Well, I guess you can ignore my previous post since, 4hours after my surgery, here I am--blogging one-handed though, since I have to hold an icepack in the other. My mouth is still numb, which, I guess, is a mixed blessing. It means that I have to drink water over a sink so that I don't drip the water, or drool, over myself, but it also means that I'm not really feelinh any pain right now either. Oh, and I've got gauze pads in the back of my mouth to soak up the blood from the "wounds."
It was a pretty smooth surgery, as far as I can tell. They didn't discover that I'm allergic to any drugs while I was there, thank goodness! ^_^
The nurse, Meredith, was really nice. She walked me through everything that she was doing, explaining the what and the whys. For those of you who haven't had this done yet, this is basically what happens:
1. They put an oxygen mask on your nose so that you can breathe during the surgery (always a good thing!).
2. They put on the cuff thing to take your blood pressure.
3. They attach EMG (spelling?) things to your chest so they can moniter your pulse.
4. They run nitrous oxide through the oxygen mask to numb you a bit, or something! (Really not sure.) Incidentally, I discovered that laughing gas does not actually make me feel like laughing, it makes me tear up and want to sleep.
5. They insert an IV with a saline solution to keep you hydrated. Mine had to go in my hand since I "don't have any veins" in my right arm, according to Meredith. This I already knew, because I've had to have a couple of blood tests, and the nurses always had to work to find a vein in my left arm. She couldn't use my left for the IV because the blood pressure thing was already there.
6. They put some anti-inflammatry drug, Decadron, or something like that, into my IV to hopefully reduce the swelling later.
7. Finally the doctor came and put the druggs that would knock me out into my IV.
When I woke up, I was all done!
It really didn't seem all that bad, but then again, I'm still numb, so I'll probably hurt a lot more when the numbness wears off. Hmmm, just noticed a bit of bruising on my left cheek, but it's not too noticeable, and Dr. Lamentia warned me during the consultation that this might happen. I feel like I've got a bit of a low-grade headachegoing on, but it's liveable. The only thing that's fairly bothersome is the drooling. =P Makes me feel like a rabid dog or something, all slavering and foaming. Okay, so not the foaming, but it's still a pain.
Anyway, it's about time for me to change to a colder icepack, so I guess that's enough whining for today!
