A bit of advice for anyone who knows someone about to have any sort of medical procedure: when you hear about the procedure, a response of "Ouch!" or "Oh, I had the worst complications with a similar procedure!" is really not very helpful. In the last few weeks, most people who've heard about this gum grafting procedure have responded with something along those lines. I would pass along great wisdom teeth horror stories, but I actually did a pretty good job blocking out this (extremely unhelpful) information.
Another tip: don't google around for advice. When you search "gum grafting," the second link you get is to The Procedure From Hell. I have been smart enough not to read this website but... people really seem to prefer to post horror stories than happy endings.
The good news, though, is my story really does seem to be a happy ending! I got to the periodontist office where I immediately had to turn over way more money than I would have liked (this was probably the most painful part of the procedure). It became really clear that I was having this surgery done close to wine country when the periodontist, in his post-op food instructions, informed me that when drinking wine, I could drink a central coast light wine like a chardonnay but nothing too heavy! After that, they gave me some ibuprofen and a sedation. Okay, the only part that didn't go so well for me was the sedation. An hour and a half after the sedation should have set in, someone came to gave me novocaine and informed me that I was more conscious than she wanted me to be! This was really good for my nerves. At this point, I become really anxious and sadly this feeling did not leave until after the procedure was over. She also asked me how I was going to have kids if I thought the novocaine shot hurt. Ya... she was not my favorite person...
The procedure itself wasn't bad at all, beyond my anxiety. I didn't feel anything and the one time I said I could start to feel something they immediately gave me more novocaine. Apparently, my mouth is very small and my jaw bone is shaped such that it was difficult to get to the area the periodontist needed to get to. This did result in a little bit more tension in their voices and pulling on my mouth than I would have liked. All in all, it really wasn't bad, it was just scary because I didn't know what to expect and people kept telling me I was more alert than I should be.
The only thing I'll change next time is asking for 2 sedation pills!
So far, my recovery seems to be going pretty well. I'm supposed to keep my talking to a minimum (the only bad part about doing this the day Jon leaves is I'm not supposed to talk on the phone!). Eating is difficult: it took me an hour to eat about 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese yesterday. But I feel quite fine, just a little tired. I'm sure all the food limitations will be a pain as I'm supposed to keep them in place for about 3 weeks, but no pain makes me very happy!
All in all, though, I still think Jon had a better day yesterday than I did!
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