Extraction

Oh, how grateful I am for modern medical technology!  Savannah has been complaining for months about how much her wisdom teeth were hurting her, but since I didn't have to have mine taken out until college, I hoped she was just exaggerating and tried to ignore her complaints.  That's not possible for very long.  She's a persistent girl, especially when she's uncomfortable.  And, guess what...when I took her to the oral surgeon, her x-rays showed that she actually did have tiny little wisdom teeth breaking through the gums just enough to cause a considerable amount of pain.  And apparently the average age for wisdom teeth removal is slightly lower than it used to be in 1990, because the dentist wasn't even a little bit shocked that Savannah might needs hers removed at the age of 16.  

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER shots from Savannah's Instagram:

It was definitely an eventful day.  We got to the dentist's office at 8:00am.  They got Savannah right in, and one hour later, after chatting with some lovely moms of other teenage wisdom teeth sufferers, I was called back to the recovery room to check on her.  The nurse escorting me said, "She's very upset, but that's totally normal."  And I walked in to find an inconsolable heap of Savannah sitting in a recliner, shivering under a blanket.  

After today, we're all convinced that oral surgery anesthetics make you turn back into whatever you were at three years old..optimistic, emotional, irrational, joyous, chatty, inquisitive...whatever that three-year-old YOU was, the drugs will find it and conjure it back up.  

Savannah has been slightly obsessed with those YouTube videos of people on their way home from wisdom teeth removal.  It's disturbing, but compelling to watch full grown toddlers.  Here are some of our favorites...

Here is the very short video we got of Savannah...

Do you know what she was like at three years old?  She was bossy, stubborn, easily frustrated, and insistent.  Hmmm...it was like living 1999 all over again for a little while today.

We barely got ANY video footage of her, though, because we were so worried that she was going to try to walk right out the door, or hurl herself off the couch, or rip the gauze from her mouth.  She actually DID do a couple of those things.  

For a little while she was irritated at the nurses, irritated that they put an IV in her arm, irritated about how bright the sun was, irritated that she could only drink smoothies, irritated about the gauze, and irritated that she looked like a walrus.  

About 30 minutes later, the drugs started to wear off and she calmed down...thankfully!  We took the gauze out, she drank part of a strawberry-banana smoothie, and she agreed to settle down with an ice pack a bag of frozen peas on her face.  

After school, a few friends came over to cheer her up with ice cream and flowers.  

 Love these kids so much!

I am SO happy this experience is mostly over.  I'm grateful for good dentists and patient nurses.  I'm grateful that Savannah is no longer three years old.  And I'm grateful that it will be a few more years before anyone else in this family has to have wisdom teeth extracted from their mouths.  We're looking forward to a relaxing weekend filled with movies, mashed potatoes and pain killers.  (well, not all of us will be on the pain killers...)

P.S.  All pictures and videos were downloaded with gleeful, heartfelt permission from Savannah.