Problem solved……

…… sort of.  Did the dental appointment.  Prepared for another debate on sedation and why yada yada.  I even went so far as to write down what I wanted and why on a bit of paper in case I bottled it, and had a back-up plan of calling a friendly dentist I work with to get her advice.  So, going in, prepared for the worst.  We exchange pleasantries, he asks about my most recent emergency visit 3 weeks ago to see his colleague.  I say I want the wisdom teeth out, but with sedation and ask how we make this happen.  Pause.  “I refer you to a specialist who does IV sedation and is experienced in wisdom teeth extraction.  This is simple but you will need to wait for an appointment from them.  Is this ok?”

OK?! Shit yes.  What do I sign?!  We get the paperwork, discuss the details, and there we are.  Simples.  We then have a general chat about being a nervous patient, and he is interested and kind.

I feel so much better about this.  Ok, I still need to deal with the whole actual procedure in the future, but a solution has been found, and I didn’t need to change dentist or any of that crap.  Tooth still pangs when I smile on one side, and I was a wee bit whacked on co-codamol in this afternoon’s training session, but hey, I can live with that for now.

Tooth saga……

…… part two, or three, or possibly more.  I’ve lost count.  Anyway, the wisdom teeth are giving me more and more hassle.  One has repeated abscesses, the other broke in half about a year ago.  Every time I visit the dentist, he says “these need to come out.  I can take them out.  Just book a longer appointment in the next week” (say that in a kind of Turkish cross Swedish accent).  Hilarious.  Anyway.  My usual response is to ask about sedation for this.  I am a dreadful dental patient.  All my childhood fillings were done without any anaesthetic at all.  My last major grown-up dental work (about 12 years ago) was done under mild sedation.  Well, the usual local anaesthetic jags and a wee white pill taken some time beforehand.  I didn’t care by then.  So, about this sedation? “No no no – this is not necessary.  Local anaesthetic is all is needed.”  There will endeth that converation again.  Reeeally?  It’s about all I can do to actually stay in the chair for a dental examination.  Last time he decided to do a wee bit of cleaning/scale stuff with the horrible whirry thing I nearly headbutted him in my rush to get out of the chair.

Tomorrow, I have a routine dental appointment.  I was there 3 weeks ago with an abscess.  My half-a-tooth is now intermittently giving out bloody big jabs of pain.  I can’t grin properly – the pain from making that facial action literally stops me dead whatever I’m doing.

Tomorrow I can see me having to have the circular debate about sedation again.  Just give me the fucking midazolam already.  Tomorrow I need to give him some sort of ultimatum (if that’s not too strong a term).  I want these bloody teeth out.  But I won’t be fully compos mentis whilst it’s done, becuase I simply won’t stay seated for long enough to allow him to do it.

Wish me luck……

My jaw still aches……

A night of pain……

….. with bloody wisdom teeth.  Honest to god: they’ve been fine for years and in the last two years or so, I’ve gotten repeated abscesses.  The latest on started early last night – you know that feeling you get when you know something isn’t quite right?  Well, the pain just steadily built up and I dosed up on paracetamol.  Went to be at 11ish and, on average, slept for 20-30 minutes at a time, before waking up with the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my jaw.  At about 5am, I contemplated driving to A&E to beg for antibiotics and better painkillers.  Must have actually fallen asleep at 6ish, woke at 8, and started calling my dentist at bang on 9am.  Finally got through and got an emergency appoinment – I could have cried with delight (and pain).  So I’ve just got back from there, having had to sit and wait a bit, which I didn’t mind at all.  I now have a lovely lovely packet of antibiotics and a big box of co-codamol!  Woohoo!  The end is in sight!  Thank god for emergency dental appointments (A&E really is a last resort).  So that’s New Years Eve buggered.  I was planning to drive south to a friend’s gig,  but I’m on too much co-codamol to be safe to drive, I’m very dozy and generally feel shitty.  Never mind; there’s always next year. Happy 2011 everyone

