Emergency oral surgery
Donation protected
If you have been following my updates on Facebook you know what I have been physically and emotionally facing over the past few weeks and if you don’t ill summarize.
On April 24th at 11pm I clumsily tripped at home and kicked a small wall that’s in my hallway. Immediately I knew something was wrong as I couldn’t bear any weight on my foot and my toe was crooked and twisted to the right. I cried it out for a bit and after some googling decided I could go to urgent care in the am so that’s what I did. After X-rays and an examination it was determined that I had a displaced fracture of the 4th proximal phalanx meaning I broke my 4th toe and would need to see an orthopedic foot doctor. Now some of you joked about this injury and I admit it doesn’t seem that serious but it actually was as far as pain. You have 3 bones in your toes and I broke the longest bone which connects my toe to my foot causing pain in the palm of my foot top/bottom and the toe itself. & of course i can’t ever catch a break so instead of a slight crack on one side or the other my break was diagonally broken upwards straight through to the other side. I went to a orthopedic doctor 4 days later which was the earliest I could be seen. That’s when I got two very painful shots of Novocain right into the break as I screamed obscenities between my clenched teeth. The pain was intense but necessary so the doctor could crack my toe back into place and realign it so it can heal properly which was very surreal to watch your toe be pulled and yanked and then to hear your bones crack too. Ewww. So then I’m off to recover buddy taping my toes , wearing a boot for six weeks and using crutches for as long as I needed all while missing two weeks of work...unpaid. I am nearing the end of two weeks and have a checkup tomorrow so praying all is healing properly there.
But let’s move on to today and my real deal of pain and suffering. It all started on Saturday morning May 4th , I woke up with some discomfort and pain in my jaw and the back of my mouth. It was my first day attempting to go back to work at the Chocolate shop after two weeks off so with a busy days of work ahead I took ibuprofen thinking it would get better and I could go about my day. WRONG. As the day went on my face continued to swell and the pain continued to get worse.
About 8 o'clock on Saturday night my face was so swollen and I was in so much pain I had contemplated going to the hospital but because Matt (my fiancé) was at work and I didn't want to go alone I didn’t go. Plus I wasn't sure if it was necessary or if I was over reacting let alone I didn’t have the money to cover a hospital visit even with my health insurance so I took some inflammation and pain meds I was prescribed for my foot and tried to get sleep. 
On Sunday morning when I woke up I was in so much pain. My neck and face were so painfully swollen and my cheek was the size of a golf ball or bigger and it was very hard and tender. I went to urgent care the first thing on Sunday morning and they told me I should go to an emergency dentist or make an appointment with my dentist first thing in the am and in the mean time started me on 300 MG clyndamycin for an antibiotic and 50MG Tramadol for pain . One makes me super sick and the other I feel like doesn’t even touch my pain. I do not have dental insurance nor have the money for a weekend emergency dentist so I just waited until Monday and made an appointment first thing in the morning with my dentist Dr.Greenhill.
I ended up paying over $200 out of pocket to be seen by my dentist where they did a lot of poking around in my mouth and over 5+ x-rays and nothing came up definite as to what the cause was so I was then referred to an oral & face surgeon. I did find out one answer upon my dentist visit which was the diagnosis of aseptic cellulitis which is a bacterial skin infection that causes sudden swelling, redness and a warming sensation. Before leaving the dentist they told me I should have went to the hospital on Saturday to get out on an IV antibiotic to better help fight off the infection in by body and they stressed to me the importance of going to the hospital if I run a fever or continue to swell more in the time between Being seen by the oral & face surgeon. He also told me how this is a serious condition a guy in his 40s died from last year....as if I needed to hear that.
Monday afternoon I received a call from Southwest Florida’s Oral & Face surgery center and I was able to get an appointment made for the following day at 3:45pm where I’d be expected to pay $257 out of pocket for my visit which I didnt have. I cashed in my $50 server paycheck from two weeks prior cashed in $75 from my piggy bank jar and used the rest of what cash I had saved for my vacation that I’m supposed to be enjoying on June 1st with my fiancé and my sister who I haven’t seen in over two years. But I scrapped together all $257 because I’m in pain and I needed answers. At my appointment today I was scared shitless and still in excruciating pain but I was able to take a panoramic X-ray of my whole head which then showed the exact root of the infection and pain. It’s all caused by tooth “32” my bottom right 3rd molar otherwise known as my wisdom tooth. It is impacted and has a serious infection that needs to be removed ASAP. 
After visiting the surgeon today I am beyond scared, still in pain and now scrambling to figure out what to do now. I now have an emergency surgery scheduled for removal of tooth “32” and the infection for 7:15 on Friday morning. I will be put under local anesthesia and undergo my first surgery ever which has been presented with complications already. I was told because of the location of the root of that tooth being so close to if not on my nerve line (pictured about in the bottom left) that it could cause complications and loss of feeling from the bottom part of my face. Since I’ve been home at 5pm I have been crying trying to figure out how I’m going to make this happen. I have bad credit and my one credit card has only $100 available to spend. I do have a care credit card that was maxed from medical expenses from 2018. I’ve applied for a credit extension for that card and was denied and even tried to work out a payment plan with the surgery center. They WILL NOT do this surgery until I can pay & can come up with the cost of doing so which is roughly $1,500. I don’t normally publicize my life life this nor do I ask for help I have been crying since 5pm and thought maybe I could do something more productive so here I am. I am consigning my old clothes and some belonging tomorrow to try to come up with ANY monetary amount I can apply to this surgery that I need so badly. I’m not asking for your pity, just prayers and if you can spare to donate a $5 bill toward my surgery. I just want to be healthy and live. I did not expect this to happen. I am a hard working woman and I would not ask for help if I didn’t need it.
