I decided that it might be time for a new topic on this since I now have the answer to the pain question.

Today the cut into the abscess some more and the highly technical term GIANT has now been assigned to it. Beginning tomorrow I go in to have the wound repacked hopefully twice a day and for IV antibiotics once a day. Next Monday we will decide if I will go for HBOT to get this wound in my neck to heal.

In the mean time here I sit with a very sore neck, the right side where all of my reconstructive surgery for the pectoral flap was done, that is full of poison. I can actually move the fluid under my skin around and you can feel the heat under the skin. The surgeon said today that it is infection that came from the mouth - a dental abscess. Sure is a big set back and I was progressing so very well.

I am focusing on getting better to start with, but also wondering when you look the specialist in the eye and say that I have been told that because I have had radiation not only once but twice you should not do any drilling or surgery without doing HBOT first and he tells you "Oh you won't need it for this" and drills anyway is it right for me to feel like he is responsible for the fact that all this is happening to me?? What more could I have done?

Patty
I am sure Jerry or Brian are more qualified than me to answer this question,but i would say the dentist was absolutely wrong to carry out this procedure without taking the necessary precautions.At the very least i would have expected him to give you antibiotics to take after the procedure just in case an infection developed.The treatment you received when the symptoms of pain developed after the dental work also sounds pretty shoddy.

All in all it sounds like the dentist isn't trained in the specialised care of post radiotherapy patients and maybe your doctor needs a refresher course too.when things go wrong it can be a bit like a train wreck,with one mistake knocking on to another with disasterous results,and you are the innocent victim.

Its a setback patty and i hope you can get back on the road to recovery soon.

love liz

Thank you Cookie. This is how I feel exactly. Knowing my history and being a specialist, antibiotics prior to and after treatment might have been a good precautionary measure at least. I am focusing my energy on getting back on the road to recovery right now, but he will be a future focus of mine I guarantee it.

The swelling is going down but it's still there and the drainage is not clear yet. The fever spikes about time for the antibiotics again. I have another trip to town tomorrow to have the wound redressed and for the IV.

I also figured out the "shortage" of visiting nurses also I think. I am on state funded insurance now and they are known to pay their bills in about 114 days. Very sad. No one wants to wait to be paid so they have all been too busy to take my case. I also had to go to one hospital for the IV because the clinic where I received my chemo does not take my insurance for outpatient injection services.

I am unhappy about this and really upset about this setback because I was doing so well. The bright side is that a lot of the swallowing issues that I was having are getting better as the swelling in the abscess goes down, so my attempts at eating food should get back on track when this is over I hope. It just feels like we are subtracting a couple of months from my progress instead of adding some.

Patty

One week later and these drainage sites on my jaw continue to drain. There are two of them now. One of them takes over 2 ft of the gauze strip stuff to fill.

All I can accomplish in a day is to get up, care for the dogs, go to the IV for antibiotics, then to have the wound redressed and then home. In between I can sleep standing up I swear.

What also amzes me is that it felt so much better when we first opened it up and now it is just feeling the same every day. I wonder if there is a lull in the healing and then all of the sudden it will get a bunch better? Gee I hope so.

Even though I am trying to be strong about this and I know that it will get better it is easy to get a little depressed about this type of set back when I had been doing so well. It is affecting my progress with foods and just my general day-to-day progress because of no energy and a lot of pain. I have learned to speak up about the pain though.

Thanks for listening guys.

Patty

Patty, we all know the crap this stuff has put you thru and we are behind you pushing you harder. Could it be that your are used to it now and it just seems to be at a stand still? I think a lot of us reverted to not eating as much as we were, which is nothing, but we must hit a period once in awhile that makes up backup and start anew. I know right now I am disgusted by not being able to eat like I was when I put 24 lbs or so on and now have lost 24 of that again. Give it hell mam and be the boss. Wish I could come walk you dogs.

I wonder why that idot didn't give you antiobiotics? I must have missed that part in your post. Hell, in training ones should know that if we do.

I wish that you could walk the dogs too Jim - I have zero energy.

