You may have been wondering why there was no post on Thursday, that would be because Bob has been in pain and really tired so couldn’t be bothered to come up with some charmingly well written post. The reason for this is at the beginning of the week, I (Bob) had all of her wisdom teeth pulled. When doing the research beforehand I couldn’t find much in the way of personal experiences, so I thought I would give you an idea of how it was for me and hopefully put your mind at ease?
I like to prepare, I like knowing everything about a procedure before I go in, from what to expect, to what exactly they are going to do, is the tooth coming out as a whole, does it need to be broken and then extracted (I know I am anal) I had to get mine removed under anaesthetic (being knocked out etc) because of how impacted they were.
I thought I was prepared, and then I got a phone call saying there was a last minute cancelation and did I want to attend. This gave me less than a week to get ready, which is never going to be enough time for me, but it was now or never.
First things first you have to show up at 7.30!!!!!!!
This is not the time of your operation, this is just the time you have to show up and then proceed to sit around for 5 hours for no reason other than the lack of efficiency in the NHS. Because I have nothing better to do than sit around and do fuck all? Why is that?
I received a letter confirming all of this, the date, time etc and the rules and regulations
No Makeup (which I ended up wearing, foundation, concealer, eyeliner and Mascara) just because I felt more comfortable and the nurses said nothing and, there was no issue.
No Jewelry Which again I had – (Bracelets galore, a necklace, earrings and nose, two lip piercings). The nurse ended up wrapping me up in gauze and tape, until ultimately I looked like a mummy. Which was fine by me and again took some of the nerves away.
No eating – From midnight (the night before) and No drinking apart from water from Midnight – Or as the letter read No eating before and after midnight and no drinking apart from water this includes water – This makes no fucking sense! Which I told them at the appointment (why is it that no one makes any sense anymore?) – This was a big struggle I mean you are reading a coffee addicts point of view. I am one of those people who cannot function without coffee.
Anyway all that being said and done after winding myself up for 5 hours, having intense panic attacks and working out how to calm down – Mostly helped by my book, Tv shows and Phone calls. I do recommend taking a book, a game or something to kill the ridiculous amount of time they keep you waiting.
Over the next five hours I had two nurses come and ask a lot of questions, I got introduced to the nurses in the ward who would be looking after me after my operation. They were all very sweet, answering all the questions I could ever think to ask. They even had an in depth conversation about the lack of Vegan options for the after care. You have to eat something before you leave after surgery and again another NHS failing, there should be more food options for various diets. I had to text Ash to make sure he brought some vegan yogurt.
200 pages, 3 TV shows, 8 Phone calls and an hour of listening to music later by stomach began to hate me and I was soooo thirsty! All of a sudden after 5 and a Half hours later they called me. I had to get changed into double robes, I could keep my Sports bra and Boxers on and I had these sexy compression stockings I had to wear too.
So I got taken into this tiny room and this new person came in, she told me she was the anesthetist. Ok personal note but this woman looked like Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale – she had the same stern face, expression and didn’t like any of my nervous jokes. I imagined waking up with only one eye or some other part of me cut of, not the most relaxing concept.
They wheeled me into the surgery room, asked a whole bunch of questions about pregnancy tests which I had refused to take, as I knew I wasn’t pregnant but fuck the intrusiveness. They proceeded to tell me the system wasn’t working properly due to the computer systems updating and the electronics weren’t working as they should. The NHS recently have transferred all paperwork to electronic which seems to have brought the system to a halt and has made the NHS even more delayed and inefficient (if possible!) As worrying as that was, they had already put the syringe in my hand and then proceeded to inject me with three different mixes as the first two didn’t seem to work for me . They asked a bunch of questions about the color of my hair and what shades they were and then …….
I have no idea what happened, a few minutes later I woke up apparently asking ‘Would you be my teacher’ (in Korean) who knows but apparently I have retained that thanks to Duolingo. Plus I had been shivering and had 4 blankets including a hot air one over the top of me.
I told the woman looking after me she was pretty and then I was wheeled down stairs to the bed. I wasn’t out of it, I didn’t feel drunk, happy or overly spacey. Within 10 minutes, I asked if I could get changed and then quickly proceeded to eat 2 spoonfuls of Yogurt, drank a tepid mug of coffee (Finally!).
My mouth filled with blood a number of times, I was discharged and even walked home. I wish I could have been a bit more mellow or happy, but I was fine. I was told I had stitches in only one tooth.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be the procedure that is.
My mouth was sore that night, I bled through the pillow twice but the swelling started the next day (days two and three) were the worst. Ice packs every single time I thought about it helped, I think, Ice water as well. Then the bruises around my chin appeared after three days. My lip was super swollen it looked like they had caught the inside of my lip as there was a few cuts.
Over the past week I have been so tired though, literally I can barely stay awake. I am still fitting in workouts but almost having to take naps between reps. It does seem to be taking a while to bounce back with the energy levels but hopefully soon. 
The ache is still there, After 7 days I can just about open my mouth now, not to its full extent but it’s a marked improvement. Still feel achy and I am still needing painkillers to get through but then again my knee is still fucked so that might be why.
I have a check up in a week to check everything is healing properly so hopefully this means the end of jaw pain but who knows? We shall wait and see.
Anyway did that make you feel more at ease? Did you have an issue? Was your extraction painful? Let us know in the comments.
Till next time
Climbing Moss 