-2 to Widsom Check
*note:
Please ignore any major typos and grammatical errors. I still feel a bit too endorphin happy to be sure of my typing.
So my wisdom teeth are out and I'm still alive. We arrived at the dentist's office to some confusion as to who I was. I was asked why did I want to walk home from the procedure - I didn't. I made sure TBIT had money for a cab. Then the dental surgeon asked my age. He said "you're what? 22-24?" - ah, nope. Way way off. Luckily that initial confusion didn't mean the wrong teeth were pulled (I think). He then confirmed my weight and height, I guess to calculate how much gas for how long.
I was then seated in the chair, had my blood pressure measured, my lungs and heart listened to and then they stuck on monitors and put a goofy hose thing on my nose to pump in the gas. The nurse who put on the blood pressure cuff asked me from which arm was blood normally drawn - my left - so she put the cuff on my right. The I.V. went into my left arm. I told her what I was told to tell anyone who had to put a needle in my arm : "I'm told I have very small veins, it's easier if you use a butterfly needle." The nurse just smiled and said "We use a small guage needle." She attemped to insert the needle into my arm and said, "Holy, those are tiny" but the needle went in. She's very good, there was barely a pinch. A couple of moments later, there was this weird warm sensation in my bicep. Not painful but like the inside of my arm was plunged into warm water - weird. The doctor said, "We're ready. Here comes the gas."
I started to breathe the gas and waited to see what would happen. I looked around the room and wondered "Should I be feeling sleepy? If I close my eyes before I'm actually knocked out will they start too soon? " Shortly, I started feeling a strange heaviness in my chest and I remarked I didn't like it. The dental surgeon said they can ease up on the gas, it will just take a llittle longer. Then I'm out. I woke up a couple of times during the surgery and saw three faces peering down at me. I didn't register any pain instead I felt pressure.
Finally, I woke up as they were spooling up the equipment cables. The dental surgeon asked me a couple of questions, (How many of me do you see?), told me about the medications I'd have to take and had me sign a form. I don't think the form would stand up in court as I was seeing double and in no way what I wrote resembles my actual signature. I was able to peel of the monitors from my chest as the nurse removed the I.V. TBIT came into the room and asked how I felt. "Dizzy but fine." I wasn't nauseaus and there wasn't a lot of pain. My face didn't feel terribly swollen but there were cotton gauze things stuffed into my mouth puffing my cheeks out. The nurse removed the gauze and showed my how to replace it. The stitches were still bleeding and needed pressure. She said the stitches would dissolve in a couple of days. After a couple of minutes, the nurse had me try to stand, which I did sucessfully even though I couldn't get my eyes to work together. TBIT helped me out to the lobby and while I slowly made it to a chair, he booked my check-up. After about 5 minutes I wanted out of there so they let us leave.
Leaving was a slow process and I was concerned about my dizziness meeting the escalator but I made it down. We then ducked into the pharmacy and got my meds - Tylenol 3, super penicillin, and prescription strength mouthwash. We walked to the corner to catch a cab but I felt well enough that we just hopped a bus. When we got home, I took one Tylenol 3 and one penicillin and when to sleep with a softgel icepack. I woke up about 2 hours later, changed the gauze and swapped icepacks.
It is now over 7 hours since the surgeon and I don't have any bruises blooming on my cheeks (yet) and the pain is more akin to the jaw soreness of eating a very chewy toffee (mmm, Makintosh Toffee) for 3 days. The left side where the tooth was removed has more or less stopped bleeding, but the right side where the roots were in my sinus cavity, is still pretty bloody. With the gauze in my cheeks, I feel like I'm auditioning for the leading role in a drag production of The Godfather.
Thanks everybody, especially L, for the encouragment. I got through it alive and it wasn't nearly as terrible as my mildest scenarios made it out to be.
Now here's hoping it doesn't get all gross and infected...
Posted by Marmy on August 18, 2006 04:15 PM