Pheealzabraces: PAOO surgery, 5 days out

Those of you who have been following this saga via social media are aware of the latest step in this long and arduous process, the PAOO surgery. Dr. Brownfield performed it this past Monday (6/27) and I saw her again on Thursday (6/30) for a follow up. Everything is progressing well, although its been a little more intense than the Wisdom Tooth extractions.

In addition to the PAOO procedure, she also did some gum grafting to address the Gingival recession on the lower front as well as the removal of some compound filling put in by Dr. Hung to address distal fractures on my upper molars a couple years ago. All in all it added up to a long day in the chair, though I was, again, blissfully unaware of the proceedings save for another nose scratching episode. This time I was more insistent, and was actually obliged by Dr. Brownfield and her assistant until the spot was scratched.

Once again, faithful friend and responsible party Clint got me to the office and back home and settled in. Monday afternoon and evening are pretty spotty (there was some soccer viewing in there somewhere, and a lot of spit that looked suspiciously like pure blood), not surprising considering I probably had a good bit of sedative and painkiller still in my system. It wasn’t until Tuesday and really Wednesday that the full brunt of what had been done started to hit home.

Apparently I have harder bone than most folks, necessitating the shaving down of it in order for the PAOO cuts to be properly made. My face is going to ache for quite a while, I think. I finally broke down and took a Tylenol 3 (Tylenol w/Codeine) Tuesday night and turned onto my side at some point, which I was advised against due to the fact that not keeping my head elevated might result in one or both eyes blackening. Viola, instant left eye black. It’s not tender or anything, but it sure looks serious. Dr. Brownfield was duly impressed Thursday. I think the bigger pain in all this is the swelling that is stubborn in not going down (my nose feels like it’s stuffed up all the time, but blowing it is an exercise in pain (and futility, most of the time)) and the stitches all over my mouth, especially the ones on the outside of my gums poking into the inside of my lips.

The other tough part about the recovery this go round is how much longer it’s going to take and the necessity for me to take it easy for an extended period of time. I’m lucky I was able to take the entire week off, and glad that I did so. Still, I went out to run errands on the past few days and to band practice last night, which plumb wore me out. It’s frustrating, because the recovery from the extractions was relatively short and easy. I’m not the most patient person in the world, and laying around the house doesn’t feel right, even when I know it’s the best thing for me.

The ‘no solid food for two weeks’ thing is also proving to be interesting, mainly in the sense that it has all but reduced my meat consumption to zero. I’m learning quickly about what I like and don’t like in the smoothie world.

So the next week or so will be an exercise in patience and self control. The stitches come out on Friday (7/8) and the braces go on on the following Monday (7/11) Then the long road to the eventuality that will be the implants to replace the dead teeth that started all this will be underway.