My first surgery

Today I had my wisdom teeth pulled. I was really, really nervous the last two days, about everything from the laughing gas to the mental images I'd gotten when the doctor said, "we cut open the gums..." to the horror stories people told me when I said what I'd be doing today:

"Do you work tomorrow?"

"No, I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow"

"Oh that sucks. When I got mine out, [insert something about pain or drooling all over the place or dry sockets]."

So that was fun.

Today, though, wasn't so bad. They'd given me some sort of pills to relax me, and although I'm fairly certain I wasn't feeling it, from the minute I walked into the office until I buckled my seat belt for the ride home, there was a nurse escorting me through every step.

Along with the "relaxing" pills, I also got a dose of laughing gas. Now, I know I was nervous, but I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. I am, after all, a worrier. While I lay in the chair being pumped full of laughing gas (not as unpleasant as I'd imagined), I was also listening to my iPod (pleasant) and being shot with huge syringes of novicane (most unpleasant sensation of the day). I tried not to, I really did, but OHMYGOD it hurt and I sort of teared up a little, causing the doctor and nurse to give me handfuls of tissues and reassure me. The doctor also said something about my eyes that I think was a compliment of some sort, but at this point I was still listening to my iPod and starting to feel the drugs.

This proved to be maybe not such a good thing, at least for the next ten minutes.

I was left alone to let the novicane sink in (and it did--I just regained use of my lower lip half an hour ago and didn't feel a thing through the surgery), and suddenly I was FREAKING OUT. I was shaking and crying and I was so embarrassed and flustered by this that it made it worse. I finally got my shit together right before the doctor came back in thankfully, and I was able to keep from crying the rest of the time I was there. The shaking, however, never subsided, and while it was probably better to concentrate on controlling it that think about the drill in my mouth. I've attributed this little Adventure in Drugland to the laughing gas. It is an adventure I never want to take again. Laughing gas, indeed.