(This is what I will end up with in about 6-8 months!!)
Since I wrote about my teeth earlier this month, so much has happened, I will fill you in on everything.
It was the 18th of January and horrendous weather in Castle Hill, Western Sydney, on the day that I was to have my upper tooth bone extended, it ended up being 43 degrees Celsius, and I wondered if you could have actually cooked and egg on the road that day? the bats were so hot, they fell out of the trees and died!
Anyway, I met with the two dentists who would be doing the surgery on my mouth and in no time at all, my mouth was SO numb, thank heavens! I felt a bit sick and had to swallow many times to get a grip on it. I had 14 injections but with 20 sites that they went in to anesthetize my mouth and these huge cage like structures so that they could work in there while I was in a twilight state.
There are 3 sites where they worked - one my jaw bone, another where they took pulp and the third one where they all came together and put the stuff into my gum - they cut a bit of my jaw on the left side and then they shaved that bit down until they had the amount of bone that they needed, then they put this bone with a bit of artificial bone and mixed it all together with the pulp and inserted it all together where they want the new bone to grow! Eeewwww!
I was a mess with a huge mouth, congealing blood in my tissues, while I was moaning - I tell you, it was not fun. We had to stop at the chemist and get my scripts filled, one was for anti-biotics and the other a pain-killer and I needed both of them. When we got home, I took both lots of medication and went to bed for a couple of hours.
The surgery has been a success in as much as the stitches are ready to come out and I am SO ready to have a temporary denture and I can't wait! For the first two weeks it was so swollen that I couldn't smile, but this last week, it is so embarrassing because I keep smiling forgetting about having NO front tooth!! I feel like a hillbilly and the poor people who I have smiled at, are going away with this terrible image of me, that keeps them shuddering for days!
By taking the anti-biotics, I got Thrush and having the pain killers gave me constipation! So, I am not a happy Vegemite to say the least!! However, I think that I have lost a bit of weight, as I can only eat things that are softish so I am usually eating Pasta with Chilli oil or Margarita Pasta or Salmon salad for dinner and my usual oats for breakfast. All's well that ends well, as they say!
**Forgot to say, I have been to the dentist twice since I had the surgery but my gum is still so swollen that it will take until the 11th Feb to get a temporary tooth that will stay in until my bone is thick enough to have the implant!!
Since then we have had Australia Day, which is always something special with my sister Ria and her husband Milt coming down for a couple of days. Milt was playing piano on the South Steyne (an old ferry docked at Darling Harbour)and they took me with them for the day. Ria, Stephanie and I went walking around Darling Harbour soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the festivities. The fireworks were amazing as usual, but this time, it they seemed to be that much more beautiful, whether it was to mark our countries special day or just because they could, I don't know, but I had a happy feeling and was so proud to be Australian on that day.
My lovely friend Annie, took me as her guest to see Les Miserables at the Gold Class Event at the cinema! It was wonderful, not only seeing the show in big puffy lay back seats, but in such nice surroundings with such yummy food and drinks. This was a week after my jaw bone extension and I was unable to smile which in a way was good as no one was any the wiser about my teeth!
When I went to Rehab last Wednesday, they told me that I only had two more appointments left and that my lovely Lisa would be back the next time I went there!! I will be so happy to see her and find out what she has been doing for the last three months - but I know that she will be annoyed with me as I haven't worked with my saebo flex for the three months that she has been away from us - because I couldn't fit it myself and since the botox wore off so quickly the last time, it wasn't easy trying to do anything with my hand!
Anyway, I saw Clare for the last time on Wed and I can now sit on the floor and get up by myself! Not only that, but I have tried the exercise out doors to see if I fell over outside, I could get myself up which was the second part (the other one was being able to get down on the ground to do the adapted yoga at Rehab) of why we were doing the exercises! I had to go down on the ground and using a small wall, get myself back up, then using a lamp post get myself up, the using just the kerb, get up and finally if I fell over and there was nothing to help me to lean on or grab, to get myself up I had to do that and get myself up, by myself!!!!
I can do all of those things now, since Clare made it clear to me, using a mirror, for weeks on end, that I had TWO legs and would be able to look after myself, as long as I looked at myself in the mirror every so often, and remind myself of the fact that as she told me and taught my brain to see me as I really am, and do the exercises every other day or so, I was now as good as I will get and that is a good feeling!
3.2.13
