......And in the Latest News.
I have been having up and down days the past couple of days. Life is extremely busy for me; Today was the LAST day of my boss, Shelby; She'll be missed, it was a hard day for me to say "goodbye" to her because I honestly never ever had a boss so understanding, patient, caring, etc as she is! These past two months I've also been to doctors after doctors. There hasn't been ONE week since the beginning of March that I hadn't had a doctor's appointment (or 2) or a therapy appointment. I have a lot more therapy appointments coming up as well as a few doctor appointments ----*sigh*. All I can say is "Thank and praise God for understanding (so far) bosses!"
So you all have heard the news about my shoulder. No carpal tunnel or apparent nerve damage; but I do have an impingement and currently undergoing home therapy as well as therapy visits once a week (at AMC; they are good, but this is where I wish I still lived in H'burg bc friends from the worship team are therapist and it would have been nice to have them take care of me!). It's going to be rough the next several weeks because I'll have to leave early from work to go to therapy---so days I'll have to leave 1-2 hrs early, but other days I can leave just 30 minutes early. The latest appointment time I can get is 5pm, which I was providentially given those time for 2 visits, so hopefully other times I can get those time so I don't have to use my leave time as much. If I just leave 30 minutes early, my director and current new boss is letting me flex my time by coming in 30 min early (which I usually do since dad is at work before 8am and I usually get there around or soon after 8am). Anyhow, therapy is on the top of my agenda of appointments now; my next appointment w/ my orthopedic doctor is the 27th--not sure if he'll order an MRI or not; we'll see.
So here's the latest with my jaw issues. To recap, my jaw/mouth/ gums has bee been hurting me quit a bit lately. First it was going to the dentist who referred me to an endontist (which I tried to fight not to go) and he in turn referred me to an oral surgeon (who I wanted to see in the first place!) Anyhow, I've had this oral surgeon (Dr. Hoard) all my life; he's taken care of the tumors in my mouth since I was at least 5, 6, or 7, years old. (Before Dr. Hoard took over my case full time my oral surgeon was Dr. Block---and don't even ask me how I remember these doctors names,.....I just do!). Anyhow, I made my own appointment to see my long time oral surgeon Dr. Hoard this past Tuesday and at first he thought that the endontist was just being chicken and not wanting to attempt to do a root canal b/c of all the tumors in my mouth. However, after a THOROUGH evaluation by my long time doctor, Dr. Hoard (it's hard to believe he's taken care of me for over 23 yrs!) he found out what the problem was! He poke, prodded, pinched, etc all the outside of my jaw and inside the gum line etc. He looked at the xrays and concluded this:
--He told me that Long long long long ago when I was a young one (and by the way, since I was young he's always called me "kiddo" and he STILL calls me kiddo---and to think...I'm almost 30 this year!). Ok I got off track.....but when I was about 5 or 6 yrs old, he reminded me that Dr. Block and him had to remove all my teeth on the right side of my mouth because they had to reconctruct my mouth and jaw. During this process they had to do a bone graft and back then to help the bone graft stayed in place they had to use a piece of WIRE! Dr. Hoard told me that normally the wire shouldn't cause any problems, but sometimes/rarely it will and apparently it has caused problems with me because when he felt my jaw/gums by poking and prodding, he can feel the wire very well---where it ended and where it started etc. So----that explains A LOT as to why I am struggling with eating and why I've been in pain. I originally thought the pain was due to my previous surgery but it ended up feeling different; so now we have answers as to why my eating is labored and my pain is intense that sometimes I get awaken at night.
