07-04-2026 — Pain in the USA
Howdy all. Happy Birthday to the U.S.A. !! May we make it another 250 years. (Although I’m concerned if we can make it another 122 days —midterm elections!!).
We are celebrating by roasting our corns and buttocks off in many states. I think today is the last of the heat advisory days in this area. Those 100+ real-feel temperatures are brutal. There was a spritz of rain overnight. Grass and garden really needs more. Thunderstorms are porncasted each of the next 5 days. An inch or so of rain would be useful.
Yesterday was the visit to the Oral Surgeon. It was a double whammy visit for me. Yes, the broken off bicuspid did put up a bit of a fight. It was not fun. And setting in the implant and bone graft material was noisy and disturbing. The last time Dr. Schneider did an extract/implant, I didn’t need pain meds after. This time it feels like someone tried to rip my mouth off.
On the other side, the consultation went sort of like this. Dr - “yep it is loose”. Me - “will it become and issue soon?”. Dr. - “could possibly get infected and get very bad”. Me - “do it today too”. Removing the old implant went easy. It pulled out like a loose tooth. But the grinding out of the tissue and bone to make room for a wider screw was nasty sounding and I think that’s why that side is hurting. More bone graft, and a wider implant.
Both sides are swollen a little, bloody as heck, and stitched a dozen times. The stitches should “dissolve” and fall out over the next week or so.
Then came the real pain — actually, it is pay up front, so this was before the surgery. It seems my existing insurance says I’ve exceeded my LIFETIME number of implants. It would not cover these or any future implants. I won’t bother with a detail summary, but for the various procedures (extract, bone graft, implant, etc.) my total was $7984. Ouch. But now both bicuspids are empty spots with implants, and I will go back in 3 months for check up.
If everything is good, I can then pay the regular dentist to add crowns. Probably another $1000 or so, if insurance helps!!!
This place is really good. https://www.ohsurgery.com/ Nice people. Efficient.
Dr. Schneider is fantastic. And his staff are a great crew of smiling, happy people.
As for me, on the day after surgery, I did take a pain killer when I got home — after picking up prescriptions from pharmacy. And the first of the round of antibiotics. I managed to make it through the night, and I gave in and took another pain killer, and the antibiotic, this morning. I don’t want to even get close to getting addicted to the pain meds. But, it still feels like someone bashed my mouth in with a baseball bat.
I may do one more for tonight, but then it will be Tylenol or nothing. Of course I’ll do the full course of the antibiotics, and have already started taking a “probiotic” with it. The antibiotics make kill infections throughout the body, but killing off all the bacteria in the gut is not a good thing. Thus, it is better to “prime the pump” and keep adding bugs to the tummy to make it not as bad.
As part of recovery, super soft, not very warm, foods are recommended for the first few days. While I had Boost protein drink that I frequently take my morning herbals with, that wasn’t going to be good enough for 3 straight days. Not very filling, nor even tasty.
So I just got Jody sized Churu tubes delivered from Sams Club. A real Kitty Churu tube shown as size reference. Also ordered a bunch of super soft food items like Yogurt and cottage cheese.
Less than 100 calories per tube, but does have 4 - 6 grams of protein. And tasted sort of like applesauce with a touch of strawberry flavoring. Good enough.
And while I’m discussing pain, while I was getting my teeth pulled out, this monster was at work at my house.
Those leaves are all that’s left of two sunflower plants. With all of the seeds sitting right there on the ground all around him, he decided he needed for greens in his diet. UGH. But, I guess my sacrifice is not in vain if it helps him Enjoy Life