I did survive and am here to tell you all the gory details. I apologize. You can stop reading if you don't want the blow-by-blow.
The root canal took 2 hours and numerous shots. I honestly lost count. There were many times during the procedure that I had to ask for more shots/numbing agents. I think the roots went deeper than they'd expected.
I had four roots in that tooth. The endodontist said that some people have one root in that tooth, most have two or three, but the people who are the most anxious about dental work tend to have four. That was me! So, it took longer. And my roots were interesting, too. One was spiraled at the end a bit and two were connected way down at the bottom. My jaw hurts just talking about it.
I came home from the appointment around 10 yesterday and we rested (I can't sleep when my face is totally numb--though it wasn't numb enough for the procedure!). I did end up taking a long nap after my face started to regain consciousness and that was great. I feel recovered. Today my only symptoms are a sore tooth (but not too bad, because the nerve is gone now) and a really sore jaw: I can't chew or open my mouth easily, but that's to be expected, after holding my mouth open for two hours and receiving numerous shots right near the jaw. Even with a rubber thingy holding it mostly open, I still had to open my mouth wider to get it as open as they wanted most of the time.
So, I survived! I just need to go to my dentist now and get a crown. $$$$$$. Oh well. At least there's no bacteria entering my body anymore (through my teeth, anyway)!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Bad Tooth
"Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble."
Proverbs 25:19
Well, tomorrow is the day that my bad tooth gets its comeuppance. 8am at the endodontist, and I'm actually not feeling too anxious. Praise God! And I've already got a movie picked out for my recovery time afterwards...
I still would appreciate your prayers on my behalf, that I would be calm, that the procedure would go smoothly from the endodontist's point of view, and that he wouldn't gauge us on the cost.
Monday, March 05, 2007
The Survey
As my husband reminded me, I haven't yet posted about my experience participating in the survey. I mentioned it in early February, I think.
The survey was set up like a blog. We went to a webpage to sign in (under anonymous codes--mine was CD147, I think) and then were directed to a website with a folder for each day. We were required to visit everyday for four days in a row, for 30 minutes total each day (I assume they tracked our logins and logouts), and we answered questions that they had divided into different tabs, different pages. This is sounding very confusing. I'll stop being so specific.
There were about 12-15 participants (all with Crohn's) and one moderator, and we were supposed to read the questions for the day, respond, and read the other participants' answers and respond to them. It was helpful to login at various points in the day to see what other people had responded and see if the moderator had asked any follow-up questions.
The questions broadly covered many, many topics related to Crohn's (CD) and living with CD. And the participants were very candid, so I followed suit. It was cathartic to be open with my thoughts and hear other people being open with theirs, and find that others shared many of the same concerns that I did. The questions covered topics such as how we liked our medication, how did we prefer medicine administration (i.e., "Would you change medication if you found an equally effective one that was administered once daily as opposed to thrice daily?), how did our CD affect our daily lives (i.e., "Do you let household tasks suffer because of your CD? Which tasks specifically?" "Do you need to pack extra changes of clothing when going on errands?), how did CD affect our relationships, how did CD affect our emotional health?, etc. Very, very good things to think about in the context of similarly-challenged people.
I felt empowered and also saddened. It was good to know that I was not alone, but hard to realize--from the other people's lives--that as CD goes on, as you get older, it tends to get worse and requires more intervention (like surgery). And I noticed that people who were diagnosed younger had more troubles as they aged. I was diagnosed not early, not late, more in the middle range. And praise God that I don't have some of the problems that many of these people had: multiple needs to go to the bathroom IMMEDIATELY (which required them to know every public restroom in their town or on the route of any trip, etc.), recovering from surgeries, not being able to have a job because of exhaustion and too much time spent in the hospital.
And I also learned that there were people there who despaired of their lives, lost friendships because of their CD (or, more likely, because of the way they handled their CD), and had no relationships or church families or joy in their lives. Then, there were others who had the same level of surgeries and pain and disability who were upbeat and hopeful and led fulfilling lives, who didn't isolate themselves and asked for help and looked for the good in situations, taking every opportunity for joy that they could find. And that last group was inspiring to me. It's not that they never were sad or felt pain, but they kept themselves from despair and were thankful for what they had. Not isolating yourself was a big lesson.
Saturday I got my $75 check for participating in the survey and treated myself to (among other things) an IBD Cookbook. I'm hoping this will encourage me to be more excited about the food I CAN eat and stay healthier.
Thanks for listening.
The survey was set up like a blog. We went to a webpage to sign in (under anonymous codes--mine was CD147, I think) and then were directed to a website with a folder for each day. We were required to visit everyday for four days in a row, for 30 minutes total each day (I assume they tracked our logins and logouts), and we answered questions that they had divided into different tabs, different pages. This is sounding very confusing. I'll stop being so specific.
There were about 12-15 participants (all with Crohn's) and one moderator, and we were supposed to read the questions for the day, respond, and read the other participants' answers and respond to them. It was helpful to login at various points in the day to see what other people had responded and see if the moderator had asked any follow-up questions.
