day:
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment