Yep. This morning I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth extracted under GA. I've been incredibly stressed about the op for weeks, and have been crying a lot leading up to the actual appointment. I hope my story helps some others go and get the procedure done. Once it's over, thankfully it's OVER and you won't ever have to do it again.
So my partner and I got to the office exactly at 11:30 for my appointment. They took me IMMEDIATELY back, which was good and bad. Good because yay getting things over with fast, bad because ugh anxiety levels went through the roof. I get in the back and start crying. The two nurses were SO NICE TO ME. I can't even. They were amazing. They explained things every step of the way, asked me if I had questions, asked if I was comfortable, and talked me through what was going on.
As soon as I was in the chair, I closed my eyes. I told them, "Just do whatever you need to do. I can't look." The nurse put a rubber band thing around my arm and told me to squeeze a foam block. She said, "Wow, you have big veins!!" which was awesome. We talked a bit about my job while I cried. Another nurse put a paper bib over my chest and abdomen and told me I'd be completely fine and that it was all going to be okay. I think she pet my shoulder a bit too. They put some heart monitoring things on me on my hands and ankles. No pain. I didn't even know they were there. I think they also put something in my mouth to keep it open, but I was so distracted by fear that I can't even remember.
At that point, the doctor came in. I couldn't look at him. I started to cry more, breathing deeply to try and calm myself. He tightened the rubber band and told me to make a fist and then pump it a few times and asked how I was doing. I laughed through my tears and said, "Nervous!" He spread some ointment or something on the inner elbow, then said, "This is going to be cold for a second," and he sprayed some really really cold stuff over the area. I knew what was next, so I must have seemed tense. The nurse told me, "Don't forget to breathe!" and we both kind of laughed. The doctor said, "You'll feel a little prick in a second," and he put the IV in. Barely a prick at all. Nothing to worry about. Way easier than when I had my blood drawn. Once it's in, there's no agitation or pain at all. It's just there. It's funny how quickly the body adjusts to weird things like that.
The doctor said, "Okay, we're administering the sedation." The nurse said, "You're going to start to feel relaxed very soon, and all this anxiety will just melt away and you'll feel great! You're doing really well!"
I didn't feel the stuff go into me. The nurse said, "we're going to put this mask over your nose. It's just oxygen. Just breathe normally." And at that point, I started kind of panicking with the "what if this doesn't work on me and I'm awake during the procedure??" I breathed deep a few times, tears rolling down my face.
Then I woke up.
Seriously. I don't remember falling asleep at all! No pain. No knowledge of the experience whatsoever during the time I was out. IT WAS THE BEST SLEEP OF MY LIFE! I woke up just wanting to go back to that kind of heavy, authentic sleep.
I woke up and had a moment of panic thinking "oh god, they're still operating on me, I need to tell them to stop because I'm awake!" but by the time I could speak, the nurse was saying my name and "we're going to sit you up slowly, okay? We're all done." I think my panic was because she was putting the gauze in my mouth.
After, they walked me (I was soooo drowsy and had a hard time walking) to the recovery room. I couldn't feel my mouth or chin at all, and that was kind of freaky. Actually it was really freaky to me. I don't like losing my ability to feel my face. I kept reaching up to touch my lips to ensure my mouth was closed, because I couldn't tell. As I sat down, my partner came in and the nurse went over EVERYTHING for post-op care, gave my partner a huge sheet with instructions, and stressed to call if ANYTHING was wrong. It took about 30 minutes for me to be able to come around fully. I was just really drowsy and wished I could go back to sleep but knew I had to stay up. The nurse put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me to my car, and we went home.
Taking the pills after was INTERESTING. Like, how do you swallow water AND a pill when you can't feel your tongue/mouth/lips?? I managed but I actually had to have my partner check to ensure I'd swallowed it lol I had no idea! I ate (very slowly) a container of yogurt. It was awkward, but I just spread the yogurt on my tongue and swallowed. There was some blood at this point, which was kind of gross.
That was....wow, 12 hours ago! Since then, I had a small bit of pain, but I took extra meds just when it started so now I'm all good. I've been taking them every 4-5 hours to stay ahead of the pain. I've been sleeping sitting up in bed, watching TV and dozing off since I got home. My partner has been helping me change the gauze every 30-45 mins or so. My right upper and lower have slowed the bleeding a lot. Left side is still bleeding a bit, so I tried the teabag under gauze thing (soak a black teabag in warm water, place the gauze over it, put it where you put the gauze and hold there lightly for 15 mins, then switch to a clean gauze pack again). Idk if it helped. My left side still bleeds when I remove the gauze. My trash can looks like I've murdered some people and am too dumb to throw away the evidence.
The worst parts thus far have been things I didn't concern myself with beforehand due to the fear of other crazy thing. Worst things include: THE GAUZE. It's just annoying. I don't like having it back in my mouth, and I hate changing it out. I also don't really care for biting down on it. There's no pain; it's just an annoyance. The other worst thing was the NUMBNESS! Oh man. I hated that. I freaked out thinking I had nerve damage because my tongue and lower lip were numb for about 8 hours. To the point that talking/swallowing was difficult. The dry mouth that accompanied all this (due to the gauze keeping my mouth open and my inability to tell when my mouth was closed) was ICKY as well. All I wanted was to drink water, and even that required me to do it carefully because of my numbness.
I'm hoping by tomorrow the blood clots will have formed so I can stop with all this gauze! That's currently the only bad thing on my radar. Am also maybe a bit concerned with waking up sore since I will have taken the pain pills at 11pm and probably not again until 8am or so. *fingers crossed*
Anyway, a success so far! I'll keep posting, because I know before I went in, I wanted as many details as I could get to make things less frightening.
![[smiley=hugging.gif]](/forum/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/dfcsmilies/hugging.gif "Hugging [smiley=hugging.gif]")
for taking the time to write about it. I am sure it will help a lot of other people that are nervous when they read it 
