My recent (minor) surgery

As stated in the last post I recently had to go into hospital for a minor surgery. It had been hanging over me for a while so it was a relief to finally get it out of the way but that said it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. Many months ago I had been informed by a dental surgeon that I would need to have my lower right wisdom tooth removed, it was at an angle and trapping food against the molar beside it. As soon as he sat down he said that it would need to be done under general anaesthetic due to the awkwardness of it and my small mouth. The last time I had surgery was also to remove teeth back in 2005. That time I was knocked out before they intubated me (put the oxygen tubes in) through my nose. However this time it was decided that they would use fiberoptic intubation wherein they would keep me awake, numb my nose bit by bit and put a camera down my nose to look at my airway so they could accurately intubate me before knocking me out. Having not experienced this before I was rather nervous though I was told I might not remember much of it due to the sedation.

On the day itself I had beentold to be in at 10.30am and we (my mum was with me) had a lot of hanging about. They checked my blood pressure several times, also checked my height and my weight and had to go through the full consent form with a nurse despite having gone through it previously. Also had two younger doctors in who informed me that I might need to get the tooth beside the one that was going to be removed taken out as well which was a bit of a shock. One of the original reasons for getting the wisdom tooth out was to save that other tooth. But they said it was better to get my consent there rather than have to come back and get it removed another time. They tested it with a bit of electricity which I could feel which was promising... Despite the fact it was just an oral surgery I had to wear surgical stockings and a gown.

I was taken up at around 3pm and was taken into the room before the operating theatre and put on the bed and got the iv needle in my hand which was a bit painful. I was then taken into the operating theatre. The anaestichtist attempted to numb both my nostrils but it was painful. I remember very little after that but he decided to go to plan B which was to intubate me through my mouth. I have a faint memory of coughing a lot. I then woke up fully about 6pm in the recovery room. I was surprised how awake I was. One of the nurses informed me that they had to take both teeth out which was disappointing.I had to stay there for a while probably not helped that they were focused on a guy in a bed beside mine who had obviously had a more major surgery. I was finally brought back to my room (got a room by myself!) And it was a relief to see my parents (my dad arrived after he finished work). I had to stay until after 10pm with a nurse coming and checking my blood pressure and breathing regularly. Also had to deal with my mouth bleeding and holding an ice pack to my jaw. Once the nurse was happy and once I had been able to pass water I was able to leave.

It was certainly a  bit of a different experience from the last time I had surgery, however the surgeon and the anaestichist told my parents that they were both very happy how it had gone. My recovery hasn't been the most pleasant due to my mouth bleeding, not being able to eat on the right side of my mouth and having to rinse my mouth along with taking liquid painkillers which didn't taste very nice (I struggle to swallow pills). I had a bit of a scare on Sunday night when my mouth started bleeding a lot when I was merely sitting in bed on my laptop but I managed to get it stopped after sitting with  a bit of gauze in my mouth for an hour or so. Thankfully I've been able to reduce the amount of painkillers I've taken and have been eating pretty much what I would normally eat. I had my follow up appointment at the hospital and the dentist who looked at my mouth said it looked great and that it has healed quicker than expected. She removed some of the stitches, some of which she said were irritating my mouth a bit so I feel a bit more comfortable now.

I feel incredibly lucky that I haven't really had to have many surgeries, I certainly don't remember much about the surgeries I had when I was very young. Obviously this surgery wasn't the most pleasant but I'm glad to get it out of the way and I'm especially glad it went smoothly (mostly!). It was disappointing to lose the two teeth but I'm quite fortunate that I still have a fairly healthy mouth of teeth. Now I'm just looking forward to being able to eat certain foods like burgers and pizza again!