Adventures in Oral Surgery

On Friday I took a sick day and had my wisdom teeth removed after many years of stalling and 10 hours of fasting (fortunately I was asleep for most of them). M. took me to the oral surgeon's office for my 9am appointment. Because my lower two wisdom teeth were impacted, both my general dentist and the oral surgeon had recommended that I be put under for the procedure and have all four teeth removed at once. I was nervous (I had never even had a single stitch before Friday) and the nurse gave me some nitrous to help me relax and lower my heart rate. Before long the IV drip was going and I faded out of consciousness.

Apparently the procedure went swiftly and smoothly. The nurse and oral surgeon proclaimed me a good patient. With a mouthful of gauze and a brain full of fog, I told them, "I'm really good at sleeping." Then they brought M. back to give him some care instructions for me. I was helped out to the car. Vaguely stoned and with my mouth still full of gauze, I rambled for a little bit about Marxian social history and radical feminism, briefly cried, asked my spouse if he considers himself a feminist (he said he is a liberal feminist), and then waited for M. in the car while he picked up my prescriptions and bought some sherbet and soup at Target. If anyone was hoping for awesome antics or wizardry, they were disappointed. My post-op, stoned ramblings were rather academic.

I didn't stay very groggy for long. I was in some pain, but it was more or less at a manageable level. I spent the rest of the day on Friday on the couch, watching episodes of Buffy, applying ice packs religiously, and bleeding occasionally. I was unable to eat any of the sherbet sadly, as, after I had a couple of bites, the bottom right side of my mouth started hurting more and I started bleeding.

I spent most of the weekend on the couch. I felt well enough to do some grading here and there, but I wasn't up for much else. I watched a couple of movies and some episodes of Downtown Abbey and I finished a novel that I was reading. For the past three days my diet has consisted of oatmeal, soup, and mashed potatoes. I'm hoping to go into semi-solid territory again later today, but am trying to err on the side of caution. I am terrified of getting dry socket and prolonging my recovery. Depending on how my mouth feels tomorrow, I may try to do a short and easy 2 miler. The oral surgeon said I could run after 3-4 days so long as I stopped immediately if I felt woozy or tasted any blood.

So I crossed #12 off my 32 in 32 list and spent the weekend recuperating. Hopefully, my next 32 in 32 adventure involves less pain and more excitement.