In 24 hours, I'm gonna have a bad time · 8:55pm May 1st, 2019
What I'm about to go through is nothing out of the ordinary for most of you, but is absolutely terrifying for me. By the time people are my age, they've generally undergone some type of surgery at least once. Me, though? Nope. The closest I've had is a procedure on my big toes to remove in-grown nails, which doesn't really count.
That all changes tomorrow, though, when I'm getting my wisdom teeth (finally) removed. I know it shouldn't be anything to fuss over, but being my age and never being put under and cut open before is... yeah. I also suffer from moderate sleep apnea, which doesn't pair well with anesthetic. Because of this, I have to receive IV sedation instead of general, but I'm still worried about the risks involved.
Outside of that, I have made preparations, including stocking up on recovery food, and Horse Voice will be looking after me tomorrow while I'm still super fucked up.
Addendum: I called and brought up my concern, and they said I'm able to use my CPAP machine during the procedure, so there shouldn't be any risk of dying in my drug-induced sleep. Nope, I was misinformed. But they put me on oxygen that does effectively the same thing, since they monitor my breathing and can increase pressure as needed.
Addendum 2: If you're wondering whether or not I'm going to post a special story for Mother's Day, then the answer is not neigh.
Addendum 3: For those who wanted to see what got pulled out of me, here you go: https://i.imgur.com/JDq43aD.jpg
Hope you do alright, Gary! Recover well and get better soon!
5052240
Thank you! My ice cream is ready.
They'll tell you not to suck on things because it could impede your healing. You'll have to develop a technique to just drop spoonfuls of stuff on your tongue or something. You're gonna be eating a lot of stuff from a spoon.
You may also want to look into some sort of brush or pick to clean your healing site over the next few weeks. Your doctor may recommend something.
Hit me up again when you're out. I'll tell you a few war stories. I wouldn't want to unduly influence you beforehand.
I got one out a few years ago, and it was nowhere near as bad as I feared. The worst part was not drinking any water beforehand.
You got this!
You have to have surgery? Huh, when I had my wisdom teeth removed, it was by my normal dentist and with novacaine. Although that might be because I didn't take care of my teeth at the time and all four molars had to come out.
5052251
Thanks, and will do. I plan on living off chocolate milk, Greek yogurt, ice cream, and soft foods (bananas, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes) for the next few days. I probably won't have any soft foods until the day after, just to be safe.
5052270
I have 3 wisdom teeth, 2 of which are rooted in there pretty good, and growing diagonally against my molars, none of which I've lost. One of them has breached the gum line. The one I have in the top isn't really doing anything, but it's not growing in any useful way, so they're just taking that out while they're at it.
5052256
That's reassuring. I have to be at the facility by 11:15 AM, which is normally when I wake up, so I just have to make sure not to have anything to drink tomorrow.
5052241 Milkshakes, not ice cream. Tho throwing stuff in a blender / mixer (eg milk with protein powder) would be healthier & provide less chance of infection. Bacteria loves sugar.
People used to get wisdom teeth removed with local anaesthesia plus laughing gas. I guess it's too late for you to ask about that. You probably wouldn't enjoy it anyway. It does cost less...
"Try not to die!" - Dr. Zed
Good Luck!
During your recovery, the only advice I can give you is this:
DONT
EAT
RICE.
(seriously, you will be flushing those maggoty little bastards out of your gaping jaw holes for hours)
Oh, and best of luck!
5052350
Hm, I probably should've got some protein powder. I do plan on going mainly with yogurt/milk until I can get soft foods back in there. And... yeah, I've had laughing gas for stuff many times. I'd go bonkers if that's all I had for something like this.
5052431
Good advice. I was planning on dodging rice as it is, since I heard that it's very, very bad until the wounds have healed.
5052363
Thank you!
Fingershooves crossed!5052362
Bruh, you'd better hope I don't die. I'm your hotel room at BronyCon.
5052459
Dude....mashed potatoes is what I had when I had my 'wisdom' teeth removed. Soft, buttery mashed potatoes. With cheese! And Ketchup!
5052506
I'm going with sour cream.
Ketchup with mashed potatoes?
Good thoughts!
Ping me when you're done and we can swap stories.
5052586
Went well with chocolate pudding too
5052688
Currently I'm intensive care with Horse Voice looking after me. The docs have me doublefisting Tylenol3 and Ibuprofen, one dose every 2 hours, alternating. I didn't really feel like I was on another planet at all, and I'm pretty aware and capable right now, aside from the obvious constant ache where my teeth used to be. I actually have the old teeth--I'm wondering if I should post a picture later.
