Teeth news

Well the news is that I had two wisdom teeth removed yesterday... Ouch this morning, but the strong painkillers are helping a lot...

It all started when we checked into the BUPA hospital at 1pm (no, we haven't won the lottery, I got free treatment thanks to Hugh's new job :-), which includes private medical insurance). So anyway, going to the Bupa hospital means hardly any wait for the surgery (compared to a year's waiting list for the NHS hospital) and a private room. The surgeons are the same in the two hospitals though! After a check-up by the nurse, and a visit from the anaesthetist and the surgeon, I was wheeled around 2pm into a pre-surgery room, where they stuck electrodes on me, put a clip on my finger (which measures the amount of oxygen in the blood), and the anaesthetist put a needle in my hand. A very nice nurse held my hand, said the needle would be the worse bit, and then liquid started going into me, and I must have fallen asleep, as I found myself in the recovery room after what seemed like very little time (about 3pm)! I had a student nurst holding my arm on the left, and a nurse on the other side. At first I heard them talking, then gradually started to look around. I was still wired to the heart/oxygen monitor and had an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose. There was a gauze pad in my mouth, which they removed. I became more aware of things, the student nurse explained to me what the monitor by my side was showing. I was unwired after a while, then wheeled back into my room after about 30 minutes, where the husband was waiting. From then on, I woke up more and more, was given some food (soup, juice and a yoghurt) and checked on by the nurse. Both the surgeon and the anaesthetist came round to see if everything was fine. We left around 6.30, and went home to the kitties.

So all in all it went a lot better than I thought it would, as I was quite nervous. Staff were I thought very good and reassuring. I particularly appreciated having the lovely nurses by my side both when I fell asleep and woke up.

The good news now is the pot of Ben & Jerry's ice cream waiting for me in the freezer (which the husband went to buy at 9.30 pm last night). Oh and also that I will never have a wisdom tooth infection again!