oneirophrenia | A Week with Prince Vicodin

That's what this is shaping up to be. The surgery wasn't anywhere near as painful and traumatizing as I thought it would be--in fact, the whole "going under" thing was kind of cool: the doctor plugged the Magick Syringe of Oneiric Goodness into the IV drip and asked me to keep a running tally of how I felt for him. I began with, "OK, so everything's just looking a little watery, and I'm thinking of the Devo song 'Going Under,' because it...wait a second--why's the light turning green?" I remember that very clearly, but afterwards...well, the world stopped being a blur only about an hour and a half ago. Looking back on my previous LJ entry, it's pretty "nrat" to see what I wrote when I was more or less coherent enough to write and pick music appropriate to a singularly drugged-out state (Pink Floyd, Otto, a little bit of Synaesthesia and Delerium), but here's a much more cognizant recap. I ended up losing four teeth--all in the back, so no one will ever notice: sorry to disappoint, but I don't have "summer teeth" now--and even though I begged the doctor to give me the teeth for my medical odds'n'ends collection, he couldn't due to statewide disposal protocol for biohazardous materials. Curses! Other than that, though...this trip to the dentist was probably the most comfortable, professional, and flatout nice one I've ever made! Dr. Tucker is incredibly professional, his assistant are all top-notch, and his office environment is surprisingly comforting. Considering how much I was dreading this, my relief at discovering it to be more than tolerable is PROFOUND. This is good, because in December I have to have more teeth taken out (these all on the upper maxilla).

I can't really talk, because my tongue and cheeks are all swelled up and they hurt. The raw, bloody, demonic sockets from which the dragon's teeth were wrenched barely trouble me at all: the gums feel a little sensitive, but that's really it....All the pain is very dull and seems to come only from my jaw muscles because they had to chock opn my mouth while doing the extractions. And Prince Vicodin takes care of that nuisance pain just fine!

I'm still going to need a good bit of time to convalesce, however, since the next couple of days are going to be critical for healing--I need to make sure no infection sets in, and I'll be troubled with pain for a little while yet....But again, nothing anywhere near as bad as I'd feared it would be!

My plan to eventually have all of my teeth removed and replaced with shiny structural diamond shark's teeth can finally go ahead without terror!

Anyway, here's a quick picture for you: