Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Infection pt. 2 and my birthday!

I woke up this morning and my lip was still swollen. Not as bad as Monday afternoon but still sensitive to the touch and a tad uncomfortable. I went and saw Dr, Keith and he confirmed my pcp's diagnosis. I had an infection inside along my upper jaw incision. Fortunately, it was not to bad. He said that the area is slightly open which is allowing everything to drain out. GROSS. That's good because it means that he doesn't have to drain the area manually. I didn't ask what draining it manually would entail, didn't really want to know. He said that I'll have a gross taste in my mouth until everything drains out and begins healing. It'll probably take about 7 days.

He advised me to continue taking the antibiotics until the bottle was completed, use a hot compress on the outside of the infected area, do salt water rinses every 2 hours for the next 48 hours, and use chlorhexidine mouthwash for the next 7 days. He said that I was lucky I caught it so quickly because it could have been worse. Worse meaning that the area around the implants would become infected. That's super bad so I'm glad it didn't come to that!

He thinks it might have started due to one of my stitches not falling out. Those little bastards are terrible! I hate hate hate those stupid dissolving stitches. They are the worst! Thankfully, it's only superficial so it should clear up pretty quickly.

Since I started the antibiotics last night, he said I should be good to return to work tomorrow. I really don't want to use up all my earned time so that was a bit of relief. I'm not contagious but he thought it was a good idea to sit back, relax and let the meds do their thing for the rest of today.

I was nervous about what he was going to say so I didn't eat much of anything before my appointment. Just a bottle of chocolate ensure. If I had to have something done in their office, at least I didn't have much in my stomach to cause any delays.

I was told to go home, relax and to enjoy my birthday. Don and I had originally planned to go ice skating and then out to dinner but not sure if that's happening or not. I think I'll take a nap and see how I feel when I wake up. We also have to see what the weather is like since it's been raining on and off all morning. We'll make a decision based on that. 

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