So as is the case when I usually sign up to play a new organized sport for the season, I get injured in the face. A few years ago it was an elbow to the mouth as a girl was going up for a rebound, last summer it was a fist to the nose as a girl was running towards home plate and I was waiting for the throw (why she didn’t use the safety bag is beyond me, and most recently it came full circle and I sustained ANOTHER elbow to the mouth in basketball defending a layup.
I should really start wearing a football helmet when I play any organized sport.
Anyways, I went down immediately on Wednesday night, but my primary concern was my braces. I really shouldn’t be playing with my Invisaligns in, but I didn’t think that I would get hit in the head again (I mean, what are the odds). Almost immediately after impact my upper lip started swelling and ballooned to double the size (I would post pics, but it’s gross). Taking out my top Invisalign I examined it and let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t cracked (I really didn’t feel like forking over $250 for a new tray).
Then I rinsed out my mouth and made sure I wasn’t missing any teeth. Some slight bleeding along the gum-line of one tooth, but other than that the skin wasn’t broken on my lip (I’m pretty sure my braces acted kind of like a mouth guard in that sense).
After I got an apology from my perpetrator, I got a ride home from one of my team mates. Luckly I had some Ibuprofen on me, so I took two. I also had a ziploc bag handy and filled it with snow to ice down my lip on the way home, and iced it a bit more before bed.
It wasn’t until the morning when I saw that the swelling was still prominent that I called up Telehealth Ontario. I never called them before, but after remember seeing some commercials and some stuff on the government website, I decided that some help from a nurse practioner was needed.
The call went so smoothly. I was only on hold for about 40 seconds after the initial operator picked up, before a nurse took my call. After answering a few questions about myself and my injury she was able to give me some great advice on a remedy, and told me that it would be approximately 2-3 days for the swelling to go completely down, and to watch out for signs of infection if the swelling increased at all over 2 days. Also noted that I should rinse with some salt water, stay away from any spicy or hot foods while my lip was swollen.
Took the day off work obviously (as tempted as I was to tell my students that the reason for my busted lip was that I got in a bar fight), and continued to ice it (Freezies helped and were oh, so tasty) and take a couple Advil every 4 hours.
The swelling did go down a lot and as of 36 hours later I was able to back to work without looking like I was it a UFC fight.
So, thank you Teleheath Ontario for your super-friendly, quick and helpful assistance.
Telehealth Ontario offers free access to a Registered Nurse 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can be reached at 1-866-797-0000.
In an attempt to train in the weeks before my CN Tower stair climb for the WWF, I’ve been trying to kick up my exercise intensity level. You know… P90X-style: through muscle confusion by doing a lot of various physical activities.
My body now feels like it’s been run over by a pack of wild clog-wearing wildebeest.
According to the interwebs I am experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). I haven’t felt this sore since the days after my snowboarding stint back in university (and I was only on the beginner hill).
Tuesday, I went kickboxing for the first time in over a year. It was fun getting to put back on my hand wraps and gloves, but when you’re instructed to do 500 swing kicks, knees, and jab-cross combos in a row, it can really take a lot out of you.
I honestly thought I was going to faint in the middle of the workout. Luckily I was partnered up with another girl who totally understood my pain, and I was able to get through it with a few breathers in between.
Wednesday is when the soreness started to happen, particularly in my quads and hamstrings. But that didn’t stop me from going salsa dancing Thursday night! That’s right, I slapped on some muscle cooling gel and danced through the pain.
Friday I took up an offer from a friend of mine to participate in a basketball tournament. It’s been a few years since I was part of an organized basketball team. Even though I was traumatized from my last bout when another girl elbowed me in the mouth as she was going up for a rebound (my lip was swollen for days), but I was happy to play. A bit rusty, but I had a scored couple baskets and even had a Mutombo-style block! Played another game on Saturday night as well (we even scored silver medal)!
I was going to try to make a dance run tonight, but had a family event to attend and loads of work to do for my deadline tomorrow ‘at the office’. Plus, my forearm muscles, back muscles, and strangely enough my gluteus maximus are aching.
