Eh, pain. It was great. Wonderful.

This morning I took a shower and ate “Bún riêu” (noodle soup made of thin rice noodles and topped with crab and shrimp paste, served in a tomato based broth and garnished with bean sprout, prawn paste, herb leaves, water spinach, and tomato chunks…Thanks wikipedia.) and I would have tossed in some Lunchables into my belly but I ate too slowly and I was really too nervous. I wanted to eat more (because I knew I wouldn’t be eating solids again for a long time) but if I had eaten too much I might have barfed it all out during the surgery…

I arrived at my favorite edifice (though the dentist section is actually quite small) around 10:45 AM. First I had some X-Rays, which wasn’t too pleasant because I have horrible gag reflexes when those X-Ray pieces (what are they called?) are thrust into my mouth. I fared better than I had expected though. I guess I’m slowly growing more tolerance. Then I had some numbing stuff dabbed over my gums, and shortly after I had at least 4, 5, 6? needles jabbed into my gums. It didn’t hurt too much, since the numbing goop helped, but it still hurt enough to bring some stray tears to my eyes. After that I sat in the chair for a long time waiting for the anesthesia to kick in—maybe an hour or less—and slowly calmed down (my pulse was thumping crazily…I hate shots, I hate going to the dentist, and I hate pain). The anesthesia made my gums inflame, even in the center roof of my mouth, making it really uncomfortable to swallow so I avoided swallowing, despite the few times where I did anyway since swallowing is like second nature. Weird huh? Even when your mouth is dry you still have the urge to swallow. Or at least I do :???: . Although a long time had passed by, it seemed all too quick when my dentist returned and continued. So there was a lot of poking, prodding, pulling, drilling, and cracking noises in my skull. It started to hurt after a while, where I notified my dentist so I could get more shots. I got more later when she asked me how I was feeling and I told her it was aching. But luckily by then, I couldn’t feel the needles much. The top wisdom tooth had mercy on me. It seemed to come out so quickly and she was stitching it up. The bottom tooth was deeper in, so there was a lot of drilling.

Finally it was over and the assistant sent me an icebag (more specifically, an iceglove) and I was on my way around 1 PM (after a trip to the bathroom of course).

Now my wounds are gauze-less, and I’m not sure if I’m taking them out too early. Last time when I had the same procedures, I had the gauzes in (and changed them too of course) for up to eight hours. It’s been four hours now, and I think the bleeding lessened but it hasn’t really stopped enough for me to feel comfortable. Nevertheless, I hope it’s okay if I don’t wear gauzes anymore. It’s really uncomfortable swallowing. It’s painful and I have the constant fear of dislodging the blood clot by swallowing too forcefully and making it worse. Please please please. I hope I don’t get “dry socket.” That’s when your blood clot dislodges and you are left with an exposed hole and you’ll have to get it treated.

My only meal since this morning has been a cup of ice cream.

And that’s not all! I have terrific news! This is not my last trip for the extraction of wisdom teeth. One more to go. I love that. Don’t you just love that? I love it! :roll: Well, the reason is because last time I had my left side worked on—one tooth extracted. The other tooth wasn’t extracted though…it was in too deep. So she cut the bone to make sure it grew out more. So really, I have another one to worry about. I guess it won’t be so bad though…it’ll hopefully be the last big hurdle and when it comes to eating it’ll be easier then. I know it’s not the end of needles though—I know I have some cavities already and that’ll require more anesthesia. Actually, I think I may get those taken care of next week when I remove my stitches and get my teeth cleaned. Eh, great. That’s what happens when mom doesn’t take you to the dentist for two years.

I hate you teeth :( I feed you yummy stuff like junk food and yet this is how you repay me? :cry: