Wisdom Teeth

I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday. Despite the fact that anything involving large sharp objects in your mouth is kind of a bummer, and having four wisdom teeth, three of which are impacted, removed, is anything but fun, I was kind of intrigued going into surgery yesterday. It was the first time I've ever had any remotely significant medical procedure done, because I've been very lucky my whole life, and the wanna-be-doctor part of me was curious. But perhaps more interesting than the surgery was what happened in the waiting room before I went in . . .

My grandmother drove me to the oral surgeon's office. Now, just as a disclaimer, I love my grandmother dearly; she's a sweet lady, and has done a lot for me my whole life, including taking great care of me the past couple of days. But sometimes, her grasp on reality is not as tight as might be ideal. This isn't an age thing either, just her personality. But anyway, we were chilling in the waiting room and this young woman walked in with an adorable little baby and sat down near us. Grandmother and I both love babies, so we started making small talk, and then the baby was hungry and the mom went to the corner of the room to nurse her, so Grandmother started telling me about her "spiritual experience" of the other day (she has these at a somewhat alarming frequency). Apparently, she was sleeping on the couch in her living room and woke up suddenly, and saw a "light-black man" in a business suit standing right in front of her, and then he disappeared. For anyone who doesn't know my grandmother, this might seem a little disturbing, but it's actually one of the tamer stories she's told me in recent years. I just said something along the lines of "Oh, really, well, um . . . mmhmm" or something equally brilliant.
By now our waiting room friend was done nursing her baby and popped into the conversation with, "Wow! It was your guardian angel."
Just what my grandmother needed, I thought, someone to egg her on.
"I think it was Barack Obama!" my grandmother said (she's a big Obama fan). "I think he's watching out for me."
Yes, grandmother, I thought. Barack Obama is chilling in your living room while you're sleeping. Also, please, God, when I can I go back to the surgery room and get away from this meeting of the insane minds?
"Well," said the woman to my grandmother, "you believe in the Bible, don't you?"
"Not literally," said my grandmother, "but I think it's a very wise book."
"Well, in Revalations, they say that angels are sent to those who are vessels of salvation."
Whoever comes to take me out of this room will be my vessel of salvation, I thought.
My grandmother looked absolutely fascinated, "Oh, wow!" she said.
"At least you're not seeing the shadows," said the woman. "Those are the ones you have to rebuke."
"Oh, yes," said my grandmother, like this made all the sense in the world.
What? What?! What?!?! I had never been so eager for general anesthesia in my life.

Fortunately, pretty soon after that they called me back to the room, where they had me rinse my mouth out and then got me all set up to go under. The tech put oxygen on my nose, an EKG on my chest/stomach, and an O2 sat moniter on my finger. Then the doctor came in and started an IV in my arm. The last thing I remember is his asking me "Are you starting to feel the medicine yet?" and my saying "I think so, a little bit." After that I was out. I woke up alone in the room, feeling like I'd had the best nap ever. I soon discovered I was still totally numb; my talking, smiling, etc. was far from up to par. Throughout the day I gradually got the feeling back in my upper lip and tongue, but my bottom lip/chin/jaw were still completely numb. The first time I had any pain was when I woke up this morning. It's not so bad, but the Ibu-profin hasn't helped, so I may take one of my painkillers, soon, because, frankly, I'm a little curious to see what they feel like ;).

Overall, this wasn't bad though, compared to the horror stories I've heard from some people. I'll be back at work tomorrow, for sure.