Posts Tagged ‘pain’

To The Pain…

Sunday, March 31st, 2013

Well, today (Saturday that is) sure sucked.

Up until today I was feeling pretty good following Monday’s surgery; the surgical site was healing up pretty well, and it felt like my front teeth were beginning to move back into a normal position that would allow my jaw to close fully & allow for proper mastication to happen, if only on one side of my mouth. Not quite there, but almost. About the only thing bugging me was the stitches, but knowing that in a day or three they would fall out soon and give some relief made that bearable. I was to the point where I really didn’t even need ibuprofen for pain control; several days’ doses of hydrocodone just sat on the shelf, and I was happy to leave it there.

But around noon today I started to get some nasty aches & pains from my lower front teeth and the right side of my mouth. At first I wrote it off to the teeth moving back into their proper position, but at some point it dawned on me that this could be another tumor rearing its ugly head and making itself known. At this point I’m not sure if that’s the case or not, but I also noticed a nice little lump around the root of number 27 that I don’t recall being so prominent before. Great.

The rest of the day was more of the same. I stuck with ibuprofen and acetaminophen throughout the day, but dipped into the hydrocodone at about midnight because it wasn’t letting up. Even with that on board, the pain woke me up again at a little before 3am. I also noticed another spot that is quite sore on the roof of my mouth; that could be something totally different, but it sure brings to light how this diagnosis has made me a bit more paranoid about these things. I also had some sinus pain later in the day, which could just be allergies — I spent a fair amount of time working outside today, and it is spring — but that pain happens to be on the same side as the sore spot on the roof of my mouth (coincidence?) I took some Sudafed to loosen things up, but it’s pretty persistent (You know what they say about paranoia; just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that everyone isn’t out to get you.) I took a second hydrocodone at about 4 am; the label says to take one or two every four to six hours as needed, and I’m feeling that it’s needed, at least if I want to get any more sleep tonight. I’ll happily let Yvonne do the Easter Sunday driving.

And here it is, Easter morning. I hope I don’t see the sun rise, but wouldn’t be surprised if I did. Either way, knowing that Jesus is risen is a reminder that even though it seems this storm is only building steam, the one thing I can count on is that God is good.

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Just to catch up where the last post left off, Friday’s testing was interesting but uneventful. Showed up at 1:30, got checked in, got an IV stuck in my arm (good Lord, I hate those things), gave up about a dozen vials of blood for testing, and got the CT scan. This time they did the head & neck and the full torso, with an orally-administered contrast dye, and again with an IV-administered contrast dye. Then it was a long wait for a 5:30 date with the MRI. That was quite an experience; loud and cramped. Not terribly unpleasant, but I can see why they ask about claustrophobia before you go in there. It’s got to be a terrifying experience for little kids. Anyway, no results on any of that, but I have an 8 am appointment to visit with Dr. Bleeker on Monday morning. That should be an education. Thankfully I’ll have my favorite nurse and doctor-in-training along for the ride. Hoping for good news, but bracing for not… And praying a lot.

I’ve been sharing this business with family and friends, and word is getting around. Yvonne shared the news with one of the ladies in the church office, and a little while later the worship leader sends out an email to everyone on the tech team… “Today Dave Thornton received news that he has cancer. Caleb was scheduled to run camera Easter Sunday but we’d like to have him take the morning off to be with his family. Is there someone that will step in for him? Nice. Makes it sound like I’m scheduled to kick the bucket in a couple of days. He means well, but the delivery needs work; lots of it. And speaking of delivery… When I told Emily that Dr. Miller had given me the word on the diagnosis by way of a voicemail message, she was pretty shocked. Later on, she was talking about that with Yvonne and the line from Toy Story came to mind; one of the first things they teach in medical school is to deliver scary news in person, never, ever, ever by leaving a message. We thought it was pretty funny, after the fact!

Oh, and the title; it’s from a scene in the always excellent movie, The Princess Bride, and came to mind only because it hurts… The wallowing in freakish misery business doesn’t sound like my bag at all.

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And the saga continues… *

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

Today was the day for my appointment with the oral surgeon, and we’re finally getting some answers, if not some relief. Initially they did a panoramic x-ray, but that didn’t show much of anything, so Dr. Miller ordered a 3D CT image. After having a look at that and a peek inside my mouth, he told us that what I had was likely a brown tumor;

The brown tumor is a bone lesion that arises in settings of excess osteoclast activity, such as hyperparathyroidism. It is not a true neoplasm, as the term “tumor” suggests; however, it may mimic a true neoplasm.

Pathology
Brown tumours consist of fibrous tissue, woven bone and supporting vasculature, but no matrix. The osteoclasts consume the trabecular bone that osteoblasts lay down and this front of reparative bone deposition followed by additional resorption can expand beyond the usual shape of the bone, involving the periosteum thus causing bone pain. The characteristic brown coloration results from hemosiderin deposition into the osteolytic cysts. Hemosiderin deposition is not a distinctive feature of brown tumors; it may also be seen giant cell tumors of the bone.

