Wisdom teeth

Talking with my mom before and after my wisdom teeth surgery, I realized that things are done pretty differently in France.

First off, I had to take a Betadine (iodine) shower the night before and the morning of the surgery. Dear Husband explains this is to ensure you're generally clean and mostly disinfected. They re-clean your face before surgery and wipe your arm with iodine before inserting the catheter, but this way they know your entire body is mostly clean (I saw mostly because you put on normal clothes afterwards and touch all kinds of things before the surgery).

Next, after checking in about 7:45am I went up to the room I was assigned along with another young woman having her wisdom teeth out. She was already in the disposable hospital gown, but there was a bit of a delay, so I got to hang out and watch tv for about an hour before I had to be dressed and ready. The disposable outfit had a gown, underwear, and feet covers. I remembered my mom keeping her own underwear and other clothes when she had her breast biopsy, but here I wore all disposable clothing.

B came with me in the morning and hung out watching tv with me until I had to leave for surgery at about 9:30am. Before going down a nurse came with a liquid tranquilizer that she squirted in my mouth. It was really bitter, but assured that I was calm going into surgery. I had to take two antibiotics as well, as a preventive measure, and do a mouth wash.

Then I climbed onto the stretcher and was wheeled down to the operating bloc by a guy making jokes I didn't always understand and who was shocked to learn I was married at 25 (what? my husband still plays video games and we eat ice cream out of the carton sometimes, it's not like we'd be any different if we weren't married...).

In the operating room things went really quickly. I scooted off the stretcher and onto the operating bed/surface. A nurse took my arm out of the sleeve of my gown in order to insert a catheter and drip. My head was resting on a gel type support that was comfortable. They put a plastic mask over my mouth and nose to give me some oxygen which made me cough, and then I was out. I was prepared for the feeling of just an instant going by, so when I woke up in the recovery room I knew it was over. They had special wraps that hold frozen packs to the side of your face and then ties above your head and the first thing I noticed upon waking was that my whole face felt like it was frozen. My nose was cold, my forehead, everything. This was partly due to the local anesthesia in my gums, lips, and tongue.

After a few minutes (at least I think) in the recovery room, they took be back up to my room where I got to just rest for a while. B came back and took pictures of me with my head all tied up, but then got the bedpan so I could pee without having to get up. I think my surgery was done at 11am, but I didn't leave the hospital until 3pm. B brought me a magazine so I read a bit, rested, gradually regained feeling in most of my face (although I wouldn't have all feeling before the evening). About 1:30 a nurse brought "lunch": yogurt, caramel cream, and ice cream. I had a saline drip during this time as well.

The hospital is only a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment and there's no patient parking (this is France after all), so instead of B trying to double park in front, we ended up just walking home together at 3:30. I just kind of vegged out in bed, read, ate apple sauce and ice cream. My teeth haven't been hurting too much, although if I try to move my jaw too much (or something makes me laugh) it hurts. Eating is a bit of a challenge, but I'm improving.

Some things I didn't expect were: finding my nose and eye lids sticky after surgery. B explained that they put tape over your eyes so they don't fall open and get dry and so you aren't prematurely woken by flashing lights; they also tape an oxygen source to your nose. The anesthesiologist warned me that I might cough afterwards because they would put a tube down my throat to ensure I was still breathing. I actually had a bad sore throat due to this. And last unexpected effect was that due to what they put in my nose, I woke up with my nose rather stuffed and with lots of boogers (yuck, I know). But there's one way up high in my nose that tickles my nose when I breathe in and it makes me want to sneeze all the time. Since yesterday I've gone through countless tissues blowing my nose and sneezing. I've tried doing a nose rinse, but so far no luck. Hopefully I can stop sneezing soon.

My dentist left me with prescriptions for a number of things to take for the next week. For three days I take one kind of pill in the morning, ibuprofen 4 times a day for a week, an antibiotic in the morning and evening for a week, plus a mouth wash and use a special ultra soft after-surgery toothbrush.

And I almost forgot! When I checked out the woman at the front desk said there was nothing to pay. My dentist had told me he wouldn't make me pay any depassement d'honoraires, but I figured there would still be a small part I would have to pay. But nothing! The only thing we had to pay for were the drugs with a 50¢ participation per box. Yay French health care!