Lacking Wisdom Now

My eldest has had braces and so it was no surprise that her dentist said that she would have her wisdom teeth removed sometime this summer to keep the rest of her teeth in their new places. We scheduled a preop appointment and then the actual surgery appointment and before either of us knew it, the day was upon us. 

Back when I got mine out, there was no internet or YouTube videos but living in an age where both of those things exist, I wondered if my daughter would say something funny after the operation. I've seen countless videos of teens saying the funniest things while still under the effects of anesthesia on the car ride home. Perhaps that is why my mind was preoccupied with those sorts of thoughts and not where they should have been.

After the surgery, we were ushered back into the recovery room and immediately those thoughts left my mind seeing my daughter out cold on a bed with her mouth gaped open and full of bloody gauze and a white band around her head to hold ice packs in place on both cheeks. When she came too, she didn't say anything at all but just looked at me and cried, breaking my heart on the spot. I suppose that is a sign of being a parent when all you want is to be there in her place taking the pain so she doesn't have to feel it. 

For the the next five minutes or so, she would occasionally babble something but it was nothing I could understand so I don't know if it was witty or not but whatever she was saying always ended up in more tears. Fortunately the nurse tried to alleviate some of my fears by saying the tears were normal and that they usually stopped as soon as the patient was back home in familiar surroundings. Ten minutes later as I easer her onto the couch in the living room, it proved to be true. 

All told, the surgery lasted only a half hour, recovery about 20 minutes and an hour after she was put under, she was laying on our living room sofa babbling incoherently but no longer crying or seeming to be in pain. It took another 30 minutes before I could start understanding what she was saying but they were just questions of how long had the surgery taken, how long would she have to have gauze in her mouth, etc. Probably at the same time I could understand her words, she finally got her memory back. From them saying they were adding the anesthesia to her first lucid memory was about 90 minutes. 

I assured her that she held her tongue remarkably and didn't say anything embarrassing nor did I get a video of anything. I did take a couple pictures of her recovering in our living room though. As it turned out, I should have worried about her cell phone. When I was telling her later about the babbling and crying, she decided to check her cell phone and saw that she has sent a series of incomprehensible texts to two of her friends complete with two blurry closeups of her face with ice packs held in place by the elastic band around her head. She gave me permission to keep her phone away from her if there is a next time until she fully regains her faculties. 

So that rite of passage is completed. Next up, the other rite of passage, obtaining a drivers license.

P.S. if you notice my absence in the upcoming weeks, it is because I am. We are off on a vacation which among other things will satisfy my need to see new areas of the world, in this case my 47th and 48th states. The only two remaining will be Alaska and Rhode Island. I will get caught up on everyone’s blogs upon my return and I’m sure have a story or two to write about.