Two weeks, lots of pains and four less teeth later… here I am 🙂 . My appointment was scheduled at 9:30am. I was told in advance I could not eat or drink anything eight hours leading up to the surgery. Which wasn’t an issue until morning of, when I was an hour away from surgery and my mouth felt dryer than the Sahara desert, but I stuck it out.

It was time and once I was in the chair, I thought I was more nervous than I had been leading up to it. Could I get more worried? Apparently so! The surgeon comes in to go over my medical history and talk me through the procedure. He tells me about two complications that could come from this, one of them being extremely rare but extremely painful and serious. Something to do with the nerves… and the other being dry socket. After all that scary talk, he compliments my mask (which was Harry Potter, thank you very much) and that put me at a little ease and he was gone.

Within some minutes, a nurse comes back in the room to fill me up with some laughing gas. There was NO way I was going through this if I wasn’t out for the count. I didn’t know what this experience would feel like… first I began to feel sleepy and felt some spasms through my back and shoulders. I actually did chuckle to myself a time or two without even thought, I started to think “I guess it really is true to it’s name.” My body felt, strange. Something familiar but also VERY foreign.

The last thing that I remembered was the doctor putting a needle in my hand and telling me that I am going to feel sleepy and then not feel a thing. I woke up and apparently felt it was necessary to take a selfie… I will be scarred forever but that is picture above 🙂 . Let me tell you, I kept my phone in my bag that was a couple feet from the chair… how I got my phone, I don’t know, when I actually took this selfie, I don’t know, lmao. There were a couple others too so I put them down lower throughout the blog. Thinking about it though… that was more than likely before, who knows?

Day Of – Tuesday.

Post surgery, I was not nearly as loopy and babbling as much as I expected to be but I was hazy enough. I thought I was going to be hearing all these weird things, saying all these weird things, but none of that happened, fortunately.

I think the familiarity I had mentioned before, was a woozy feeling from times I have been nauseous and/or dizzy. My eyes were heavy, my vision was blurry, there was additional force needed to lift my arms but my inner thoughts were all straight. I was just so thankful in that moment that I have made the decision to not drink in my lifetime. The surgeon said that the way I felt was the equivalent to being drunk, very drunk! And I. did. not. like. it.

A short while after, an intense nauseous feeling came over me but I figured that might just be how it is before you knock out, I was wrong… I gagged and a pan was shoved under my face, just in time. I felt so bad but I’m sure they have seen than more than enough times…

Later that night, I decided to have soup because obviously I would be eating anything liquid and creamy for the next week. I took a sip of my drink and felt something on one side of my mouth then I took a spoonful of soup and the stringy feeling was still there… I quickly realized I had gotten stitches put in. Somehow my will power took control and I managed to leave it alone and finish my meal.

Okay, we made it past dinner… onto bedtime. That was an experience in it’s own. When I sleep, I need to lay on my side. I feel uncomfortable to lay on my back, facing up. While laying there, my face felt SO tense and SO heavy. There have been many times when I couldn’t fall asleep that easily but this was a different kind of sleeplessness.

Day One – Wednesday.

I woke up with a pain in the left side of my mouth, I was drained, completely exhausted and with a little more drool on my pillow than I had hoped for. Gross, I know but I figure why not give you a visual of how my experience looks so you can compare or know what you can potentially be in for. I knew, I just knew that work was not going to happen for me today. Thankfully I made the right decision because I needed to sleep in, I needed to use that day to get some additional rest.

There was so much struggle to get that rest though. To get myself in the right position and to even have the chance to fall back to sleep, I needed to adjust my pillow in the perfect way. It was too much work but the sleep was needed.

Once I decided to finally get out of bed, I could not have been standing more than two minutes and an overwhelming feeling of nausea consumed me. I laid back down once it got to be too much because the feeling of throwing up the day after getting teeth pulled, I could NOT dare imagine that pain… luckily, laying down was the right move and I was okay. I gave the office a call to ask about the stitches, the nausea and the pain I was in. I obviously expected to be in pain but I got a follow up text that morning mentioning to call if I was in pain so why not include it in the call. Everything was all around normal.

