Yesterday morning I had my two wisdom teeth removed. The oral surgeon told me in November 2013 that he would need to remove the teeth because he wouldn't be able to operate on my jaw if they were in place. I had one impacted on my lower left side and one that grew in on my upper right side. I was so nervous about having the sedation, that was biggest fear. And it was nothing to even worry about!
When I first arrived I had some new x-rays and impressions taken. They wanted to be able to compare the x-rays and impressions from yesterday to the ones from a few months ago to see how I'm progressing. That took about a half hour or so, then the surgeon came in to start my IV. I told him I was nervous about being sedated because I don't like that loopy, out-of-control feeling. He said I'd get better sedation from drinking a bottle of wine. I asked if I could just do that instead. He was very nice about it all, put the IV in, and then I saw the nurse hand him a syringe. He said, "This will take about 30 seconds to kick in." I felt my feet start to tingle a little and then I was out. I could hear them talking and hear noises, but I can't remember anything specific that was said or done. I also could see colors, kind of like when your eyes are closed but you can tell when the lights are on or off. Sometimes I would see dark, sometimes yellow, sometimes red. Maybe it was depending on the surgeon moving the big overhead light? Anyways, I felt like I was sort of fine the whole time hearing and seeing colors. Then they woke me up and said, "You're done!" It felt like it was only 5 minutes, but I think it was about 15 minutes or so.
As soon as they woke me up, someone was removing my IV from my arm and then someone else was telling me I could walk to my recovery room. From the moment I woke up, I remember everything and didn't feel loopy at all. I felt kind of groggy, but not drugged up or anything. My husband came into the recovery room a minute after I got there and I told him everything that happened. I had a bunch of gauze in my mouth so it was hard to talk. The biggest annoyance for me was that my tongue, cheek, and chin were all numb and my mouth felt so dry. I asked the nurse if I got a Novocain injection or something and she said yes. Then I told her my mouth was really dry and asked for some water. She took the gauze out, said I had already clotted, and gave me some water to drink. The surgeon came in and told me that everything went well, and I told him I was stupid for being worried about the sedation because it was nothing!
After he came in, the nurse came back and gave me my scripts. I had one for Vicodin, one for ibuprofen, one for penicillin, and one for a mouthwash. I told her I didn't want to take the Vicodin since I'm breastfeeding, but they gave it to me anyway just in case. Then she told me I could leave! I think I was only in recovery for 15 minutes tops. The procedure probably started around 9:30, and we were home by 11 am.
My husband walked me to the car, and we were going to go straight to the pharmacy. I get car sick pretty easily though, so I asked if he could just take me home first. He brought me home where my mom was with the baby, and I laid on the couch while he went and got my scripts filled. I ate some pudding and took 400 mg of ibuprofen, then the baby wanted to nurse. I nursed her a little, then my mom was able to rock her to sleep while I took a little nap. I only napped for about 20-30 minutes, but I felt so much better when I woke up because the numbness had worn off. By that time my husband was home so he gave me the Penicillin to take, and made me some spaghetti and cut it up like I do for the baby, lol. I had a few bites, but I felt like I wasn't comfortable eating that yet, so I ate another pudding. I finally felt confident enough to eat some soup and pasta around 3:00 or so.
The surgeon's office did call to check on me around 2 pm, and the woman on the phone was very nice. Since then, I've been fine with just the Motrin. I'm a little swollen on my left side where the impacted tooth was removed, and I feel no pain whatsoever on the other side. Today is Wednesday, and I'm hoping by Friday I'll feel pretty back to normal and have no swelling. I guess we will see how that goes. The worst part is that we have had two 60+ degree days here (yesterday and today), and I've been stuck inside recovering. I'm dying to take the baby for a walk outside or to the park.
I did get a little feedback about my surgery date. The nurse said it would have to be at least 6 months from now, because it would take that long for my bone to heal from the wisdom tooth removal. She said they can't go back in and start cutting my jaw before my bone is totally healed. 6 months from now is September, and I was given Oct. 2014 as my estimate from my ortho. I guess Oct. 2014 is still a possibility. I'm not sure what else has to be done from an orthodontic standpoint, but I guess I'll know more about that after next week's appointment. Also, the oral surgeon mentioned that he probably would only need to operate on my top jaw, and since my only top jaw wisdom tooth was the non-impacted one, I don't know if they would need to still wait 6 months. I don't know. This whole process is confusing.
I'll keep you posted next week after my ortho appointment!
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