I underwent some minor surgery a few days ago when having 2 wisdom teeth removed. Unless you’ve actually undergone this as surgery, rather than in the dental chair, you’ll have little appreciation of what is really experienced.
There were 8 other patients the same afternoon as me and it would appear we were all to suffer the same fate. The waiting was the worst part. Those who know me know I don’t sit still very long – I’m always on the go. I did take a book in with me and read that for 2 hours and then had to endure another wait in another room of around 45 mins whilst they prepped me and finally came and got me to undergo the small op.
One of the last things I remember was telling the guy who was hooking me up to the heart machine about the time my hubby was hooked up to a machine in 2001 when he’d come off his bike and broken some ribs. Every time I touched his hand his heart rate went up. Our kids had thought it was ‘cute’ at that stage. The guy asked me if that would occur if hubby was there with me right now and I said ‘you bet!’
The surgeon came in and said ‘hello Mrs Thomas, how are you?’ Silly question. My answer was ‘hungry and bored’ and he just smiled. What else do you expect? I’d not eaten a thing since 8.30 in the morning and here it was after 4.30pm or something and I’d been lying on a bed in a room waiting for someone to come get me and didn’t even have my book with me for that past half hour or more.
Anyway, hubby’s face looked funny when he came to get me sometime later. Think it might have had something to do with the pack tied around my head. I mean, not very becoming, is it? A long ice pack wrapped in cloth and tied around your head. And then to be told you can’t eat any solids for several days, only mushy stuff. mmm, jelly and icecream would be ok if I were a kid but I’m not anymore. And I actually enjoy decent food. But right at that moment I couldn’t even have a drink without dribbling down the side of my mouth. Not very becoming at all.
Well, this is my 4th night home now. Still on the antibiotics and the pain killers. And I can’t eat anything that is hard or has seeds in it so it doesn’t dig into the pockets in my gums where that bit’o’wisdom used to sit. I had to find things at the supermarket you could add hot water too and mix up so that it resembled edible food. At least it doesn’t look like baby food and it does have flavour. The thing I miss the most at the moment is being able to bite into a good solid piece of chocolate. But my daughter did tell me about Paul’s chocolate mousse and I can savour that! After all, having something cold and soothing on the gums is just what the doctor recommended! 😉
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