Computers, Birds and Working Towards the Straight Path

As of April 11th:

Here’s what’s been happening. I’ve had major computer problems so I have been trying really hard to get that fixed. Plus, I’ve had so many things on my mind lately, I’ve had no time whatsoever to even think about blogging. I apologize for that.

Regarding my wisdom tooth, alhumdulillah, it seems to be healing well. Initially a lot of food was getting stuck in there but the hole seems to have become more shallow now although I haven’t looked at it all that carefully but I don’t feel like things are piling up. So, that’s good. But there’s definitely still a hole.

I still am getting birds. I had started getting a different pair of bulbuls. These ones have white cheeks and a yellow bottom. And guess what? They had twins! MashaAllah. The babies are totally cute! They are greyish brown and slightly smaller than their parents. Slightly bigger than a sparrow. They’ve become quite friendly and don’t run away when they see me. Last week they were begging their parents to feed them and this week, they come to my balcony and start tweeting. I open the door and throw crushed biscuits and they gobble it up. They come really close. About a foot away from me. MashaAllah.

Other than that, I’ve been trying to make some positive changes in my life such as:
1. Try to pray tahajjud regularly. I can’t wake up to pray it so it’s a good thing, it’s okay to stay and pray it and sleep. Although, that’s pretty exhausting as well.
2. Reciting Surah Kahaf every Friday.

InshaAllah, I’ll post details on that

Stitches out and follow up

As of Feb 21st:

Alhumdulillah, I had a very easy 1st week. My biggest issue was finding it hard to open my mouth fully without making a lot of effort. Plus, I’d hear my jaw click everytime. I was supposed to go back to the surgeon to get my stitches out but thursday (exactly 1 week later) I decided to go to a different dentist. Ahumdulillah, she was very nice and pulled the stitches out painlessly. She put a pack in my wound, which I think defeated the purpose of having stitches to close the gap, coz she said there was slight inflammation and it’ll help reduce it. And 24 hrs later, I could open and close my mouth without a problem. I was so happy! Alhumdulillah. Also, she recommended I do salt water gargling as it helps keep the inflammation down.

It’s been 2 weeks later, she’s put the pack twice and I got it removed today. She said there’s flesh/tissue over the bone now so I won’t have any pain. So, inshaAllah, no chance of dry socket. I need to continue doing salt water gargles but with every meal. And I have a hole in my gum because of which I’m trying to avoid eating on that side, especially things like rice so it doesn’t get stuck inside.

Alhumdulillah, even though the actual procedure was a nightmare, the post-op period has been very smooth and I had to take minimal medications. In order for the wound to heal, I believe it’ll take a month or so. The bone can take upto 6 months. I’ll follow up every now and then regarding this.

Post-op 2 & 3

The second day went pretty well. I didn’t really have any problems. In the first 24hrs I wasn’t supposed to spit so I was wondering how to do wudhu. Just took a little bit of water each time and tried to let it out by simply opening my mouth. And swallowed the rest. Then I tried to keep my wudhu for the rest of the day. I didn’t want the clot dislodging and getting a dry socket (a complication of the procedure which results in severe pain). In order to prevent your muscles from stiffening up, you have to keep opening and closing your mouth. It was pretty easy the 2nd day but for some reason it became harder the 3rd day and today. It needs a few tries before I can open my mouth fully. And I feel a little click in my jaw when I do. Hope that smooths out.

I had some mild discomfort yesterday but not much of a problem. I’m on antibiotics so not that worried but it just feels a little weird. I wonder if it’s the stitches. I still can’t make out how many there are. They look like a clump with maybe a little bit of blood clot there too which I can taste every now and then.

Good thing is fasting is usually pretty easy for me so not eating a lot of food isn’t too bad. Day 2 I had ice cream, peach, very small pieces of an apple and at night, cool daal soup since I am not allowed hot things. Day 3, I had muttar paneer, peach, half a banana, raita, yogurt, and biryani. I’m actually enjoying the variety.

So, until I have to go back to that dentist and get my stitches removed (which should normally be painless but I don’t seem to trust him at all at this point), all iz well.

Post-op day 1

Just had my wisdom tooth extracted 1 and half hours ago. Man, it was one horrible experience! It was done under local anesthesia and I could still feel pain as the tooth was being ripped out of the socket. The dentist kept insisting it was only pressure but it was too painful to simply be pressure. And the procedure was supposed to be simple because the tooth was pretty much straight (vertical). I’ve decided that for the next one, I’m going to go under so that I don’t have to deal with that again. I’ve got stitches too. Seems like several. Once I get to open my mouth more I’ll have a peak at how many there are.

Pain level is not bad for now. I can feel my lip and cheek. Tongue is slightly numb. I’ve had an intramuscular (IM) diclofenac and corticosteroid so that should help the pain and swelling for a while. Although the doctor said there should be none. Allahu ‘alim. I do see mild swelling.

My gauze is out. I can’t spit or gargle for the first 24 hrs so I’ve just been swallowing slowly and have had chocolate milk so that I can take my antibiotics. I didn’t get much sleep at night so I’m really tired.

Lets hope everything improves from this point onwards. I’ll keep updating.

Impacted Wisdom Tooth

Yep, that’s what I have unfortunately. And I’ve been meaning to get it removed but haven’t found the time and it’s been bugging me lately. I had a throat infection which I now feel has included my wisdom tooth. And I’ve already started myself on antibiotics. Only problem is I’m looking for a good dentist but there aren’t any in my area. The ones I’ve known or experienced have been not that great, to be honest. Some even sucked.

The thing about gynecs and dentists, among those that I’ve come across, are insensitive and don’t care about the patients pain. This is terrible because they deal with patients in pain every single day! Anyway, so I’m hunting for a good dentist who is kind, polite (something which I haven’t seen in many dentists), and painless (duh!).

In the meantime, you can feast your eyes on what I will undergo to get my impacted wisdom tooth removed: