Hey y’all!
Remember how I wrote about my issues with my teeth and everything? Well I had dental surgery Friday before last and it had me out for the count for much of last week, and then a sick kiddo kept me out the rest.
The surgery actually went better than expected for someone with a lot of dental trauma. I tried nitrous for the first time! Growing up poor, I did not go to the sort of dentists that had nitrous available.
Wow - what an experience! I don’t think I’ve ever felt so high in my life (which either says a lot for nitrous, or for my limited experience with fun drugs). Anyway, I can’t say I enjoyed it as I dislike anything that makes me feel like I’ve lost control of my faculties, but it was so much better than being fully present for an extraction and bone graft.
By the way, do you know that they just let you drive home after giving you nitrous? They shouldn’t do that.
Anywhoo.. that part went better than expected, but the pain after was intense, so I took some of the pain meds that were described for me and that is where the trouble started. Narcotic pain killers usually don’t work all that well on me and can make me feel really down, so I try to avoid them. But my entire head was a heartbeat of pain??? So I took these pills and it was a NIGHTMARE!
Over three days of vertigo. The room wouldn’t stop spinning. I couldn’t stand or walk. I felt like I couldn’t take in a full breath. It was terrifying and I’ve never experienced anything like it, and hope to never experience it again.
After I recovered from that experience my kiddo got a wicked cold (not covid, thank goodness) and was home with me and then my partner had a stomach ailment for a few days, and I was still pretty wiped out so most of the week was a wash - although I somehow gave two talks for work? I really hope the words coming out of my mouth made sense.
So I’m sitting at my desk to work on my book and my ever-growing to-do list and I decided to send a note letting y’all know that this is why you didn’t get any super-cool newsletters from me this week. Except for this one - which is only a little cool!
I hope y’all are hanging in there these days! The sun is out here in Seattle today and I’m trying to train our puppy so if you see me out here in these streets looking like a weirdo as I walk my dog back and forth about 20 feet at a time over and over again, give me a wave!
WHOA DANG THAT'S A LOT. I'm appreciating TF out of getting any kind of update given all that's going on. Big, big healing vibes aimed in your direction.
On another note, nitrous is *outstanding* for some, including me (who likely has way more history w/fun-drug stuff than you do). First time I had it was for surgical extraction of an impacted wisdom tooth. They hooked me up, and I realized almost instantly why they call it laughing gas. I could NOT stop laughing because with this lumberjack of a dentist, all elbows, wrists, and power tools, was neck deep in my oral cavity and the phrase "oral sex" just kept looping through my (admittedly weird AF) brain. The job got done. Took percocet for a few days. But post-surg dental pain is worse, for me, than post-op joint replacement pain. It's all bad, pain, tho. Ice and/or heat packs help, too. Mostly ice packs. Gentle hug, my dear.
Omg your reaction to narcotics is enough for me do everything I can to not use them after my top surgery later this year. I’m SUPER sensitive to any kind of drugs and am sure I would likely have a similar reaction. They prescribe those things like it’s no big deal but, it’s a very big deal! Thanks for the cautionary tale.