Like I said to the notify list, I'm glad I don't remember mine.

I went in, got comfy, they started an IV and put a little oxygen mask on me, and the stuff went in and felt cold in my arm and -hey, looky, there's an electrical outlet on the ceiling, what a funny place to put an outlet-hey that reminds me of the Berlin Wall-which reminds me of

huh?

Sit up? Hold what on my face? Oh. Cold. Ice. Do I hear my mommy? Go...where? Oh. Door. Oooooh, wheelchair ramp wheeeee Oh. Wow. That's the car. I just ran into it. Hm, door. How do I work this? Oh. Ha. Trees go by fast! Drive faster mom!

I can't feel my ears. Or my chin. *pokepokepoke* hehe, funny.

Two hours later, I try to take a codeine, because they said I should before I started to hurt. We found out that I couldn't get a pill in my mouth because I couldn't find it (my mouth) without looking, so I went in the bathroom to watch myself. I had a hard time synchronizing closing my mouth with getting water in it, but I think I got it on the third try. Then, because the whole thing had been such a piece of cake, I figured I'd take a peek at what they did while I had the gauze out of my mouth.

I fainted and hit my head on the counter. So, if you're squeamish, don't look. I had expressly asked not to be told *how* they were going to get the teeth out, because I didn't want to know, because I knew I'd freak. In the 5 seconds after getting up close to the mirror and before hitting the counter and floor, I figured out that the tooth fairy didn't, in fact, just come get them while I was knocked out. I was right, I *didn't* want to know.

All told, the nausea from the codeine was worse than any pain I had. I suffered more from the pain of the impaction than the extraction. The first night, I had trouble sleeping because I sleep on my side and I was still pretty swollen, and after that it was just a huge annoyance trying to find things I could eat. I was back chewing like normal in about 10 days, although I had to flush food out of my sockets for about two months.

Getting it over with is the worst part. As long as you're on a good anti-inflammatory, and run a humidifier if necessary to keep your throat from getting dry, since you're going to be mouth-breathing quite a bit the first few days, and follow the aftercare instructions as closely as possible to prevent dry-socket, you should be in pretty good shape a week after surgery.

-- Never (never@never.to), June 08, 2000.

I feel for you. I had mine done two at a time, while I was asleep. But lots of people I know had it done the way you're going to do it, and said it had rough parts, but was okay.

Don't turn down any drugs they offer you. Have someone who can bring you ice cream or videos or whatever you might need. Be good to yourself. That sushi dinner is a start....

-- Lizzie (crow@well.com), June 08, 2000.

ow ow ow, I'm really beginning to dread this thing.

Contrary to popular belief, though, that was not my mouth in that picture in tuesday's entry. If it was, I think I'd be in very big trouble. If the surgeon didn't "borrow" my x-rays, I would have scanned them and posted them instead.

As it stands, my two upper teeth are erupted and non-impacted -- in other words, there's nothing wrong with them other than the fact that they're hard to clean and will miss their lower neighbors. So they're coming out.

Lower right is erupted, very visible in a mirror, and at a very slight angle. It's causing hygeine problems more than anything else, and was the result of the first gum pain that sent me to the dentist in the first place.

Lower left is half-visible and impacted -- has been trying to break through the gum for over two years now. if you check my journal archives, you can read about it giving me trouble on December 27, 1997. That's gonna be the nasty one, methinks, the one involving slicing, dicing, and other nasty stuff...

Still, the oral surgeon said the whole procedure (all four teeth) will take no longer than 45 minutes.

-- amaebi (me@amaebi.org), June 08, 2000.