I'm On Drugs!
Ever see Almost Famous? Great movie. Best scene is when Billy Crudup's character is on the roof of some kids house party and he's going to jump off it into the pool, and they ask him what he wants his last words to be... and he says, "I'm On Drugs!"
That was me yesterday and last night. The drug? Vicodin. And let me tell you, it lives up to the hype, as I was flying high. OK, so before you start thinking I'm a hardcore narcotics addict, let me set the stage.
For months I could feel in the back of my mouth a wisdom tooth that had a cavity in it, but since it didn't hurt and didn't break off I didn't think anything of it. Until last Thursday, when I chewed a Werthers caramel and a little piece broke off. It felt weird, but didn't hurt. So I think OK, I'll make an appointment with the dentist and get it looked at. Too bad the only appointment was for two weeks from now, after I get back from New Orleans. But again I figured, what the hell, it didn't hurt, I can wait. Fast forward to Saturday night when I'm out with Brett eating dinner. I bite into a fry on that side of the mouth, and all of a sudden, pain. Like I hit a nerve or something. I tried to ignore it, but the more I hit it, the more it hurt, like hell. So Monday I make an emergency appointment with my dentist to get it looked at. I leave work early and the first words out of his mouth are, yeah, thats gotta go.
Basically, since the tooth was so far in the back, there was no way in hell brushing would've cleaned it adequately, so it gets a cavity, rots to all hell and basically imploded. He numbed me up with some Novocain, and scraped away some of the jagged edges and filled the cavity with some temporary filling material and suggested I go see an oral surgeon by the end of the week to get it yanked. He gave me two doctors names that took my insurance, so I set out to find one to get it out ASAP. I'm leaving for New Orleans next week, so I didn't want a pain in my tooth while on vacation. Especially to that town!
So I made an appointment for Tuesday to get the tooth pulled, and got clearance from my boss to work from home (out of vacation time after New Orleans passes), so I woke up, went to my parents house, where my dad took the day off to take me to the doctor. Went through the usual routine at the office, took some x-rays and sat down in the good old dentists chair. The doctor offered me the choice of being knocked out or just numbed up. I took the sedation! I just remember getting an IV in the arm and the next thing that happened was waking up. Isn't that the weirdest feeling in the world? Its like no time passed, but yet, it had... so a half hour of my life is gone. Oh well. They walked me to the car, with a goody bag full of gauze, and a prescription for an antibiotic and good old Vicodin! I got home and managed to gum down a piece of bread and took my first dose of each.
After 30 minutes or so the Vicodin kicked in and wow, what a feeling. I felt very sleepy, but tingly too. Definitely a high of some sort. I definitely didn't feel any pain in my jaw, which was a good thing. I hung out at home, working from my laptop, and trying to get through the experience. At about 3:30 I was feeling up to trying to eat something, so I toasted up some English Muffins and ate them, just to have something in my stomach for the next round of painkillers, which I then proceeded to take. I was sticking more to the 4 hours in the every 4 to 6 hours. With that one, once it kicked in, all I have to say is whoa. That one really threw me for a loop, and really messed with my stomach. So much so that I puked my guts up about two hours later. Soon after I thought it would be a good time to head home, as I had a physical therapy appointment.
I'm still curious just how the hell I managed to get home, considering the state I was in. I know I was sleepy, thats for sure. I got home and Seth and Rob were asking how I was doing, and could immediately tell how messed up I was. They advised that I not go to physical therapy and definitely not drive anywhere. I was all set to drive there, as it was only two minutes away, until I sat down on the couch and didn't want to get up. I cancelled my appointment 20 minutes before it was set to start and laid down on the couch. And passed out!
I was woken up by my oral surgeon calling to check on me, which was nice of him. After I hung up I passed right back out until about 9:20 when my mom called to check on me. At that point I got off the couch and went to my own room, laid down, and passed the hell out. That stuff really, really messed me up, well, that and the anesthesia.
I woke up in the morning to my mom calling me to check on me, and then got up and went to work. Work sucked, mostly because my mouth hurt, and I definitely didn't want to take another Vicodin and risk puking my guts up at work. I just took Tylenol and got through the day. Came home and I'm trying to relax. Now I have a bottle of Vicodin with my name on it, and no desire to take it. Fun stuff, huh?
So thats been my past few days... tons of fun... what about you?
Comments
I'm surprised they gave you an option to NOT be knocked out. I certainly wasn't, but I never would have chosen differently!
They gave me Tylenol with codine for the pain, but it made me SO sick I only took one and then just Advil from then on. Nothing like having minor surgery on your mouth and then throwing up, you know?
Posted by: Jenniy | November 2, 2006 12:58 PM