Piece of Cake!!!

WARNING: grossness below, in reference to my bone graft....

I had a lower molar extracted yesterday, and a bone graft done in its place.

Now, if you know me, you know that I rarely admit to any nervousness or fear; I usually plow right through, thinking positively, sure that all will be just fine.

The body, however, doesn't lie.

I guess, in response to the stress of my mom's surgery, and the impending extraction and graft, my body finally said, "Uh-uh. We're done. Take a rest."

Aside from some period-related symptoms that were a week early (sorry, guys!), on Saturday we drove up to the lake for the weekend. After a wonderful dinner Friday night, I woke up with a sore throat. And at the lake, I slept all day. Until 7pm. At night. From around 10:30am. In the morning. That is unheard of for me!!! Unless I'm really sick, I can't sleep during the day. And not 'cause I'm never tired - it's just that when it's light out, I can't sleep.

Well, I couldn't. Before. Obviously I can now. Because I did. For eight-and-a-half hours.

So we went home; Jack thought I'd recover better at home. We went to church Sunday morning, I spent a relatively quiet afternoon at home, did a little food shopping, made some Caribbean chicken for dinner, and we watched some TV and went to bed.

I got up yesterday morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, went to the oral surgeon's office, not nervous at all. Yeah, right. My blood pressure was 158/90. Not nervous. Sure, Krys... My usual BP is 120/80. BIG difference! Even the nurse said not to worry, that if they take it after the procedure, it'll most likely be back to normal.

And it went so smoothly. I can't believe it. I've had an extraction done before, by this same doctor and that one went well, too, but it wasn't followed up with a bone graft. Now I had to decide last week: synthetic, cow or cadaver. I lit up like a Christmas tree - "Synthetic!"

Until I looked at the doctor's face. He looked crestfallen. I just knew what he was going to tell me so I said, "Okay, just do what's best, but we'll never discuss it out loud again." And he smiled and proceeded to assure me that there was no risk of infection or disease, that my healing would be much easier and much faster... "That's okay - no discussion. Just do what you have to do."

So that's how I got "Fred" in my head. I had to name it, you know. Mom asked if I knew anything about the person... "NO! All bones are white and all blood is red! I don't want to know anything else!!"

I didn't know until this past Sunday (thanks, Bob!) that they use pulverized bone for the bone graft. I had visions of a piece of "Fred" just getting glued in place...

Okay, grossness over!

The whole procedure went so well. So far, so good. No swelling, virtually no pain or soreness. No bleeding. I LOVE Dr. V!!! If you're local here in the Passaic/Essex county area and you need a good oral surgeon, just contact me! I know a GREAT one!!!

Well, it's time to get back to work - I am, after all, at work... More soon, everyone!