Remedies for recovering from having your wisdom teeth out

Last week, I joined the "wisdom-teeth-out" club. Did you know it exists? Well, it does - I mean, at least it should based on the things you have to experience! (I don't recommend Youtubing 'Wisdom Teeth Removal' - though, truth be told, while I did find it gross, it was also fascinating! In another life, I think it would be interesting to be a surgeon.)


As I know my roommate in college, Kaitlyn would despise it, I won't go into gory detail of the surgery (partly because I don't remember a thing as I was completely knocked out). I do want to note some life lessons and remedies I might offer to those who have this journey ahead of themselves.

Note: post surgery, I don't think I did anything like this:

 
Anyways....

DO'S

• Do have ice packs on hand. I might suggest 4 so you can swap them out in pairs as you cradle your face to ease the swelling. 

  

  I would wrap the ice pack with a paper towel for my face, and hold it with the towel so my hand didn't freeze.

• Do buy 'soft-food-groceries' the day before. I purchased soups (Cream of whatever - you can eventually "graduate" to soups of substance like Chicken and Wild Rice - though I did not eat the Chicken), yogurt, Jello and pudding, fruit and Kale for smoothies and, if your careful, popsicles.
   
  
  
  
• Do rent or gain access to movies - library, Netflix, Hulu, etc. Reading was a hard option as usually both of my hands were busy holding the ice to my face. 
• Do download the app "Over Drive Media". At the recommendation of my sister (heyyo Liv!), I did download this awesome FREE app. It connects you to your library to virtually check out audio books! I've been listening to the Hunger Games (one of the movies I watched) :).
  
• Do take it easy! There would be moments of pent up energy, that would be spent all to quickly doing the most basic things - like changing my ice packs. This was probably the hardest for me to do/be patient with/learn.
• Do take Ibprufen to help with swelling! I...I...I have been a chipmunk for 4 days and wish I would have taken these more often sooner.
• Do rinse your mouth with salt water. For me, it at least made me feel like I was cleaning the area of possible food.

DON'TS

• Don't take your antibiotic and pain medicine (usually Vicodin) at the same time! It causes explosions in your stomach and vomiting will occur. Trust me, I know. Alternate every two hours between the two pills. And need be, cut the Vicodin in half - that helped me a lot!
• Don't eat solid foods. You will miss them but just don't.
• Don't use straws! The vacuum/sucking action of your mouth could cause the sockets in your now empty gum cavity to re-open and not heal as quickly. Praises I avoided that!
• Did I mention don't take your antibiotic and Vicodin at the same time? Cause it's the worst.

Looking back, I really thought I would be in more pain post-surgery. Coming off a busy work schedule this past month, and as inconvienet as having teeth pulled is, I'm pretty confident God knew this would be the best time for me to do it. It forced me to rest, to do nothing, which was hard for me to do. But very needed.

"My heart will sing 'How great is our God..."

As a child, my mom had me and my siblings memorize Psalm 23:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

I've come to this passage many times in various seasons of life. Today, as I was reading it, "He makes me lie down..." stuck out to me. All to often, I find myself in GO GO GO mode, seemingly always looking to what's next - whether that is the next meeting I'm preparing for or just thinking about the next season of life (a friend wrote a great blog on singleness that has also spoken to this thought process). And in that, I find it hard to truly rest - even learning to live in the now.

I then thought about the beginning of time, when God was creating the world, knowing all that would unfold, HE still took time to rest. And in this Psalm, it tells me that HE makes me rest. 

Productivity. Tasks. Parties. Travel. Chores. Endless to-do lists.

How often do I fight the idea of rest with the urge to remain busy? All too much. And the scary part is that it is not a difficult battle.

But, when I do, it's in those quite times, I can hear HIM speak even more clearly and truthfully. Busyness is just another one of those tricks Satan has so sneakily crafted to keep us from experiencing a true and focused time with God. And I "fall prey" to it all too much.

Truth: my current life situation - work, part of the world I live in, roommate situation, church I attend, the community I have - is exactly where God has me to best further HIS Kingdom.  And it might change in the future, but for now, I need to focus and live by the power of the Spirit in the daily tasks HE has set before me. 

Oh the day when I see Jesus' face, I know my heart will sing "How great is our God!"