Sincerely Brittany Dawn
On April 24th at 11pm I clumsily tripped at home and kicked a small wall that’s in my hallway. Immediately I knew something was wrong as I couldn’t bear any weight on my foot and my toe was crooked and twisted to the right. I cried it out for a bit and after some googling decided I could go to urgent care in the am so that’s what I did. After X-rays and an examination it was determined that I had a displaced fracture of the 4th proximal phalanx meaning I broke my 4th toe and would need to see an orthopedic foot doctor. Now some of you joked about this injury and I admit it doesn’t seem that serious but it actually was as far as pain. You have 3 bones in your toes and I broke the longest bone which connects my toe to my foot causing pain in the palm of my foot top/bottom and the toe itself. & of course i can’t ever catch a break so instead of a slight crack on one side or the other my break was diagonally broken upwards straight through to the other side. I went to a orthopedic doctor 4 days later which was the earliest I could be seen. That’s when I got two very painful shots of Novocain right into the break as I screamed obscenities between my clenched teeth. The pain was intense but necessary so the doctor could crack my toe back into place and realign it so it can heal properly which was very surreal to watch your toe be pulled and yanked and then to hear your bones crack too. Ewww. So then I’m off to recover buddy taping my toes , wearing a boot for six weeks and using crutches for as long as I needed all while missing two weeks of work...unpaid. I am nearing the end of two weeks and have a checkup tomorrow so praying all is healing properly there.
But let’s move on to today and my real deal of pain and suffering. It all started on Saturday morning May 4th , I woke up with some discomfort and pain in my jaw and the back of my mouth. It was my first day attempting to go back to work at the Chocolate shop after two weeks off so with a busy days of work ahead I took ibuprofen thinking it would get better and I could go about my day. WRONG. As the day went on my face continued to swell and the pain continued to get worse.
About 8 o'clock on Saturday night my face was so swollen and I was in so much pain I had contemplated going to the hospital but because Matt (my fiancé) was at work and I didn't want to go alone I didn’t go. Plus I wasn't sure if it was necessary or if I was over reacting let alone I didn’t have the money to cover a hospital visit even with my health insurance so I took some inflammation and pain meds I was prescribed for my foot and tried to get sleep. On Sunday morning when I woke up I was in so much pain. My neck and face were so painfully swollen and my cheek was the size of a golf ball or bigger and it was very hard and tender. I went to urgent care the first thing on Sunday morning and they told me I should go to an emergency dentist or make an appointment with my dentist first thing in the am and in the mean time started me on 300 MG clyndamycin for an antibiotic and 50MG Tramadol for pain . One makes me super sick and the other I feel like doesn’t even touch my pain. I do not have dental insurance nor have the money for a weekend emergency dentist so I just waited until Monday and made an appointment first thing in the morning with my dentist Dr.Greenhill.
I ended up paying over $200 out of pocket to be seen by my dentist where they did a lot of poking around in my mouth and over 5+ x-rays and nothing came up definite as to what the cause was so I was then referred to an oral & face surgeon. I did find out one answer upon my dentist visit which was the diagnosis of aseptic cellulitis which is a bacterial skin infection that causes sudden swelling, redness and a warming sensation. Before leaving the dentist they told me I should have went to the hospital on Saturday to get out on an IV antibiotic to better help fight off the infection in by body and they stressed to me the importance of going to the hospital if I run a fever or continue to swell more in the time between Being seen by the oral & face surgeon. He also told me how this is a serious condition a guy in his 40s died from last year....as if I needed to hear that.
Monday afternoon I received a call from Southwest Florida’s Oral & Face surgery center and I was able to get an appointment made for the following day at 3:45pm where I’d be expected to pay $257 out of pocket for my visit which I didnt have. I cashed in my $50 server paycheck from two weeks prior cashed in $75 from my piggy bank jar and used the rest of what cash I had saved for my vacation that I’m supposed to be enjoying on June 1st with my fiancé and my sister who I haven’t seen in over two years. But I scrapped together all $257 because I’m in pain and I needed answers. At my appointment today I was scared shitless and still in excruciating pain but I was able to take a panoramic X-ray of my whole head which then showed the exact root of the infection and pain. It’s all caused by tooth “32” my bottom right 3rd molar otherwise known as my wisdom tooth. It is impacted and has a serious infection that needs to be removed ASAP. After visiting the surgeon today I am beyond scared, still in pain and now scrambling to figure out what to do now. I now have an emergency surgery scheduled for removal of tooth “32” and the infection for 7:15 on Friday morning. I will be put under local anesthesia and undergo my first surgery ever which has been presented with complications already. I was told because of the location of the root of that tooth being so close to if not on my nerve line (pictured about in the bottom left) that it could cause complications and loss of feeling from the bottom part of my face. Since I’ve been home at 5pm I have been crying trying to figure out how I’m going to make this happen. I have bad credit and my one credit card has only $100 available to spend. I do have a care credit card that was maxed from medical expenses from 2018. I’ve applied for a credit extension for that card and was denied and even tried to work out a payment plan with the surgery center. They WILL NOT do this surgery until I can pay & can come up with the cost of doing so which is roughly $1,500. I don’t normally publicize my life life this nor do I ask for help I have been crying since 5pm and thought maybe I could do something more productive so here I am. I am consigning my old clothes and some belonging tomorrow to try to come up with ANY monetary amount I can apply to this surgery that I need so badly. I’m not asking for your pity, just prayers and if you can spare to donate a $5 bill toward my surgery. I just want to be healthy and live. I did not expect this to happen. I am a hard working woman and I would not ask for help if I didn’t need it. Sincerely Brittany Dawn
Organizer
Brittany Gagnon
Organizer
Fort Myers, FL
