I used to be so wise...

Got my wisdom teeth removed on Friday. Quite a pleasant experience, actually, except for what happened afterwards: the numb mouth, bleeding gums, and of course the eventual pain as my mouth protested the heartless extraction of four of its rightful inhabitants.

But yeah, the actual experience was just fine. After Friday class, I went over to the house of my F&F (fiancee and family). Played with the kids for a while, helped Lana put windshield wiper fluid in her car (that's very significant, BTW), and then my lovely wonderful girl drove me over to the oral surgeon. We presented our handsome down payment (a check courtesy of my terrific parents) to the, uh, payment lady, then sat down in the waiting room to, uh, wait.

After a few moments -- "Luke Hobbs?" -- yup, that's me, and I had to bid my lover goodbye, leaving her to imagine all the terrible things that could potentially happen to me, and head into the operating room.

Dr. James A. Remerscheid greeted me and informed me -- for the second time, as he had already told me all this when I visited to set up the appointment -- that he would give me a general anethesia. Just pop a little IV in the arm, give a few squeezes from some little knockouter-thingy, and in a few moments I would, as he put it, "go fishing." And then he'd get my teeth out.

Scarcely any pain as he deftly inserted the IV needle into my arm (directly on the other side of my elbow). He drew a little bit of blood out, then squeezed the knockouter stuff in, and almost immediately I started to get lightheaded. I was still totally conscious, but sight was definitely blurry. I commented on it to the nurses, about how it felt kinda weird but I was still definitely awake --

And I don't know when I "went fishing", whether it was at that moment or a little later on, but that's the last thing I remember.

By the time I regained consciousness, my mouth was completely numb, but I could tell that it was filled with gauze pads. The first sight I remember seeing was my lovely bride-to-be, sitting in a chair in the corner. As she later informed me, I had been awake for a while, and talking to her, but "awake" and "conscious" are two entirely different things. Apparently I told her several times (before regaining consciousness, that is) that I was pretty lucid, and that she was nice. The latter, of course, is something I tell her all the time, but it still strikes me as funny that I said it several times and don't remember it at all.

Anyways, she and one of the nurses helped me outside (I was definitely walking wobbly) to Lana's truck. We got on Rogers Avenue, took a brief detour to Wal-Mart so she could buy me some water, and then went home. My wonderful Lana stayed with me for a little while, then left to go to her home before it got dark. Then I went to sleep for a while.

By the time I woke up, a couple hours later, pain was slowly beginning to make its way into the mouth. I didn't mind terribly much, because the bleeding had pretty much stopped and I could finally get the stupid gauze out of my mouth. Mom fixed chicken noodle soup for dinner, and I was able to ingest it, if not chew it. I ate a whole bunch of it, because it was the first thing I'd had to eat since a bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios at 8 that morning ('cause you're not supposed to eat or drink anything whatsoever for six hours before your operation).

So for the last day and a half or so, I've gotten to take it easy and rest. The doctor prescribed me some pain pills for the teeth (or lack thereof), but I only had to use 'em a couple times; Tylenol and ibuprofen the rest of the time. Think I'm gonna go take some more in a few minutes, 'cause my mouth is hurting again.

Anyways, that's my experience with wisdom teeth removal. The actual process isn't bad at all; it's the aftermath that's rather painful. I suppose that's the way it is with most surgeries. (BTW, I don't know that they actually did any "surgery"; at least three of the four teeth had come all the way in and so I think they just yanked 'em out).

It's two days after the removal, and my mouth is still fairly sore, and I'm pretty tired, but other than that I'm fine. I do want to thank a few people: Dr. Remerscheid for not messing up my facial nerves and making me unable to smile ever again; my beautiful Lana Marie for driving me and helping me and buying me water and caring for me all-around; my parents for taking care of this before I got married, and thus picking up the tab for it (I know it's a big sacrifice, Mom and Dad, but thank you so much for it; it's a blessing to me and my bride-to-be, and Lord willing it's the last major expense of mine you'll ever have to cover).

Forgot to mention that the extraction has made me grumpy at times. Or maybe I'm just inclined to be grumpy anyway and I finally have an excuse. I don't know. All I know is, yesterday I was hurting and hungry (not a good combination for a teenage guy), and irritated because I had already eaten the few things I could eat for lunch and was still starving. So my wonderful mom fixed me two baked potatoes with butter and sour cream and shredded cheese. *Sigh*...