Author: SuperBuper
Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 11:25 pm
5/7/12 – 8:00AM – Off work since WEDS of last week. I passed out last night due to lack of sleep the night before. Swelling went down a bit too… I think this is because I chilled out with eating over the past 12 hours since my jaw has been killing me. I think I may have over did it a bit…..Still taking Suboxone 8MG in the morning and another 8mg in the afternoon. My ear started hurting on Sunday kind of felt like an ear ache….throbbing feeling. I noticed when I gently place my index finger into my right ear I noticed it is swollen compared to the left ear… Not good… The cool thing is I took 8MG of Suboxone and within one hour I had no ear pain whatsoever….
Never could have imagined this miracle medication called Suboxone helps me in more ways than I ever thought the medication would. Suboxone continues to treat my lower back pain even after being on the same dose for several years… Unlike Oxycodone where most people quickly build up a tolerance and need to up their dose to get pain relief. This is just one reason why I find Buprenorphine amazing.
5/7/12 – 2:00PM – Arrived at the doctor…Oral Surgeon. I was pretty sure the doctor was going to see me and immediately say "surgery".. Doctor orders another CAT Scan and within 15 minutes I was done with the CAT scan and waiting for the results…10 minutes later doctor walks in with his assistant…. Doctor says my bite is exactly where it needs to me. So at this point I am thoroughly confused… I know my bottom two front teeth were not touching my two top front teeth last thursday when he cut the wires… let me rephrase that….one bottom tooth was touching and actually hurt from pressing against the top tooth…only one tooth though.. This tooth I figured since my top right front tooth above it actually has moved in the past two years back a bit….Saturday the other bottom front began touch the tooth above…and now several bottom teeth touch the top… Doctor insists CAT scan shows the bite as being perfect and blames the bottom teeth touching probably a result from the accident…..and just leaves it at that.. Doctor says I must have went a little over board with eating the past few days (I did break the rules – come on I’m an addict did you expect different. Oh he doesn’t know I’m an addict….Yah right…I’m sure he found out just like Broward General did as I mentioned earlier in the thread). Doc also said I have had a lot of problems with the wires losening etc…blames this on talking too much when my mouth was wired shut, TMJ grinding at night, etc….I find this really difficult not to talk for two weeks…especially when you have two young children and you worked for the two weeks. Doctor said it was fine to work. I then asked the doctor how does the bone look, damage?? Doc said it is filling in and then quickly gives my options again…. Wire mouth shut for another two weeks this time NO TALKING, or surgery…..Now I am just quiet and really confused, frustrated, dreading having my mouth wired shut for another two weeks… Bite is perfect even though my bottom teeth are not alligned correctly.. Not sure if this has anything to do with the bite being good…
So, now I am really frustrated and my mind began to wonder thinking how having your mouth shut for two weeks is worse than water boarding. Never in my life have I experienced water boarding either but I am telling you it not fun having your mouth wired shut for two weeks… I could no longer think rationally and the doctor never answered my question correctly regarding the bone/damage… So I ask doc if I could have 24 hours to make my decision.. Doc says sure but you do not want to wait too long otherwise the bone will not heal properly and then I will need extensive surgery to fix the problem…..
I was thinking of food at this point in a day dream and thinking what can I eat tonight before I get my mouth wired shut…then the doc says it is not good to have your mouth wide open in this condition and rubber bands my jaw shut and sends me out the door. Rubberbands/steel wire….same results……walked to the car and snapped the rubberbands off. I figured you know what I need to call a few family members and get some opinions and you know I am going to eat before I decide to lock down for two weeks..
On my way home this thought hit me…. Why do I either have to have my jaw wired shut for two weeks or surgery if my bite is fine and the bone is filling in….shouldn’t the doctor have said SuperBuper you need to be a good boy and stick to soft foods and then the swelling will go down and give it time….otherwise surgery will be no choice…..I’m no doctor so I stuck with what he told me….
Spoke with several people I trust along with my wife and they felt the same way as I did. Meaning why have the mouth wired shut if everything is fine…….then I remembered I told the doctor I was in pain and since I was in pain he mentioned the bone is not healing properly so he then gave me the options to avoid a bigger issue down the road.
Well I left a message for the doctor to call me and I haven’t heard back from him.. I did leave a message asking him this question to confirm….I also told him I elect to have the surgery done…. Every person I spoke to said if it didn’t work the first two weeks what makes you think it will work the second two weeks… I kept telling everyone I will not talk this time…..still everyone kept saying the same thing….
Surgery will leave a two inch scar from the tip of my ear and run down the mandible bone on my right side….at 39 I really do not want a scar on my face for the rest of my life. The doctor will put a metal plate over the area of the fractured bone to stabalize my jaw….one night stay in the hospital and then home and back to normal within two days….and I can eat….hope this is the right decision….
MEMBERS…ANYONE…any advice, opinions, anything now is the time…. I am guessing I will be going on some type of narcotic pain med…. do I stop Suboxone now??? Or do what Hatmaker pointed out earlier in this thread… 1-2MG piece of Suboxone with my Full Agonist Opiate…for acute pain….
Here comes the honestly… I am going to get honest with the doctor…..I think he already knows I am on Suboxone. Earlier in the thread I mentioned I got busted when I went to the ER to have the wires tightened. Read earlier in the thread if you missed that. I am just going to get honest and tell him why I was not honest…..learning experience.. i think I will always be honest from this point anyways.
The doctor never even offered me pain medication today… I told him my ear was throbbing and my jaw hurts….the pain is not happening all of the time but comes in waves…on a scale from 1-10. 10 being the worst I would say the pain is a 5-6….when I eat forget it…it doesn’t matter if I am eating mashed potatoes…the pain is an 8 with ease……
Sorry for such a long post…I am sure I repeated myself too… I am tired and going to bed….talk soon!
SuperBuper
