How did my first surgery undergo?

The Wednesday 20th of October, I had a surgery to extract my four wisdom tooth. I was kind of nervous since this would be my first and hopefully only surgery during my life. I did not have trouble sleeping so I had my usual 6 hours of sleep from 00:00 to 06:00. However, for the operation, they specifically told me that I could neither drink or eat at least, 8 hours prior. Therefore, I did not have breakfast nor drank any water at all. I was also instructed that someone should accompany me. As I would be in no condition to drive back after the operation, so my mother came along.

We arrived at the hospital at 9:20, 10 minutes before the scheduled surgery. Usually, you will need to wait some time until your turn but I was somehow lucky. It seemed that my surgery was actually at 9:10 so they were waiting for me. I was a little dumbfounded when they said that because I remember that they told me 9:30 on the call. The possibility exists where I was wrong or I misheard but it also does not make much sense. In Catalan, 9:10 translates to les nou i deu. Meanwhile, 9:30 translates to les nou i mitja or les nou i trenta. There is a huge difference between both variations but whatever, this does not really matter, does it?

Before entering the surgery area which is different than the operation room. I had to equip and put some hygienic protections like a hairnet and some plastic shoe covers. Including following the usual COVID-19 protocols here in Spain which are a surgical mask and a hand sanitizer. The nurse guided me to the room I was going to stay and then told me some instructions to follow. Basically, I needed rinse my mouth with a medicine envelope and a plastic glass that she showed me. Take off all my belongings and clothes except the underwear, and wear the specific garment placed on the bed. Lastly, lie down on the bed, cover myself with a blanket and simply wait for the nurse to come back.

Sometime later, after finishing all the aforementioned procedure, the nurse returned and injected me with a needle the antibiotic. Surprisingly, this turned out to be scarier than the operation itself since I dislike needles a lot. The thought of an unknown, thin and long object entering your body strucks me. A few moments later, my hospital roommate came back from the same operation that I was about to undergo. He was perfectly fine, could speak without issues and was in a good condition overall. This lightened up my mood slightly since I was starting to get tense as the operation time was slowly approaching. Also, I had the chance to hear the doctor speaking with the boy about what to do in the upcoming days regarding, pain, medication and diet. I definitely learnt some interesting and useful information.

As I had to take off my watch and phone, I had no idea how much time I stayed laying on the bed waiting. However, at some point they led me to the operating room which I had to go by walking but it was not that far to begin with. To be honest, I expected that I would be brought using the typical doctor movie or series method, where the patients get moved on the rolling bed but I guess that is for more extreme cases. It makes sense but that was kind of a letdown.

Once I was in the operating room, I heard classical music playing in the background. Specifically at that time, Nocturne by the composer Chopin was playing, which is actually my favourite classical composition. The operation itself was extremely fast or I lost track of time due to the sedative. It took more time to make all the preparations that the operation itself or that is what I believe.

Before the surgery officially began, they covered my whole head to prevent me from seeing anything during the whole process. The reason behind that because I obviously asked for, is to avoid unnecessary distractions and light bounces. Plus, it also greatly helps in calming down the patient. It would be very unnerving seeing some unknown people messing with your mouth constantly. As the surgery finished, I asked how much it took only to get told You should not be talking!. Then I was brought back to the same resting room from before.

The nurse told me that the surgery was a complete success and that I should rest for around half an hour laid on the bed. So, they could track how I was faring and decided whether or not after that period, if I was in a good condition to leave the hospital. For being a successful operation, I found myself in quite the horrid state compared to my roommate which had already left. He was able to speak clearly and without troubles meanwhile I could barely open my mouth. It felt like I did not have a mouth. The same feeling you experience when you are very cold and you cannot feel certain body parts.

I had 2 gauzes to chew on both sides of my mouth. That was probably to prevent an infection plus to stop partially the bleeding but I have no idea why. Those gauzes would cause me trouble since I was bleeding a lot and I needed to swallow often. However, every time that I did, the gauzes moved slightly deeper in my mouth. There was a time that I thought that I would die because I almost swallowed a gauze. At that point I decided that for the sake of my life. I could not keep having those gauzes in my mouth. However, I was hesitant in removing them sooner because I was really afraid to put my fingers inside my mouth as I could damage myself or even get an infection. I had to do it and fortunately nothing bad happened.

So, I removed them and called the nurse by pressing a button that you have next to your bed. Quite handy indeed. It took her a while to understand what I was trying to convey, as I could barely speak. Once she understood though, she came and gave me ice instead. Then, for the remaining time, nothing really interesting happened. The surgeon came to visit me and explained me briefly the medication, diet and recovery that I should follow. Along with the prescription paper stating all that in more detail. More or less, it was the same exact conversation that my now gone roommate had.

Basically, for the first 3 days, I would need to take an analgesic every 8 hours. For the first week, a medicine that I already forgot its purpose also every 8 hours. Lastly, for 10 days, some kind of mouthwash with the same interval as the other medicines. Additionally, I would need to have a cold liquid diet for 2 days plus while putting ice on both of my cheeks.

As I got the hospital approval allowing me to leave. I made the reverse procedure of what I followed when I entered the surgery zone. Dressing up and all that. Back then, I did not pay too much attention to it. Yet throwing away the plastic glass that I used to rinse my mouth at the beginning, would be a mistake. I was still bleeding a lot, so I needed to constantly swallow blood and that was personally a disgusting feeling. That plastic glass would probably have helped against that but I could not spit, so hard to say. The only way that I could get the blood of my mouth was to tilt my head downwards and let gravity do its magic. All my mouth muscles were unresponsive.

My mom greeted me when she saw me and asked me how was I doing. Which I answered Alright, but I can barely speak while giving a thumbs up. Before leaving the hospital, we acquired the surgery receipt as I needed it for my job. The whole stay turned out to be exactly 2 hours as I entered at 9:20 and left at 11:20. The car ride home was 20 minutes about me holding and swallowing blood as I expected. This is when the plastic glass would probably have been useful if I had not thrown it. However, I realized that after I had already left my room so it was too late.