Stitches, Swelling, and Oxycodone

I did it. I had four wisdom teeth removed. I went through with it. And to be honest, I remember very little. I remember the tension and anxiety I had in the days leading up to the surgery. I remember it feeling like an eternity sitting in the waiting room. I remember them calling the wrong name for my surgery, and I remember asking if "Lindsay" was only having two removed, because in that case, yes, I was "Lindsay." But seeing as there was no "Lindsay," I accepted my fate.

I remember going back and sitting down. I remember asking Dr. Ruvo how many times he'd done this surgery, and he said, "I couldn't tell you total, but I've done 6 today." And it was 1 pm when I asked him. I remember them hooking me up to the heart monitor, the oxygen monitor and taking my blood pressure. I remember making a fist and telling him to put the I.V. in the other arm. And I remember him saying I was right because the veins in that arm were so small. I remember him tying the band on my arm and them putting the oxygen to my face. I saw him spraying something out of a needle and then I remember him saying the lights would spin. Well, they didn't spin. But they were going in and out and that's all.

When I came to, my aunt was laughing, I was sitting in a chair, in recovery. I don't know how I got there. I remember the nurse telling me a string of different liquids I could have to drink. I couldn't remember the first one by the time she got done telling me all the different things available, but I told her to give me the first one, which was Gatorade. I was seeing double of everything. I asked her to touch my feet so I could tell which one was my actual foot, and which was its non-existent twin. I remember Cheryl laughing at me when she saw how pitiful I looked. She couldn't stop. I wasn't mad, or sad, or upset. I just wanted to see what was so funny.

It's the second day after surgery. I'm still on a diet of all soft foods, and I've started incorporating roasted vegetables cooked very soft and soft pasta into my diet. I've been spoiled with cheese eggs and mashed potatoes; both specialties of my ever-attentive Aunt and caretaker extraordinaire. I'm still swollen up, have four sets of stitches, and am taking lots of motrin and oxycodone for the pain and swelling. Today should be the peak of both those side effects. It should all become more smooth sailing after today, and I sure hope so.

Even though I've had lots of my favorite foods, I've been conscious of writing everything down in my food journal and calculating the points. And it paid off. Even with my HUGE cheeks, I still lost 1.8 pounds this week. That brings my total weight loss to 14.8 pounds. I'm getting ever closer to accomplishing my goals. And that makes me feel great. But until then, I will sit, catch up on my T.V. and movies, and take my pills until I've had a full recovery.