Oh, yeah, and I don't recall the surgery at all, thank Celestia. I remember talking with the doctor as he gave me the juice, and that was that. Some good news is that my CPAP therapy overall is working. I started that about a year ago, and before I did, my blood pressure was a hair's breadth shy of high, so I had borderline hypertension. Today it was like 116/75 or something, which is "textbook perfect" according to the nurse.
5052703
Whoa. That combo sounds like Discord on the plate to me, but as long as you enjoyed it, that's what matters. I'll be on liquid food today, then soft stuff or the next several. One upside is that this Tylenol3 they have me on basically acts like morphine, apparently, so that's good. Currently, my mouth is still a little numb, so half of my tongue feels the cold of the ice cream, whilst the other half kind of reminds me of tasting soot, albeit a lot less bitter.
5052251
I'm out. I'm technically not in a normal state of mind, but the recovery process is beginning.
5052711
I challenged the summercamp staff to outdo me. They failed to do so
5052711
Hurrah for recovery! Glad that things with the anaesthesia ended up working out.
I wasn't going to jinx it (or panic you) by telling you this ahead of time, but now that you're recovering, the worst anaesthesia experience I had was during my appendectomy as a teenager. The doctors misjudged my metabolism -- and to be fair, I was in *bad* shape at the time; by the time I reached the hospital I was so dehydrated it took them half an hour to find a vein -- and didn't give me enough to knock me out through the whole procedure, so I woke up on the operating table.
I didn't really know what was happening, only that I was surrounded by looming masked figures cutting me open. So I sat up and tried to escape.
(Yes, that actually happened. It took two orderlies to hold me down until I realized what was going on.)
Hope the facial swelling isn't so bad. Be interesting to see what happens with your writing when you're on drugs.
Wisdom teeth were my worst surgery. Way worse than tonsils.
I was sixteen and nervous around needles. They gave me some nitrous to calm me down, and I barely felt the IV stick. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in my parents' car on the way home. They say I got up and walked out after the surgery and had to be chased down and put in a wheelchair - I have no memory of this. I had my parents stop the car on the way home so I could throw up. The next couple days were just a fog. I was on Vicoden. I could only eat soft things and was told not to suck. I pretty much only ate yogurt, but it was fine because for a while I had no appetite.
It probably went better than it could have, though, because I had them out so early. The doctor wanted to cut them out before they emerged. Most of the holes healed in weeks, but one hung on for months and I had to clean it after every meal.
To be fair, with my family history of extremely deep wisdom teeth roots, it was better to get them early. I was told that my uncle apparently had the roots of his wrapped around his jawbone. My cousin was in the Marines and stationed in Okinawa when he had to have his out. They contracted with a local orthodontist. He had this little Japanese woman kneeling on his chest with a pair of pliers while some guy held him in a headlock to keep him from moving.
5052738
Oh, yikes. By far the nastiest part of the surgery was waiting; the doctor had to tend to an emergency so I was hooked up for like half an hour, with the heart monitor incessantly beeping, my blood pressure getting automatically taken every 5 minutes, and an IV needle just sticking into my right forearm. I can't imagine how scary that shit must've been. One thing is they were reluctant to give me general anesthetic, to the point where the doctor said he'd postpone the operation if I was too skittish for the IV sedation to work, because of my sleep apnea.
5052764
So far, it isn't bad, but I'm advised that it's at its worst on day 4. I don't know how much of an impact the Tylenol3 will have on me. I haven't actually felt high from it today, and I've taken like 900mg of that shit (and 600 more in 3.5 hours). Getting sedated really is an interesting experience, in that you're there, but you're not there. I still can't remember the surgery at all--not a single detail. I think the oral surgeon was smalltalking a little bit with me while I got the drugs, then I was being told to bite down on my gauze. I've also managed to dodge having problems with my tonsils so far, so that's good.
So, uh, wanna see that they pulled out of me? Obvious trigger warning: i.imgur.com/JDq43aD.jpg Banana for scale (but you can't see it because she isn't hard).
Serious question. Will you be able to drink large quantities of alcohol by the time Bronycon rolls around?
5052844
If not, then it looks like I should've bought a one-way ticket.
5052849
We can work through it, together. We will overcome.
5052857
I'll definitely be fine. It says I "should" avoid alcohol for 48 hours after surgery. The only thing I actually have to be careful with is popcorn, which is forbidden for 3-4 months.