Wisdom Teeth - Part 2

Anesthetic Phase

I don’t remember the moment I “fell asleep” or much of anything until I got home.  I was in a subconscious phase.  I vaguely remember people helping me out of the room where I had the surgery and taking me to a different room to sit.  Then, a wheelchair came and I thought, I hate wheelchairs.  I was wheeled out to our van where I thought, How am I going to manage climbing into the back seat?  I don’t remember the ride home.  Usually when I remember things of the past, I can pull up an image of what happened.  However, with this, I can only remember what I was thinking and vaguely base what actually happened on that.  I can’t picture any of it in my head.

The next thing I recall is sitting on the couch in a haze of fluctuating subconsciousness.  I must have put in a movie because I couldn’t talk to tell someone to put one in.  Mom gave me two pills for the swelling which I promptly threw up along with some blood.  I wasn’t supposed to have those pills yet and I was supposed to eat something with them.  I vaguely remember my parents bustling about and giving me pills to swallow, water and apple juice to drink, and pudding to eat.  Mostly, they tried to keep me awake.  I only responded enough so they would think I was awake, but I didn’t actually come out of my daze.  I wasn’t allowed to spit and it was hard to swallow so I had a bucket to drool in.  My dad wrapped a strap of cloth with pockets for ice packs around my head.  I knew all through this that my movie was playing, but when it was over, I couldn’t remember watching it.  So I played it again.  That’s when I actually woke up because I felt so stupid for sitting through it and not really watching it.  The numbness in my jaw and cheeks went away quickly.  My bottom lip was the last to regain feeling.

Mushy Diet

 

So, I can’t eat hot or solid food for a few days.  That is a problem.  I hate apple sauce, yogurt, and cottage cheese.  I finally resorted to baby food.  My dad went to get some and soon called saying they didn’t have anything I wanted.  I had asked for strawberry and pear.  He could only find pear and everything else was two to three fruits together.  He listed off things like apple banana plum medley, banana pineapple orange medley, blueberry pear granola, spring garden vegetables with brown rice, and vegetable risotto with cheese.  EWW!!  He came home with apple cherry, pear pineapple, and just pear.  Apparently, getting only one type of fruit or vegetable in your baby food is a rare find. 

Yesterday, I ate pear baby food and pudding for breakfast.  For lunch, I managed to get down luke-warm mac n cheese.  For some reason, it tasted like salami.  I also kept smelling chicken.  I want normal food soon!!!  For supper, I had luke-warm sweet potatoes.  Later, I was really hungry so I made myself some mashed potatoes.

For breakfast this morning, I ate the leftover sweet potatoes from last night, half a jar of pear baby food, and a cup of chocolate pudding.  Right now, I think I’m going to go make myself a chocolate shake now with my Oberweis chocolate milk that my mom bought me.   :) 

Wisdom Teeth - Part 1

Getting My Wisdom Teeth Out

I lost my wisdom.  It happened Tuesday morning at approximately 8:20--so much for a precise time like being executed at high noon.  I had to get all four of them out.  Most people get their wisdom teeth out because there’s usually not enough space for them to fit or once they’re in, it’s hard to keep them clean because they’re the farthest to reach.  Mine hadn’t even poked through my gum yet which is the best time to get them because the tooth roots haven’t grown in. 

I was a little uneasy about going under an anesthetic; I’ve never had surgery before.  I think people consider getting your wisdom teeth out as having surgery, but I don’t think so.  I wasn’t in a hospital.  I wasn’t in a hospital gown.  I sat in a dentist’s chair.  Plus, they told me I was going under a mild anesthetic so that I would still respond to their voices like, “Open your mouth,” even though I wouldn’t remember any of it afterwards. 

So, I showed up wearing short sleeves, no contacts, and no painted nails like they asked though I don’t remember why.  I had three different people at three different times ask me when was the last time I had something to eat or drink.  First, it was the lady at the waiting room desk, then an assistant once I was in the chair having my legs strapped down, and finally by the doctor dentist guy, I’m sure they like to be called oral surgeons, himself.  “At about 11 o’clock last night,” I replied to each.  

As my legs were being strapped to the chair by some random lady I never saw again, the assistant was telling me what to expect to happen.  A nurse would come in and prep my arm for the IV.  She would tie a band above my elbow, rub alcohol on the spot, tell me to make a fist and then the doctor would be the one to stick it in me.  

I didn’t close my eyes, but I didn’t look either.  “We got a little one there,” the doctor said referring to my wimpy vein.  I felt the prick and then I looked.  The doctor had just stuck the anesthetic in the IV.  It was clear and gel-like.  He told me I’d begin to feel the effects after about a minute.  I think it was sooner than a minute.  I felt like I was gonna fall over.  It was such a weird sensation.  Growing up, I’d always thought when one gets “put to sleep” for surgery, that’s exactly what it feels like.  I thought I was just going to feel tired, yawn, and drift off.  Nope.  It was an odd sense of dizziness and disorientation.  I also had an increased awareness of gravity.  That’s the only way I can think to put it.  It wasn’t like I was being pulled to the floor by G-force like on those spinning rides at amusement parks where the floor drops and people are stuck to the wall.  It just felt like I was a little heavier in the chair. 

The next thing I could fully remember was sitting on the couch at home playing a movie for the second time because I couldn’t remember watching it the first time.

To Begin With..

Trying To Go To Sleep

It takes a long time for me to fall asleep.  My body gets tired, but my brain stays awake.  I crawl into bed, touch out the light--yay for touch lamps!--, find a comfy spot, punch my pillow, and just lay there.  I don’t really know how long it takes before I drift off because I have no concept of passing time.  Random thoughts enter my head that lead to other random thoughts.  To my brain, they have some connection to the previous thoughts, but if my stream were audible, no one else would be able to understand it. 

Thoughts.. dialogues... pictures... It’s not a dream because I’m still awake.  I replay what has happened during the day or what has happened in the past few days or what might happen tomorrow.  I have control over what I think, but if I want to stop thinking, I can’t.  My brain doesn’t know when to shut up.  

Out of this random stream of consciousness, I do get some deep, insightful thoughts.  I should get up and write this down.  No! I’m trying to go to sleep.  So, if I wake up enough to sit up and use a pen, I’ll have to start the process all over again!  But you’ll forget it in the morning.  No I won’t.  Remember.  Remember it, Stephanie.  I concentrate on my thought over and over to remember it, but I end up deceiving myself.

Sometimes, my knowledge of my forgetfulness triumphs and I write it down.  I squint so that hopefully my eyes don’t adjust to the light--another part of going to sleep to redo all over again.  Why does my creativity have to come to me in the middle of the night?

I hope this blog will help me to document my creative outbursts.  Most of the time, my thoughts aren’t enough to stimulate a story.  So a blog would be great because then I don’t have to write a story; I could just share my thought.

I also want to include posts about my interests.  I love all aspects of the arts.  When I graduate from high school, I plan to go through a 10 month course at a cosmetology school, get a job at a salon, and then pursue an art major and theater minor at a college yet to be decided.

Verdigris

By the way, verdigris is the beautiful tarnish that forms like rust on brass, bronze, and copper.  It ranges from a dull green to teal to a vibrant turquoise color.  It can be made by coating copper with acetic acid, but also forms naturally by weathering and exposure to sea water.

Verdigris used to be a popular pigment for artists.  It created the brightest green.  It was lightfast--resistant to fading--in oil paint, but not so in other mediums.  It was also known to change colors over time; green fields turned brown and Caribbean seas turned forest green.  By the 19th century, better green pigments were available.