The Fall...

I shall start this post with a warning. This could be disturbing to some people. 

Saturday, August 3rd, after taking the Mini's to Bernheim Forest to see the Forest Giants (see previous post), those Mini's were ready for something to eat followed by an ice cream treat. That is best accomplished at Dairy Queen. Hayden took my phone and located one on our way home in Shepherdsville. Claude pointed the Buick in that direction and we were off. I was going through pictures to post on Facebook. We got to Dairy Queen and everyone had something to eat. Then Claude took the Mini's back up to pick out their ice cream treats. I finished posting pictures to Facebook. 

We went to the car. I had a bit more soda left in my cup and a glass of ice water in the car. I poured my left over soda over my water. Then I got out of the car to take my trash to a trash can. This is where everything went very wrong. I tripped on that concrete log they put to stop cars from hitting the curb. This meant I fell forward. As I started to fall, I heard a voice in my head say, "Relax and take the fall." Then my mouth hit the edge of the concrete walk into Dairy Queen. I knew immediately it was not good. I remember turning over and looking across toward Claude and saying something like, "I think my mouth is wrong!" He calmly assured me I was correct. I started to bleed. Napkins were coming to catch the blood. People were coming out from inside Dairy Queen to offer help and paper towels. I stood up and made my way to my place in the car. Trying to stop the bleeding along the way. Claude tells me a man stopped his car to get out to help and looked at me, then turned to Claude and said, "I think she broke a tooth." Major understatement. 

I keep gallon Ziploc bags in the back of each of my car seats. The Mini's tend to get car sick. These they each have easy access too just in case. After a couple of minutes I said to Bailey, "Please hand me your plastic bag." She did and I filled it. 

About this time the girls from inside Dairy Queen came out very concerned. They wanted to know if they should fill out an incident report. You know, even in my wrecked condition, I knew this was my fault. I have bad feelings about how litigious our society has become. I just looked at those poor girls and said, "This is really my fault. There is no need for a report. You really don't have to worry about this. I will take more paper towels for the ride home though." 

Soon we were off and on our way home. I took this selfie after looking in the mirror. If you have a weak stomach, don't look at this picture.

The drive home gave me time to think and feel how strange my mouth felt. It also gave me pause as we are set to go on our big trip this year on Tuesday, August 13th. Would this be the undoing of this long awaited trip. As we drove I was sure they would have to pull at least three teeth right in the front. One appeared to be broken off right at the bottom of the gum. Time to think was a good thing. We were at least two hours from home so I appreciated time to think. I could come to peace with losing my teeth. Life would not end, it just might be a little different.

Andie was contacted and Michael gave us a place in route to meet him so he could take the kids back home and we could get home a bit quicker. Poor Michael really looked shocked when he saw me. He was very worried about how it must hurt. The truth is, it wasn't hurting as much as one would think. Where I bit through my lip hurt more than my teeth. 

I called my dentist office as we drove to see if they had any emergency hours. The young man on duty told me they didn't. I explained what happened and the result was I had one tooth broken off at the gum line, one tooth broken and one tooth facing the back of my mouth. He said he would call the dentist and call me back. Dr. Hollen said to have me come in Monday at 8am. 

Claude and I got home and went to bed. I would stay there all day Sunday. Didn't even try to go visit Papa that day.

Monday, Claude drove me to Dr. Hollen's office. She looked at my mouth and we talked about what happened and how I felt. I assured her I wasn't in much pain. We had some meds left from Claude last episode with his implant and I had taken that Saturday night to sleep. Other than that I was taking arthritis strength Tylenol. She said that was an indicator to her that the nerves were damaged. Otherwise, I would really be suffering with pain. Hmmm... Dr. Hollen took a couple of x-rays and then referred me immediately to Dr. King. 

Dr. King has an x-ray machine that takes a circular image of your mouth and gives you a 3-D type picture of what is actually happening in the mouth. Different view than an x-ray. Then he was going to explain what he found and what our options were. I asked if Claude could come back and hear so i didn't have to repeat everything and we could both make the decision together. They brought Claude back. An explanation was given and we determined the best plan was to remove the three teeth, put bone marrow in the sockets to help the healing, then do an implant bridge to have the three teeth look right again. This will take months but we all felt like it was the best decision. 

I shared our upcoming trip with Dr. King. That would make it about a week away. He was so accommodating and helpful to try and get everything so I could travel the best way possible. He never made us feel rushed and the entire staff have been over-the-top amazing and kind. I am one richly blessed lady to have these people working with me. He did request we come back at 12:30 that day so he could take some impressions. They would make a 'flipper' which is three false teeth on a retainer that I could wear for aesthetics. Not to eat, just to look okay. We agreed.

