Health Comes First, Even Surgery

What an interesting question. Well, thankfully, I haven’t had to have too many surgeries in my life but I have had a few that I can talk about.

The first surgery I had was my wisdom teeth which all four of them were removed at the end of 2015. My dentist showed on the X-ray that three of them would be easy and the bottom left was slightly crooked but he was confident that he could still do it.

I was in college at the time so I told him it was best to wait until the semester was over, especially once he told me about the recovery process. So, it wasn’t until the holidays in December did I have the surgery and it was scheduled for New Year’s Eve, but I didn’t care because I don’t really do anything on that day anyway.

A week before the surgery, I was off for the holidays and received a phone call from him that they had to postpone the surgery because the anesthesiologist wasn’t available on the original date. I told him that I couldn’t reschedule because any other date past that wouldn’t work due to the new semester. I asked him how we could still move forward with the original date and he said that it was still possible to do the surgery, however, I would not be put under, I would just have the laughing gas and local anesthesia. He also told me that recovery time was also, potentially, faster as I wouldn’t be groggy so I agreed to go forth with that plan.

On the morning of the surgery, the dentist and the assisting technician went over what was going to happen and put me on the gas. I found that it allowed me to relax and then one by one, they injected the lidocaine into different corners of my mouth. I’ve always hated how much that injection hurts, but once the numbness kicks in, I’m fine.

But what I did not foresee was that as my tongue started to go numb, my body suddenly lurched forward like I was about to gag, and it happened twice. That’s never happened before, but still it was enough for the dentist to declare that now the surgery should definitely be postponed. Then, suddenly, while I felt like I could still talk, but barely, I started to relax and said:

No it’s okay, this normal, I can do it, let’s just get this over with.

Then, I started to lie down and relax, and I did not lurch again. I had no idea if that reaction was normal or not, but still, the patient has the right to autonomy. Once the dentist saw that I relaxing, then he got to work. Although I wasn’t put under, I felt I was in this balance of sedation and alertness where I could see what they were doing but I was also too spaced out to even ask or care. I mean, but then I probably wouldn’t be able to talk if I tried. All I could see was them using different tools, including scissors.

The technician occasionally asked me how I was doing and gave me my iPod to listen to while they worked. On the TV screen above, Cinderella (the 2015 version) was playing so I was watching that while they worked. I was there longer than planned as my dentist also said a few cavities needed filling as well so after the wisdoms were out, the cavities were filled before I went home. Since then I have not had any other cavities and I always floss after my last meal before bedtime. (I was bad at this for years.)

But, I am proud of myself for toughing this surgery out despite not being put to sleep and nearly having it postponed. I’m a trooper and it turns out that when the anesthesia wore off after hours of biting gauze and having ice packs, the pain lasted for only two days. I don’t know why they didn’t give me antibiotics, but I did get the Tylenol #3 which did nothing for me other than give me constipation so Advil did the trick for the pain. I was back to eating solid food three days later. Although, I did really enjoy eating only applesauce, mashed potatoes, yogurt, and ice cream, all while enjoying a Harry Potter marathon!

Other than that, the only other surgery I had was plastic where I had two moles removed that I couldn’t stand. I wasn’t put under for that either since it was a very simple procedure.

Surgery can be scary, but sometimes it is necessary, these feel like nothing compared to what others have been through but certainly they were something to me.

👽Emily