Surgery Day

Yesterday my day started with a simple trip to the dentist. One of my bottom wisdom teeth has been giving me occassional trouble since summer. A couple of weeks ago it was the worst it had ever been. It was so painful that I started taking medicine for it, and even part of my jaw became numb. So it was finally time to take care of it. I showed up at the dentist yesterday so they could pull it out since the tooth was already mostly out of the skin. But after looking at my x-rays the dentist discovered that my tooth was partially encased by bone and that the root was connected to the nerve at the bottom of the jaw. I risked nerve damage if the dentist pulled it out. So they scheduled me a rush surgery yesterday afternoon.

I ended up getting both of my bottom wisdom teeth taken out. The other was still under the skin but the surgeon said it was also held by bone and close to the nerve as well. (My top 2 wisdom teeth are already out of the skin, so the dentist will pull those out at Christmas). It turns out that age 25 seems to be the cut off for there being an increase in un-heal-able nerve damage to the lip, jaw and chin with a surgery like this. I'd wished my dentist would have warned me about that before my teeth ever started bothering me because these should have been taken out years ago as a preventative measure. I am right on the cusp age-wise for the higher risk of nerve damage, but already I have all of my feeling back! Yay!

The surgery went well. I was a little nervous about the IV, but it hurt way less than I thought it would. The doctor even thought I had a beautiful vein in my arm. He couldn't miss it. haha. I tried to remain as conscious as I could so I could remember how everything happened . . . but I don't even remember getting sleepy. When I started waking up, I actually thought that that was me starting to get sleepy. But I was already done! I have many gaps in my memory after waking up, and even things and conversations I had later yesterday that I thought I was "all-there" for, I am a little fuzzy on today. I do remember getting into the wheelchair and being proud of myself (I guess I gave a lot of thumbs up and thank yous to the doctor and nurses and my mom). At least I was a kind patient while I wasn't in my right mind. So I remember getting into the wheelchair, but I don't remember going down the elevator. I remember going through the front door to the parking lot, but the next thing I knew I was getting into the car. Like I said, lots of gaps.

I was put on the couch as soon as I got home. I think I fell asleep really fast. For hours after the surgery my mouth, cheeks, chin and tongue felt HUGE!! But there was no pain until a few hours later. My medicine must have worn off right as my dad got home with my prescriptions. I instantly got really dizzy and had a crazy heat flash. The pain was not fun either. But I took my meds, and instantly fell back asleep. Since then, the pain has been manageable. I was woken up this morning with miserable heartburn and another dizzy/nauseous/hot flash. I think it was because I took a pill in the middle of the night on an empty stomach.

I've had a few pretty bad moments, but generally it's all been fairly manageable. Already I can tell that with the one tooth gone, my mouth and face seem to feel happier. Ironically, the more painful one for healing is the tooth that was still under the skin, the one that wasn't bothering me. Maybe that's because there had to be more cuts into flesh. There's even a little piece of the inside of my cheek missing.

Anyways, sorry that was long. Even if recovering isn't fun, and even though this cost me a ton of money, I'm glad to have this all taken care of and I think I will be better in the long run.