Much Better, A Bit Lighter

Just wanted to let everyone know that I’m doing fine this morning. Slept like a rock and there’s very little pain this morning, probably thanks in large part to Vicodin. That’s the good stuff. Also no swelling so far. Luckily I’m in fairly good health, normal blood pressure, I eat well; my mouth still feels somewhat like someone spent a half hour at it with a scalpel, and I’ll be off the phone today, but I’m okay.

I know yesterday’s oral surgery was a surprise to several people. Sorry about that. My teeth are a real touchy topic with me, and over the last few weeks of dentist visits.. well, let’s just say that it’s been a pretty inner-self-revealing time. Kristi and I have always been pretty good at being able to tell each other anything, to lay ourselves bare emotionally. Talk about sex? No problem. Money? No problem. Family, friends, the past? Sure.

Sitting in a dentist’s office with my new wife, discussing every event in my dental care history (which is pretty extensive) and what we’ll need to do in the next year or two? Painfully soul rending. We came out of that office that first afternoon and I just told her, hon, you’ve got everything now. That’s the toughest of it for me, right there. You’ve got the whole soul.

I was just exhausted. And I knew it was just the start.

In sickness and in health, she reminds me.

So yesterday afternoon she blasted home from school to pick me up for my 3:10 at the oral surgeon. Four teeth had to come out – two on the top that were past recovery and my two lower wisdom teeth. I’d had my upper two pulled about ten years ago and remembered it as a pretty simple thing. Strictly local anesthesia, that one was: a quick jab in the back of my jaw and I didn’t feel a thing. I’d never in my life been under general anesthesia, where they just completely knock you out.

It was different. Sat in the chair while they “secured” my arms to the armrests and put a NO2 mask on my face to “help me relax”. Several minutes of deep breathing and wasn’t really feeling a buzz or anything; I was about to ask if the thing was turned on when the IV line went into my arm and I was told that I’d be out in three or four minutes. The procedure would take about 40 minutes.

And it just gets weird after that. The only comparison I have is watching digital cable and the signal gets a bit scrambled. The frame freezes, then jumps forward, jagged and blitzy, freezes again and then jumps forward again and boom, you’re back in the video feed. That staggered disconnect in the midst of an otherwise seamless experience: you just lose time completely. I remember laying there with the IV drip, then this brief jumble of scenes all out of time sequence, and then I was being brought around. No dark. No sleepy night. Just completely turned off and then turned back on, like a power switch.

I don’t remember much about the trip home. They asked me several times who was taking me home. My wife, I said. She’s in the waiting room. Then I remember brief glimpses of being walked out to the car by Kristi and the nurse, clutching at walls to keep myself steady, mumbling through a mouthful of gauze. The nurse had no idea what I was trying to say.

“He’s saying he likes me,” Kristi said, smiling.

I kept wanting to close my eyes and the nurse kept telling me to keep them open. Very important, she said, to keep my eyes open until I was fully alert again.

Next memory: slowly making our way up the front sidewalk of our house. I have almost no memory of the car ride home. Then Kristi took me to bed, closed the door to keep the animals out, and ran out to get supplies and my meds. Vicodin and amoxicillin. I went to sleep and was still pretty out of it when she returned. It was still a few more hours before I could feel enough of my face to drink Gatorade, a fruit smoothy and pop the painkillers and antibiotics. Most of my face was numb; I didn’t know whether I was thirsty or not. I knew I was hungry. I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink (per doctor’s orders) since 9am.

Slept like a rock. Didn’t wake up in pain.

So today I’m mostly avoiding the phone and getting some work done. Working on the final compilation of wedding photos that we’ve been procrastinating on for months now. There’s really no pain, just a slight ache that the Vicodin’s keeping under control. Kristi just left for work, making sure I had everything I needed before taking off.

I have a first rate wife. I really do. I’m so lucky to have her in my life.