Goodbye, wisdom teeth!

I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I've had a good excuse....honest. I recently had all 4 wisdom teeth plus one molar pulled. What a nightmare. The day of the proceedure my good friend Nanci drove me to the office since you have to have someone there during the entire extraction. Ron was home with the kids. The doctor had talked to me about anesthesia during my initial consultation, so I knew exactly what to expect...or so I thought. After sitting in the waiting room for some time, they finally call my name. I am ushered back into the proceedure room where there are 3 nurses. What? Does it really take that many people for an extraction? I don't know that there were that many nurses present during my c-sections. Anyway, they sit me down and start hooking me up to monitors. The nurse that put the IV into my arm starts talking to me about random things, asking me silly questions, and waiting for the meds to kick in. I started to feel dizzy and could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness. I no doubt startled the nurse when my eyes shot open and I blurted out "Call my mom!" What?? Not sure where that came from, but the last image I remember is that nurse having a good chuckle about my spaz out. As I came to, the doctor was removing the last tooth and he was talking to me, I guess trying to keep me relaxed just in case I freaked out as I woke up. He finished up and said everything went really well. The nurses removed the IV and heart monitors. They told me to lay back and relax for a few minutes and that I would be moving into the recovery room shortly. When it was time to move, I slowly stood up with the assistance of one of the nurses. I was dizzy and lightheaded and just took my time. Now the nurse was going to be escorting me to the recovery room. I had to laugh, even in my sedated state. The nurse holding my arm was not even 5 ft tall and maybe weighed 100 lbs. I am not a small woman, and standing next to her made me feel even more gigantic. I thought to myself, 'this poor woman...if I start to go down, does she really think she could stop that from happening? How on earth do they expect a tulip to catch a falling oak tree.' Thank goodness I made it to the recovery room without any incidents. After about 15 minutes of being in recovery, they had Nanci come back to get the post-op instructions. I was then released to go home.

Ron was very good about keeping the kids away from me as I slept off what was left of the anesthesia. After a day of changing bloody gauze and rinsing with salt water, I was beginning to feel a little bit of an improvement. My biggest concern was how numb my face still felt. I remembered the doctor telling me that there was a good chance he may bump the nerve or even bruise it. Apparently that had happened. So over the next week there were countless times of drooling on myself and having "leftovers" on my lips. Cute.

It was now the day of my post-op visit. It had been 10 days since the extraction and I made my way to the doctor. My lower lip and right side of my face were still numb, but I'm trying to remain optimistic. The doctor informed me that I am ahead of schedule with my healing....good news! I then asked about the numbness. He did a little test to see if the nerve is still working and it is. Thank goodness! The bad news? Oh, it could take several months for the numbness to go away. He asked that I make an appointment for September to check the progress. What?!? I couldn't believe it!! Here's to many more months of drool and leftovers.