When I went into the room where they did the surgery the nurse had me lay down in the chair. She then put a blood pressure cuff on my arm connected to a machine that automatically took my blood pressure every few minutes. She also attached a band around both wrists and one ankle that was hooked up to the machine to monitor my heart rate.
The laughing gas mask was put on me and I immediately began to feel very tingly and funny. Oh laughing gas, that's some good stuff. After a little bit the doctor came in and started my IV, first to give me some fluids to help with dehydration since I wasn't allowed to eat or drink 8 hours before the surgery. They let me sit there with the laughing gas and IV fluids for a while, and then the doctor came back in and did something to the IV.
(The awesome doctor Kevin Rethman who took out my wisdom teeth. You can find him at http://www.kevinrethmandds.com/index.html)
Next thing I know the kind nurse was telling me it was time to wake up and that I did really well. I didn't even remember going to sleep, or even becoming sleepy at all! I was so confused and didn't know what was going on or where I was. I kept feeling me chin and bottom lip which were both swollen and completely numb. I very much wanted her to leave me alone and let me go back to my peaceful slumbering, but she told me to try and keep my eyes open and wake up. I could barely control my body, especially my head and arms. I was also looking all around wide eyed and confused. It was all very weird and hard to explain the sensation.
After I was awake enough the nurse helped me walk down the hall and put me into a wheelchair. Then they called Mark back and went over the instructions on how to take care of me for the rest of the day and said the doctor would call that night to see how I was doing. I remember they handed me a pack of gauze and a syringe and I just stared at it confused not understanding what it was for. I thought they were giving me a syringe of medicine to inject into myself at home for some reason, but the nurse told me it was just to irrigate the tooth sockets starting in a few days.
Once Mark was given all the instructions the nurse wheeled me outside and helped me into the car. My mouth and tongue were so dry. There was not a single drop of spit in my entire mouth. Oh how badly I wanted something to drink, but I had to bite down on the gauze for an hour before I could take it out. I had Mark feel my tongue and he was shocked by how dry it was! In the car Mark handed me an envelope and a pen. Not understanding I just stared at them confused. He told me it was to write stuff down if I wanted to communicate, and I immediately started laughing at his response. I am not really sure why this was so funny, but it certainly was at the time!
Today I am really sore and my jaw is stiff and hard to open. I am on Percocet but have only taken a couple over the last 26 hours. I'm supposed to take it every 4-6 hours as needed, but the pain isn't super terrible or anything. Most of the time ibuprofen is working just fine. I also pumped 17 5-6oz bottles in the 2 weeks before the surgery that way I can give Tyler breastmilk in bottles while I'm on the Percocet. I doubt anything would happen if I nursed him while taking it, but since it is a narcotic I would rather be safe than sorry.
My bottom sockets are also oozing blood, but I was told they might do that for a few days. Still really nasty though having the constant taste of blood in my mouth. Yuck! I am living on yogurt, applesauce, ovaltine, and will have some tomato soup later. It really just isn't doing it for me. I hate not being able to eat real food, I'm hungry all the time! Boo!
Overall everything has gone much better than I thought. I was so afraid in the waiting room, dreading every second for them to come out and call my name. I was also really afraid for some irrational reason that I was going to die while under the anesthesia. Two nights before the operation I was laying in bed going to sleep and holding Tyler on my chest wanting to have as much cuddles as possible before I died. Silly me :P
