I wanted to drop you a quick line and let you know how my surgery went. As you may or may not know, I had oral surgery on Friday morning and I was not looking forward to it. I'm not sure anyone looks forward to something like that. Anyway, this was a huge deal for me, and I hardly ate anything on Thursday and barely managed 2 hours of sleep Thursday night.
I took a Valium at 8 AM, right before my Mom picked Lizze and I up.
I was concerned that the Valium wasn't going to help but by the time I walked into the office, checked in and sat down, it was definitely working. I felt pretty chill and a little dizzy.
The staff knew how terrified I was in the weeks leading up to this moment and suggested Lizze come sit with me until I was put under. I thought that was really nice of them.
I remember sitting down in the chair, Lizze sat down across from me and my doctor walked in. Dr. Dietrich is a friend from high school and really made me feel much more comfortable about something I was terrified to have done. He personally placed the IV, which is kinda nuts because I've never known any doctor to take that kind of time with their patients. They usually off load that to their nurse. Taking the time to do that himself, says a great deal about his patient care.
Everything gets a little hazy after that. Someone had recently told me how when they had a tooth pulled, the doctor stitched their cheek to their gums and it healed that way. I was a bit freaked out by that and the last thing I remember asking the doctor was not to stitch my cheek to my gums.
I don't remember him pushing the drugs. I remember them putting the stuff on me to monitor my vitals, Lizze being told it was time to step out and clock on the wall showing 8:30 AM exactly. I did later remember something about the xray showing a possible small cavity on the molar in front of one of the teeth about to get yanked. It was between them but it must not have actually been anything cause nothing else was said about it. I just had a clean checkup from my dentist, so I'm not worried about it.
That's it. That's all I remember.
I woke up at 9:15 AM with my mouth packed full of gauze. Lizze was sitting across from me again and I was a bit groggy but very comfortable. We got my discharge instructions and a couple scripts before we headed out.
The scripts got filled on the way home. I was back home and chilling on the couch by roughly 10:00 AM. I never went back to sleep until I went to bed that night.
My whole face was still numb and remained that way for a few hours. There was absolutely no pain at all. I took my pain meds as instructed but they are very mild and I don't think I even need them. As I'm writing this, I'm approaching 48 hours post op and it's like nothing happened. I'm not playing around with the wounds and I'm being very careful when I open my mouth. I won't open my mouth very wide because that's uncomfortable. The top two holes in my jaw don't hurt at all. The bottom right, was partially impacted and the only part that I feel is where my gum/cheek had to be cut in order to dig the impacted tooth out. At most, it feels like a bit my cheek and that's it. There isn't even any swelling. ☺
I can't brush my teeth until Monday, maybe Tuesday and that's when I can rinse with salt water. I won't eat any real food until later this week but I'm pain-free. I'm very, very lucky.
I feel run down a bit and I'm taking it easy because I know I need time to recover. I'm very lucky that I'm not in any pain but I also know that I still have a lot of healing to do and I need to be careful.
Its been yogurt, ice cream, pudding and bone broth for me thus far. Maybe Wednesday I'll try moving to some more softer foods like eggs and oatmeal. Again, I'm being very careful not to screw anything up. The last thing in world I want to do is get a dry socket. I understand that's not a fun experience and I'd like to avoid it.
Anyway, I'm feel so much better about everything right now.
This was literally a painless experience for me and I truly believe that is only because of how amazing Dr. Dietrich is. I've heard so many horror stories about wisdom teeth extractions on YouTube or from people in my life trying to have some fun at my expense.
I'll be honest, I was in more pain after I had a filling replaced in December.
I'm amazed and I'm grateful. I'm only 2 days in to recovery but so far so good. I need about a week before I can go back to my normal crazy life and being down is driving me a bit nuts but it could be so much worse.
Lizze and the boys have been awesome and I really appreciate all their help. Lizze has really stepped up and I know that's not easy for her physically. She's paying a heavy price for all she's doing right now but she's not complaining about anything. I need to heal up so I can take over and she can rest. ☺
I also wanted to say thank you to everyone for a the well wishes. I truly appreciate your kindness and compassion.