Once I got up and looked in the mirror, I noticed these cuts/scabs on both sides of my mouth. I figured that was normal because of how wide my mouth was probably pried open and for how long. Luckily I got a few messages that people got the same thing and gave me suggestions of how to deal it quicker. One of them was Vaseline and I had some in the house so it was convenient but also did the trick!

Since I was a tad out of it when leaving yesterday, my mom had told me that I was able to try scrambled eggs or spaghetti, if I was up to it. I could not even think of anything solid but I felt a little risky and tried out some spaghetti but trust me, it was NOT, I repeat not worth it. I have never had a more stressful and underappreciated meal. Cutting spaghetti small enough that I could just swallow it… weird, definitely a weird feeling and I didn’t eat much of it either.

Day Two – Thursday.

This day came with much pain and discomfort from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to sleep. I have mentioned before that I am not a pill person but there was no way I was getting through this day or the days to follow without something. I used two to three Advils every four+ hours and at first I didn’t realize how much it helped but it made it more bearable. Plus it didn’t help that this was my day back to work and all I wanted to do was lay around and do nothing.

At this point, Keith and I still had the previous tenant’s couch in the apartment so I threw a sheet over it and made so much use of it. I got in a nice post work nap while Keith worked on anything and everything he could to prep the apartment and clean it up. I don’t think it was a long nap but whatever I got was absolutely wonderful. This was the easiest I fell asleep, even laying on my back!

For dinner, I thought Boston Market would be a good pick. I only had mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. This was another sad night of cutting up pasta and swallowing the pieces whole. Keith even said how sad it was… it couldn’t get much lower than that, lol. Honestly, I have not been so turned off by food in so long. The mac and cheese wasn’t even bad, it was just the act of not chewing a solid food. I was no dolphin in my past life.

This night of sleep was BAD, it was harder than the first and it just felt impossible. I got to the point that I tried to even sleep on my side. Eventually that was how it happened but to get there was A LOT. Have anyone of you heard of the Calm app? I heard of this through Chicks In The Office and decided to try it one random 4am morning I couldn’t fall back to sleep. This was my savior this night and for the next two weeks of this healing process. This was also another night of adjusting my pillow to be just the right way.

I think it is important to mention that this was the first time I brushed my teeth since the surgery… yes, that is gross. Believe me, I brush my teeth each day and night but I physically was not up to it because of the pain, the risk of bleeding and the fact that my mouth would not open enough to get a toothbrush in there.

Day Three – Friday.

Day three: the day I was told would be the worst of all. I don’t understand why of each of the days the third day following surgery would be the worst. Maybe because this is when you can tell if dry socket will occur or not?

I woke up feeling NO pain on the left side, which I’m pretty sure is my worse side. I got up and the pressure got to me, my mouth was hurt1ing once again. At least it was Friday and I wouldn’t have to deal with work for a couple days… all throughout the day, I just felt better and better! It was such a great feeling, maybe I’ll be better sooner than I thought!

By night, I was back in pain but it wasn’t as bad. Laying down did not help and getting to sleep… was rough! Listening to Calm really has been everything the past nights. There are so many different sleep stories, meditation sources and even just sounds of nature. Sounds of nature is my go-to, more specifically rain. This night and the past couple it has been thunderstorms but I moved onto rain on leaves. There is something so soothing and calming about rain, there are so many reasons I love it.

Day Four – Saturday.

Just another morning waking up in pain but I got a bit more sleep on this morning so that made it that much nicer. Overall though, this day was emotionally draining. I was overthinking every little thing; the pain that I was in, the way I had to brush my teeth, what I was eating/not eating, etc.

