Report from the "Wisdom Teeth" trenches

I am writing up this blog entry 24 hours post wisdom teeth-extraction surgery. Since I had a lot of fear and anxiety and most of all questions, I'm going to take a few minutes to report on my experience.

If you continue to read down to the bottom, there are PHOTOGRAPHIC REWARDS!

In regards to the Peace Corps:

It has been approximately a year since I turned in my dental part of my Peace Corps application, and last month they sent me a follow-up. With the leave date getting closer, I have decided to finish fixing my teeth before I get my next dental X-ray.

Most people get their 3rd molars (wisdom teeth) taken out because they are impacted--the bone has started to grow over those teeth that are last to grow. It can be dangerous, and lead to infection. My teeth were not entirely impacted, but the gum had grown over a lot of my top molars, and some of the bone had started to grow up around my lower teeth.

Although there was not any immediate danger, at some point in the next few years they could easily become infected. Since I will be living in Morocco and I would rather not have the surgery there, my mom and oral surgeon agreed that it was a necessary evil.

On to the actual surgical consult:

At the consultation meeting, my oral surgeon gave me 3 prescriptions: 1 for a medical mouthwash, to begin 2 days leading up the surgery. 1 for the pain (generic Vicodin); and 1 bottle of a kind of steroids to prevent swelling, to be taken every morning and evening for 3 days.

The oral surgeon gave me two options-- to have local anesthesia and be awake for the surgery (hellllls no!) or to have an IV put in my arm with a mix of 5 different medicines. My mother did not want me to go under; I wanted to be out of it completely. We came to a compromise, and she was able to come in with me as long as I could get the IV. I won.

You are not allowed to eat for 6 hours previously, and drink water for 2 hours up to the surgery. I made my appointment for 8 AM on Friday (yesterday), and my mom drove me as my Designated Driver.

At the office:

Once at the office, we waited and waited for the nurses to call me in. I am usually good at making people laugh at stupid jokes (very stupid jokes), but these ladies had no sense of humor. Should have brought them coffee, instead of jokes.

They let us in, led us to the back room which had a gorgeous view of the mountains. The office was located on the 5th floor, and with the layout of the Rockies right out that window, I almost didn't want to go to sleep. Almost. I have attempted to donate blood at least 12 times, and probably donated 8, but I still have not gotten used to having a needle poke my arm. The staff was nice about my whining, and soon I was off to la-la land.

I woke up, and I was a little bit confused. My mom told me that I had woken up very quickly from the surgery, and it hadn't taken more than 25 minutes. I saw the mountains over my shoulder, and I pointed frantically at the most astounding view you'll ever find post-surgical procedure. They told me I could talk if I wanted, but it felt like my mouth was frozen, and I tried to sign with them instead. The nurse became very frustrated with me, and indignantly said something along the lines of "I don't know Sign" at least 3 times.

It also may have been hard to remember an instruction in my head for the first ten minutes...

Post-surgery breakdown:

About 15/20 minutes after the surgery (not exactly sure how long, I was out of it), the nurse helped me swing my legs over the side and into a wheelchair. Went down the elevator, and got in the car with my mom. Completely groggy and out of it, but my feet were working well enough on their own when I got home to walk--carefully--on the ice that's outside of my house.

I had prepared/called a corner of our sofa as mine for the day as I had been forewarned the first 24 hours I would be completely incapacitated. About 30 minutes after I got home, my mom took the gauze out of my mouth (45 minutes absorption minimum) and there was no bleeding for the rest of the day.

I slept until around noon, and I woke up to find my face still numbed up and feeling swollen, and in a level of pain around a 6 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the high end. I think I was more shocked than in pain, but my mom gave me an ibuprofen. I hate to say it, but I have to be honest here... I am a PAIN IN THE BUTT when I am in any kind of pain. Especially when I can't control it by stretching that area of my body.

My mother made me an omelet and put it on the table when I told her I wasn't hungry at all. After about 30 minutes, my dog discovered the omelet and ate half. I guess she (Layla) had an appetite, at least. She also made me fresh squeezed orange juice with a straw. DON'T USE A STRAW for the first few days or anything with a sucking faculty, such as a water-bottle. It has the potential to tear out the stitches. I tried sipping the orange juice from the glass, but the pulp kept getting caught in the back of my mouth.

