Saturday, February 9, 2013

Fetchin' Wisdom Teeth

When my oral surgeon said, being 28 you will not bounce back like an teenager I expected some extra recovery time. Maybe a day or two extra, equally 4 days max. Boy did I under estimate my recovery. I have had a lot more pain, numbness, jaw soreness, nausea and swelling than I ever imagined. Here is my experience as an old lady post-op wisdom teeth removal!

Day 1: Monday 
Waking up from anesthesia was horrible. Mind you I have been under three times prior (twice for oral surgery and once for an ear procedure. The three procedures were done when I was 6 and 17) and my experience waking up was fine. This time, I felt like a crazy person and super nauseous. After they got me in the car and in bed, I started to puke up blood. After the puking, I slept on and off for the day and did ice packs to avoid swelling. My whole face felt pretty numb for most of the day and then subsided to the right side of my chin and lip. Also, I wish I was one of those people who lost their appetite but that night I was starving but kept to ice cream to get my meds down. That night I went to bed feeling nasty but felt like I was going to recover well.

Day 2: Tuesday 
The next morning swelling started to set in. I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe how traumatized my poor face was. Jon was so great and got me a smoothie and made sure I was doing my salt water washes and taking my meds. That night I decided to take two percocets to knock me out because I didn't sleep well the first night. Well that royally back fired and I ended up heavily hallucinating and not getting any sleep. Safe to say I am off the Percocet (day 3). I also mastered mash potatoes, jello and pudding today.


Day 3: Wednesday 
My swelling definitely was worse on the morning of day 3 and I thought getting ready for the day would help me feel better (especially since I still had puke in my hair from the day of the procedure). Once I finished getting ready, the vain part of me was almost in tears because I look like Jay Leno's daughter. Mind you I have an oval face, so the portion by my jaw has always been thin but not this day!!! I also started heat compresses (with my boobie soothers from when I had Jax!) which was supposed to increase circulation and aid in healing which in turn is supposed to help with the swelling. The swelling on my left side did go down quite a bit but the right is still raging!!!



Day 4: Thursday 
Yay the swelling has finally started to go down a little bit!!! Mind you I am still a little puffy but progress none the less. All that's left to get rid of is the pain and numb lip and chin...wahooo! Also today I was able to indulge in one of my guilty pleasures....Beto's breakfast burrito. Thank goodness it's soft! Most foods are still presenting a challenge to eat. 
Day 5: Friday 
So today I woke up brushed my teeth and went about my day. Then Jon and I decided to take Jaxson to the Living Planet Aquarium, so I went to get ready. I went to put lotion on my face and noticed I had huge bruises on both sides of my face. I went to show Jon and he said oh I thought you noticed them when you were brushing your face, Lyss, they are pretty huge you know. I started laughing, such a butt!

Day 6: Saturday 
Don't mind the nastiness of the picture! Wicked insomnia last night. But my face swelling is almost gone. The pain is still there but manageable with IBuprofen most of the time. The bruising is still very much there and the right side of my chin and lip are still numb. All and all I have been very surprised how slow and painful my recovery has been and if I had the choice I don't know that I would have the procedure again. Oh well, what's done is done and hopefully my stitches will fall out soon and the pain, numbness and bruising will continue to go away.
Lastly word to the wise.....don't wait and get your wisdom teeth out when you are almost 29 because the recovery SUCKS! But I will say my recovery team couldn't have been better! Jon was amazing and Jax has been so patient. Love those boys of mine!

No comments: