Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A Bit of Wisdom.........Removed

My son had a wisdom tooth removed yesterday. I think it worked, he lost some common sense. As the nurse was going over the post operative instructions, she got very serious and said to me, "Your job is to watch him. Make sure he doesn't ride his motorcycle, or drive a car.". I think she could tell, just in the few minutes that she talked to him, that he wasn't going to be very good about listening to the doctor's post-op advice. Of course, he was still coming out of anesthia, but at one point she said she was going to take him to the car in a wheelchair. He said, "I'm fine! I bet I could do a hand stand right now!" The scary thing was, if we had asked him to, he would have tried. He kept saying, in a voice that sounded like he was drunk, "I feel totally normal!".

One of the strict instructions she gave to me was that he was not to go up any stairs for 24 hours. She suggested he just sleep on the couch, and watch videos all day. When we got home, I was getting my things out of the car, and he charged ahead of me and was up the stairs before I could even get in the house, despite my warnings to not attempt going up. I told him he could just stay up there for the remainder of the time. Later in the day I was helping my neighbor put a car top carrier on top of her car, and here came my son asking if we needed help! I could not convince him that he shouldn't have come down the stairs! I should have given him the middle name, "Exasperation".

Another instruction was that he shouldn't eat anything hard, or with seeds. He shouldn't have crunchy peanut butter, or even fruits like strawberries that have little seeds in them. She explained that if a seed got caught in the site of his operation, he could get an infection. He kept insisting the he would just eat on the other side of his mouth, but I just brought him other food instead.

Last night he insisted he was going to go to work today. That was something I asked the nurse about. She said absolutely not. Even if someone else drove him, his pain meds would make him sleepy, making it difficult to work. As we talked about it last night, he insisted that he could go to work without any problem. Finally, exasperated that he wouldn't listen to common medical sense, I explained to him about "Dry socket", and that there are complications that he never imagined. I told him that the doctors give advice for a reason, and he may not know the reason, but I had experienced some of those things and knew how bad it could get. I think he was finally convinced. He didn't attempt to go to work today.

I'm very happy that he isn't in pain, and doesn't have the problems that most patients of wisdom tooth extraction have. But at the same time, I have to admit that it doesn't seem fair that everyone else I know had a horrible recovery, and he doesn't feel any different than if he had lost a childhood tooth. But I know that if I don't keep on him to do what was asked by the doctor, he could end up with some of those same problems. Hmmm, maybe intead of losing wisdom when you get your teeth out, it gives you wisdom. I had 4 out, so I got a little more wisdom than he did with his one. ;)

6 comments:

Nene said...

I'm glad you talked a little bit of sense into him. He sure doesn't want dry socket, I've heard that is very painful.

When Babs had his wisdom teeth out (both) he wanted to ride in the wheelchair to the car because he felt so bad. The nurse made some flippant comment like she was sure he was "too manly" to ride in the wheelchair, so she made him walk to the car. I could tell Babs was having problems just as we walked out of the building. I stopped and asked him if he needed to sit down but he said to "keep on walking". After we got to the car he said he thought for sure he was going to pass out, but was sure glad he didn't. :0+

Fromagette said...

My youngest brother got his wisdom teeth out right before my wedding. Even though I urged him to keep the ice packs on his cheeks for as long as he could, he felt he didn't need to. Needless to say, Hubby laughs everytime he sees our wedding pictures because my brother's cheeks were so swollen.

Amber said...

I still haven't gotten my wisdom teeth out and I must admit I'm scared because everybody says it's so bad. I remember my friend Jay had to get his out before he went on his mission and his grandma looked up in her Farmer's Almanac for the best time to have that surgery and that's when he scheduled it, and he had very little pain. I really do wonder if that makes a difference. I wonder why they tell you not to go upstairs though?

Inklings said...

Probably because if you get woozy you could fall down them and break your neck or something.

Maybe he will have to learn his lessons the hard way?

Ramana Rajgopaul said...

Deliriouos, this will crack you up for sure. When I was all of 38, I had frequent bouts of dull head ache. It was finally diagnosed as an extra ingrown wisdom tooth. And in all sincerity, my GP who was coordinating the whole exercise, cautioned me that I shall lose what little wisdom I had if I had it removed. (He was also a personal friend!) Any way, with much trepidation, I went through the process and the bouts sopped. I leave it to you to decide if my wisdom has been affected.

Lindsay Logic said...

Mom probably doesn't remember this, but I worked the afternoon after getting my wisdom teeth out. I had oral surgery, and I did fine. Maybe he's the same way? I did have one that gave me a bit of trouble, and had to get an antibiotic, but it wasn't too bad. JayDee worked the day after getting his removed. I think they have a better system nowadays.