I took my first Vicodin at 1:30 PM, and started alternating ice packs on both my cheeks for approximately 10 minutes on, 20 minutes off.

The back of my throat started bothering me around 2 or 3 PM.

I watched Indiana Jones, some country movie, and had a bite of homemade applesauce my mom made me. Around 5:30, my mouth started to bother me again, so I took pill number 2. (The instruction says every 4-6 hours as needed)

Around 9 PM, my mom made an amazing dinner with homemade pasta and homemade sauce, tofu, salmon, salad, and cinnamon braided bread. I was able to stomach 2 pieces of pasta, and sauntered back to the sofa, complaining about my head. At this point, the numbness of my face was down to right around my mouth, no longer stretching all the way up to my ears and down to my chin.

My oral surgeon called around this time to check in on me. I asked him my questions, and he was emphatic about the necessity to drink tons of water. I finally emptied the single water-bottle that had been sitting in front of me all day, at his urging.

In order to take my steroid pill, I need to have some food in my tummy, so I finished off the applesauce, took my pill and went to bed.

24 Hours Later:

Now, 24 hours later when I should be starting to get the swollen chipmunk cheeks, there is no sign of swelling or pain. Maybe a level of 2, but only because I can feel the sides of my mouth.

I am using a syringe filled with warm water to spray the areas in the back of my mouth 3-4 times a day. It's the best way to clean out the food that gets caught back there as you are able to eat more solid food. (Like the omelet I made myself this morning that my dog did NOT get at!)

I am incredibly thankful for my oral surgeon and all the medications he gave me, as I have been called in to watch small children for the next few days, when the internet has told me I should still be out of it.

My advice:

DRINK LOTS OF WATER

Don't expect to move except from the sofa/bed you are on to the bathroom.

There are probably a lot of other reflections I could give, but for now, after the first 24 hours, I feel 90% improvement. If you were directed to this page because of worries about your surgery, GOOD LUCK.




Here is the advice from the site I followed in conjunction with what my oral surgeon told me:

In most cases, the recovery period lasts only a few days. Take painkillers as prescribed by your dentist or oral surgeon. The following tips will help speed your recovery.

-Bite gently on the gauze pad periodically, and change pads as they become soaked with blood. Call your dentist or oral surgeon if you still have bleeding 24 hours after your surgery.
-While your mouth is numb, be careful not to bite the inside of your cheek or lip, or your tongue.
-Do not lie flat. This may prolong bleeding. Prop up your head with pillows.
-Try using an ice pack on the outside of your cheek for the first 24 hours. You can use moist heat-such as a washcloth soaked in warm water and wrung out-for the following 2 or 3 days.
-Relax after surgery. Physical activity may increase bleeding.
-Eat soft foods, such as gelatin, pudding, or a thin soup. Gradually add solid foods to your diet as healing progresses.
-Do not use a straw for the first few days. Sucking on a straw can loosen the blood clot and delay healing.
-After the first day, gently rinse your mouth with warm salt water several times a day to reduce swelling and relieve pain.
-Do not smoke for at least 24 hours after your surgery. The sucking motion can loosen the clot and delay healing. In addition, smoking decreases the blood supply and can bring germs and contaminants to the surgery area.
-Avoid rubbing the area with your tongue or touching it with your fingers.
-Continue to brush your teeth and tongue carefully.

Your dentist will remove the stitches after a few days, if needed.

http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/wisdom-tooth-extraction

*******************************************
Conclusion and reflection, 48 hours later:

I am very pleased that I made the decision to go ahead and get my wisdom teeth removed in the U.S. When the oral surgeon had originally looked at my teeth, he warned me there was a chance that the positioning of the 3rd molars could become an infection over the next two years. Despite the fact that I believe I will LOVE my station in Morocco, I was not altogether prepared to have surgery abroad. 48 hours later, because of the steroids, I do not have the typical puffy cheeks and I was able to be up and moving around within 24 hours.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or I'm obviously missing something important (I was on drugs, after all) please feel free to let me know. :)



My lovely, non-puffy face before the surgery. My mom took this picture of me outside of the office.
The amazing view from the office where the surgery took place. Last thing I saw before they knocked me out, and it was well worth it.
My puffy cheeks afterwards! How cute.

EMT Practical

Just got back from finishing my EMT practical. It involves proving that you are competent in six skill divisions:
1. Medical Emergency
2. Trauma Emergency
3. CPR w/a bystander
4. Managing an apneic patient's airway
5. C-Spine immobilization and
6. RANDOM SKILLZ, my all-time favorite.