So you ask "what is the next step then?" Good question! Well, Dr. Hoard told me that the only way to treat it is to go in and take the wire out and replace it with modern name "fixtures"; now when a bone graft is done, the doctors use titanium to hold it in place, which is suppose to be safer and less painful (however, like I said he mentioned, the wire usually doesn't cause pain but it can cause cause pain---more than the modern day use of titanium). Anyhow, he was explaining the procedure to me and he told me it is sort of like the equivalent to getting all your wisdom teeth pulled out at once (as far as pain level and the risks, etc of surgery). He sent me to xray for a full view of my mouth so that he can have a better picture. (oh I need to mention that the xray I brought w/ me was read differently from the dentist then the oral surgeon. My dentist said the "white line was nerve endings" and my oral surgeon said the 'white line was the wires). Ok....back to what I was saying. He wants to do surgery and take the wire out and replace them. My feelings? Well, my oral surgeon works EXTREMELY closely to my reconstructive surgeon (Dr. Gampper); they worked together with me in surgery numerous times when I was a teenager. So I mentioned to Dr. Hoard that I have an appointment with Dr. Gampper on May 5 where he will see my progress in healing and then schedule for another surgery in the summer time. I asked if it would be possible to do the reconstructive surgery (which Dr. Gampper will do) and the jaw reconsruction/repair (which Dr. Hoard will do) at once because that way I don't have to take extra time off and I can just be put to sleep once (and need I remind you the only thing I really hate the most about surgeries and stuff is having an IV placed in me which looks like at 10 foot needle inserted in to my viens....yuck!!! ) I rather do two things at once. He was fine with my suggestion and told me that as long as I can deal with the pain for that long, he's williing to work with Dr. Gampper to schedule a surgery so they both can do it at once. Again, it probably won't be till the summer (and I hope it is NOT during the time I'm suppose to go to FLA w/ my friend, Gina!).
So, I'm slowly getting answers to my medical issues these past couple of months. The jaw issues mystery is at least solved; my shoulder issues is being treated, yet they are still going to run more test (I'm assuming) to see how my shoulder got impinged and how serious it is. So THANK YOU ALL for your phone calls, prayers, concerns, love, etc for me these past couple months. I love you all! Thanks for all those w/ respond to this blog by email----means a great deal to me knowing that God has placed me in such a wonderful place with wonderful friends far and near who love me!
---and might I add that I've struggled a lot the past months (since end of Jan) I keep telling myself that there are others out there who are struggling worse than me; but it still narrows down to this lesson I am learning: Prayer, Praise, Worship (as I did tonight during Worship Practice) is just want the good Doctor ordered. It's always comforting to be admist the love of the saints of God! Praise HIM! "When the morning falls on the farthest hill, I will sing His Name, I will PRAISE HIM STILL"
So you all have heard the news about my shoulder. No carpal tunnel or apparent nerve damage; but I do have an impingement and currently undergoing home therapy as well as therapy visits once a week (at AMC; they are good, but this is where I wish I still lived in H'burg bc friends from the worship team are therapist and it would have been nice to have them take care of me!). It's going to be rough the next several weeks because I'll have to leave early from work to go to therapy---so days I'll have to leave 1-2 hrs early, but other days I can leave just 30 minutes early. The latest appointment time I can get is 5pm, which I was providentially given those time for 2 visits, so hopefully other times I can get those time so I don't have to use my leave time as much. If I just leave 30 minutes early, my director and current new boss is letting me flex my time by coming in 30 min early (which I usually do since dad is at work before 8am and I usually get there around or soon after 8am). Anyhow, therapy is on the top of my agenda of appointments now; my next appointment w/ my orthopedic doctor is the 27th--not sure if he'll order an MRI or not; we'll see.
