Skip to main content

Another Round of Wisdom Teeth

When Ben had all four wisdom teeth out in November, he couldn't understand why we had to take his wisdom teeth out. They weren't bothering him, and he saw no point in going through surgery and all the hassle of recovery and soft foods and no straws. So, I did some research and found out that it's better to have them removed when you are young even if they aren't causing problems, because the roots of the wisdom teeth keep growing and can wrap around your jaw. Removing them later in life can result in breaking the jaw, or even facial paralysis. It is a much riskier and more invasive process.

Kerry had two wisdom teeth removed on Friday. He had the two on the right removed when he was nineteen and for no particular reason, the two on the left have always remained where they are. Because I had done all my research about having wisdom teeth removed when you are, ahem, over twenty-nine, I was very nervous about this procedure. Not only is it scary, Kerry would be awake for the entire thing, where Ben was completely unconscious and had no memory of it. We even got some funny video of Ben while he was still loopy. Kerry wouldn't let me come take any video of him, so I'll just put a video of a random person after having her wisdom teeth out here because it's pretty funny:


Anyway, Kerry not only didn't have the luxury of being unconscious, he was nice and alert while they used a hammer and chisel to get the teeth out. Yes, yes, it was probably some sort of medical hammer and medical chisel, but come on. Imagine someone using a hammer and chisel on your teeth. Kerry said he felt like he had a concussion when it was done. The roots of his teeth had indeed wrapped around his jaw. They looked quite a bit like tusks, they were so long and curved.

I took Kerry to the pharmacy afterward to pick up a bag of drugs and he told me, "The doctor said I have to take seven to ten days of convalescent leave. I laughed and told him I can't do that! I'm going out to the field for a week on Monday!"

However, after a day of massive pain killers which made him nearly comatose, he began to see why he probably wouldn't be able to function in the field while he was taking them.

So he stopped taking the pain medication, and switched to just Motrin. And he went out in the field for a week.

So, sleep safe tonight folks. The US Army will not collapse and fall into anarchy. Kerry is on the job.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mammogram

I'm having my annual mammogram today. I always hear about how painful they are, but honestly, I've never thought they are that bad. Not the most comfortable, but not painful either. Every time I have a mammogram, I'm reminded of this story. It won the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition and I still get a kick out of it every time I read it. So I'm posting it here today for your reading pleasure: Erma Bombeck Writing Competition 1st place in Humor Category Winner Leigh Anne Jasheway of Eugene, Oregon "The First Time's Always the Worst" The first mammogram is the worst. Especially when the machine catches on fire. That's what happened to me. The technician, Gail, positioned me exactly as she wanted me (think a really complicated game of Twister - right hand on the blue, left shoulder on the yellow, right breast as far away as humanly possible from the rest of your body). Then she clamped the machine down so tight, I think my breast actually turned inside o...
2 comments
Read more

Queen Emma's Summer Palace

We recently visited Queen Emma's Summer Palace in Honolulu. If you are expecting a "palace", you will be disappointed. It's a nice house but not particularly palatial . If you think of it as Queen Emma's Summer Cottage, you'll enjoy it more because it will meet your expectations. Queen Emma was the wife of King Kamehameha IV. Their only child, Prince Albert, died at age four, and King Kamehameha IV died a year later. It's a sad story. The home was used by the royal family in the mid-1800's. Today it holds artifacts from that time period. Some of the furnishings and memorabilia actually belonged to Queen Emma. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside, so I didn't take any pictures. I did, however, find some images on the internet which I am copying here. Don't sue me, please. I did try to buy postcards in the gift shop, but they didn't have any. This photo is of the parlor. Queen Emma acquired this baby grand piano later ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cookie Map of Egypt

Katie is studying ancient Egyptian history right now and in the interest of making it more "hands-on" for her, we've joined a co-op at our church. We've been part of the co-op for a long time, but we've not done history with them until now. I was in charge of this week's craft project so I had all the kids make maps of ancient Egypt out of cookie dough. Katie and I made one at home for practice, then we made one again at co-op so the pictures look different as I used some photographs from each session. Each child started out with one full tube of sugar cookie dough. They pressed each one out into a 10x6 inch rectangle as if it were clay or play dough. We used toothpicks to outline where we wanted land formations to be. Then we outlined the Mediterranean Sea with a blue gel. And filled it in with blue icing. We used Twizzlers to outline the Red Sea. Although the Red Sea isn't actually red, there is a seasonal algae there which is red in color. I thought the...
4 comments
Read more