It's Saturday and I have an appointment with an oral surgeon to have my wisdom teeth extracted. I only have two, they're on the bottom. Unfortunately, the teeth are "impacted", meaning that they're facing sideways instead of straight up, and not only that, but they're growing that way and pressing on my other molars. Impacted wisdom teeth can cause all sorts of problems, cysts, infections, not to mention destroying other teeth. So I have to have them removed before any of that stuff happens. So far I've had a lot of toothaches in that select area in the back of my mouth, and some popping noises when I chewed, which is incredibly annoying. Most problematic, I get cramps on one side of my jaw. It usually happens when I'm chewing gum, and my jaw will just lock and I'll have this shooting pain up my jaw. It sucks. So anyway, I'm going to this oral surgeon guy to get them fixed.
My dad and I get there at 12:45, the time of my appointment, and then sit around for 45 minutes while the receptionist does nothing after checking us in. Finally a nurse comes out and takes me and my dad to a room. We sit there some more, then the nurse plays a video about informed consent. (If the patient doesn't know the risks of the operation they're about the have, the doctor is liable for any complications.) The video is incredibly cheesy, but it goes on and on about all of the awful things that my happen to me while I'm out. (ie. My jaw could be fractured, the nerve in my jaw could be damaged, other teeth might be ruined, I could get an infection, my face could be badly bruised, and oh yeah, I'm going to be in a hell of a lot of pain.
So I'm a little more nervous now, but the doctor puts me at ease. He lowers the chair back, and the nurse takes my right arm and takes my blood pressure and puts something on my finger to monitor my pulse. The doctor takes my left arm and straps it to the arm of the chair. I'm confused, but then I realize that he's about to insert the IV needle. I look away, but I can still hear the paper being torn off of the syringe. He tells me to make a fist like I'm going to punch someone. I do. Then he does a pretty good job of distracting me by asking me about my Christmas vacation. He says there will be a little sting, but I barely feel anything as he inserts the needle into my arm.
He tapes the needle to my arm, then turns around and connects the needle to the bag of fluid by a tube. I'm expecting the doctor to say something like, "Count backwards from ten" or, "you're feeling veeery sleepy", but neither he nor the nurse say anything. The nurse smears some vaseline on my lips so that they won't dry out too badly during surgery. She gives me an oxygen mask that only covers my nose. She tells me to open my mouth, and then she shoves something into my mouth, I can't remember what. The last thing I remember before I went out was her opening a glasses case and taking out a pair of glasses.
I remember nothing after that. I'm told they completed the surgery without complications, so no broken jaw or damaged nerves. I woke up in a different chair. I was pretty groggy, I think the nurse and my dad were talking to me, but I can't really remember what they said. My dad went out to get the car and pull it around to the back. The nurse helped me to the door because I felt like I was gonna pass out. I got out to the car okay, and my dad and I started driving home. I was fine for about half of the car ride. The lower half of my face was so numb, i could feel anything. I thought my face was wet, but I guess that's a common reaction to the anesthesia.
The second half of the car ride was terrible. The numbness was beginning to wear off, and we hadn't gotten the Vidcodin the doctor prescribed, so I could feel my jaw just fine. Let me try to explain the pain to you so you can understand. It felt like someone had ripped open my gums with their fingernails, ripped my teeth out with a pair of pliers, then sewed them back up with fishing line. After that someone had smashed my forehead with a hammer and given me a strong right hook to the jaw. I was hungry (you can't eat/drink 8 hours prior to surgery) and thirsty, and even the Starbucks frappe tasted bad because it was mixing with the blood still coming from my gums.
When we got home I had some of the Vicodin and promptly threw it back up. Apparently nausea is one of the side effects. So it's straight motrin and ibuprofen for me. I'm feeling much better now that I have pain killers in me. My jaw is still pretty stiff and I can't open my mouth very wide because it still hurts, but all in all I'm okay.
The End.
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