oral surgeon | Living My Full Life

Three – the number of wisdom teeth I had removed.
One – the number of dry sockets I developed after the surgery.
One – the number of pieces of teeth that were accidentally left in my gums.
Three – the number of tests I have to go through for the heart complications I had during the surgery.
Four – the number of times I went to my oral surgeon’s office in a one week time period.
Three – the number of times I had to have my dry socket packed with medicated gauze.
Two – the number of syringes I had to use to take care of my dry socket.
763 – the amount of cookies I baked for my brother’s wedding in the same one week time period that I got diagnosed with a dry socket.

Last week was a really rough week!

I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday (the 12th of July), and was still in pain by Tuesday. I went back to my oral surgeon’s office and found out that I had developed a dry socket and still had a piece of tooth in my gums.

A socket is the hole in the bone where a tooth has been removed. After a tooth is pulled, a blood clot forms in the socket to protect the bone and nerves underneath. Sometimes that clot can become dislodged or dissolve a couple of days after the extraction. That leaves the bone and nerve exposed to air, food, fluid, and anything else that enters the mouth. This can lead to infection and severe pain that can last for 5 or 6 days. (source: webmd.com)

When I arrived at the oral surgeon’s on Tuesday, the dental assistant said “Oh, you still have some tooth left in your socket… that’s weird. Let me pull that out.” So she did. Without numbing me.

Then I had to have my dry socket “packed” to prevent my jaw bone and nerves from being exposed to air, food, etc. The dental assistant placed medicated gauze into the socket. The worst part? She used a pointy dental scraper to push the gauze in.

I cried and cried and cried and cried and cried. It hurt so bad.

I had to have the gauze removed and repacked the following two days. Oh, the pain. After three days of the gauze, I was then given two syringes. One to fill with warm water to flush out my socket after eating, and one filled with dental paste to fill the socket whenever I felt pain.

Last week pretty much consisted of me crying, visiting the oral surgeon’s office, visiting my regular doctor’s office (for the heart problems during the surgery) and baking like crazy.

My brother’s wedding is on Saturday, and I’m baking all of the cookies for the reception. 1,000 cookies to be exact.

Though it seems like baking during the time I had a dry socket (well, I technically still have one…) would be awful, it was actually a nice distraction because I adore baking.

Honestly, last week is a complete blur to me. I’m just getting back into “real life” again. I went to the gym for the first time in almost two weeks yesterday, and I’m (happily) starting to eat crunchy foods, too. Generally, I’m feeling a lot more like “me.”

I’m not 100% yet, as my mouth is sore (I still have a dry socket) and I have some heart issues to sort out, but I’m feeling worlds better.

I really depended on God, my amazing family, friends, and Jimmy last week. And my pets. And watching Sharknado made me laugh… but laughing kinda hurts…

Anyways, I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated as I continue to heal!

Heeey there! It’s been about two weeks since I last blogged… weird! It’s also been about two weeks since I deactivated my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. During my little hiatus I learned a lot about what’s important to me in life and how I feel about blogging and social media in general.

Why I took a break from blogging and social media:
-I wanted to strengthen my relationship with God.
-I wanted to truly focus more on important relationships in my life.
-I felt like my blog was becoming too “me” focused and selfish.

How I felt:
-At first I felt almost panicked, like I was missing everything going on in the world.
-After a few days, I felt very free because I wasn’t “available” 24/7.
-It was amazing to spend less time staring at my computer and phone.
-It was also great not to read blogs and compare myself to others (I know I have the choice not to compare myself to others, but I often feel like it happens almost automatically for me).
-I felt out of sorts at times because I was so disconnected from people that I regularly talk to via blogging and social media.

Other thoughts:
-Spending less time blogging and using social media helped me become a better listener and gave me more free time to do things for others.
-I’ve learned that social media/blogging can be great, but can also take my attention away from more important things in my life if I allow them to.
-I’m struggling with feeling like I must have a blog or Facebook account in order to connect with people and learn about what’s going on in my friend’s lives. Ugh.
-I’m likely going to be reading blogs and blogging a lot less. I want to blog on my own terms–for the enjoyment of it instead of feeling like I have to document every aspect of my life and keep up with every blog out there.

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Whew, it felt good to get that off of my chest!

So, what have I been up to for the past two weeks?

Vacation Bible School at my church was great! I worked in the kitchen and Hannah and I were puppeteers.

I competed in a sprint triathlon and placed third in the 19-29 age group.

I harvested zucchini from my garden, Jimmy and I made chocolate chip and raisin zucchini bread, and I began working for my parent’s real estate brokerage (more on that in another post).

I bonded with Hannah and Felix and went swimming at a local lake.

And last but not least…

I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning.

My dentist told me to have them removed a few years ago but I kept putting it off. They started hurting me earlier this week, so I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday and less than 24 hours later I was in surgery. The doctor said my something was wrong with my heart during the surgery, so I have to see my regular physician on Tuesday to figure out what’s up with my ticker.

I’ve been laying around on the couch eating soup and jello and popping lots of Advil. It’s nice being babied by Jimmy, too. We rented Despicable Me last night and it was such a cute movie! Here’s to hoping I can heal up quickly with no dry sockets!

What’s going on in your life?!