Whew! Look at the Temps

Well, the hard part is over with. Today, the dentist pulled #8, chopped off a bunch of bone and stuffed it into the hole #8 left, ground #7 down to fit a crown, and knocked off the crown on #9. His assistant made the temporary bridge pictured here.

I feel pretty well all considered. My gums are a little roughed up and of course the socket where the tooth was extracted is throbbing a little. The naproxin sodium seems to be working, though. I’m also on six days worth of antibiotics.

Probably the most uncomfortable part will be the prohibition on rinsing my mouth for two weeks. Apparently, they stuffed some compound into the socket over the bone graft to hold  everything together. That along with the temporary bridge is keeping everything packed tight. They’re afraid if I rinse my mouth, especially with mouthwash, it will dissolve the compound and everything will come tumbling out. Just don’t get downwind of my breath.

If everything goes well, in two weeks I’ll return so they can make impressions for the permanent bridge.

Let’s hope all goes well.

I’m tired. I think I’ll take a nap.

© 2012, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

The Last Time It Happened

They’re going to knock my front teeth out tomorrow. All because of #8. In a previous post, I introduced the woes I was having with my right incisor, #8.

Back in July, #8 broke and the dentist re-crowned it. It has since begun to migrate so that it’s no longer lined up with my other front teeth. X-rays show that the tooth, the foundation upon which the crown rests, it coming apart. This is probably the result of the collision of my front teeth with my brother Dan’s forehead.

I should have chosen to have a gap ($0) rather then the crown ($1100) because now I have the choice between a gap and a bridge ($2775) or an implant ($???). Of course the gap is out of the question (see picture) and my periodontist does not recommend the implant on my front tooth for various reasons which I will not go into here.

So tomorrow, they’re going to pull #8, knock the crown off of #9, and prep #7 for a crown so after my mouth heals, they  build a bridge between #7 and #9 with a reasonable facsimile of #8 in the middle.

Hopefully, Dan’s head has fared better than my tooth.

© 2012, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

Turns out there was enough of the #8 tooth (right front upper incisor) to save after it had broken off. So the dentist did a root canal, added a post and the assistant created a temp…much too white, but they said the permanent crown would match #9. The finished crown gets installed on July 13.

© 2011, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

Yesterday, they stabilized #8 by gluing it to #7. It just broke loose, now #8 is wobbling around in my face.

© 2011, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

I’m about back to 100% from my ulcer incident. But…

Yesterday, I cracked my right front incisor (tooth also called #8). It’s one of the two that I had crowned in December ’09 because #9 was off colored as a result of a collision with my brother, Dan, when we were but children. My dentist and Mrs. Major had been after me for years to take care of the unsightly tooth, so I finally did. Now #8 is broken…not only just the crown but also the tooth. I’m scheduled for a root canal and a re-crown on Monday to the tune of about $1100 (my share after insurance). Sigh.

If I’m lucky, that’s what will happen. If the tooth is cracked into the root, the tooth is not restorable and I’ll probably have to have a bridge or a gap. I’m sure the gap will be the cheapest…the bridge costing an arm, torso, and first born child.

Some say bad things happen in threes. Hopefully, the third thing will happen to someone else…someone on a different planet.

© 2011, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

Just got cleared to go home. It will probably be an hour an a half before we’re out of here. They have lot’s of meds on the wing to dispense and paperwork to do. I’ll have some medicine to take and have a couple of follow-up visits, but I think we’re done.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

© 2011, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

They gave me 2 more units of blood last night. When I came in Monday night my hemoglobin was 5.9 (extremely low). Male normal is 10-14. After Tuesday’s 3 units of blood and the EGD ulcer repair it was 8.2 so they wanted to get me up higher, thus the 2 extra units. This morning my hemo was 10.2. We’re all pleased.

Depending on what the noon reading is and what the doctors say, I may get to go home later this afternoon/evening.

Other than the cold soup and warm popsicles, I’m doing fine.

I appreciate all the prayers and well wishes. Thank you.

© 2011, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

As many of you already know, I’m in the hospital as a result of anemia. I had dizziness, fatigue, and shortness of breath while upright on Sunday evening. After a doctors visit, where he discovered my hemoglobin was bordering on non-existant, I was admitted to the hospital where I received three units of blood.

Today, they performed an EGD.¹ Which is a procedure where they stuff a scope down your throat and examine your esophagus (the E), your stomach (the G), and your duodenum (the D) for ulcers, polyps, tumors, and other sundry abnormalities. As this is done by the same doctor who does colonoscopies, the key is to get the correct scope. In my case they did. They found an ulcer in my stomach, so while they were in there, cauterized it and clamped it with a small metal clamp.²

Since they pump air into your gut so they can get a better look, one of the side effects is that I sounded like a one-man campfire scene from Blazing Saddles.

So they’re going to keep me for at least another day to make sure I don’t spring a leak and to top off my blood with a couple more quarts. Apparently I’m still a little low.

I feel much better…in fact, I feel fine. Thanks for asking.

© 2011, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

1. esophagogastroduodenoscopy [↩]
2. I need to figure out how to market these for model building [↩]

Mrs. Major is feeling better today. Still very tired and still has some cramping. I think she is on the mend.

© 2010, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

The weather gave us a break. The rain abated for our 1.5 hour drive to Sanford, the 3.0 hour cruise¹, and the 1.5 hour return drive.

The cruise turned out to be fun. The first deck of the boat was the dining room, filled with red leather booths that tightly fit six or four people. The food was pretty good, not outstanding, but not bad. The company was good. We sat at a six-top where the other two BILs had served in the Navy…not career like I did…and had several sea stories.² The ladies at our table, including Mrs. Major, were outgoing, lively, funny, and lovely.

The second deck had a bar and small lounge area, another lounge-dance area with a guy singing lots of dance songs, and an outside observation deck. If it weren’t so cold, the outside would have been the place to gather after dinner. The poor smokers had to go out on deck to smoke…no smoking inside.

We got home at around 12:30 am.

The only unfortunate thing about the whole trip is that today Mrs. Major is suffering pretty bad cramps. We’re speculating that he had food poisoning. We’ll have to find other PEOs who had the chicken breast to see if they had any ill effects. Mrs. Major said the chicken was dry, so it was probably cooked properly. Perhaps the contamination was from the sauce or from the handling. She’s still in bed.

My pork tenderloin was very good and, so far, I’m fine.

© 2010, J. M. Erickson. All rights reserved.

1. Do I hear a cheesy song in the background? [↩]
2. By the way, the difference between a sea story and a fairy tale is: One starts out, “Once upon a time…” and the other starts out “This is no s**t…” [↩]