And now my tone begins to sound a bit more somber. Everything went fine, but for an hour or two after the three extractions I was not a happy girl.
The anesthesiologist guy (AG) hooked me up, and I drifted mostly out. Occasionally I'd open my eyes to see Dr. Lagos wrenching out one of the molars, but thankfully there was no pain, no sensitivity, no worry. I felt in good hands.
They must have that sedation thing down to a science, because minutes before the whole procedure was over, my eyes were open and I was sensing that the AG had given me my last precious dose. I wanted to grab him, pull him back to my chair side and say "Another one, another one!" Alas, I knew it was not to be. So instead, in flooded thoughts and intents of going to the Mexican liquor store with my three gaping holes as soon as I could get up, to purchase bottles of red wine, which I haven't had since 1995. I would return to my husband and child as a drinker...it would be fun...
The doctor said that everything went well and that he would take my impressions over to the lab so that they could make and deliver my temporary partials in about an hour. I was led into the other room and I sat in a chair. This is where the somber part comes in. I became freezing cold - I guess from the wear-off of the sedation and the I.V. vitamin C. I shivered even in 2 light blankets they'd given me. I also got severely depressed. I wondered what the hell I had just done. Was it really necessary? Couldn't I have just left those infected teeth in and somehow they'd become not infected? Why am I the only person I know who does this kind of crazy health thing?
The partials arrived and I sat back in the chair to have them fitted. They felt weird. Dr. Lagos took them out and readjusted. I knew that they were going to take some getting used to. I felt a bit dead inside, mostly because of the drugs I think. I thanked everyone and was picked up by Peter, who took me back to the B&B. Not the happiest car ride.
The only time I felt pain was in the middle of that night. I felt it in my upper right jaw, where #3 had been - the big kahuna. Lagos had told me that he'd needed to do the deepest cavitation (the procedure where the dentist removes 1mm of bony socket in each direction to ensure that all infection is removed) there because more bone was soft than in the other two places.
I panicked a little bit feeling this pain. All I knew to do was to take out the partials (which I was to sleep with only this first night) and rinse with salt water and a few drops of iodine I'd brought from home. I even took an Advil, something I hardly ever do. I was able to get back to sleep, and ever since there's been no pain. Lagos said that that might have been from the stitch, and since that one went deeper.
Tomorrow I will post some pictures of the extracted teeth! I was scared that TSA was going to confiscate my little plastic bottles of teeth, preserved with formol (which I think is formaldehyde?), but thank goodness they didn't.