Growing up!

One more reminder of my childhood has been taken from me!  I hope to hang on to my one final baby tooth just as long as I can (at least until our HSA has recovered!) but as of mid-morning today, I had one less molar in my mouth and a few thousand dollars less to our names!

I'm about to put the first food into my mouth, and while quite hungry, I must admit to kind of wanting to keep everything as far away from the soreness as possible.  During a delightful nap next to Alida the last of the numbness wore off.  So I can feel my ear again!  And my tongue, and that there is a large gap in my mouth and I'm also feeling some of the effects of the yanking and drilling.  I decided this was not the post to include photos, though I did bring home my baby tooth to show Kali.  I wonder if anything would happen if I put it under my pillow?

The good news is that I didn't have a panic attack or faint or anything like that.  Emily joining me in the waiting room equipped with a head massager didn't hurt anything, instead helping me start in the most relaxed and calm state possible!

The bad news is that once the baby tooth was out he discovered something he had "never seen before" (not sure that is a compliment when sitting in the oral surgeon's office).  He was just about to put the implant in when he discovered a soft pocket of tissue (called it a cyst). He removed it all and said it was like I had a "little cave" under my tooth.  He could not in good conscience put in the implant knowing it would probably not take.  So instead he filled the cavity with bone fragments and sewed me back.  That will need to heal and the bone to integrate with mine and then in about 4 months he'll open it back up, drill into it again and attach the implant.  Then I wait 3 more months and go to my dentist for the crown.  So about the time we start eating fresh spinach again this should all be behind me (hmm, not sure if that is an encouraging way to think about it).

On the way home I stopped by Kroger to pick up my antibiotic for preventing further infection, which I'd like to do!  I told the woman at the counter that I was sorry if I sounded funny but that half my face was completely numb.  The woman in the back said, "that's okay you are not drooling yet."  When I got back out to the car I looked into the mirror for the first time and realized they had only cleaned me mostly up and I still had blood around my mouth...but, as she noted, at least I wasn't drooling!