My thoughts were all over the place. I planned to just drink protein shakes from this day on, just strictly those. Later that day, it wasn’t enough because even though one and a half of them would fill me, I was not nearly satisfied. Then I didn’t want to have anymore protein shakes because the liquid factor was just not doing…

Day Five – Sunday.

Remember when I told you they said day three would be the worst? THIS was the WORST I had felt in days. Waking up was really hard… I had a throbbing migraine and both sides of my jaw could not have hurt more. Considering how much pain I was in, Advil actually really helped. But with that being said, I decided to try a little food this day! I had raspberries and toast, oatmeal too but I feel that’s a bit more safe. This was definitely a weird turn around…

Later on for dinner, since I felt so good about eating solids for breakfast I figured to continue with the trend. I still tried to stick with something that wasn’t too much chewing or too hard. I thought Taco Bell would be one of the best options and it really wasn’t so bad! After awhile I did get pretty tired of chewing and my jaw was bothering me.

The pain did get to me a bit much and I actually let out a short cry. I really held it together though because in just a few short seconds, this caused SO much pressure and got to me really quick.

By 11pm, I was in a fair amount of discomfort. I was going to take more Advil but I had to wait at least another half hour but didn’t want to wait up. I threw on some peppermint oil on my jaw and it felt like the pain just drifted away. It was amazing. I even thought that I was THAT much better but I think it was the oil.

Day Six – Monday.

This day wasn’t much out of the ordinary. I really didn’t want to get up for work. I was so comfy, cozy in bed and just wanted to lay there and relax. Once up, the pain came on and throughout the day it got better and at night it came back.

At least on this day the sides of my mouth were feeling much better. You can’t really see it but this was the best picture I have showing it.

Day Seven – Tuesday.

One week! It’s been one week since the surgery! This was my follow up appointment for the surgeon to check on me and see how things are going. I had read that day seven is the day that if they need to, they will take any remaining stitches out. I think this is what freaked me out. I was so nervous to go in for my appointment, I’m such a baby, lol.

My appointment came and went and it was no big deal. Although, he did catch my lip with a chipped bit of the tongue depressor. It hurt a tad and I jumped, it was okay though. He said I’m healing as normal and can have solids at my own discretion and brush as normal. Both chewing and brushing are NOT at 100% but have definitely improved and it makes me so happy to get a little closer to normal.

Day Nine – Thursday.

Wednesday (day eight) there wasn’t much to report on. But come Thursday, it is Thanksgiving day! I am so thankful to be able to eat today! I could’ve had the surgery happen this past Tuesday but there was NO way, with Thanksgiving but also wanting to get it done ASAP.

I have been so good the past week with eating. I thought I screwed it up of all days… my first bite of the day was a cracker with spinach dip. This was a bad choice but I needed to see how much I could do. Crackers and chips are definitely off the table. It bothered me a bit but for the rest of the meal, I was good! I did feel it the rest of the night, it was a different kind of feeling than I had been feeling but still bothersome. Cranberry sauce is basically my fave anyway so regardless of what I could or could not, I was safe there 🙂 .

Days Going Forward…

The rest of the days really just became one. I felt I was getting better as the days went. I felt I could push myself a couple days after this to eat more solid foods and brush my teeth to full capability. I obviously still have these big gaps in my gums but those will take six to eight weeks to heal. Which will be wonderful because I won’t continue to get food stuck in them, yuckkk… I know 🙂 .

On my last visit, the surgeon gave me this syringe looking thing to either add water or mouthwash to push out any stuck food, life saver! He told me he would miss me and I went on my way!

At this point, I know it has been a few weeks since I got it done but I still wanted to share my experience. Also the reason that it is so, very long so if you made it through the whole thing, I appreciate you 🙂 . Throughout all of this, I have gotten SO many messages from people. Whether it was about your experiences (personal or professional), tips to feel better or how to handle it, what to eat, NOT TO DRINK THROUGH A STRAW, or messages to just feel better. I appreciate each and every one of them ♡.

Thank you for following along with my painful journey!

See ya,
Samm 🌻