I think that I see some improvement over night. I can now put pressure on the areas that are trying to swell back up and the stuff is draining back out. I am having tons pf drainage so I'm sure that is good. I did register a fever yesterday at the doctor's offices.

I am so grateful for the support guys. When I am not getting treatment I am Asleep, but I check in as much as I can. The sleep has to help me heal to I believe.

Off for the dressing change and the IV and then more sleep. Rainy, cold and muddy here again.

Patty

Patty,

Sorry to hear that you are going through such rough times.

I may have missed an earlier post, but what procedure was done by your dentist?

Jerry

I contacted this prosthodontists to have partial made to replace all of the teeth on the left lower side of my mouth that have been pulled. I have a tooth on the right side that he waned to use to hook the partial to. It has a crown and had previously had a root canal (10 years or more ago). He removed the crown so that we could place one that was a little larger and that met my gum line better and drilled inside the tooth for some decay. I expressed concern over the drilling and was not willing, but he assured me that no special precautions were necessary for this little bit. That week I also had my teeth cleaned. The following week the crown came in and was installed. I started feeling bad after the first appointment, but it has taken a long time to put the pieces together. The CT scan from last Thursday shows a huge dental abscess in my right neck which is where all of my flap reconstruction is.

At the very least I think that I should have been given antibiotics pre treatment and maybe post treatment to take every precaution based on my history and condition. I am still in a lot of pain and there is a bunch of drainage still. I see both doctors Monday (not this prosthodondist ever again) and we will decide what we do next. I am very scared by all of this and upset that I let it happen.

Patty

Patty, hope you are feeling better today. I feel very bad for you and what you are going thru right now. Its awful when you have no energy and feel lousy.

Last year when I was diagnosed with my recurrance, I was very scared. After the surgery, I had an infection which made me very sick. A 10 day hospital stay finally got me better. Then I started the HBO to heal. It worked wonders, at least it worked for me. Im hoping you can put all this behind you and get better weather its by antibiotics or HBO or some other way.

Patty, it might help your own feelings and also give him so feedback that he will hopefully use in the future if you write a letter to the prosthodondist and let him know the results of his treatment. He may be blissfully going on thinking that he did the right thing and your letter may at least make him think twice in the future.

Patty,

Simply drilling into the tooth that had root canal would not cause an abscess. Also having a cleaning done and a crown prepared would also not cause an abscess.

Dental abscesses are caused by a tooth that needs root canal and x-rays would reveal which tooth is causing it Periodonta (gum) disease also can cause an abscess. The only times that I have seen swelling in the neck from a tooth is when there is long standing root canal infection from a tooth.

I may be missing something here, but saying that the infection in your neck is from your mouth, is confusing me. If in fact it is of dental origin, what is being done to get rid of the cause of it?

Jerry

Good point Jerry and one that I have been wondering about. Everyone that I ever knew that got an abscess, then got a root canal. This root canal was done at least 15 years ago. The CT scan at hospital showed a dental abscess they say. Nothing else was done except a shot of novacaine prior to drilling off the crown and the cleaning.

I'm a little afraid to go back since I am so in the dark about what is happening to me. Any direction you can give is greatly appreciated and I will bring it up with the doc today.

Pete I like your idea of a letter and as soon as I am feeling up to it, I will get one done for him. I don't want to point fingers since I don't know what is happening, but I do have a time line of how things progressed or should I say digressed.

I must get ready to go into town to get repacked and the IV. I try to do one other thing while I am there, Today I need to make the house payment.

Almost forgot, they did a biopsy yesterday at the lower abscess. After it comes back negative we can start HBOT.


Patty

Sending good thoughts your way for negative biopsy results. Hope you ae starting to feel a little better.

Moving to recurrence - dog gone it.

Patty

Ah, Patty, I am so sorry to heat that. Do you have any more details at this point? What will treatment be?

Take care,
Eileen

Patty, did your post mean your result are back and they are showing a recurrance? I sure hope not. If that happens, just remember, you went thru it before and can do it again. This time you are smarter and know what to expect. Im really hoping thats not what your post meant.