My Wisdom Tooth Tale

Hello all!

Well, it has been over a week since I got my wisdom teeth taken out, so I suppose it's about time for a post.

Last Thursday I went and picked up my prescriptions from WalMart - painkillers, sedatives, and anti-nausea pills. I took one sedative before bed so I could sleep, and I slept great! Got up, took six ibuprofen and another sedative at 11:00 (an hour before my appointment) put on some clothes I didn't want to worry about getting anything on, and headed off to the dentist.

When I got there, the dentist wasn't in yet. The assistant asked me if I was feeling woozy. Uhm. Nope - pretty wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. She says "yeah, you're way too alert." The dentist gets there and takes my bottle of sedatives. He crushed up 2 and gave them to me in lukewarm water to drink. (eew) They brought me back and set me up, closed the blinds, turned off the lights and tried to get me to fall asleep. I got pretty close but anytime I felt like I was falling asleep the heart rate monitor would beep because it was going under 50, and it would wake me up. They came in and gave me another half of a pill in water to drink. I asked if I could listen to my iPod if it would help me fall asleep, so they went and got it from Chad in the waiting room. I laid there for a bit and then they came in and put a numbing gel on my gums, then they shot me full of novacaine. I think it was 4 or 6 shots. Then the dentist said something like "Okay, now that we've woken you up, try to relax."

The next thing I remember they were back in the room. They hooked me up to the nitrous oxide which I remember smelled like candy - which the assistant told me was the covering they put on it so it smelled good. Mmmm. The dentist tapped me 3 times on the chin and said "This is just to see how much you remember after the procedure." Then they went to work. I was awake for the whole thing, and lucky for me, I also remember all of it. I closed my eyes a lot, but not because I was asleep, but because I didn't want to see the reflection of my mouth in the light and the dentist's protective glasses. Just as they started, a song on my iPod came on "Dare you to run..." which I laughed at considering the situation. They let me keep my iPod on during the surgery, and I was happy for that. Anytime I could hear the creaking of teeth being pulled out of my face, I just turned it up louder and squeezed my eyes shut tighter. I remember they worked for a while before I realized they had two out. I held up my fingers for two, to which the dentist replied "Yes, we've got two out." I closed my eyes a little longer until they got out the other two. I didn't feel any pain, but just the fact that they were in my mouth pulling my teeth was emotionally exhausting. They got done and put in some stitches (the dissolvable kind) - I remember the fishing-line-like thread tickling my face as he worked with the other end in my mouth. (Gross!) So we got all done, but I never got to rinse my mouth or anything, so I felt gross. I asked to see a mirror and they gave me one, and I had blood crusted on my lips and smeared across my teeth and tongue. It was disgusting. And if I wasn't on so many sedatives, I probably would have passed out. The dentist asked me what he had done before we started, and I tapped my chin three times. Yup, I remembered. I couldn't really talk because of all the novacaine that made my mouth feel like it was swollen to the size of a beach ball, even though it wasn't.

The dentist says to me "Okay, you're ready to go. Try not to look in the next room on the way down the hallway - we have some little kids over there - one of them it's their first time to the dentist and we don't want to scare them." He might as well have said "Okay freakshow, don't scare the kids. Hide your ugly face." So they escort me down the short hallway, and apparently I was leaking blood and drool down my face, but I couldn't feel it because of the novacaine. EEEEEW. Chad walked me out to the car and now I just had to heal. The hard part was over. Yay!

Now, the next 48 hours are pretty hazy in my memory, because the sedatives decided to kick in. In talking to Chad in the last couple of days, I realize that I don't remember anything about the ride home, the walk to the apartment, or really anything else up until about Sunday morning. From what he's told me, I kept leaning my head forward and getting blood on myself, the carseat, and the carpet in the hallway of our apartment building. He kept telling me to sit up/stand up, but I would keep slouching forward. He got me home and settled on the couch, which is where I stayed for the next two days. He left that night to go film a play at the school, but I have no recollection of that. Apparently I sent him a text message asking if the alarm on my phone that was going off was telling me to take more pain meds. I also sent text messages to Erin and Mollie, which I had no recollection of. I slept for most of Saturday. I remember calling mom around noon...? and then sleeping again. As I got better, I remember asking Chad about Friday. He told me that I had been texting Erin and Mollie and I had to go look at the "sent messages" on my phone to see what we had talked about. He told me it was about Bryce's birthday presents, which I didn't remember until I looked at the picture Erin sent me. It is a good thing that nobody came to visit me during that time, because who knows what we would've talked about! and I wouldn't even remember it! ... At least I don't think anyone came to visit me. I guess I don't really know.