Well, the pathology sure seems to fit my situation; the front of reparative bone deposition has been expanding the bone around those teeth enough to shove the teeth around to where they should not be, and making life miserable for me. The doc is reasonably sure that’s the deal, but only a biopsy will tell for sure, and that’s scheduled for next Monday. And the great part of the biopsy is that they’ll remove the tumor/lesion/whatever it is, but I’ll probably lose a couple of teeth in the process. Great. And I don’t even get to keep them, which is really too bad because I’ll probably need to get dental implants later on, and it would just make so much sense to use them for the implants… The assistant told me they are considered a biohazard, so they go to the incinerator. Too bad.

When the tumor is removed, there will likely be a sizable gap left behind; a variety of materials will be used to fill it in, and with time the other teeth ought to migrate back to their original positions. Eating will be easier, but not back to normal because of the missing teeth; later, after things heal up, and I can afford it, the option of implant-supported crowns is there. And I’ll look a bit trailer-park-ish with the missing teeth, but the fact that it’s most likely non-cancerous is enough to make me very, very thankful. I can live with trailer-park-ish; radiation & chemo therapy… I’ll pass, thanks.

Now I just need to figure out how to make it through the next few days and nights; eating will still be a challenge, but oatmeal and other soft foods aren’t all bad. The surest path to a good night’s sleep that I’ve found is two Vicoden, two ibuprofen, and my SleepRight Dental Guard. My mouth still hurts like crazy when I wake up, but things look so much better after a good restful night. Knowing that it’s not cancer, and knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel is huge. After last Thursday I was praying & hoping for the best, but bracing for the worst. I know God is good — all the time — and he will see me through whatever comes, but I still worried about my ability to cope. This won’t be an easy path, but I have some hope.

* A continuation of this post and this one.

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It’s 2am; Do You Know Where Your Pain Is?

Saturday, March 16th, 2013

I do. Right where it was a week and a day ago. But this time I have a weapon — a prescription pain killer & and a better cognizance of what’s causing the pain. Part of the issue last week was the unknown; was it just me, grinding/clenching my teeth that was the root cause of the pain, or was it something else? At least now I know that what I do or have done probably didn’t bring this on; I don’t know what the cure will bring, but I have some hope that there will be a cure. Even though I haven’t yet identified the enemy, just knowing that there is an enemy to be battled is strangely comforting.

The funny part of this is that I was just commenting to Yvonne about seven hours ago how I’d made it through most of the day with so little pain that I’d only taken two ibuprofen. But two hours after going to bed I’m wide awake again feeling like there’s a hot poker against the gums on my lower jaw, and that’s after taking a hydrocodone tablet and three ibuprofen at 10pm. Yvonne was rightfully thankful that I hadn’t had much pain, but it caused me to worry that perhaps the two teeth in question had in fact died, and the lack of pain wasn’t a good thing at all.

When thinking about the earlier bouts of pain, I wondered if anything I had done might have triggered the episodes; on at least two of those nights I had had something hot to drink before it came on and had eaten some pistachios. Tonight though the only similar food I had was a single almond. Nothing else crunchy at all, and nothing hot since about 6pm. And I went to bed with the night guard in place, so I know my teeth weren’t banging up against each other; this bout is about as spontaneous as it could be.

Not much has happened since my last post on this subject; the endodontist had promised me a call back on Thursday, but after waiting most of the day, I ended up calling his office at about 3pm. I didn’t speak with him, but was told by his assistant that he had got the software to work properly, but was still not able to determine from the micro-CT scan image what was going on. Like much that happens in the medical field, when confronted with anything outside a given specialist’s field of expertise, they are more than ready to hand you off to the next guy. And the next guy in this case is the oral surgeon, but the soonest I can get in is 3:30pm next Tuesday. Bother.

Now it’s been about 50 minutes since taking two more hydrocodone tablets, and the pain is still there, but dulled. I’m feeling sleepy as all get-out, so maybe the drowsiness will overcome the pain and allow me some sleep… I think I’ll give that a go.

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A New Medical Adventure

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

Another adventure that I did not — and would not — choose is upon me. Something is up with my lower jaw, and so far I’ve stumped four dentists and an endodontist. Funny; I had never even heard of Endodontics until yesterday when a friend who happens to be a dentist referred me to one.

The whole affair began last year… I had been having some tooth sensitivity on the lower left side of my mouth for a while, and brought it up with my dentist during a checkup. The x-rays didn’t show anything at all, and a visual examination didn’t show anything out of the ordinary either. The sensitivity was a bit vague; I couldn’t say definitively which tooth it was, so he did some testing with a cold probe in an attempt to pinpoint the culprit. Still nothing definitive, so he surmised it might be soreness resulting from nighttime teeth clenching, or bruxism, and suggested I consider buying a night guard dental appliance. I didn’t think that was it; if I were grinding my teeth, would it have come up suddenly? Wouldn’t I have pain on both sides? Why only one specific area affected? Too many questions and doubts on my part to drop $400 on a piece of custom-fitted plastic that may or may not do the trick. At that visit he also checked the bite, where the upper teeth contact the lower teeth, and thought a bite adjustment would help, so did some grinding.
(more…)

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