Tuesday 26 July 2011

Extraction time

I'm having to write most of these from memory as I've let time get away with me and not done it straight after things happened.

When they put my braces on I was told I'd need both my bottom wisdom teeth out as well to prepare for Jaw surgery. As my teeth with compact, one impacted and I had a big nasty nerve running right next to it the surgeon wanted me to be put under for it. Now I was scared as I had never had GA but I think I would have been terrified if they did it with me awake in the dentist chair. Hurrah I thought. After a pre-op on the same day they booked me in for the op... Friday the 13th! Great!

So I had five weeks to wait and I was getting a little bit scared but I tried to push it to the back of my mind. They were doing the extraction on a friday and said I wouldn't need anytime off work (I work mon - fri) so I thought how hard can it be? The day before the op was my boyfriends birthday so we went out for tea. I took this opportunity to stuff my face as much as I could, after all eating with a tender mouth from the next day onwards meant meal times would probably be a bit boring.

The next day rolled round and  I was terrified. It was the anaesthetic that was really getting to me. I didn't like the thought of the lack of control when going to sleep and I didn't know how I was going to feel when I woke up because of it. I got dropped off at the hospital shortly before 12 and was asked to change into my robe and take off jewellery etc. It was a big room with lots of other patients in waiting and so I took a seat and started the process of waiting around. Occasionally I got saw by a nurse or doctor to answer some questions and finally got took down at 3.30pm for the op. I was so nervous when the nurse asked me to take everything off except the robe I forgot I was wearing slippers and left them on. I couldn't understand why she kept asking me to remove everything. When I was on the bed I remember they were talking to me about alcohol... weird. Asking me whats my favourite drink etc. They were struggling to find my vein and was trying to keep me preoccupied but to be honest the needle wasn't bothering me. I was breathing in the oxygen and talking inbetween and then the next thing I remember was waking up.

I looked at the clock and 1 hr and 10 mins had passed. I was struggling to keep my eyes open and a nurse kept speaking to me, I felt so tired and everything was slightly muffled. I felt really sick, my face felt the size of the moon and I was in pain. The sickness was definitely worse. They left me alone and I kept dozing in and out of sleep everytime I woke up I'd look at the clock and about 30 mins would have passed. They occasionally came over to check on me. They asked me if I wanted anything to eat but I could not think of anything worse. I was led there trying not to be sick it was horrible. They got me a glass of water and in 2 1/2 hours I think I only managed about 2 sips. At about 7pm a nurse came over, pulled me forward and started whacking my back. She said I'd swallowed a lot of blood and needed to be sick. I don't think it helped that as she was doing this I was trying my hardest not to be sick, in the end I won. They tried to coax me with some food again as they didn't want me to leave without having any but I couldn't manage it. All the other patients had gone home and all nurses bar one. It was 7.45pm when they decided to ring my boyfriend to pick me up. I could not wait to get home...

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