Anyways, the first time I was up for a significant amount of time was Sunday morning. We didn't go to church, and I was camped out on the couch. I had to ask Chad what day it was and what had happened in the time that I was asleep. I asked him things that we had had whole conversations about. Let me tell you - it is sooo weird to be told by someone else things that you did or said that you can't remember. I was finally assertive enough to notice that there were blood stains on my pillow and shirt. EEEEW. Chad came over and sat next to me and says "Whoa!" "What?" "You smell!" Why thank you dearest husband. Just what I wanted to hear. But, I'm sure he was justified. I was sleeping on a drool/blood stained pillow, in a drool/blood stained shirt, and hadn't showered or brushed my teeth for two days. He motivated me to get up and take a shower, and I felt 300% better after that. I tried to brush my teeth because my mouth truly did feel disgusting. I could smell my breath and it was bad. My back molars felt sticky and gunky and gross. It took a couple of days to get my mouth feeling back to normal. EEW. I slept in my bed Sunday night, and felt good enough to go to school the next day. I never really felt any pain, and my cheeks hardly swelled up at all. People at school couldn't even tell.

Let me warn you though - if you tell people you got your wisdom teeth out, you might as well be wearing a sign that says "Please! Tell me your wisdom tooth horror stories!" It really IS like that Brian Regan sketch. It is a good thing I got four taken out because at least I can hold my own. If I had only gotten one out, people would've been like "Yeah, so?" Anyways, I don't think I ever got to tell my wisdom tooth tale because it always went like this:

"What's with the rice pack?"
"Oh - I got my wisdom teeth taken out on Friday."
"OHMYGOSH! When I got mine out it was SO gross and I threw up in the car on the way home and I ate pudding for three days straight and I had this huge scar from the IV and my face swelled up to the size of a beach ball and - "
"And your head did too? Oh sorry - you weren't done. Keep going, please!"

Everyone wants to tell you how bad they had it. And honestly, I was thinking - besides remembering the whole surgery, it really wasn't that bad. I guess my teeth were all broken through my gums so the top two came out just like any other extraction. Easy peasy. The bottom were a little more involved. But my mouth didn't really hurt at all as long as I was on my pain medication which was hydrocodone/acetaminophen, which wikipedia tells me is Vicadin. (Not Percoset as we had thought) But I was perfectly functional even on the pain meds and only missed one day of class on Friday when I had them taken out. On Monday, I was down to ibuprofen and eating Mac & Cheese. The worst part of having my teeth taken out was being hungry. My mouth didn't hurt, but I didn't know how careful I had to be about getting food into the holes left by my teeth (EEEEEW!) so I was trying to eat soups and oatmeal and things like that. By Wednesday, I just wanted a cheeseburger! Pudding and yogurt just don't fill ya up. Thursday night we finally gave in and went to McDonald's where I managed half a cheeseburger. Best cheeseburger ever. I called the dentist yesterday, a week after my surgery, and asked how concerned I have to be about getting food in the holes. The assistant said to just keep rinsing out my mouth with warm salt water, and I should be fine. I also asked about playing the clarinet. I haven't been able to play, so I've been going to my daily 2 hour rehearsals and just sitting there following along in my music. That gets old VERY quickly. I had a concert on Thursday night that Brother Holman covered for me. It was Chamber Winds, so I was only in one piece - so it wasn't too bad. So anyways, the dentist assistant said that if my mouth was feeling good, then I could go ahead and try it. I don't think I have ever been more excited to play my clarinet. I could only play in a certain range at a certain volume for a limited amount of time, but I still got to play! Yay!

So, maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to be healing really quickly. I love my immune system. I'm telling you - it's because we ate dirt as babies! It's the kids whose mom's have sheltered them from every dust particle their entire lives who are allergic to everything and constantly sick.
You know I'm right. Thanks, mom, for letting me eat dirt!

Anywho. In answer to Mollie's comment on my last post - I have been telling Chad, I'm going to put my teeth under my pillow and wait for the tooth fairy to bring me $900 to pay off the cost of having to get them removed.

(P.S. - VeggieTales changed their theme song!!! (Saturday morning cartoons, ya know.) SO disappointing.)

So - to sum up in pictures.

Before

























After

(I look gross - Apparently I authorized Chad to take this picture soon after we got home and while under the influence of the sedatives.)

Monday. Don't worry - I didn't gain a whole lot of weight (in fact, I lost weight cuz I couldn't eat anything!) That's the swelling. (I look pretty much back to normal now - maybe I should post a newer picture)






And my teeth! The dentist gave them to me. It's a good thing too, cuz it sounds like they'll come in handy.















And that my friends, is THE END. (I don't know how to get rid of the big space between the last two pictures.)