Sunday, April 03, 2005chipmunk cheeks
on a whim last friday, i decided to get my wisdom teeth pulled. normally, people on a whim do fun things like take a road trip to martha's vineyard or buy that mint green vespa scooter they've had their eye on for years. for example, sometimes, on a whim, i'll go into the city and do some weekend splurge shopping. on a whim, i'll drive over to edgewater and get taro bubble tea. on a whim, i'll buy a grass green kate spade messenger bag that i have absolutely no use for besides to admire its aestheic beauty. see, fun stuff.
but on friday morning, the wisdom tooth that has been bothering me for the better half of a year, decided to get infected. the pain became too much for me to bear, so i called my dentist who referred me to an oral surgeon. i called to make an emergency appointment for that afternoon and skipped out on work for the rest of the day.
when i got there, i was informed that i had four wisdom teeth that would eventually need to come out, so i could do it all in one shot, or prolong the pain, one visit after the other. after three seconds of deliberation, i informed the dentist that he should just yank em all out in one shot.
mind you, i've had a tramautic experience before with teeth pulling. i can remember every childhood visit to the dentist would result in him pulling teeth out of my mouth. i felt like i went there every week for two months straight, and every single time, he pulled out a tooth or two. imagine what my mouth would look like now, had my parents decided to forgo my dental care as a kid. *yikes*
apparently, my mouth is prone to growing extra teeth, because i had another wisdom tooth pulled three years ago. my dentist just stuck me with some needles, took her tools and just started yanking. i felt nothing, but i remember the sounds. the screaming lambs. dear god, why??!!! the pressure, the cracking. its all coming back to me.
this time, i opted to pay an extra hundred bucks for the laughing gas. what a trip. i swear, i had a near death experience. the dental assistant told me everything i was going to feel before i went into surgery. i was going to feel lightheaded and happy and not really care about anything that was happening.
what i remember was feeling as if i was being dragged by the collar on a very fast conveyor belt backwards, away from a light. and the farther i went, the lighter i felt, the less i felt of my physical self. all of a sudden i heard my name being called. it was really, really faint, and i didnt know whether to just keep getting dragged backwards or to go forward and follow my name. then my name started to get louder and louder and i started to follow it til it was screaming my name. i opened my eyes and i was sitting in the dentist's chair, just as he was finishing the last of the needles. strange, i was never supposed to fall asleep, but i was OUT.
so throughout the surgery, i was giggly and happy and humming tunes that were playing in the background. the dentist thought i was in pain because he couldnt tell if was screaming from pain so he kept telling me to raise my hand if i was in pain. and i said "uh-huh" and kept on singing, and he finally figured out that i was singing.
at one point, the buttercup song came on (something about mary) and i was so excited.
fast forward two days later...i've been sleeping nonstop and eating mashed potatoes and soup throughout the weekend. i just hope that i dont ever have to worry about this ever again. i'm still a little out of it. yesterday was the worst of the days. i woke up feeling great, but halfway through my shower, i got dizzy and lightheaded and really nauseous. i felt the worst cramps eating away at my stomach and i threw up the breakfast i had that morning.
i was hoping i'd be ok for work tomorrow, but right now, its not looking all that good. i'm thinking i'm going to need at least one more day of rest before i'm going to feel energized enough to get through a day of work.
in other news, someone stole my favorite pen at work and that is really pissing me off. this whole weekend, i was so tempted to get out of bed and make my way to staples just to get me another pen. its not as if iwas going to make use of this pen at any point, but to have it would have made my pain a little easier to bear. i guess it also helped that it was a monsoon this weekend, and any plans i would have had would have been shot because it was just too shitty to be outside.
listen to this: last night, around 7 pm, i got the urge for french vanilla ice-cream. i was parked in the drive-way and james' car was parked right in front of the house. he decided to go out in the pouring rain to honor my request, and i told him to take my car, but he decided to take his car anyway, thinking he'd still have parking when he got back. well, of course that was not the case, and when he got back another car had parked where he was, so he had to park down the block. fast foward to six oclock this morning, he comes running into the room yelling at me to wake up because i have to look at this. so i wake up, and he pulls out his camera and shows me pictures of the pickup truck that took his parking earlier that night.
the truck was pushed onto the sidewalk, and backside of it was rammed up against a brick wall. it was a hit and run. if i had not had my craving for ice-cream (michelle is partially to thank -- she put the idea in my head) then it would have been his car up against that wall. 7:02 PM
|