Not as bad as it looks...

Fair warning: (1) I'm under the influence of Percoset, so this might not make sense, and (2) this is a boring post about my wisdom teeth removal. If you don't care, feel free to bypass this lovely post. But come back later, I might have something more interesting to talk about!

So, this was me after 2 hours at the doctor's office. It looks bad, but this whole wisdom teeth thing has been NOTHING near as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The Hubs and I got to the office about 10 minutes before my appointment time. It was nice that we didn't have to fill out any paperwork today since I had filled everything out on the day of my consultation. So we just waited. And the more I waited, the more nervous I got. Luckily, I only had to wait about 10 minutes before they called me back.

Let me say this: the people in that office were the NICEST people I have ever delt with at a doctor's office. And not just pretending to be nice or humoring the patient. They were genuinely kind and nice and it made my whole experience that much better.

Anyway, they took me back into one of the rooms (which were very colorful, btw, one wall was green, another light blue, etc. It was very calming for some reason) and the ladies wasted absolutely no time hooking me up to stuff. Blood pressure cuff, heart monitors on 3 spots, IV, and pulse ox monitor on my finger.

And then I waited.

The ladies made a big effort to talk to me and keep me occupied while the doctor was finishing up with his other patient (apparently a 7 year old little boy who was a trooper), and we talked about Nancy Grace (ugh), the fact that it was supposed to snow that night (ugh), and those little seed pod things that fall from the trees here in early summer. I don't know what the technical name is, but we call them helicopters. (editors note: The Hubs says they're maple seeds, so thereyougo.) Strange topics of conversation, but it kept me from thinking about the fact that I was making several things beep and I had an IV in my arm, and that they were about to put me to sleep and tear up my mouth.

I had finally had enough of the chit chat and was starting to get a little stir crazy when the doc showed up. I couldn't help myself and said "finally!" when he walked through the door and everyone laughed. He came over and started chatting with me about how I was feeling, all the while, covertly pushing lovely little meds into my IV. The last thing I remember, one of the nurses put the little piggy-snout oxygen thing over my nose, and I remember briefly thinking that the seal wasn't very good on the bottom part of my nose, so what if I wasn't getting the right amount of oxygen. And then I was out.

The next thing I remember, I was in the post-op room with a couple other people. I asked the post-op nurse how I got in that room, and she laughed and told me I rode in a wheelchair, which I have absolutely no recollection of. I remember laying in that chair and continuing to look at the clock, thinking, I can't believe it's already 10 am...I've been here for a long time! (It was really only about an hour since the surgery had started, but it felt WAY longer than that). They put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me out to the car, where The Hubs was waiting to drive me home.

Since I've been home, the teeth (or lack thereof, I guess, lol) have been WAY less painful than I expected it to be. I think the "head bra", as my doctor called it, holding ice against my jaws has really helped with the pain and swelling. And Percosets certainly don't hurt, either. My left side, with the two partially impacted/partially broken through teeth barely hurts at all right now, but the right side, with only the one wisdom tooth that was completely impacted in my lower jaw is pretty sore. Sore, but not unbearable. I keep the "head bra" on as much as I can, and I take the meds as I'm supposed to, and I'm doing just fine.

All in all, this experience has been as great as a surgery could be. The doctors and nurses were beyond awesome, the pain has been very bearable, and The Hubs has been an awesome caretaker (as always). If you've been needing to have it done and haven't (Kate and Sarah, lol) find a good doctor, or come to Cincinnati and use mine, and you'll be fine!

Thanks again to everyone for the well wishes and the pity party! I appreciate it! And I'm glad to say I'm doing really well after something I thought was going to be miserable.

I'm sure the pity party helped. :-)