So, it turns out that my increasingly swelling face was not "normal" swellage (not sure if that's a word, but I like it). Apparantly, I was one of the rare 5% that develops an infection, just because, and all the swelling was actually infection. Yes! Actual icky stuff, filling the inside of my face! There was nothing I could have done differently (I was keeping my socket nice and clean) it's just one of those things. A few hours after posting my last post, I was talking to my friend on the phone (who happens to be a nurse) and she asked how I was feeling. I said "not great", described my jaw to which she responded "That sounds like infection". So, I call my doctor and he says, sure enough, it's infection. He called in an antibiotic and had me come in the next day. He looked at it, responded that it was bad but that he'd seen worse (oh goody. Snaps to that poor sucker) and that if the antibiotics didn't "kick it", I'd have to have more surgery to, and I quote, "drain it". I was a little horrified by this visual, especially when I was informed that normally the surgery is done inside the mouth, through the tissue, but since the infection was so low (the side of my jaw and under my chin) he may need to make an incision on the SIDE OF MY NECK to drain it. Sick and wrong. However, my oral surgeon was super-nice...he was going to do the additional surgery at no charge.
I went home and informed Matt of all the gory details and to set him straight. When I first suspected something was up, I said to Matt "There is something in there!!! This is not normal!!" to which he replied "No, no...your tissue is just hardening from the swelling." (Bless him, he's no doctor) and he maintained this belief until I triumphantly informed him that there indeed WAS something in my face, immediately following this announcement by asking him if he would still love me when my face was drained and I had a saggy face with stretch marks as a result. He assured me he would. :)
Anywho, we laugh, but I was worried and did not want more surgery. Matt gave me a blessing and thankfully, it looks like the antibiotics did their job. About 5 days after taking antibiotics, I looked normal, and a week later I didn't need pain medicine anymore. It's not completely gone yet (dr. said it would take several weeks) but I'm on the mend. This is so not on of my five favorite things anymore. :)
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