09 April 2010
Ebay
So...I've been doing a lot of Ebaying lately. Probably not the best thing, but it's just too much fun. Today, while searching for journals, I came across someone selling some poor lady's journals comprising the years of 1966-1985. To make matters worse, the journals weren't being auctioned as one set; the twenty or so journals were being sold in sets of four. Now I don't know the author of these journals, but I can only imagine that, if she knew, it would break her heart. If anyone ever did such a thing to my journals, it certainly would. I wouldn't be too surprised if the author's ghost starts haunting the seller's home or something. Ugh, makes me sick just thinking about it.
Wisdom Teeth
April 2nd held a lot of firsts for me: my first surgery, my first IV...my first time taking heavy duty pain killers... All because I got my wisdom teeth out (which was also a first, of course ;) ).
The appointment began with a consultation. Dr. Park examined my X-rays and told me a little bit of what to expect. I had all four wisdom teeth and I had room to keep the upper ones but not the bottom ones. Of course, the upper ones would have nothing to bite on so all four had to go. The top teeth seemed to be the easier ones; they were both facing the right way, although still under the gum. The bottom wisdom teeth had grown some root so the chance of paresthesia was about 5-10% for one side and about 20% on the other side. Both bottom teeth were sideways and would require stitches. The doctor also predicted that some of the bone would have to be taken on the left side. (That kind of freaked me out. Well, I guess the whole extraction freaked me out so nothing new.)
After the consultation, I was taken back to one of the ORs and everything went very quickly from there. I was given some pills (ibuprofen and something for nausea) and hooked up to monitors (an EKG, a pulse oximeter, and a blood pressure machine) and was put on oxygen. Dr. Park then came in and placed my IV. I wasn't too nervous for this part and I was right to not worry about it. I didn't feel anything at all because they used some kind of spray that turns cold on the arm. The doctor then asked me how I was feeling. I responded "Alright" and then, after a couple of seconds, "Actually I do feel a little weird". And that's the last thing I remember. I don't remember feeling tired or anything, I just went unconscious in a single instant. It's the weirdest/coolest feeling to think back on.
The next thing I know, I'm sitting in a wheelchair in a hallway and the assistant who helped with my surgery and my mom are there. I was involuntarily shaking all over. Through the grog, I heard the assistant tell my mom that the shaking can sometimes happen as a side effect of the anesthesia. I also remember the assistant asking me how I was doing. I told her that I was thirsty so she brought a can of apple juice and gave me some in a little syringe. This was way too much for my confused brain to comprehend so I grabbed the whole can and tried to drink. I didn't realize or understand that my mouth was full of gauze; everything was numb for Pete's sake! So I basically just succeeded in soaking my gauze in apple juice, dribbling it on myself, and creating the opportunity for the assistant to have to change my gauze. It was funny because I didn't link these events in a logical way at the time. In fact, it was a few days later that I actually pieced together what happened. I just figured that I needed fresh gauze anyway and I had no clue as to why I couldn't properly get the apple juice down. My mom tells me that at this time the assistant also relayed all of the post-op instructions to her (but I don't remember any of this).
On the way home, we stopped at Smith's so my mom could fill my prescriptions. The drive was all a blur; I don't remember much of it. I just waited in the car while she ran in. I alternated between dozing off and writing in my journal (I wanted to write the experience while I was still a bit loopy to see if I'd write anything funny).
By the time I got home, I was pretty alert. Time seemed to pass in weird ways for the rest of the day though. I had to keep the gauze in to stop the bleeding for quite awhile and it was the most annoying thing ever. It was uncomfortable and anything I said was very mumbled and difficult to understand.
Recovery hasn't been too bad. I'd say the worst part was the Lortab. It made me feel sort of light-headed, the kind of light-headed experienced when you've been awake all night and you're so tired your head swims. It (or something) only made me nauseous enough to throw up once which was probably due to the fact that I didn't eat very much with it that time.
The appointment began with a consultation. Dr. Park examined my X-rays and told me a little bit of what to expect. I had all four wisdom teeth and I had room to keep the upper ones but not the bottom ones. Of course, the upper ones would have nothing to bite on so all four had to go. The top teeth seemed to be the easier ones; they were both facing the right way, although still under the gum. The bottom wisdom teeth had grown some root so the chance of paresthesia was about 5-10% for one side and about 20% on the other side. Both bottom teeth were sideways and would require stitches. The doctor also predicted that some of the bone would have to be taken on the left side. (That kind of freaked me out. Well, I guess the whole extraction freaked me out so nothing new.)
After the consultation, I was taken back to one of the ORs and everything went very quickly from there. I was given some pills (ibuprofen and something for nausea) and hooked up to monitors (an EKG, a pulse oximeter, and a blood pressure machine) and was put on oxygen. Dr. Park then came in and placed my IV. I wasn't too nervous for this part and I was right to not worry about it. I didn't feel anything at all because they used some kind of spray that turns cold on the arm. The doctor then asked me how I was feeling. I responded "Alright" and then, after a couple of seconds, "Actually I do feel a little weird". And that's the last thing I remember. I don't remember feeling tired or anything, I just went unconscious in a single instant. It's the weirdest/coolest feeling to think back on.
