THE EXTRACTION!

Okay, so this past month, I went to my friendly dentist and what to my horror, I had an absessed tooth! It was tender, but, as far as pain goes it didn't feel all that bad. It was a baby tooth I never got to trade for some cash. I'm sure the tooth fairy was quite disapointed at the time. What she didn't realize was she'd be paying big bucks for it later.

My dentist, Scott, was very kind and told me that he was learning how to extract teeth and put in implants and that he was willing to give me a good price if I'd be willing to let him practice on me. HA! That's that last thing you want to hear from your dentist. Images of jawbreaking pliers and loud drills just sort of cloud out the better judgment of getting it done for a deal. So I called around, too cowardly to let him practice on me. The cost of the average extraction and implant? 4,500 DOLLARS!! Um hello?? I said extraction not extortion! So I went back to Scott and asked him how much he was going to charge. $2,000. I didn't even have that kind of money and so I basically just left it at that. Living on a fixed income is hard, and unfortunately I couldn't pay him off 25 dollars a month. But then my parents stepped in to my rescue and said they were willing to pay for the proceedure. By that time the tooth had become pretty sore and I was ready to pull it out myself and make an implant out of paper mache'. I mean they probably had a RS lesson on it at one point in my life and .... well, I can't remember how to do it . Maybe it wasn't paper mache' but recycled lace table cloths ... that actually sounds more familiar! ;)

You have to understand, Scott is the Hubbie of one of my YW leaders and they've known me for a long time! He is an angel and his wife is serioulsy a walking celestial being. Nearly up there with my parents and family. Can you get higher than celestial? Hmmm ... I'll have to think about that later.

Thurday arrived. I went to Scott's office and he numbed me up. I think that was the most painful part of the entire thing. The drilling wasn't all that bad and pulling the tooth, well, it seemed to just pop right out. And the tooth fairy had prepaid!

My cute little baby tooth which turned out to be not all so cute!

Then Scott was looking in my mouth and he turned the reigns over to the supervising Dr. That dr was nice and he seemed to have no problem doing what he was doing. Then all of a sudden he says, "this is a LOT worse that I thought." then Scott starts looking in my mouth and says something like, wow that infection goes a lot deeper than it looked on the x-ray. So they started asking each other what size ... 10mm? 11mm? 11.5mm? No, 12mm! I think they were debating the size of drill to use. I honestly have no clue. But suddenly they both lean back and tell me, "whatever you do, don't close your mouth!" I was thinking ok, whatever. They wanted to get another x-ray taken. So, I got up and on my way to the x-ray room I glanced in the mirror and stopped short. I had a drill bit stuck in my jaw where my tooth had been!

drill bit!

I just started at it in disbelief because it looked horrifically painful, but I wasn't in the slightest bit of discomfort! Weird! so after they took the drill bit out, they let me take a picture of just how big the metal bit was:

the drill bit salvaged from my jaw

  Anyway, the tooth is gone. It's interesting because I am really working on keeping my mouth washed out and using the rinse that they gave me. Gratefully it really doesn't hurt. It tastes awful, and I'm sure that the people sitting around me at church today were leaning as far away from me as possible because my breath is so bad, but the pain is gone and I am happy. Honestly it looks like the Dentist used my mouth as a quilting project.

I'm still on soft foods. I've been eating a lot of soups, yougurts and smoothies. If anyone else has a good idea for a little one like me, please pass it along.

August 23, 2010
The other part of the story is that I popped those carefully placed stitches that weekend and then went back into see Scott to have them replaced.

He stitched me up even better than before and we talked for a bit afterwards while I was still reclined. Everything was GREAT until he sat the chair up. Suddenly it was as though the chair was spinning on hyper warp speed. I told Scott I wasn't feeling good. In a moment I felt like I was sinking into a heavy darkness. It was like I could hear all the around me, but couldn't respond. (Scott said I was repeating over and over again, "I'm fine. I'm Fine" I'm sure he would have loved to smack some sense into me, gratefully he didn't. Instead he ran and got smelling salts.

Man, I don't know if you've ever smelled those fragrant salts before but it is a JOLT of smell --- worse than having your nose stuck in a bottle of bleach!

When I came to (if you could call it that because I was still unable to really respond appropriately) I could hear the ambulance coming to get me.

Imagine my confusion when I realized I couldn't move the left side of my body. People were wondering if it had anything to do with the dental procedure, but Scott had worked on my right side, not left. I was rushed to Grossmont Hospital where they immediately sent me through the CAT scan before even checking me into the ER.

It was an odd feeling to be half paralyzed. But what was even odder was that I wasn't panicked, scared, anxious or anything of that nature. For whatever reason I caught myself kind of joking about it. I think joking must have been a natural instinct of some sort, because it really wasn't anything to joke about. I could talk better out of the right side of my mouth that was all shot up with Novocaine!

Slowly I regained my feeling and ability to move the left side of my body. My eyes lined up again.

My dad and Grandpa came to give me a priesthood blessing, during which I was promised that I would be healed completely and there would be no residual side-effects.

They ran a whole bunch of tests and couldn't find anything to explain what happened. They finally said it had to be a TIA, or mini stroke.

I was transferred to Kaiser Hospital and placed in a room. The Dr came in and did some things to test muscle strength. I couldn't walk on my own so he said that I would have to stay over night.

That night, Scott and his wife came in to visit me and see if I was aright. He said there had been a little boy in the waiting room who completely freaked when the fire engine and ambulance pulled up and dragged me out on the stretcher. His mom rescheduled the appointment. Going to the dentist will never be the same for that kid!

When I woke up the next day I was perfectly fine, and VERY tired! I was sent home.

I talked to my parents about it after I was released. The Dr's had determined it wasn't a side-effect of the dental proceedure or a conflict of meds. Basically they said they didn't know why it happened, what caused it or even what to call it. There was no indication of a stroke or TIA on any of the charts. I had normal blood tests including sugar levels, cholesterol, liver, you name it! My parents and I decided it was truely a blessing that it had happened while I was in the office and not on my bike somewhere, at work or on a bus or trolley. That could have been disasterous! Instead Scott had swung into action, even calling over the MD in the office next door and emergency crews were able to get to me within 10 minutes of dialing 911. It is a miracle I was not permanently effected. Man! I am grateful for fast acting dentists, priesthood blessings and prayers!

Love you guys! -MOPS