Back With Four Teeth Missing

            Four and a half days in isolation.  The only communication I had was with my boyfriend and the little bit of communication my phone could give me.  While I love my boyfriend and love spending time with him, we are both aware that other human interaction is just as important.

            The last time I remember being in isolation was in high school when I had gotten the flu, two years in a row and was out sick for a full week each year.  Since I’ve moved to Massachusetts, I have worked two jobs and I have gone to school.  Isolation was not on a plate of mine.  Even if I were sick, I would have to go to work and still communicate with friends and customers.  Just recently, in December, I quit my second job.  This left me with more time to commit to one job, as well as more time to commit to my boyfriend and friends.  This also made it easier for me to take off of work for medical reasons.           

            Four and a half days ago I had my wisdom teeth pulled. Needless to say, it was the worst pain I have ever felt.  The surgery itself was painless.  I had local anesthesia, knocking me out for only an hour that it took for the surgery itself.

I had been told stories of people who had their wisdom teeth taken out. Some people didn’t have pain afterwards and could eat solid food right away. Others had pain, but had medication that could cure it, if only temporarily. And then other people had complications.  But with the end of each story I heard, I was told that they had medication to help ease the pain and make the recovery tolerable.  To me, this didn’t sound like such a bad deal. Sure, I go in, get my wisdom teeth out, have to drink liquids for a while, and have five days off of work.  To me, that sounded like a wonderful plan.  That was until I realized that I was having a reaction to the medication prescribed to me.

I realized that this recovery was not going to be a beautiful vacation that I needed/wanted.  This recovery was going to be painful. I couldn’t speak, I felt every joint and muscle movement in my mouth, and I wasn’t going to be high on medication to forget what was going on.  Tears were shed; I’m not ashamed to say that.  But with tears only came running noses and sore throats.  And one of the most important things you’re told when getting your wisdom teeth out is to not blow your nose.  However, this is easier said than done when your nose is running.

But I made it through, slowly and painfully, with one person fully by my side.  I cannot possibly show how much it meant to have my boyfriend there the entire time.  It sure wasn’t a pretty sight.

However coming out of isolation is the weirdest part.  I am not fully satisfied going out when my face is still swollen and I cannot smile properly.  And it takes me longer to respond to a quick question if I haven’t been speaking, then it normally would.  This causes awkwardness, hopefully just for me.

I ran to the drugstore today to pick up some things.  It was the first time I had seen sunlight since I was brought home from surgery, half dazed.  First time I had human contact since then as well.  Every employee asked me a question and I only had a reaction time to answer one of them. This all happened before I made it to the register. Then at the register the employee proceeded to ask me about five different questions.

When I finally left the store, I realized how lucky I was to have the ability to speak.  I have all of my senses and they work perfectly.  I hadn’t realized how difficult it would be when one of the most important things is disabled.  It will take time to be able to talk correctly and be able to eat whatever solid foods I want.   And it won’t be a fun journey.  But I am just lucky that at the end of the recovery, I still can do all of these things, and well.