This may be another long one, so grab a snack or a cup of tea (or hot chocolate, if you're me) and get comfy.
First of all, it's literally been storming here since Wednesday night. I can count on one hand how many times it's stopped raining since Wednesday, and the hours is less than that. Everything is flooded downtown and even taking Maia out for a pee is an ordeal! My water dog is a total wuss when it comes to wind and rain. The power has flickered but thankfully has not gone out where I am, at least. I know more rural areas have lost power, which is no surprise. I'm hoping work hasn't lost power, but I'm not there right now anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter too much. I just worry about our patients and supplies - a lot of which are refrigerated or frozen.
Anyway...
If you read my last post, you would know that in October my wisdom teeth started coming in. The timing was impeccable - you can read about it there for more whiny details. On November 10th I went down island to see the specialist about booking an appointment. He discussed everything with me and long story short I needed to get 5 teeth removed - the four wisdoms, plus one my wisdom tooth ruined. The quote was not as bad as I'd thought initially, and he elected IV sedation and local, not GA - which was both relieving and terrifying. On one hand, I was happy not to have an ET tube down my throat and longer recovery from the anesthetic, but at the same time I was so worried that because I wasn't going to be right out I would hear everything and simply not feel it. The idea of surgery was panicking me enough; having the prospect of that horrifying experience hanging over my head was not doing me any favors. Everyone I talked to about it was shocked that I wasn't being put right under as they had, and that I was so brave for choosing that. But I didn't choose IV sedation; my surgeon did. He stated that GA is "overkill" for wisdom teeth and that he is a "good read of people" and was sure I'd be "perfectly fine with IV and local". All I could think for the next month was you'd better be right, Mr Dental Specialist.
As it turns out, he was.
***
I had put this away into "drafts" for the better part of the last 2 months, and am finally picking it back up and trying to finish it. Are you ready? Here we go...
I went into the office with extreme apprehension. They walked me into a quiet albeit clean room where the nurse made me lay down on a stretched out chair, taped my head down with this big stretchy headband type thing so I couldn't move, then laid a blanket over me and started slapping the back of my hand. She said she was trying to find a vein - which made me laugh, because I have cat veins and they're tricky to hit without bruising me. She managed it though, and the poke of the IV needle was actually the worst part of the whole thing. She made me breathe through this plastic tube and patted my knee, saying the doctor would be in shortly, then left. I was stuck there for about 15 minutes, just staring at the ceiling, listening to my heart rate go up and up and trying my best to get it back down so as not to panic. Then the surgeon came in, announced he was going to "give me something now" which I didn't watch because I was still trying to forget about the fact that I had a needle in my hand, and that was it. Next thing I know they're wheeling me out and I'm next to another girl who's sitting up sipping something from a small paper cup. I tried to get up, but the nurse near by ran over and pushed me back down. All I wanted was to get up and go home, but she wouldn't let me. I laid there for a while until she asked if I wanted to sit up. I nodded, cheeks filled with spongy cotton, and she let me sit up a little bit, then left for a while again. Then she came back and let me sit all the way up, told me to take the cotton out of my mouth and gave me some ginger ale - which I found a tad odd, seeing as my homecare instructions stated not to have anything carbonated for 24 hours after the operation.
By the time I got home, the freezing was still in effect, and I basically sat on the couch drooling and icing my face for the rest of the day. My mom stayed with me to make sure I was okay until my housemate came home from work, at which point my mom got the hell out of dodge and left my friend to care for me.
Really the hardest part was not chewing. Basically you aren't allowed to actually chew anything for a week, nothing chewy or hard for 2 weeks, and no seeds or kernels of any kind for a month. Re-routing my whole eating plan for a month sucked.
For the next few days I was significantly drugged up, sleepy, and sore. Doing a salt rinse after each meal really sucks, but I followed my homecare instructions to a T, and never got an infection or dry socket - thank goodness. I had about 4 days off work to let the swelling go down, and when I did get back to work it took about another week for my face to look normal again and for speaking at length to be not painful.
Now, I'm happy to say that things are all healed up, I have no jaw or tooth pain anymore, and was going to go in for my cleaning but got a bad cold and had to reschedule. So we'll see where that's at in about 2 weeks when I get the cleaning done. I'm expecting cavities - that's just the simple truth when you haven't had a cleaning in years because you can't afford it. Hopefully with the benefits I have through work it won't cost me an arm and a leg to fix them all. I'm dreading the time off work to get them done, but at least they offer some evening times.
That's all for today, I think. I don't think that was as much as I could have ranted about, but it's all I have for you for now.
Take care of yourselves, and don't catch the cold I'm suffering with right now.
***
I had put this away into "drafts" for the better part of the last 2 months, and am finally picking it back up and trying to finish it. Are you ready? Here we go...
I went into the office with extreme apprehension. They walked me into a quiet albeit clean room where the nurse made me lay down on a stretched out chair, taped my head down with this big stretchy headband type thing so I couldn't move, then laid a blanket over me and started slapping the back of my hand. She said she was trying to find a vein - which made me laugh, because I have cat veins and they're tricky to hit without bruising me. She managed it though, and the poke of the IV needle was actually the worst part of the whole thing. She made me breathe through this plastic tube and patted my knee, saying the doctor would be in shortly, then left. I was stuck there for about 15 minutes, just staring at the ceiling, listening to my heart rate go up and up and trying my best to get it back down so as not to panic. Then the surgeon came in, announced he was going to "give me something now" which I didn't watch because I was still trying to forget about the fact that I had a needle in my hand, and that was it. Next thing I know they're wheeling me out and I'm next to another girl who's sitting up sipping something from a small paper cup. I tried to get up, but the nurse near by ran over and pushed me back down. All I wanted was to get up and go home, but she wouldn't let me. I laid there for a while until she asked if I wanted to sit up. I nodded, cheeks filled with spongy cotton, and she let me sit up a little bit, then left for a while again. Then she came back and let me sit all the way up, told me to take the cotton out of my mouth and gave me some ginger ale - which I found a tad odd, seeing as my homecare instructions stated not to have anything carbonated for 24 hours after the operation.
By the time I got home, the freezing was still in effect, and I basically sat on the couch drooling and icing my face for the rest of the day. My mom stayed with me to make sure I was okay until my housemate came home from work, at which point my mom got the hell out of dodge and left my friend to care for me.
Really the hardest part was not chewing. Basically you aren't allowed to actually chew anything for a week, nothing chewy or hard for 2 weeks, and no seeds or kernels of any kind for a month. Re-routing my whole eating plan for a month sucked.
For the next few days I was significantly drugged up, sleepy, and sore. Doing a salt rinse after each meal really sucks, but I followed my homecare instructions to a T, and never got an infection or dry socket - thank goodness. I had about 4 days off work to let the swelling go down, and when I did get back to work it took about another week for my face to look normal again and for speaking at length to be not painful.
Now, I'm happy to say that things are all healed up, I have no jaw or tooth pain anymore, and was going to go in for my cleaning but got a bad cold and had to reschedule. So we'll see where that's at in about 2 weeks when I get the cleaning done. I'm expecting cavities - that's just the simple truth when you haven't had a cleaning in years because you can't afford it. Hopefully with the benefits I have through work it won't cost me an arm and a leg to fix them all. I'm dreading the time off work to get them done, but at least they offer some evening times.
That's all for today, I think. I don't think that was as much as I could have ranted about, but it's all I have for you for now.
Take care of yourselves, and don't catch the cold I'm suffering with right now.
