Hesitant, Hopeful

Okay, maybe not completely awesome. Eh hem... ^.^

After oral surgery last Wednesday, I'm back. It's been five days, today, and I feel almost completely better. There's still a bit of pain in my jaw and around the surgical sites, but otherwise I feel okay. I'm taking only Advil now, I'm completely off of the Lortab, though I did hurt pretty bad last night and considered taking one. For whatever reason, I hurt most at night and when I first wake up in the morning.

The morning of the surgery I woke up feeling pretty good. I even slept a bit the night before. Whatever nerves I would normally have were completely absent. I didn't feel anything. It may as well have been any other day. Trust me, I'm highly suspicious of this fact. Normally, I would have started worrying before the consultation and then worked myself into a crazy frenzy until the morning of the surgery. This time, I felt completely calm. Not at all like me... I liked it. By the time I had started to worry that I wasn't worried, I had taken the Vistaril and it took the edge off. It actually made me kind of sleepy and chattery, so I talked Matt's ear off on the way.

When I got there, they got a surgical bonnet on me, put in the IV (ouch!) and I was out like a light. The last thing I remember after she drugged me was thinking, "I don't feel at all sleepy." It took less than 20 seconds for me to be completely out. The surgery only took an hour. Matt had been skeptical about the fact that it would take only one hour. He told me later that he was called back into the room to sit with me at 9:58 a.m. (my surgery was at 9:00 a.m.). It took almost exactly one hour. That's amazing accuracy.

I remember thinking, while they were prepping me, that my shoes were going to fall off. That's how sort of loopy and calm I was, I was thinking about my flip-flops. When I woke up, Matt was sitting next to me, I was covered with a soft blanket, and my feet were bare. Somewhere amid the constant instructions that I should stay awake, I remember hearing the nurse tell Matt that he should get the car and she would get my shoes. They were all so nice.

((Matt just told me that I was in and out for a half an hour. He said that I kept waking up and asking the same questions, over and over. Like, "where're my teeth?" and "what time is it?" Apparently, I only asked him, not the dentist or her staff, so I only looked like a dork my husband. I can handle that.))

They wrapped an ice pack around my head and sent me home about fifteen minutes after I woke up. The second I was in the car I was back asleep. I don't remember the drive home, nor coming in the house, I just remember waking up on the sofa a few hours later. Feeling swollen and yucky, but surprisingly well for having just had surgery. Matt says that, all in all, I did well with the whole healing thing and that I was a good patient. He's an amazing husband and took extremely good care of me.

Then, Thursday, my surgeon, Dr. Lois, called to find out if I was okay. Not her office, mind you. She called me. That made me feel so good. Like she actually cares whether or not her patients are okay. She's a great doctor.

Of course, I was on the sofa, sucking up the healing rest for so long that I started to feel horrible from laying on the sofa. There came a point when I couldn't be certain whether I felt bad because my head hurt from having had dental surgery, or if my head hurt because I was laying there doing nothing for so long. I managed to sit up and deal with a bit of discomfort while my head cleared. I think, honestly, it was a little bit of both.

I have another dentist appointment for this Wednesday. It's a follow-up, which I'm sure will go great. I took my antibiotics religiously and I feel okay, so I'm not terribly concerned. But I'll tell you, there are a few awesome things about this surgery that sets it apart from any of the other surgical procedures I've had in my life: a) it's the first time I've ever had anesthesia (of any kind) and not gotten really sick, 2) Chewbi faithfully cuddled and snuggled me, but he got quite upset that I wouldn't let him kiss my mouth, and c) the nerves thing was awesome, I'm going for zen every time!

Oh, and I lost five pounds. Bonus!! ;)