A whole lotta Pain…

First I want to take a moment to thank everyone who showed me such great kindness and caring in my time of need over the past week or so. In addition to thank the AMAZING Staff at the Dublin Methodist Hospital who without their kindness, generosity, knowledge, and hard work I would most certainly not be living today!  Thanks again.

Also Thanks to my family and friends that were there by my side through it all, Thanks, Pickles, Mom Dad, Sissy Shawn, Grandma, Teri, Brittany,  Haylee, and a SPECIAL thanks to Beth and Melissa the only 2 True Blue friends that made any honest effort to come and see me Thanks again for the Flowers Mel and thanks for trying to keep the humor there Beth!

Well as I have promised, I am posting a blog about my most recent experience in the hospital.  For those of you who follow you all know of my dental drama, generally caused by Dental Works”STAY AWAY” and fixed by a prescription.

So for about two weeks from 7/27-8/08 I was in minor discomfort, I could feel a slight pain in my mouth like I needed to get my wisdom tooth removed, so as usual I did not have the money or insurance so I was Doctoring it along as best I could with Aleve and Advil, usually working pretty well.  Well on August 8 I began to feel a little more pain in the evening and just took a little more pain killer and went on with my night, I had my two girls spending the night, so Uncle Brian needs to be mobile. By the time they left on Sunday night my mouth was beginning to really hurt and on Monday we decided to go to Dublin Methodist Hospital to have it looked at. It was reviewed and discussed and it was a dental abscess and needed removed, they prescribed me Penicillin and Vicodin for pain.

I got the scripts filled IMMEDIATELY and began taking them, on Tuesday I began to notice my mouth was swelling and it was getting hard to open my jaw to eat, I had an appointment scheduled for the following Monday with an Oral Surgeon however they said that they would not be able to work me in any earlier. Finally after nibbling on foods and malnourishing myself for 2 days I was tired of it and I contacted the Oral Surgeon to see about an earlier appointment and there was nothing open, they advised me to call my dentist(DentalJerks) HAHA and ask for a new script, they said to just have them call the surgeon if there was a problem. DentalJerks refused and cited every law, rule and reason not to do anything without me coming in for a paid consultation. So I told Nick that we needed to go to the Hospital. Within 5 minutes of arrival I was taken back to the back room and seen by a doctor who then ordered a CT Scan and blood work.

Within an hour and a half the decision had been made that I was to be admitted. I discovered a new favorite pain killer Dilaudid I received it for the first time via IV and it was nice, within 10 seconds of the injection all you feel is warm and pain free. On Thursday night the doctor on duty was in and informed me that there would be a few doctors in to see me the next morning, I woke up the following morning to the usual vital check then blood work and then off to another CT scan, I would have one every day for 3 days. The CT scan showed a lot of enlarged tissue but no puss buildup, so that is where the fears began for the doctors, I was supposed to see an Oral Surgeon however they were all out on vacation for the weekend so I had and ENT come to care for me and I was amazed with his care and knowledge, he was an excellent choice. He quickly made the decision to pull the tooth the following morning and we would go from there. As usual I was not allowed to have anything from 8 hours before the surgery so I made sure that I had my pudding and Jell-O cups at the last minute as well as my last drink. I was on IV pain killers only which was OK because that meant Dilaudid again  WOO HOO!!! By this time I am on 2 antibiotics, a steroid, and 2 pain killers, I am one happy ass guy. On Saturday we got a little late start on the surgery and it was relatively eventless and quick. When the Anesthesiologist came in he was very concerned for my breathing with the swelling that I had going on and was talking about a drug called Ketamine to sedate me. Ketamine is a strong sedative drug and is very similar to LSD, I was alert during the procedure however I have NO memory for the events of the surgery and the events following it. I was in recovery in my room within 30 minutes. Here is a video from when I came to:

So as time went on I began to try to eat stuff once allowed and I was doing pretty well, I had some swelling still, and the doctor was planning on going in on Monday to relieve some of the pressure and swelling however on Sunday my temperature spiked up severely, and I was swelling like a balloon, I did not look like myself. All I could do is cry from the pain and pain killers did nothing. At this point the nurse contacted my surgeon who immediately began assembling a surgery team and got me prepped for surgery, I was out and do not really remember much of the transfer to the OR except for signing the consent form. I found myself waking up wondering where I was, I felt like I was back in time in a 80’s sci fi movie, with all the life support gadgets and gizmos. I was even on a bed chiller at one point to attempt to bring my temp down into the reasonable range.

This is Post OP 2

There was discussion of transferring me to Riverside but all the Doctors and burses that were working on me did not want to let me leave they all liked me too much. I was a part of the E-ICU where they have a Webcam monitor with a live feed to the Riverside Hospital ICU to monitor me as well, I thought that was a pretty cool idea. My Temp finally broke and I was beginning to turn the corner, at first from the cultures of the fluid that they extracted in surgery they thought I had MRSA and I was PANICED I thought OMG how did I get that I am clean, I shower at least once a day, I wash everything. We was all at a loss but Nick and my mom was also required to use universal precautions which meant a suit to cover their clothes, shoes and gloves. It was later discovered that it was not but it was a good precaution to take anyway.  I was on 3 Antibiotics now and lord only knows how many pain killers at once but I was still feeling pretty well. Later on in the day I finally got my mask off and was placed on oxygen for a few. The recovery is slow but I am working on it, while this blog is not all of the events of my hospital visit it is the major points in it. I will post more later when it comes to me but I wanted to get the main points out there! 

Once again THANK YOU A  MILLION TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED ME AND PRAYED FOR ME THROUGHOUT THIS TIME OF GREAT NEED, IT MEANS SO VERY MUCH TO ME AND IF YOU NEED MEDICAL CARE AND WANT SOMEWHERE GOOD AND SOMEONE WHO WILL NOT MAKE YOU WAIT FOREVER FIND THE BEST KEPT MEDICAL SECRET IN COLUMBUS, DUBLIN METHODIST HOSPITAL!!!! OFF 161/33 AND AVERY ROAD IN DUBLIN

Nothing but Love

Brian J