When I added “pain” to my list of needing to write about, it was for a different pain. So when another ‘pain’ monster re-appeared, I remembered it was already on my list :\
Yes I was feeling T.N. zaps, but thankfully very weak. I was certain that this time it wasn’t the fault of M.S. but an infected tooth. Going to the dentist, who in general like contorting your mouth and face into extremely ‘painful’ ways, scared me to death. I knew I needed antibiotics, but needed the proof too.
The technician was very good to me, she understood the issues I have with the T.N. and together we put the x-ray film (the size of a football) in my mouth. I was thankful at this point that I had taken a small amount of pain meds before leaving the house hehe, the first one had no issues, I was surprised. Then she said ‘I need a second one too’. I cringed but knew I could do it again.
I was very uncomfortable reclined in the chair, so I sat up and turned to the side so my legs could hang off the side. In walks my dentist and I started to lift my legs back on the chair, he said not to bother. My one tooth is cracked in TWO places and yes there is an infection in there. This indeed was the best news I could get . He gives me a script for antibiotics, a copy of the x-ray and the phone number of a practice that specializes in oral extractions,” that tooth has to come out”.
Really I should throw a party and celebrate HAHAHHA. I called and schedule to see a doctor (no idea who and don’t care), first for a consult and then schedule for the extraction, yeah! It will have been seven days into my course of antibiotics I’ll have my consult and I’m betting they’ll want to do the extraction the following day which would be perfect IMHO.
So I’m being very careful, not to cause a full blowout of my T.N. If I can make it through to the day of surgery with just tiny zaps now and then life will be great. I already know things could get worse, I’m already increasing one of my meds to help balance things out (fingers crossed). I’m hoping things remain quiet, I’m hoping the oral surgeon knows about T. N. and can assure me things ‘could’ go surprisingly well.
But I also have my neurosurgeon in the loop, if I need to see him quickly I can. Being a repeat patient does have it’s benefits HAHAHA, and that’s sad. Trying to remain upbeat and stress free, but everyone knows remaining stress free (no matter who you are) is only seen in fairy tales. And being able to bear the pain is doable, as long as it’s weak, please let me be lucky and the tooth solve all of my problems!
Years ago, with my first T.N. breakout that landed me in the hospital for a few days. They did send me by ambulance to a dentist up the road who had the rotating arm and didn’t require any torture. They said everything was good, no infections, so M.S. was to blame for the T.N. outbreak. My dentist here now has that same rotating arm and they didn’t use it on me because it’s “not as accurate” as the torture x-rays. And I’m thinking, could it have been an infection on and off for the past 6 years that’s caused this hell? The affected tooth does have two cracks in it. Is it possible that I’ve been able to keep that infection down to a minimum all those years?
One can assume that maybe it was just the one crack that was a problem before, and this second crack is more recent? I know it couldn’t be that simple, after all that is how my luck runs. But you have to admit it does make you go “HHHHMMMmmm”.