The next thing I know, I'm sitting in a wheelchair in a hallway and the assistant who helped with my surgery and my mom are there. I was involuntarily shaking all over. Through the grog, I heard the assistant tell my mom that the shaking can sometimes happen as a side effect of the anesthesia. I also remember the assistant asking me how I was doing. I told her that I was thirsty so she brought a can of apple juice and gave me some in a little syringe. This was way too much for my confused brain to comprehend so I grabbed the whole can and tried to drink. I didn't realize or understand that my mouth was full of gauze; everything was numb for Pete's sake! So I basically just succeeded in soaking my gauze in apple juice, dribbling it on myself, and creating the opportunity for the assistant to have to change my gauze. It was funny because I didn't link these events in a logical way at the time. In fact, it was a few days later that I actually pieced together what happened. I just figured that I needed fresh gauze anyway and I had no clue as to why I couldn't properly get the apple juice down. My mom tells me that at this time the assistant also relayed all of the post-op instructions to her (but I don't remember any of this).
On the way home, we stopped at Smith's so my mom could fill my prescriptions. The drive was all a blur; I don't remember much of it. I just waited in the car while she ran in. I alternated between dozing off and writing in my journal (I wanted to write the experience while I was still a bit loopy to see if I'd write anything funny).
By the time I got home, I was pretty alert. Time seemed to pass in weird ways for the rest of the day though. I had to keep the gauze in to stop the bleeding for quite awhile and it was the most annoying thing ever. It was uncomfortable and anything I said was very mumbled and difficult to understand.
Recovery hasn't been too bad. I'd say the worst part was the Lortab. It made me feel sort of light-headed, the kind of light-headed experienced when you've been awake all night and you're so tired your head swims. It (or something) only made me nauseous enough to throw up once which was probably due to the fact that I didn't eat very much with it that time.
01 April 2010
Ok, so I really want to get back into blogging. It's a very satisfying hobby for me...
Anyways, so in the past year since I wrote, a few things have changed, but nothing too major. I still am just doing school (working towards a nursing degree) and working. I applied for UVU's nursing program last fall but I didn't make it because they changed the requirements while I was in the midst of taking them so basically, my grades weren't high enough to even apply. Part of the requirement changes also made it so you can only retake each prereq twice within a 5 year period. I found this out when I was in the middle of retaking a class... So yeah, I'm ineligible to retake anything for 5 years, which means 5+ years before I could even reapply. Kind of cold of UVU to do that. Anyway, I still really want to be a nurse so now I'm trying to get into Provo College's nursing program. I'm retaking Anatomy to get a more competitive grade at Provo College (where the course is MUCH easier) while finishing an associates Degree at UVU (just because I'm so close and I may as well have it).
Wow, that last paragraph makes me sound really dumb... I'm not a horrible student and my grades range from decent Bs to good As but it's the few Cs in the really hardcore science classes that burned me. Ah well, I will get where I want to be.
Yup, not too much has changed...
Over the last year I've had a lot of fun. I've hung out with lots of cool people, seen lots of awesome theatre, acted in Singin' in the Rain and had a fabulous time, took a trip to Colorado (so cool), hiked Timp (that was a feat), adopted a new kitten (named Mr. Henry), and many more awesome things. Life can be so much fun.
Anyway, we'll call that a decent update. Hopefully I will blog more often so I can stop doing these lame entries. :)
Anyways, so in the past year since I wrote, a few things have changed, but nothing too major. I still am just doing school (working towards a nursing degree) and working. I applied for UVU's nursing program last fall but I didn't make it because they changed the requirements while I was in the midst of taking them so basically, my grades weren't high enough to even apply. Part of the requirement changes also made it so you can only retake each prereq twice within a 5 year period. I found this out when I was in the middle of retaking a class... So yeah, I'm ineligible to retake anything for 5 years, which means 5+ years before I could even reapply. Kind of cold of UVU to do that. Anyway, I still really want to be a nurse so now I'm trying to get into Provo College's nursing program. I'm retaking Anatomy to get a more competitive grade at Provo College (where the course is MUCH easier) while finishing an associates Degree at UVU (just because I'm so close and I may as well have it).
Wow, that last paragraph makes me sound really dumb... I'm not a horrible student and my grades range from decent Bs to good As but it's the few Cs in the really hardcore science classes that burned me. Ah well, I will get where I want to be.
Yup, not too much has changed...
Over the last year I've had a lot of fun. I've hung out with lots of cool people, seen lots of awesome theatre, acted in Singin' in the Rain and had a fabulous time, took a trip to Colorado (so cool), hiked Timp (that was a feat), adopted a new kitten (named Mr. Henry), and many more awesome things. Life can be so much fun.
Anyway, we'll call that a decent update. Hopefully I will blog more often so I can stop doing these lame entries. :)
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