Guys. This week’s low is not only the low of the week. It is the low of my life. From Tuesday to Saturday of spring break, I can confidently say that I was the most miserable I have ever been.

As I alluded to in my last blog, I had to get my wisdom teeth out. Usually, wisdom tooth removal is unpleasant, but the discomfort is typically over after a week of recovery. It’s been a week, and I am still nowhere near back to normal. 

I’ll rewind the story so you guys get the full picture. Tuesday, I went in for surgery. I got put to sleep with general anesthesia, so I wasn’t loopy from laughing gas (the only fun part of wisdom tooth surgery, I didn’t experience). 

The doctor said my surgery went smoothly, and I wasn’t in any pain on the ride home. The weirdest part was the fact that my face was numb, from my nose to my chin. 

I went home and tried to sleep off the anesthesia, but that is when it started. The pain. Originally, I thought it was just from biting down on the gauze to stop the bleeding, so I asked my dad if we could take the gauze out. After the gauze came out and most of the bleeding stopped, the pain continued. After I took my prescribed painkillers, the pain continued. After I strapped ice packs to my face, the pain continued. 

Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, when my mouth and jaw felt like they were being stabbed with a million tiny needles, phase two began. The swelling.

Now, when you get your wisdom teeth out, everyone knows you’re going to look like a chipmunk for a few days. That’s normal. My swelling, however, was NOT normal. Just as the dentist instructed, I strapped ice packs to my face; 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off, with a timer – down to the second. 

The dentist said the ice would help minimize the swelling, especially if I started right after surgery (which I did). But throughout the day on Tuesday, my face kept getting bigger. By Tuesday night, my jawline was nonexistent. Chipmunk mode activated (especially on the left side). 

I went to bed, and I thought Tuesday night was the worst night of my life. Little did I know, the worst was yet to come. I slept for a total of two hours, between the pain and the feeling that my face was still growing. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday morning I woke up, and my face was MASSIVE. I thought my cheeks were actually going to pop, they were so huge. I couldn’t close my mouth (let alone open it), I couldn’t talk, I could hardly swallow. 

Throughout Wednesday, I kept icing, a futile effort to slow down the ballooning of my jaw. My parents kept reassuring me that this was the worst day, it would be better tomorrow. 

Wednesday night. Rock bottom. I kept icing throughout the night, because when I didn’t have ice on my face, the throbbing was unbearable. I slept 0 hours, and I got up to get my ice packs from the freezer every 20 minutes. I didn’t want to wake up my poor parents – they had already been through enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up on Thursday, and my face was just as big as it had been on Wednesday. No improvement. I actually looked worse. Phase three started on Thursday: the bruising. 

Not going to lie, I cried. I thought it was supposed to be getting better by this point, but everything had either gotten worse or stayed the same. I couldn’t open my mouth to eat, I could hardly manage the medicated mouthwash I was supposed to be doing (there was no space in my mouth to swish and rinse, my cheeks were so swollen), and I communicated in a series of mmhm’s. My jawline was black and blue, to add to the swelling, so I looked (and felt) like the picture of health and beauty. 

I went back to the oral surgeon, and he acknowledged my swelling and bruising, but was rather dismissive and did nothing to help.

I lived the rest of Thursday swollen and in pain, but finally managed to sleep for 5 hours on Thursday night (it’s the little things, right?). 

By Friday, I could finally see some improvement. I could get out of bed for more than an hour at a time, and I was able to take a nap on Friday morning (so desperately needed). Finally, things were getting a little bit better. I was still horribly bruised and swollen, but at least I felt like 50% of my normal self, rather than 3%. 

Fast forward to this week, I’m back at school, and I still can’t eat anything except Campbell’s soup, instant mac and cheese, jello, yogurt, and ice cream. It’s horrible. I still can’t open my mouth, and I’m still all black and blue (as I’m sure you’ve all noticed).

This week’s low was truly horrible, and if I could go back, I think I’d rather risk infection from my impacted wisdom teeth than go through what I did. I’m really really sorry if any of you have to get your wisdom teeth out – I don’t mean to scare you, it’s not usually like this (or so I hear).

My high this week is that I went to the gym to walk (the only form of physical activity my face can handle), and I managed to lose my bracelet. You may be questioning how that is a high, but someone turned it in at the lost and found, so I got it back the same day I lost it. That’s so rare when you lose something (as I’ve learned through many, many lost items), so I’m happy my bracelet came back to me. I needed that.