2 Days Post-Op Report:
A Bedtime Story About Blood Clots: A Tale of Five Sockets
I goofed up on my first night after the surgery! I brushed my teeth gently as the surgeon said to (I use a toddler's extra soft, small toothbrush... it is most convenient), then I decided to try using
Peroxyl to clean my gums/mouth. This was a big mistake!! I didn't swish roughly or spit or anything, but the peroxide did indeed turn out to be much too caustic for such fresh wounds. It bubbled up in the sockets and managed to loosen at least one blood clot... which got washed down the drain.
Not good. I know that I need the blood clots there to help the healing and avoid getting dry sockets. So... minus some very critical blood clots, and not wanting to have to wait until I had dry sockets to then get the surgeon to pack them with medicated gauze and such... I took strange measures to re-form my blood clots.
I lightly massaged my face--the areas that are directly over my bare gums/sockets--for a minute or two to get the circulation going there. And... you'll really think I'm crazy now... then I spent about 10 minutes doing acrobatics off the side of my bed. I basically hung my upper body over the side of the bed, so that my head was near the floor, and put my arms in the air above my body. I did this for about 5 minutes face-up and 5 minutes face-down, allowing gravity to push a great deal of the blood in my body into my head. I could hear the blood rushing in my ears.
Weird, yes, but.... success!! My sockets started to bleed again very lightly from the pressure of the blood, gravity, all that. So I spent some time (sitting up again) letting it ooze up a bit. It worked wonderfully... new blood clots formed where I had washed out at least that one so much that I think I could almost see white bone(?)/deep bare gum. And so... the blood clots became one with my sockets again and hopefully they will live happily ever after. Especially if I'm not daft again and put something like
Peroxyl in a still very raw mouth.
Hope that wasn't too gory a tale!
~
I'm still doing great, all things considered. Because I'm not taking the steroids, though, I'm getting more and more swollen. My face/mouth feels bloated and tight and my skin has this fantastic greenish-white pallor to it. My father isn't one for all the emotional consoling type talk, but he still showed that he cared. He printed out a photo of a puffer fish and gave it to me. In my strange little family, it just means that he loves me and is worried about me. Really, he actually makes me look normal
Meanwhile, the puppy keeps slinking in to glance at me, all worried. I held her for awhile and she would sniff my mouth, then cower a bit, scared of the smell of blood/gore in there. She can tell that there are wounds in there. She is such a sweetheart. She really is the smartest little creature, and she knows something is amiss and is very concerned. Unfortunately, I had to disagree with her prescription for healing, which, if she had had her way, would go something like her fresh-kissing my wounds to a healed state. I think maybe not
~
Flora: Did you put your baby teeth under a pillow and wish for the tooth fairy to come? hehe. I still haven't looked at my extracted teeth yet. I'm not there quite yet. I'd make a joke of putting them under my pillow and wondering aloud where the tooth fairy could be... but I think the tooth fairy is too busy being an angel about taking care of me.
Pam: You're right, the mom treatment is about the "bestest" cure for any ailment ever. It's been a long time since I've had the mom treatment like this. May well be the last time anybody ever waits on me hand and foot...
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
I tell her thank you and she just says to give her the mom treatment when she is old and needs assistance. I said, of course!
And the puppy sure does know I'm hurt. It truly amazes me how sensitive dogs are to things like that. It makes me feel better to know she cares so much, just because she is a sweetheart at heart.
I hope your daughter's foot surgery goes well!! She is lucky that she will get to enjoy the mom treatment with your help
I have not looked at the roof of my mouth yet. Just feeling the soreness of it and tonguing it makes me cringe a bit. The two empty sockets in front of the exposure site are so gory looking, all kinds of purple and black and white colors, so I can't imagine what the exposure looks like. Don't want to yet
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Once I'm back at my own house, I think I'll go for it, though. I'll try to take a photo of Dawg then! After all, it IS his grand debut into the world. He won't be allowed to be a lazy Dawg for long, he's got a lot of moving to do.
As
Linda notes, he's got to join up with the rest of the chain-gang (love it, it really is something of a chain gang!!)
Shawnie: You're right about keeping ahead of the pain. I tried not taking a painkiller this morning, and by noon the soreness was really kicking up, so I had to take one late. I think I'll stick to regular doses for the next day or two at least.
I am having a lot of Campbells soup, for sure. And jello, too, which is great for hydrating. I tend to take my antibiotics in pudding, since I can't swallow horse pills like that. The penicillin tastes absolutely horrible. I'm sure bacteria and little infector-invaders take one whiff of the penicillin and promptly curl up and die because it's so acrid.
I'm really craving green stuff to eat, and that's hard to find in a mushy state. I'm trying to follow an intuitive diet, which mostly means I listen to cravings since it usually means my body needs certain nutrients found in the foods it craves.
Thanks
Lucy and
Karen and all for your kind thoughts! I'll post some photos when I can for those (
Pam!) who are curious and don't mind a scary looking mouth. I am wondering what kind of wiring up I will get at the ortho's, if powerchains come now or soon or at all. Almost time to start working on closing these gaps!