A few tips to help alleviate muscle soreness:
Gentle stretching – Both before and after exercise. I really need to work on this.
Get a massage – Since there’s no pool boy to help me with this, I’m going to have to make use of my annual health benefits coverage.
Take a Hot Bath – The heat will help with circulation, adding some Epsom salts and some essential oils like lavender will help with the relaxation process.
Light Exercise – I know, it sounds like fighting fire with fire, but keeping your body active with low-intense exercise (even if you’re muscles are sore) will help oxygen get to the muscles and start the healing process.
Less than a week until I climb up all those 1776 steps. I’ll probably do a bootcamp class this week and sprinkle some salsa in before the big day.
Am I doing too much? I need to remember that I’m not Super Woman, but I’ll make sure to keep the A535 on hand.
Back on January 18th I got all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Although none were impacted, one was growing on an angle and difficult to clean. Plus I eventually wanted to get orthodontics to correct my smile, so I mustered up the courage, made sure I had proper dental coverage and decided to take those suckers out. Here’s my day-by-day account to how it went down for the first week.
Day 1:
My sister came to the dental surgeon’s office with me as my chaperone, as I didn’t want to end up aimlessly on the streets of Toronto, high of pain pills and Novocaine.
Got to the office on time (around noon), filled out the appropriate forms, tried not to have a panic attack in the washroom minutes before my surgery after thinking about having parts of my body removed while I was knocked out.
Once I was sitting in the chair, the dental assistant informed me of how I’ll feel after the drugs were administered. She asked if I was nervous at all. I told her a little, so she gave me some laughing gas to calm my nerves.
The surgeon walked in and greeted me, then they gave me the anesthetic. The last thing I remember was asking, “Am I supposed to be feeling this dizzy?”.
Next thing you know I start coming to. I distinctly remember my legs twitching as they were finishing off extracting my teeth.
When everything was complete I was gently walked into a separate room and my sister came in and asked me how I was feeling. Obviously I felt like I just had 4 teeth extracted from my mouth (which was full of gauze).
The dental assistant gave me and my sister the rundown of what to expect now that my teeth had been removed, and how to use the syringe to clean out the gaping holes that were now left in my mouth. I was told that I had a few stitches that would dissolve/come out over the next few days. She gave me a care kit and my wisdom teeth! Then I was off. I wonder how much money I’ll get if I put these under my pillow?
I told my sister (through mumbles) to drop me to the grocery store so that I could pick up the food that I’ll need to eat to fit my new liquid/mushy diet. I’m surprised I wasn’t more groggy than I was. I managed to locate the soup aisle quickly, and also got a box of instant mashed potatoes. Also picked up my Tylenol-3 prescription.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t go straight home and rest, so I had to follow my sister to an important meeting at a community center, so I spent the next hour and a half watching kids dive in an Olympic sized swimming pool until she was done (thank goodness I had my laptop with me).
Stayed at the family’s house that night so that I wouldn’t choke on my own blood while sleeping. I was super hungry, as I wasn’t supposed to eat or drink anything prior to the surgery. Managed to down some tomato soup and some baby food (custard is so yummy), with a little baby spoon, while my sister and our friend chowed down on a hearty meal of chicken and rice.
It was around 9pm when I tried to eat a tiny piece of chicken, as I was still hungry). I knew I couldn’t chew it, tried to swallow it whole seagull style, but it wasn’t working, so I just rinsed my mouth out, put in some new gauze and went to bed.
Sleep was uneasy. Woke up a couple hours later and was talking to my sister about a conversation I thought we had, but was really a dream. Turned out it actually did happen. Felt like I was living int he Matrix. Had trouble sleeping as I didn’t want to choke with the gauze in my mouth, yet didn’t want to take it out b/c I was still bleeding from one of the extraction sites a bit.
Day 2:
Changed my gauze again and brushed my teeth in the AM. It’s strange opening my mouth and not seeing teeth where there used to be. Surprisingly there was hardly any swelling. My left side was just puffed up a tiny bit, but I was happy that I didn’t end up looking like a chipmunk. As for the pain, my mouth felt sore, like I was trying to recuperate after being punched in the face. As per the doctor’s orders, I was taking the pain med and the antibiotics alternatively.
