Having cancer is interesting, it makes you do weird things.
A little background: I have a couple of boxes of a drug called Clodronate in my bathroom cabinet. This drug is for patients with bone mets like me. When you have bone mets there tends to be more rapid breakdown of the bone where the metastases are and this can lead to really fun stuff like having vertebrae fused or needing rods inserted into your femurs. The drug is supposed to slow down the breakdown of the bone thus delaying the really nasty problems.
One of the awesome side effects of Clodronate is necrosis of the jaw. For you non-science types that basically means the jaw bone dies and you end up with mush. Not something I am aiming for. And the possibility of this great side effect is most likely when you have dental procedures done that affect the bone.
Ah ha! Dental work, that leads nicely back to wisdom teeth.
I had my bottom wisdom teeth pulled almost 20 years ago because they were bothering me a lot. I kept the top ones for vanity as I had a space between my top front teeth and I wanted my teeth as crowded as possible on the top to help keep the space as small as possible.
Eventually my top left wisdom tooth became supra-impacted. It didn't bother me but several dentists told me I should get it out as at some point I could be a problem. I was considering getting both wisdoms pulled this summer but I always found something better to do so I never scheduled the appointment.
When I saw my oncologist in July she told me that it was time to start me on Clodronate. Up to that point we had not actually discussed my going on a bone drug but I knew it would happen at some point. I immediately piped up with "I can't do that yet, I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled." I have heard some stories of nasty side effects with bone drugs so I wanted to delay as long as possible starting the Clodronate. But, as I already said, I didn't get the teeth pulled so I started the drug.
When I saw my oncologist in September she asked if I was ever going to get the teeth pulled and I said I had no plans to do it any time in the near future.
One problem, the jaw necrosis thing with Clodronate is cumulative so, the longer I am on it the more likely I will have a problem after something invasive so.........we decided I would see a dentist at the Cancer Agency and he would make the final decision as to what to do with the teeth. He understands the full consequences on Clodronate and would understand that in a few years even if the teeth were problems I would be at risk to have something done about it.
Today was the day of the dentist visit. The dentist looked at x-rays and looked in my mouth and said "yes, those teeth should come out. I can do it right now."
Um, ok, so I said "I have a cake decorating class tonight at 6:30, will I still be able to go?"
The answer was yes, so then it was, okay, pull them out. But first I have to text my friend because we are supposed to be meeting for coffee and I want to let her know about the short delay.
Yup, so after a 50 minute dentist appointment I was down 2 wisdom teeth. Well, not really down them, I brought them home to take a picture of them. I thought everyone would really appreciate the visual:-)
I guess I could have taken a picture while at the dentist office but I think I may have slightly been in shock so I didn't think of it.
The freezing is almost gone now so I can feel my tongue again. I've popped a couple of Advil, but other than that I feel pretty much normal. Now I must go colour some icing in preparation for class tonight.