The questions broadly covered many, many topics related to Crohn's (CD) and living with CD. And the participants were very candid, so I followed suit. It was cathartic to be open with my thoughts and hear other people being open with theirs, and find that others shared many of the same concerns that I did. The questions covered topics such as how we liked our medication, how did we prefer medicine administration (i.e., "Would you change medication if you found an equally effective one that was administered once daily as opposed to thrice daily?), how did our CD affect our daily lives (i.e., "Do you let household tasks suffer because of your CD? Which tasks specifically?" "Do you need to pack extra changes of clothing when going on errands?), how did CD affect our relationships, how did CD affect our emotional health?, etc. Very, very good things to think about in the context of similarly-challenged people.
I felt empowered and also saddened. It was good to know that I was not alone, but hard to realize--from the other people's lives--that as CD goes on, as you get older, it tends to get worse and requires more intervention (like surgery). And I noticed that people who were diagnosed younger had more troubles as they aged. I was diagnosed not early, not late, more in the middle range. And praise God that I don't have some of the problems that many of these people had: multiple needs to go to the bathroom IMMEDIATELY (which required them to know every public restroom in their town or on the route of any trip, etc.), recovering from surgeries, not being able to have a job because of exhaustion and too much time spent in the hospital.
And I also learned that there were people there who despaired of their lives, lost friendships because of their CD (or, more likely, because of the way they handled their CD), and had no relationships or church families or joy in their lives. Then, there were others who had the same level of surgeries and pain and disability who were upbeat and hopeful and led fulfilling lives, who didn't isolate themselves and asked for help and looked for the good in situations, taking every opportunity for joy that they could find. And that last group was inspiring to me. It's not that they never were sad or felt pain, but they kept themselves from despair and were thankful for what they had. Not isolating yourself was a big lesson.
Saturday I got my $75 check for participating in the survey and treated myself to (among other things) an IBD Cookbook. I'm hoping this will encourage me to be more excited about the food I CAN eat and stay healthier.
Thanks for listening.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
So, I ask you...
I ask you to check my blog regularly, and then I don't update it for over two weeks. I'm sorry.
I'm back.
I'm back because I'm experiencing difficulties again. Nothing major, but enough so that it's noticeable and disappointing.
This past week, I've been having Crohn's pain. I don't know how to explain it except that it isn't cramping, it isn't bloating, it's a pain that seems unique to Crohn's. A dull pain in my abdomen that, when severe, can make me nauseous. It feels to me like a beacon of wrongness in my body, so even when it's small like it has been, it still makes me sad and somewhat despairing of ever getting better.
Because I was doing pretty well! I was eating well, not having pain, not having to take Maalox for minor issues like I do when I'm struggling, gaining weight (though I have to say, I like being thin, now that I know that I wasn't dangerously thin, just thin for me). So, my husband suggested I blog about it, think it through.
I am very tired this week. I have been since Saturday. I don't feel like I'm catching up on sleep, getting an hour or two less than I'd like every night, and my body just needs more and more on the nights I do get a good amount of sleep. I wonder if my body is catching up on a "sleep debt."
I've lost interest in enjoying food, partially because I have some pain associated with eating, but also because I'm feeling a little down and dysthymic in general. This weather has been gloomy, and I haven't had a day off from my job in awhile, which means that I feel stuck in a routine, and even though I do like routine, I still don't like getting in ruts at work. I need a lot of variety at work.
So, perhaps all of this is because of my lack of sleep. I have a doc appointment (consultation for my root canal) tomorrow mid-morning, so maybe I'll try and sleep in until then. And maybe I'll sleep in Saturday morning if I can, before my cousin's wedding. And then next week, I'll aim to go to sleep around 9pm all week. That would be AWESOME.
Then we'll see how I'm feeling.
I'm back.
I'm back because I'm experiencing difficulties again. Nothing major, but enough so that it's noticeable and disappointing.
This past week, I've been having Crohn's pain. I don't know how to explain it except that it isn't cramping, it isn't bloating, it's a pain that seems unique to Crohn's. A dull pain in my abdomen that, when severe, can make me nauseous. It feels to me like a beacon of wrongness in my body, so even when it's small like it has been, it still makes me sad and somewhat despairing of ever getting better.
Because I was doing pretty well! I was eating well, not having pain, not having to take Maalox for minor issues like I do when I'm struggling, gaining weight (though I have to say, I like being thin, now that I know that I wasn't dangerously thin, just thin for me). So, my husband suggested I blog about it, think it through.
I am very tired this week. I have been since Saturday. I don't feel like I'm catching up on sleep, getting an hour or two less than I'd like every night, and my body just needs more and more on the nights I do get a good amount of sleep. I wonder if my body is catching up on a "sleep debt."
I've lost interest in enjoying food, partially because I have some pain associated with eating, but also because I'm feeling a little down and dysthymic in general. This weather has been gloomy, and I haven't had a day off from my job in awhile, which means that I feel stuck in a routine, and even though I do like routine, I still don't like getting in ruts at work. I need a lot of variety at work.
So, perhaps all of this is because of my lack of sleep. I have a doc appointment (consultation for my root canal) tomorrow mid-morning, so maybe I'll try and sleep in until then. And maybe I'll sleep in Saturday morning if I can, before my cousin's wedding. And then next week, I'll aim to go to sleep around 9pm all week. That would be AWESOME.
Then we'll see how I'm feeling.