So here's the latest with my jaw issues. To recap, my jaw/mouth/ gums has bee been hurting me quit a bit lately. First it was going to the dentist who referred me to an endontist (which I tried to fight not to go) and he in turn referred me to an oral surgeon (who I wanted to see in the first place!) Anyhow, I've had this oral surgeon (Dr. Hoard) all my life; he's taken care of the tumors in my mouth since I was at least 5, 6, or 7, years old. (Before Dr. Hoard took over my case full time my oral surgeon was Dr. Block---and don't even ask me how I remember these doctors names,.....I just do!). Anyhow, I made my own appointment to see my long time oral surgeon Dr. Hoard this past Tuesday and at first he thought that the endontist was just being chicken and not wanting to attempt to do a root canal b/c of all the tumors in my mouth. However, after a THOROUGH evaluation by my long time doctor, Dr. Hoard (it's hard to believe he's taken care of me for over 23 yrs!) he found out what the problem was! He poke, prodded, pinched, etc all the outside of my jaw and inside the gum line etc. He looked at the xrays and concluded this:
--He told me that Long long long long ago when I was a young one (and by the way, since I was young he's always called me "kiddo" and he STILL calls me kiddo---and to think...I'm almost 30 this year!). Ok I got off track.....but when I was about 5 or 6 yrs old, he reminded me that Dr. Block and him had to remove all my teeth on the right side of my mouth because they had to reconctruct my mouth and jaw. During this process they had to do a bone graft and back then to help the bone graft stayed in place they had to use a piece of WIRE! Dr. Hoard told me that normally the wire shouldn't cause any problems, but sometimes/rarely it will and apparently it has caused problems with me because when he felt my jaw/gums by poking and prodding, he can feel the wire very well---where it ended and where it started etc. So----that explains A LOT as to why I am struggling with eating and why I've been in pain. I originally thought the pain was due to my previous surgery but it ended up feeling different; so now we have answers as to why my eating is labored and my pain is intense that sometimes I get awaken at night.
So you ask "what is the next step then?" Good question! Well, Dr. Hoard told me that the only way to treat it is to go in and take the wire out and replace it with modern name "fixtures"; now when a bone graft is done, the doctors use titanium to hold it in place, which is suppose to be safer and less painful (however, like I said he mentioned, the wire usually doesn't cause pain but it can cause cause pain---more than the modern day use of titanium). Anyhow, he was explaining the procedure to me and he told me it is sort of like the equivalent to getting all your wisdom teeth pulled out at once (as far as pain level and the risks, etc of surgery). He sent me to xray for a full view of my mouth so that he can have a better picture. (oh I need to mention that the xray I brought w/ me was read differently from the dentist then the oral surgeon. My dentist said the "white line was nerve endings" and my oral surgeon said the 'white line was the wires). Ok....back to what I was saying. He wants to do surgery and take the wire out and replace them. My feelings? Well, my oral surgeon works EXTREMELY closely to my reconstructive surgeon (Dr. Gampper); they worked together with me in surgery numerous times when I was a teenager. So I mentioned to Dr. Hoard that I have an appointment with Dr. Gampper on May 5 where he will see my progress in healing and then schedule for another surgery in the summer time. I asked if it would be possible to do the reconstructive surgery (which Dr. Gampper will do) and the jaw reconsruction/repair (which Dr. Hoard will do) at once because that way I don't have to take extra time off and I can just be put to sleep once (and need I remind you the only thing I really hate the most about surgeries and stuff is having an IV placed in me which looks like at 10 foot needle inserted in to my viens....yuck!!! ) I rather do two things at once. He was fine with my suggestion and told me that as long as I can deal with the pain for that long, he's williing to work with Dr. Gampper to schedule a surgery so they both can do it at once. Again, it probably won't be till the summer (and I hope it is NOT during the time I'm suppose to go to FLA w/ my friend, Gina!).
So, I'm slowly getting answers to my medical issues these past couple of months. The jaw issues mystery is at least solved; my shoulder issues is being treated, yet they are still going to run more test (I'm assuming) to see how my shoulder got impinged and how serious it is. So THANK YOU ALL for your phone calls, prayers, concerns, love, etc for me these past couple months. I love you all! Thanks for all those w/ respond to this blog by email----means a great deal to me knowing that God has placed me in such a wonderful place with wonderful friends far and near who love me!
---and might I add that I've struggled a lot the past months (since end of Jan) I keep telling myself that there are others out there who are struggling worse than me; but it still narrows down to this lesson I am learning: Prayer, Praise, Worship (as I did tonight during Worship Practice) is just want the good Doctor ordered. It's always comforting to be admist the love of the saints of God! Praise HIM! "When the morning falls on the farthest hill, I will sing His Name, I will PRAISE HIM STILL"
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