Grumpy bird is grumpy……

…bloody wisdom teeth.  I’ve got another abscess on the bottom right one, and that’s the third time in the last 10 or 11 months.  Slept badly, getting up at 3.30am and not getting back to sleep at all.  Called the emergency dentist to make an appointment and couldn’t get through, so gave up after 15 mins and Rob drove me down there.  The charming lady behind the desk pointed out that it wasn’t a walk-in service.  I know this, lady, but if you’d answer the bloody phone, I’d have made an appointment.  Anyhoo, I got triaged by someone nicer, and got given a 2.40pm appointment, so we buggered off and bought lots of painkillers, so I’ve been floating about in a codeine haze for most of the day.  Nice dentist happily gave me antibiotics and recommended that my dentist refer me for getting all four wisdom teeth out. Eeek! Not like, but if the alternative is this fucking excruciating pain every few months, then knock me out and get on with it.

On the plus side, we’ve booked the train from Wellington to Auckland and the journey looks really pretty!

I love my GP…….

On the basis that he was prepared to see me at very short notice and give me antibiotics for a tooth/gum abscess cos I was going to have to wait for 8 days before getting a dental appointment. Eight days with an abscess?  I’d have cut my own head off – it’s bloody painful even now.  Hopefully the swelling and pain will have gone down by the weekend.

New Stuff……

Spent the day at a conference at Eastwood Hall (posh conference facility) looking at changes to the Mental Health Act and more specifically, the introduction of the role of the IMHAA.  For those of you who don’t take even a passing interest in the exciting world of mental health legislation (woo!), this is the all new all singing all dancing Independent Mental Health Act Advocates.  Of which I shall be one come first of April.  The fact that this is April Fool’s Day is not lost on me, when I consider how long everyone’s had to prepare for this and how woefully underprepared for it everyone actually is.

Basically, the Mental Health Act 2007 amended the 1983 Act to bring in a variety of new statutory rights, duties and instruments, and certain categories of detained patients will shortly have the right to independent advocacy.  Up till now, advocacy provision in the UK’s been patchy and it all really depended on what your local PCT or Health Authority wanted to fund.  So it’s all a bit of a postcode lottery in respects of specialist mental health advocacy.  This new provision will end this (finally) and has loads of implications for us working with detained patients.  It also has implications for our current voluntary inpatient and community clients, as there is no statutory right for them.  What our funding will look like for them remains to be seen. 

It means that I have four weeks to become much more familiar with the legislation, so lots of reading for me.  It also means that at some point, we’ll all be taking the relevant modules on the new national advocacy qualification to ensure that all IMHAA’s have the same baseline of training.  Top marks to Eastwood Hall for having the best food I have ever had at a conference (not that I go to many……).

On a more frivolous note, I went to the dentists and all is well with the teeth.  Thank god.  The thought of the trauma and cost of dental work fills me with dread – I’m a bit crap when it comes to fillings and suchlike.  For the time being, I don’t need to worry about that!!

Getting over the fear…….

I actually went to my dentist for my six monthly checkup as scheduled, and it was all good.  Apart from the fact that he checked my records and observed that I’d ticked the box for “yes” next to “Have you got or ever had a heart condition, murmur, surgery…..”  I stress EVER HAD because me, being honest, said that I had a heart murmur as a child (pre-school) which is apparently quite comon and something that most kids grow out of.  As I did.  I know that I did because I saw my GP last year for a checkup and I asked about my heart.  Not in an “ohmygodmyheart” way, but I had questions about whether or not a childhood heart murmur could be connected to the possibility of having a PFO (or Patent Foramen Ovale).  Having a PFO has huge implications for divers, and people are often symptomless until it all goes horribly wrong.  So, went to GP.  GP asked questions, listened, asked more questions (repeat process several times) and declared that there was no issue with my heart.  He also showed me a letter from my paediatrician which stated that the murmur was no longer an issue.  I told all this to my dentist.  Who said that he needed confirmation from my GP that it was no longer an issue.  He said it had implications for any treatment relating to extractions, fillings and other stuff (I forget what).  Strangely enough, he wasn’t interested in what current medication I was on, or that I’m allergic to some medication.  So, now I’ve got to trundle off to badger my GP for some confirmation that I haven’t got a dodgy ticker just so I can get a clean and polish from a dental hygienist.  Bugger.  Mind you, he did tell me that my teeth were lovely, so that’s a plus!