I Have a Tumor???

It's been a while since I posted but I thought this was worth a post. Around a week ago, I felt some sharp pain behind my last molar on my left jaw side. I was unable to sleep at all that night. I messaged the dentist company on Facebook at 2am to ask if I could walk in. They replied with an okay around 6am and set an appointment around 10am. I went without hesitation and I even went there early. This wasn't the first time I had this problem. Around a year ago, they gave me some antibiotics and some painkillers and I was fine after a few days. The fact that this pain came back again at the same spot for the 3rd/4th time according to the dentist records, the dentist urged me to get an OPG Xray. Honestly, I was hesitant because I didn't want to spend money on getting some x ray and on top of that, I thought I'd be fine after some antibiotics and painkillers like I was in the past. It took around a day and some friends convinced me to get the OPG x-ray to get a peace of mind. I went ahead to get it and it cost around RM120. It was a very quick process and the results is the picture below.

When I looked at it, I was like woah that's what my teeth look like. It seemed like everything was there and I was happy to see that I didn't have any wisdom teeth where my back molar was so the pain from erupting wisdom teeth was ruled out. I emailed the x-ray to my dentist and I think I got a phone call about half an hour later. When I heard the phone call, I knew it was not going to be good news. Usually if someone is going to call me, it's something bad or urgent that I needed to know.

The dentist just went straight to the point and told me to look at the x-ray on the left jaw and said look at the right side and see how it's not symmetrical. She said it wasn't normal that there was a bubble there and that she believed it was a dental cyst. I have highlighted the part she was mentioning in the picture above. She said I need to see an oral surgeon to figure out what it is and most likely get it removed. This was definitely not the news I was looking forward to hearing.

I went to the hospital. I decided to go to a government hospital since in Malaysia healthcare is heavily subsidized. The only downside is the long wait time but I think it's worth it since I wasn't dying or anything. The oral surgeon told me that she believed it was a tumor whether what type of tumor she wasn't sure hence I had to do a biopsy. This shit was kind of scary. They numbed half my jaw and cut my gums and drills some of my bone to extract some of the tissue of the tumor. I'll find out the results in 2-3 weeks but it's most likely benign. I got some antibiotics and painkillers and my next appointment will be on 13/4 to remove the stitches.

After I got back home, I did cry a bit in my room because I thought why me. How could this happen to me because I felt like I was fairly healthy and to be suddenly told I have a tumor was kind of shocking to me. I feel like I kind of know how people feel now when they suddenly find out they have cancer. Obviously, what I have now isn't as bad as that but I can understand their feeling now. By now, I have long accepted my fate. I have come into terms and I'm ready to have the big surgery and move on from this. Before that happens, I will need to do a CT scan so they can see where all of the tumor is then only they can plan how to do the surgery. I will be knocked out during this surgery. I am not looking forward to that but from what I heard, the moment I wake up everything will be over. The only sad thing is I probably won't be able to play pickleball for 2 weeks to a month.

I can't wait to get all this over with and keep on moving with my life.