Monday, July 26, 2010

the infected one

It's no secret I've been having issues with my last jaw surgery.
I started having increased swelling on Friday. The skin around my implants had formed into blood bubbles and pussy yellow bubbles. I called the clinic AGAIN around 9:30 am and the resident on call was supposed to call me back. It got be almost 11:30 with no return call and and I called back and told the receptionist that I needed to be seen TODAY because I had an infection. THey told me to come at 12:30 pm. Ha! Success.

My surgeon was on vacation. The fellow handling my case was at a conference. The 1st year residents did agree that I have an infection Whether it was superficial or in the bone was yet to be determined. Since I have a bunch of metal in my face, that means that the chin plate and hardware from my previous surgery could also be causing the infection. They took another X-ray and just weren't sure. At least there were two cute younger guys fawning over me, right? Another fellow came in and said definitely an infection and diagnosed Peri-implantitis. If you have read anything about this on the internet, it is isn't pretty.

They were going to re-cut the flap and irrigate the area, then re-sew it. Great. Instead, since it was draining, they decided to try and pull off some of the pus (with a syringe) to culture. Thankfully, he put numbing cream on the area, and I didn't feel a thing. He wasn't able to pull off any pus. I got sent home on antibiotic mouth rinse (burns like crazy) and massive doses of Clindamycin - 4 pills a day. Clindamycin also kills off the good bacteria in your gut, so I've been trying to pop some probiotics whenever I get the chance. Strangely, the pain isn't bad at all.

Wednesday I see the oral surgeon and they are going to decide if they want to remove everything. Pray, pray that I heal. I really cannot shell out another $4300 to get these implants replaced. I paid out of pocket last time. All I want is some teeth on the bottom so I can bite into things, like say, normal people?

4 comments:

Kelly said...

I feel terribly that you are going through this. I'm glad the pain isn't so bad - thinking about you!

Searching for Serenity said...

Oh honey, I'm so sorry you're experiencing complications. I'll be thinking about you and hoping that you heal and don't have to start over.

Hang in there.

Anonymous said...

omg. can't you catch a break?? good grief!

fingers crossed!

MrsSpock said...

Oh Man! I hope it heals!