I passed with flying colors in all of the categories except for Random Skillz--I did all the steps correctly, but I applied the tourniquet awkwardly and somewhat ineffectively. In my defense, I was trying not to cut off the circulation of my mock-patient's arm; ultimately, completely my fault. Should have known better!

I redid the station of "managing bleeding" and had to do "traction splint" as well to prove I knew my random skills.

Next week, I will be throwing an awesome party in upper downtown for the survivors of this class. It will be to commemorate surviving this torrid period of studying and memorizing and throwing ourselves at the book. There were difficult choices and sacrifices many people made to take this class and turn life towards new opportunities. It tore into our personal and social lives (for those of us who attended class) and also created rewarding new relationships that hopefully will last for a long time.

Cheers to us!

Teaching (4 months to go)

It has been three months of teaching in two/three different capacities. I may be due a reflection or two at this point.

1. Substitute teacher at a single school. You may be asking yourself, but wait. Don't substitute teachers usually circulate within a school district? How does it work?

I am what you call an internal-sub. Because I only work at one school, I have the benefits of better understanding the discipline system and the methods behind the madness consistent throughout the school. If a teacher has planned a personal day ahead of time, they may e-mail the principal or me directly to ask if I have the time to substitute. If it's the principal, he either texts me or writes an e-mail--depending on the length of time preceding the request. Often I have gotten called at 6:30 in the morning because a teacher wakes up and feels terrible. Once I had to drive over around noon since a teacher went home sick.

Because of this tremendous opportunity, I have been able to teach 6th-12th grade across all subjects--Special Education, Intervention, Math, Science, English, and Foreign Language classes, specifically.

I haven't subbed for a history class yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

2. Volunteer English teacher at a refugee employment-education store. For 12 weeks, a class of between 18-30 refugees study Retail and Janitorial skills; through this experience, they learn English related to the job, and spend some time developing Employment skills as well.

I love these guys. They're amazing. I basically go here to get inspired (and my employee's discount--25% off)

3. Baby-sitting. Cu-u-u-u-ute. I have a few families, and I get to play with kids--professionally!

My favorite part: reading bedtime stories. One of the favorites is a book called "The Sun" which is about-- you guessed it--the sun. When the kid tries to touch the sun, he pulls back his finger and says "ouch! That burns!". Adorable.

Getting Braces (4 months to go)

I got braces this morning. Bottom braces, to be specific. My mom thought that I should get my teeth fixed before I leave for Morocco. There's nothing wrong with them specifically, but they're kind of off-kilter--not in line entirely.

Will I be able to get them off in 6 months--in time to leave for Morocco with nice, straight teeth?

That's the plan. My orthodontist has presented the plan as a 3-6 month timeline; hopefully, it will all work out in the end.

Why did this happen???? (Why would I subject myself to braces yet again?)

Two years ago, I made my mom a deal that if she, a dentist of 20+ years (not going to say how many +'s) would finally go get her teeth fixed, I would spend more than 2 months in one location and get my teeth altered as well. (I originally had braces that modified my mouth significantly, but I lost the shape-retainers back in college...)

Today, I received bottom braces. And a retainer. If you think it's weird to see me now with the braces, you should have seen me before when I was younger, and had the large gap teeth going on. That was before my first set of braces. They needed a lot of work to get done. Overbite with headgear was the fix-it.

Onto the present: It's actually very comfortable for day 1; however, a minor situation came up when I bought a bagel earlier. When I took my first bite, I thought I took a brace off. Either that, or I had moved a brace. I am hoping they are in line. They are still poking me in the Perio's, so that's a good sign. I don't have an appointment for 8 weeks now, so cross your fingers and hope that I do not screw anything up!

No wire poking out the back. Nice.

Colors! I got bright pink, bright green, and bright blue in a continuous pattern.

Pictured below.



Why is this relevant to the Peace Corps? I've begun to realize that this is quite an important question to ask... The Peace Corps sent me a letter this week stating that, since my last dental review was over a year ago, I've got to get another one done. You know, yearly check-ups. Haven't done THAT in 5, 6 years.. Anyway, it reminded my mom, she reminded me, and I'm going to get a cavity filled and my wisdom teeth pulled. There go my smarts..