We came back at 12:30 and he took these pictures as well as the impressions. Again, not for the squeamish. But I am amazed at what tools dentists have these days. Here is what the picture shows. The little short tooth on the top is not broken off at the gum line. It is literally jammed into the gum. The big tooth to the right of it is broken on the bottom and jammed into the gum line. The tooth to the right of that is jammed clear up in the gum with the white bottom pointing to the back of my mouth. We picked the best plan to fix this mess. The good part is I didn't break any bones in my face and the rest of my teeth are fine. 

Claude took me to our Dairy Queen and got me a Mango Pineapple Smoothie. I was able to eat it with a spoon taking little bits and putting it in the back of the left side of my mouth. I sent Hayden and Bailey a text and assured them we would be able to go back to a Dairy Queen again in the future. They were happy. Claude dropped me off at the nursing home and I spent a few hours visiting Papa. Then we went home so I could rest again.

Tuesday, August 6th we were back at Dr. King's office at 11:30am for the extractions. They took me back to a room and this beautiful picture was on the wall.

I love turtles. Turtle is my favorite word. I have lots of turtles tucked around our home. To walk into this room and see a beautiful turtle picture on the wall gave me such calm and peace about this little ordeal. I shared this with the staff and thanked them for doing this work in this room. While I was in surgery, they gave Claude my prescriptions so he could go get them filled. When I finished with everything about 1pm, Claude was ready to take me home to rest for the remainder of the day. 

I did take this picture when I saw the swelling that was happening in my gums and under my nose. I told Claude that if they put some hair around my face I could be an actor in the movie "Planet of the Apes". Bwah ha ha!!

Wednesday, Claude had a meeting in Lexington in the afternoon. We decided he would drop me at the nursing home so I could spend some hours with Papa, then he would pick me up and we would go try Cracker Barrel for dinner. I was sure I could find something soft there to eat. I was taking narcotics for pain and one has no business driving when taking these drugs. We ordered meat loaf and I had steamed carrots and mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner. It takes a lot longer for me to eat now as I don't want to get food into those three sockets and mess up all the work of healing that has to take place there. So I need to take a spoon or fork and get little bits of food tucked back in my left jaw where I have teeth to chew. It is a process but it works. Dr. King said to eat normally to keep up nutrition. I have lost weight but am only eating healthy things. The hardest part for me is that I can't have soda. It seems the soda pop will erode the stitches. So, as long as I have these stitches, no soda. 

The flipper was not supposed to be ready until Friday. However, the dentist office called and told me that I could come in Thursday at noon and get it fitted. Yippee!!  Claude took me in Thursday and they popped in the flipper. Then popped it out and adjusted till they got the right fit. Dr. King sat on a chair beside me after the flipper was in and said, "We made the right decision for you. When I took your teeth out, I would usually have to wiggle them to get the root loose enough to come out in one piece. I didn't have to wiggle your teeth. They came out with bone on the root." My gum was really busted up. He repaired all that gum and now we wait for it to heal and fill in with the bone marrow stuff. This is me in my flipper. As I met Claude in Dr. King's waiting room after getting the flipper, I walked into the waiting room and did a pose and sang, "They call me Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning." Claude had a grin out of it.

After a nice visit with Papa, I was returned to my home. Poor Papa wanted to go for a car ride. I had to explain again what was going on with my mouth and that I could not drive until I wasn't taking those medications. He just can't remember things and one has to explain again and again so he understands that at this point I need to take care of my health. Once I explain, he is fine and very concerned. 

I quit taking the narcotics and was able to drive myself on Friday for the first time to visit Papa. We did not go for a long drive because I just wasn't that sure of myself. But we did enjoy a morning with him drinking root beer and visiting in my car. He was very happy with that outing. 

So I am on the mend. It will be a slow process. Months of healing between processes to get the posts in for the implants, etc. I am so very grateful for so many things in this process. I am grateful for that voice that told me to relax into the fall. I truly believe that kept me from more serious damage. I am grateful for a calm hubby who has been so supportive and provided what I need and want through this. I am grateful for a good dentist who referred me to the perfect dentist to help us make a plan and then get me through that plan. I am grateful they appreciate the fact we want to take our trip and are bending over backwards when they already have full schedules to be sure I am as prepared as I can be. So much to be grateful for and I am truly grateful for all of it. 

A little irony about this fall. When we went to LaGrange to watch Hayden march with the Oldham County High School Band in the Oldham County Days parade, Claude fell as we were finding a place to sit along the street. I fell after visiting Bernheim Forest. That evening we learned that Bonnie, Claude's mom, fell and broke her wrist. Later that weekend I got a news flash on my cell phone that Mitch McConnell, our Senator in Kentucky, fell and injured his shoulder at his home. During the week as I visited with Papa, Larry came in to check on us. He is the insurance agent for Papa. Turns out his wife also fell and broke her leg. It seems August has not been a good month for those of us who are aging as gracefully as we can.