My wisdom has gone missing!

For all of my followers out there, you may remember my recent blog about my fear of going to the Dentist. My fear of the Dentist has slowly diminished thankfully to finding a fantastic and friendly Dentist who understands my fear and is super nice... along with every single one of his staff. They make me feel welcome, give me the warm and fuzzies and all around are just wonderful.

A few weeks ago, I experienced my first toothache. It was miserable. Trip #2 to the Dentist to get it checked out and come to find out, I had a wisdom tooth that was infected. Clear sign that they needed to be removed. After being on a double dose of antibiotics, the infection went away and all we well in the world again.

The minute I left his office after being told my tooth was gross, I went to work and called every single Oral Surgeon I could find in Central Ohio in my insurance network. The first surgeon I called was referred by the dentist, but after calling them - they don't accept my insurance. So, the search continued. I called a relatively large practice with a handful of surgeons, only to find out that they couldn't get me in for a consult until March 4th. Being that I had an infected tooth, there was no way I could wait that long. Next phone number! Long story short, I ended up getting a hold of an Oral Surgeon at Riverside Hospital who could get me in on February 22nd for a consult. That was the best date I could find, so I jumped at the chance and took the appointment. Amazingly enough, I have developed a new pain in a new tooth by the time my appointment date comes around, so I couldn't have asked for a perfect day to go.

Of course, I made my Mom go with me to the consult since I'm still slowly getting over my fear... she didn't even bat an eye when I asked her to go. I love her!

Walking into the Hospital, I was pretty calm. It's just a consult. Nothing to be scared of, right?

They called me back.

Tell me to jump up in the scary chair with the scary light and the ask me a few questions.

The Oral Surgeon comes in, takes a look at my xrays and my teeth and says: "Yep! Your other tooth is infected now, that would explain the new pain. Time to get them pulled!"

Although I knew this was the reason that I was going in, it made me break out into a cold sweat. Figuring they would be booked for weeks, and that I would have to wait... the nurse informs me that they had a cancellation for this coming Friday and asked if I wanted it.

Okay, this is all happening very fast and I am not sure how I can handle going in so quick! But, my Mom looks at me and I know what she is thinking... it needs to be done, it needs to be done now and I need to take the Friday morning appointment. I agree, take the appointment and prepare myself for what is to happen in just 3 days.

Thursday night, I ate a good dinner since I knew it would be one of my lasts for a few days. I couldn't eat a big meal past 7pm, and only a light snack and water up until midnight. My appointment for my surgery is at 11:30am, so it's going to be a long morning of starvation. I planned on sleeping in as long as I could just to forget about the fact that I wouldn't be able to have any diet coke that following morning, or breakfast!

The very early morning of my surgery, Columbus has a snow and ice storm. Of course! My Dad offered to take the morning off of work and drive me to my appointment, and then drop my Mom and I back off at my place when everything was done with. It worked out well, but I owe him a huge thanks for that and sacrificing his time off work for me.

I was called back, hooked up to some blood pressure machines, was told to squeeze a stress ball while they gave me a shot in the arm............................

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"Rebecca, bite down on the gauze. Can you bite down?"

Thus begin my miserable recovery to my 4 wisdom teeth being pulled.

Friday afternoon, was decent. I was drowsy. I drank a lot of water. I wanted to keep myself completely hydrated. I changed my gauze every 30 minutes as directed. I iced my face every 30 minutes as directed.

Until 5:00pm.

Still in my drug induced fog, I didn't feel good. At all. This from a girl who hates anything to do with the stomach flu, I will fight tooth and nail not to throw up. Especially right now with a mouth full of gauze, and pain shooting in my face. I was SHOCKED that I was having that reaction to anesthesia, because I certainly didn't with my prior endoscopy or gal bladder surgery.

Long story short: I could not eat or drink anything without seeing it again until late Saturday night. I ate my first "meal" (aka: 1/4 cup fat free ice cream) for breakfast on Sunday morning. This also means that I went 2 full days with no diet coke or food AT ALL! Water and Gatorade were the only two things that were consumed until Sunday morning. As of right now, I'm eating very small amounts, just to ensure that I'm still on the up and up. The good news is that I have weened myself off of the Vicodin as of yesterday afternoon, and have only been using Advil. No prescription drug addicts here!

Now, I'm a positive person and I can find the benefit in this MISERABLE experience. How you ask? Well, my jeans today feel looser and weigh-in at Weight Watchers on Tuesday evening should be FABULOUS! See, I can always see the positive in a bad situation! :)

There is no way I could have gotten through this without my family. My Dad taking the morning off to drive me to my surgery in the snow and ice. My sister who graciously stayed home with me on Friday evening, while my parents went back home to Delaware and who bought me two of my favorite movies ever on dvd to keep me occupied. Finally, my dear Mom who even though I am 30 yrs old, she stayed two full days with me, held my bloody gauze, rubbed my back as I threw up, and cleaned my bathroom and bedroom top to bottom while she was nursing me back to health. I love my family with all of my heart, and cannot thank them enough for everything they have done for me the past 3 days. xoxoxox