Well, I promised to talk about my second periodontal visit eventually. I'll wait for a later article to explore the adventure of having surgery the day after Jean's parents arrived to visit for a weekend. I'll also save for a later post the silliness of worrying what shape my mouth will be in when I finally run off to Vegas with Jean and Kelly next Thursday. No, this post is solely for complaining! Here goes!
I went to Dr. Levin's office on Friday morning, and with the usual caveats about discomfort (needle in the palette, anyone?), it went routinely. But starting about yesterday, I had increasing pain from the 'donor area', i.e. the area from which the graft skin was taken, on the palette. When I looked into the mirror with a bright light, I saw the raw exposed flesh, as expected, but I also saw a whitish patch in the center of the wound. I began to worry about infection.
Since I was having a lot of pain in the donor area, and a lot of refered pain in the jaw, it is hard to tell if there is an infection, or just 'normal' pain. I finally caved today and called Dr. Levin's office to check if what I was experiencing was considered normal. Since I won't be there to have the stitches out until Friday, I thought it would be better not to wait.
The phone was answered by Wendy, Dr. Levin's assistant, and she was very friendly and helpful. She told me that what I was experiencing was normal, right down to the increasing level of pain in the palette. She assured me that it was alright to call any time I had a question, but suggested that I'd be alright until Friday, when Dr. Levin could look at me in person.
So I'm trying to handle leaving out the mouthpiece they gave me, even though every time my tongue touches the roof of my mouth it aches and burns. What a sad tale, eh?
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