Giving Thanks

[Luckyforward]

Over the last six months my wonderful wife has had a series of serious sinus infections.  The myriad of drugs she has been on affected her as badly as the infections.  Over time she also noticed that when the infection started her two back teeth on the top left also would ache.  Our PCP sent her to Vanderbilt and an excellent ENT found in a CT scan that something was going on with the teeth.  He referred her to an excellent oral surgeon who found there was a serious infection in the gum.  The infection in the gums was being broadcast to the sinuses.  A massive double infection; one affected the other.  Surgery was called for.  She had to go through two hours of surgery with the ENT to "clean out" the sinuses.  When he finished the oral surgeon then went in for two hours to remove the teeth and repair the gums.  Surgery was successful and both surgeons found massive pools of infection in the upper sinus and in the gums.  If the infection made it to the brain I would have lost my wife.  A week past surgery my wife is doing great and post surgical visits with both surgeons show the infection is gone and she is healing well. (Just getting used to chewing without two less teeth.)

This has been a scary period for me and for her.  I wanted to give thanks to God, extremely caring and COMPETENT doctors, and to my wife for fighting through a difficult time (except through suffering from my cooking!).

Just felt the need to share what she has been through, the fear I felt after realizing how bad the infections were, and my gratefulness that she is sitting across from me reading a funny book and laughing because she is feeling better.

I invite you to share my thankfulness and my joy.

Thank you for reading.

[gregintenn]

Awesome!!!

[RED333]

So glad things worked out for the best, praying does pay off.

[TripleGGG]

Great news. 

[MacGyver]

So glad to hear this. 

[Gunner2k]

Amen to that.  What a relief for the both of you all.  Prayers for a speedy recovery.

[GlockSpock]

Wonderful that she's getting well but terrifying at how simple it seems.

[Luckyforward]

Thank you all for reading and your kind responses.  It helps to be heard after feeling very alone.

[Garufa]

Happy to hear they caught that and got it taken care of!

Also glad that I go to an excellent dentist every 6 months that might catch something like that.

[ArmyBrat61]

Praise God! Love on your wife and spoil her because we can lose them all too suddenly. 

[pop pop]

Thanks to God and modern medicine. Both are great, but very much so when the latter works in concert with prayer. Going to go thank God for Jesus, this morning, and thank Jesus for what He has done for all mankind.  Remembrance of Jesus is what Sundays are for. 

Glad your wife is much better "Luckyforward". 

[Luckyforward]

11 hours ago, Garufa said:

Happy to hear they caught that and got it taken care of!

Also glad that I go to an excellent dentist every 6 months that might catch something like that.

That was the oddity in all of this.  Wife has seen a dentist twice a year for years.  As it occurred, the placement of this type of infection may not be caught by standard dental x-rays.  It did show on the CT scan.

[MacGyver]

It’s amazing that this seems so out of place on 2023.  I’m so thankful for that - and it kind of serves as a reminder of how much things have changed and how quickly.  In our grandparent’s generation “dental infections” were a top 10 cause of death in the US.  

[pop pop]

I have had knee replacement and must be very careful with dental visits. Take 4-500 Mg tablets of antibiotics every time I get my teeth cleaned or any dental work performed. Infect can migrate from mouth to the knee, and the knee joint will need to be removed to clear up the infection, so my Dr says. 

[BigSatt]

Good to hear she's doing well. Praise God!!

[Sleep profit]

Great news 

[BigK]

What a story, Lucky. I'm so glad your wife is on the mend. Glory be to God

[peejman]

Glad she's headed in the right direction.  God is good!

A friend's mom nearly died and required open heart surgery because of a tooth infection. The infection got in her blood and ruined a heart valve, which had to be replaced. 

[bersaguy]

God Answers Prayers and Glad your wife is much better!!!!

[Luckyforward]

17 hours ago, bersaguy said:

God Answers Prayers and Glad your wife is much better!!!!

Amen and amen!

[NoBanStan]

Tooth infections are no joke. I had a buddy who was diagnosed as diabetic awhile back. They put him on the meds but stil couldn't get his blood sugar under control. Turns out he actually had a really bad abscess with no pain. They pulled the tooth and presto... no more blood sugar issues.

[BigK]

1 hour ago, NoBanStan said:

Tooth infections are no joke. I had a buddy who was diagnosed as diabetic awhile back. They put him on the meds but stil couldn't get his blood sugar under control. Turns out he actually had a really bad abscess with no pain. They pulled the tooth and presto... no more blood sugar issues.

There's a doctor who studied the correlation between keto and cholesterol who also found that a lot of high cholesterol can also be traced to inflammation from dental infections too. Weird how many things it can affect, huh?

[Luckyforward]

5 hours ago, BigK said:

There's a doctor who studied the correlation between keto and cholesterol who also found that a lot of high cholesterol can also be traced to inflammation from dental infections too. Weird how many things it can affect, huh?

Wow . . . you just never know.  And my wife battles high cholesterol; for her family it's in the genes.

[Erik88]

I'm fit, go to the gym regularly and maintain a healthy weight. I have high cholesterol. Runs in my family too. I've been on cholesterol meds since my late 20's. 

[CMDRStormBorn]

I thank God that you had Doctors with their eye on the ball.  I’ve seen a number of people die of septicemia that originated from atypical abscess & related etiology during my medical career.  It is one of the truly wonderful things about the age in which we live- our level of healthcare.  My Lovely wife of 5 years has been quadriplegic since ‘91.  When we met, she was using adaptive equipment to waterski, rock climb, kayak, and bicycle.  100 years ago, she would have died alone in a cold dark sanitarium and maladies like your wife just soldiered through would not have been survivable.  It can’t be said enough times in this life, again- Glory be to God.  Enjoy each day.