About the title:

In Arabic (traditionally), each person has two names. The first name--ie, Sameera. And the second name, which shows the possession by a family. For instance, Al-Bassar. It technically could mean 'son of Bassar'. The "Al-" in this example indicates "son of".

On that same line of thought, one of my (favorite) professors used to call me "Bint Bob". In this case, "Bint" means "daughter", and my father's name is Bob. I am, proudly, the daughter of Bob..

Congrats from Morocco

Dear Invitee,

Congratulations on your invitation to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco! This email is to confirm receipt of your resume and Aspiration Statement.

Regards,

Morocco Desk

Five months to go

Ironically, my Peace Corps assignment has me leaving the country two weeks before I can take my brother out for a drink. That's right, he'll finally be 21. I am starting to feel a bit of anxiety about leaving this place. I've gotten a steady job, that I love, good friends, and an amazing international community surrounding me. Sometimes I find myself panicking about leaving all of what I've grown here, especially because staying in one place is something new to me. I'm constantly traveling, and I made myself attempt to integrate into my local community yet again... and it worked. The idea of leaving all of what I've become emotionally involved in, and joining into and adapting with a new cultural foundation is a bit terrifying. The concept that I will be entering an arena where I will constantly be questioned about my organization, my motives, my needs, my "vegetarianism", and constantly harassed as a woman shakes my nerves. The language will be quite a challenge; I'll have a leg up on the alphabet, but I find myself "what if"-ing myself around every corner. Should I land in Morocco, dropped from a plane into a community, how would I survive?

I need to keep preparing....

Currently working on my shopping list.

After reading some Peace Corps Morocco blogs (what I do when I'm excited/nervous/bored), I've found out that the group I'm joining in March is the first Youth Development ONLY group for Morocco.

I'm slightly disappointed, because I was hoping I could learn from the previous volunteers on how to best educate my new village-family (here's hoping!) on how to take care of themselves. I don't have enough medical education at this point to feel that should be in my job description...

Capoeira (Turning Life Upside-Down)

I'm afraid of being upside-down. Who knew?

Should have been obvious from the abject attitude towards all things roller coasters.. Yet, I'll climb to the tallest tree in the country-side on a whim.

Yesterday was my first day of Capoeira teacher training, and I'm being to believe it will teach me a lot more about myself and my capabilities--and limits--than about teaching students. And it will teach me a lot about how to guide students in the future, that's for sure.

Part of the structure of Teacher Training is making sure that all of us Potential Teachers have a 4-5/5 on all of the most frequently made moves. Backflips are not exactly on the top ten topics for beginner classes, after all...

There are a good many moves that I need to work on, and I have no illusion about that fact. One especially that I have Always had difficulty maintaining and perfecting is a Bananeira, or handstand. When I modeled it for the class (we had to have a baseline from which to improve), I was given a 3--and made it a 2, because I am not quite as confident in my ability to do a standard handstand.

For practice, my mestre suggested I practice against the wall. Now, every single person I have ever told about my ability to do a handstand--my yoga teachers, capoeira teachers, roommates-- have always suggested I use the wall. "You can't fall any farther than the wall", they say.

I may have a fear more founded on Roald Dahl and The Twits than anything else.

Once I got my heels over my heart (this phrasing is significant) I started to yell. Not on purpose, but out of fear. Of all the martial arts and activities I could have chosen, why would I become involved in the one that centered around being upside all the time? Why would I do such a thing to myself?

I came down, wiped away some laughter-tears, and tried again; this time as a head stand. I promised myself I could be afraid, but I had to do it without making a sound. I made it up there for a few moments, and found a beginning to grounding and clarity.

This experience of Capoeira is similar to my soon-to-be experience in the Peace Corps. It is something unique and unlike I have ever done in my life, but not something just anyone would do. Very few people would argue that going to the Peace Corps is anything but turning my life upside-down.

When I go to the Peace Corps, I will be putting my heels over my heart. Despite that there are people in my life that I love, family that I appreciate every moment even when I don't tell them, and a life that I am settled into, I am preparing to turn my life upside-down. It will not be easy; it will not come without a lot of work and dedication.

Sometime in the nearby future, I'll be able to do that perfect handstand, with control, and I'll be able to keep my heels over my heart without feeling out of sorts. It's a process.

For more information about Capoeira, here is a link to my group:

http://www.cap-denver.com/index_2.php