My cyborg-ness has begun. My face feels like I was punched by the Hulk repeatedly. Part of the procedure was called a "sinus tap," which was basically a way to lift the floor of the sinus cavity up so that the implant wouldn't pierce through it. (Apparently in the 7 months since the tooth was pulled, the floor of the sinus cavity, sensing there was nothing beneath it to stop its break for freedom, has been sagging really low.) A "sinus tap" is pretty much just that -- after making an incision in the gums, the dentist puts a tool in there, and then uses Thor's hammer to hammer the SHIT out of the tool to push up the floor of the sinus cavity. ("You should feel a lot of pressure, but no pain," he told me. I told him, "At some point 'a lot of pressure' crosses the line into being pain, you know.")
Then I got even MORE powdered cadaver bone to fill in the space beneath the sinus floor, and then I got my hardware.
So right now my face feels about like you would expect it to. The dentist was all "Most patients are fine with ibuprofen for a couple of days," but you can call my cell if you need painkillers." And I was too loopy to say "Just write me a prescription now, and if I don't need it, I won't fill it."
I believe I have a tramadol or 2 squirreled away from a previous root canal, so I may take that and see how I feel.
And the 2 tablets of Halcion? Jesus chalupa, I think they could have given me 1 and I would have been fine. I remember the whole procedure, but I dozed off in the car on the way home, and once I got home, I slept for about 4 hours. I think I could sleep for 4 more. That's some powerful shit.
So I take it you didn't drive yourself to the dental appointment?
Holy Zenu, that sinus process sounds horrific. Just knowing it had been done to me would freak me out, forget feeling it.
So I take it you didn't drive yourself to the dental appointment?
Heh. No, Tim drove me, saint that he is.
Holy Zenu, that sinus process sounds horrific. Just knowing it had been done to me would freak me out, forget feeling it.
I knew that I needed the "sinus tap," but the way he described it at the previous appointment was "We go in and just lift up the sinus floor, like a tent." THAT'S NOT HOW TENTS WORK.
Yow! I had to have an MRI before my implant, to determine where my sinuses and nerves were, but they must have been sufficiently out of the way -- my small twisty sinuses, which clog up if you show them a picture of pollen, were at last good for something.
(Seriously, I had an ENT guy tell me that it's not that I'm very allergic, it's just that a normally mild amount of allergic reaction stops up the works.)
Man! Apparently my sinuses were all like "Hey, a tooth is gone? Squatter's rights! We're moving in!"
Fucking sinuses, man.
Entertaining things I've been told by medical professionals: that I clot very quickly, so I don't have to worry about bleeding out if I ever get shot, and that it was a good thing I didn't want kids because my cervix is tilted and it would be hard to conceive.
My first gynecological exam (when I was 18 and a virgin), the nurse midwife told me I had a tipped uterus and I might find intercourse painful with a well-endowed male partner and if this was so, I should try female superior position. I was like, good to know, I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a secret ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit like my best friend from high school.
I had no idea the sinuses were so malleable.
