Nothing Good to Report

I hate to say it, but after a surgery life is pretty uneventful. I haven't felt like doing anything.

The left side of my face still has a nagging ache that turns to a slow throb by the end of the day. I'm still taking pain pills at night to help relax me enough to fall asleep. (I hope this doesn't turn into an addiction.)

I called my oral surgeon's office this morning to ask about what I needed to do to relieve my left cheek from its constant ache. Nurse Amanda said it was normal to still be swollen and to have minor pain.

I wanted to say, "Yo, Amanda. On a pain scale of 1 to 10, my left cheek is between 6-8 all day. Lose the stocked response, and tell me something that will help me." But I didn't.

So with nothing major to report this morning, I will leave you with this. A photo of the roommate.

A few weeks ago in her preparation for 5K training, she demonstrated stretches that could be beneficial to us after a run.

The Flamingo: A perfect combination of balance and stretch. It looks to be perfect stretch for the calves, hamstrings and quads. (I'm not a doctor, but I did major in science for 4 semesters.)

Pretty sure her facial expression makes this photo blog worthy. (I think she was saying something like REAAALLLLLYYYYYYYY stretch it out, Robin.)

Up to Speed

What up, bloggies? Long time, no talk. I guess that is my fault. But in my defense, I did have four wisdom teeth removed. And let me tell ya that was an experience.

My face was beyond huge. And bruised. And at one point, we thought I was going to have a black eye. But my jaws look quite a bit better, but they are still not 100%. The first few days were full of beautiful sleep, but the last three nights have been pretty restless.

And last night was no different. I went to bed after taking all of my medicine. My left jaw area was feeling pretty sore, and I had had enough of its throbbing. So I took the pain medicine and laid down.

An hour later, I was up getting the ice pack out of the freezer to soothe my aching jaw. An hour after that I was praying sleep would come because I had to go to work today. I think around 12:30 A.M. I finally fell asleep. I woke up numerous times because of the storm beating down my window, and at 1:45 A.M. I took another pain pill to keep the sleep.

Once the storm calmed down and the pain pill kicked in, sleep finally happened for a good while. But I still woke up off and on until my alarm went off all too early this morning. Luckily, I showered last night so I got to sleep later than normal, which was a treat.

Today, I'm feeling pretty sleepy/groggy and a tad bit sore on the left side of my face. I think my left side got the worst of it. I'm hoping the soreness is just a slow healing process and not a dry socket. Pretty sure I couldn't handle that right now. So please pray for quick healing and no dry sockets.

On a different, yet similar note: The wisdom teeth extraction has put a little hitch in my new running giddy-up. My new shoes are calling for me, but I fear I'm not recovered enough. I think I will take it easy this week until I talk to my oral surgeon on Friday. Hopefully by then I will be healed enough to go for a little jog and eat solid foods. This puree/semi-solid food business is for the birds. I am ready to eat all the foods I love.

Since the surgery I've had cravings for:

Fried potatoes
Bacon
Greasy cheeseburgers
All things crunchy - granola, fried chicken, chips, etc.
Pistachios
Drinking out of a straw (This one has basically broken my heart since day one. I love my straws.)

How was your weekend?

What foods do you crave when you know you can't have them?

Losing My Wisdom

On May 19, exactly one week and a day from now, I will be scared to death in a West Little Rock oral surgery chair. Yep, people. The wisdom teeth are coming out. And I fear it won't be pretty.

I've got a weird phobia of anything dental related thanks to a total kook dentist from Stuttgart who messed a root canal that I had to get redone. The only good thing that came out of that experience was a blinging gold tooth that showed up in numerous candid photos of me Freshman year.

Here is a sneak peak. I don't want to blind you with my former gansta tooth. But just wait. It gets better.

Before a UCA football game freshman year. Bling is getting more prominent. But brace yourself. It gets ugly.

And there it is. In all it's former glory. It's not even a pretty gold color. It's a shanky yellow gold. Thank goodness, it was just a temporary. Oh, the days of freshman year. Good times.

A lot of things have changed since freshman year. My hair is brown and longer, and that gold tooth is LONG gone. But the dental anxiety has remained.

In a week, I will go under the knife. All four of my wisdom teeth are impacted under my gums. And they are all sideways, pushing against the roots of my back molars.

While I'll be "asleep", it still makes me nervous. I should have never watched that stupid movie where the guy had surgery and could feel and hear everything, but not move or scream. That movie is vivid in my mind when I think about this minor operation.

I'm also freaked out because I could lose feeling in my face and lips. Yikes. Dang Dr. Woodard for showing me an informative, yet terrifying, video. But at least I'm educated about the process.

So pray for me and my mom who has to put up with me during that time. I'm sure it will be interesting to say the least. Maybe I will share a post-surgery swollen face photo. Or maybe I won't. I just depended on how scary I look.

Hope you enjoyed the flashback photos from Freshman year.

Until next time...