Saturday, February 27, 2010

Doing Alright

For any of you who are wondering, Shane is doing alright today. His wisdom teeth (we're talking the lower ones here) were lying so deep within his gums that there were some minor complications. The surgeon says there is a possibility of permanent nerve damage. What this would mean is that he might have no sensation or only partial sensation in his chin and maybe his lower lip. It also may be that there will be loss of feeling that improves over time. These risks were explained fully to Shane beforehand and he thought it best to go ahead with it; those teeth had to come out or there would have been worse complications and pain later on.

I suppose there's no way to know what will happen, but as of this morning, he's already regaining some feeling in his chin and lip. His pain is very minimal and he's been taking the over-the-counter combination of Tylenol and Advil rather than the prescription pain medication. He's also on a prophylactic round of antibiotics. There's swelling, of course, but overall, things are going well, I think. He's released to work on Monday as long as he feels like it and he has a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on Monday afternoon, but I think everything will be OK. It's just going to take him a day or two longer to recover than it would have without the complications.

I'm getting ready to make a pot of homemade potato soup for us, and maybe some kind of soft sandwich for him. Maybe tuna salad, or maybe just the salad without the bread; whatever he thinks he can handle. Then we're going to settle in for the afternoon and watch some movies. No comedies, though. It hurts too much when he laughs.

6 comments:

slugmama said...

Glad he's getting some feeling back tho!
Poor thing.....we've had MORE than our share of wisdom teeth extractions around here lately. We highly recommend a full complement of Jello colors/flavors for the 1st 2 days.lol
Keep the ice packs handy....that's the only thing that gave my daughter relief after Day 1.

Unknown said...

I was just talking about wisdom teeth on folksy this morning and I think I must have been really lucky with mine because I didn't have any real trouble. I'm told that McDonald's thick shakes are the way to go, but drank from a glass rather than sucked through a straw:)

I'm glad he's getting some feeling back too and hopefully he'll be completely recovered soon.

A.Marie said...

Oh, I hope he feels better soon! Him and my teen son are quite a pair...Shane with his wisdom teeth out and Teen son with his knee operation. Sounds like we both have been having just quite a bit of fun, huh!! :)

Sonya Ann said...

Anna looked like Quagmire so it sounds like he is really doing well. Anna was out of it for days and we learned that she has a very low tolerance for pain. So Shane sounds like a trouper. And I really think that he will get the feeling back.
Tell him I said poor baby!

Frances said...

I am glad Shane is feeling better. Hope he is back to 100% really soon. I still have my wisdom teeth and plan to keep it that way. I need all the wisdom I can get. LOL!

Annie Jones said...

Thanks for the good thoughts.

We went for a follow-up visit and for the dentist to change the packing they have in his gums. He (the doc) said that everything looks just as it should, but it's going to take a while to heal completely. The dentist also removed the stitches, which helped a lot with pressure and mobility.

Shane broke down and finally took a hydrocodone last night and it upset his stomach, so he now has a new prescription for Tylenol w/Codeine. Hopefully that will work for him...that he even agreed to take anything stronger than OTC stuff means he's really uncomfortable.

He's eating mostly soup, simple pasta dishes and scrambled eggs, but at least it's better than a liquid diet.