The Dentist: Part Two

 Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I wasn't kidding when I said I was terrified about going through my wisdom teeth surgery.

Most people have their wisdom teeth removed around age 18. I was fortunate to not have to go through that experience when I was a teenager since mine were still so far imbedded in my gums the dentist recommended not messing with them at all.

But - like all things in my life - that changed once I became pregnant. As I prepared for Addison to make her appearance in this world - one of my wisdom teeth decided to make its appearance too. Of course, the tooth grew in completely the wrong direction (as most stupid wisdom teeth do) and it had to come out. Since I was already going in for surgery to remove that one tooth, it was advised to go ahead and get them all taken care of (in case, heaven forbid, one day I decide to get pregnant again and the rest start to grow in).

[oops, I think that should have been "in case one day I decide to get pregnant again and, heaven forbid, the rest start to grow in]

Maybe if I had removed them when I was 18 I wouldn't have been as scared. I remember thinking I could survive anything when I was 18 years old (plus "all the cool kids were doing it"). I would have probably showed up for surgery all proud and excited about missing school and getting to eat pop sickles during recovery.

Now that I am so much older (and obviously wiser) I knew this might not be that easy. I was pretty anxious about it all when I nervously popped my first sedation pill on the way to the dentist. I remember dramatically telling Josh to be sure to watch out for me and to not let anything happen to us. The cars outside my window started to blur and...I don't remember much else.

Apparently I was a real trooper. I was told by the dentist (a few days after the surgery) that there was only one strange thing I said. At one point during the surgery I started to wake up and whine a bit. When he asked if I wanted more sedation drugs - I told him the following:

"Well normally...in the past...I would have tried to tough it out and I would have told you 'no - I am ok - I don't really need it'. But since I am working on saying what I need and not just trying to tough it out all the time, I think it might be smarter to just go ahead and take the drugs, ya know?"

Uhhh

"Sure" he told me.

And gave me some more drugs.

So the only thing I remember from the entire experience is waking up about 7 hours later feeling awful and sick to my stomach. The remaining pain was 10 times worse than I had imagined - but the sleep was 10 times better than I could have dreamed. I loved the sedatives - even though I had been so anxious about taking them only 24 hours earlier. I was in so much pain, I don't know how I could have handled the surgery and post-operation time without them. But I was sorely dissapointed that I could not remember anything about my day and would have no stories to tell for a "Dentist:Part Two".

The next day I could finally wake up enough to process what had happened to me. I mustered up enough courage to look in the mirror and this is what I saw.


That was a pretty big shock.

But fortunately I was safe at home and no one had to see me.

I went back to bed and fell fast asleep. After a little time had passed, I woke up to a strange noise coming from outside the apartment. Josh heard it too. It was a familiar sound - but very faint and far away. I soon realized it was a fire alarm and opened the apartment door to see what was going on. Sure enough, someone's apartment was on fire, the smell of smoke was in the hallway, and everyone had to evacuate the building. Nice.


In my delusional and ridiculous state of recovery I had to face them all. Hello neighbors. Hello strangers. Hello Firefighters. Hello Apartment managers. Hello everyone.


No I do not want to be seen like this. Yes I look like a monster. No I don't always look like this.




Despite the awkwardness, I must admit I  was pretty excited when I realized that at least I would have something exciting to write about for "Dentist: Part Two"!!

1 comments:

Jbird December 27, 2011 at 10:47 PM  

HAHHAHAHAAA. That's awesome. You are so brave for posting these pics. (I remember looking in the mirror after jaw surgery and immediately forbidding anyone to take a picture of me.) And I didn't know the story about the fire alarm! "Hello neighbors... hello firefighters...." DANG. Hate those stupid moments.

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