I got a nice call from the surgeon’s office asking how I was feeling and again giving me tips for my recovery. I changed my gauze multiple times that day. As for eating, I had some more baby food and mom made me some mashed potatoes. Headed home later and looked forward to eating my pre-made Jell-O-filled ramekins I made prior to the surgery. Jell-O has never tasted so good.
Day 3:
Mouth is still a little sore, but the swelling is pretty much gone. Still on a baby-food diet, as I’m afraid to attempt to eat real food lest it get lodged into one of my mouth holes and cause dry socket. My cheeks still have the faintest tinge of numbness. Had to go into work today, but at least the weekend is here. I found out that pieces of brie inside tomato soup is quite a delicious dish! Still not feeling any major pain (more like discomfort), so I stopped taking the Tylenol-3, lest I became an addict.
Day 4:
I’m not sure how much more soup, baby food, Jell-O and mashed potatoes I can eat. I’m wasting away here! I had a charity auction party to go to at a friend’s house tonight. My awesome friend made me some red pepper soup on account of my condition. :-) Slurped that down as I was bidding on items that I didn’t really need (but it was for charity). I also managed to eat some veggie noodle stir fry. Yum!
Day 5:
The numbness in my cheeks are finally gone! That was my main worry before even having my wisdom teeth removed. Using the syringe is a bit tricky. But I got to make sure that the gums heal properly. Still staying away from drinking anything with a straw, as I heard that the suction can dislodge the needed blood clots in my gums.
Day 6:
Eating real food more regularly now! Although trying to chew with your front teeth is a bit tedious. I think I felt one of the stitches slide out, so I opened my mouth and lo and behold there’s a string hanging from behind my molar. I didn’t dare pull it out (I thought they would dissolve).
Day 7:
I have my follow-up appointment tomorrow. I hope all goes well. Still gingerly eating, syringing, gargling (non-alcohol mouthwash, and with salt water) and brushing! I lost about 5lbs since the procedure (since I’m practically afraid to eat) so I guess that’s a plus!
Day 8:
The follow-up appointment went well. The dental assistant took a look inside my mouth and told me that my gums seemed to be healing well. Although there was a tiny bit if bleeding still in one of the sites. Reason was I wasn’t using the syringe properly: I was supposed to put in right inside the gum. I guess I was still a bit doped up after the initial surgery to remember that tiny fact. I was under the impression that the pressure of the water would be enough to squirt any food out, and that putting it inside my gum would lengthen the healing time. Whoops!
Today:
After a recent visit to my dentist, my mouth has healed great. Looking in the mirror myself, I no longer see the gaping holes that were there just over a month ago. I also was able to get fitted for my Invisaligns… but that’s another post.
Tomorrow I’m having all four of my wisdom teeth extracted. I am scared out of my mind. I haven’t been this anxious since the release of the last Twilight film.
I know I probably should’ve had them extracted years ago when I was in my prime, but they came in late and never really bothered me (for the most part). They all are fully erupted, but like with most people, can be tricky to keep clean. Especially the lone tooth that grew in on an angle and who’s roots are poking through my sinus wall. As big as my mouth is, it can be a pain to floss those suckers!
After thoughtful deliberation, and dentist’s recommendation, I’m chucking the suckers. Going under the knife in less than 12 hours. I really don’t want to have any major problems with them further down the road, so it’s now or never (thank goodness for insurance coverage).
The main phobia I have is suffering any permanent numbness, but I’m praying that everything will go well! Got my pantry stocked with Jell-O, yogurt, soups, ice-cream, pudding and quick-serve mashed potatoes anticipating the baby-food diet that I’ll have to endure for the next few days while my gums heal.
Perhaps I should’ve have watched those YouTube videos on wisdom teeth extraction before my appointment. I’m too curious for my own good. I hope I don’t chicken out before they put me to sleep.
Looking forward to eating a real meal once this is all over!
I’ve been there a few weeks ago and I’m from The Netherlands so i should know how it would taste and I got a apple crumble pie and it was the best I’ve ever had little expesive but okay it was delicious!
on August 11, 2016