...

[elwen]

So I went in again this morning, after some weird sleeping and fasting pattern of last night. Got all hooked up -- I think they had the nitrous oxide stronger this time, because I didn't feel lightheaded last time -- and braced for the needle again. Naturally the first place to try would be where it worked last time, but this time it seems the IV only went very slowly, not enough for it to work. Two more stabs in my left wrist didn't work either. I'm pretty sure he moved the needle around and/or pushed it deeper this time, and it was a lot more unpleasant. So in the end we just went with local anesthesia.

If I could have "saved" my vein from last time and gone under this time instead, I would have. I get the feeling this time was rather nastier. Then again, it was more forward in my mouth, and I could open my mouth wider, so maybe I was spared a lot of painful prying.

As it was, though, there was this spot underneath the lump that just didn't seem to respond to anesthesia. It hurt like hell when they tried to get me to open my mouth wider, and during the procedure it seemed like he was stretching it or something. It's this sharp pain, and I still feel it now. I have this paranoid voice in my head that says it's because my jawbone is fractured, though I have no idea how that could have happened. Halfway through the procedure, I mentioned that I still felt pain there. Mistake. He injected some more anesthesia, and I felt that needle, right in the middle of where it already hurt. And it didn't go numb afterwards, either. So it hurt all through the procedure, and it still does now. I was starting to think I'd risk the Vicodin to make it go away, but I think I'll be okay. I'll mention it if it still hurts when he calls tonight.

Also, I was still bleeding when I last checked about twenty minutes ago. I finished around 12:30, so this is considerably longer than last time and when I got my teeth out. I don't know if I'm not biting properly because it hurts the bad spot, or the gauze is in the wrong place, or I'm changing the gauze too much or what. Obviously if it keeps going for much longer I will call the office.

So I guess in the end, aside from the painful spot, local anesthesia is more pleasant. One needle in the wrist is worse than six in the mouth, apparently. I think I'm becoming sensitized to being stuck in the veins. I'm starting to remember what it feels like, the aching pain that's inside your arm, that makes you afraid to move and make it poke out. Plus in your mouth they use the topical numbing thing first. I remember the first time I got a filling and I didn't even know I was being stabbed. I thought they'd pinched a tiny bit of my flesh really hard.

Another new experience: my heart was racing and I felt like I couldn't take deep breaths after they used the local anesthesia. I was confused because the pain wasn't that bad, and I didn't think I'd braced that much. Turns out there's adrenaline in the injection that makes your heart race at first. Only, I've never had that happen to me before. Oh well.

So with the actual procedure, I couldn't tell what he was doing, although I could see all the instruments and his fingertips covered in blood. I did hear some nasty scraping, and I'm still kind of curious as to what that was about. Against my jawbone? My teeth? I can't imagine why he'd need to do either. Later there was some squeezing of my cheek to drain the pus, and I felt that in the not-numb spot, too, but it wasn't as bad as what he did from the inside.

Right now, my cheek is pretty swollen, but it still feels like there's a bit of the hard lump remaining. But he said he removed an encapsulated cyst -- as opposed to a lot of pus -- so I assume he got at least some of it. He's sending it in for a biopsy to make sure it's not something horrible like a tumor. (It's probably just a result of the infection, at least that's what he said to me. I believe him because I think it's the same lump that never went away from the beginning, just got smaller and then worse again.)

So yeah. I'm not nauseous, and I didn't sleep after the procedure, so I guess it's good that I couldn't get up and work this morning from sleep inertia. Now to work on the ChE set and ignore this pain. I'm hoping it will be better when I remove the gauze.

...it's 3:14 now and the bleeding is stopped but my jaw still hurts. Wah. Why are there so many complications? >_<

Comments

[ling84.livejournal.com]

*pat pat* Nobody should have to be doing ChemE sets through all that...

[ctrl-a.livejournal.com]

*just finished ChE set*

The kicker is that the 103 prof doesn't give extensions. Period. Half the class is sick and dying anyway, so we're all in the same sinking boat.

[dksph.livejournal.com]

he doesn't take medicals / deans' notes?

[ctrl-a.livejournal.com]

Nope. You have to be out of town on a family emergency for several days while the set is out in order to merit an extension. The idea is if you fall sick the day before it's due, it's your own fault you can't finish it because you didn't manage your time properly, or something like that. Naturally the Deans could override him if they wanted to and equally naturally they don't want to. He himself mentioned that last year he refused to give someone an extension after s/he had convinced Barbara Green that s/he needed it.