Minus 4 Teeth, Still Dashing

The only other surgery I have ever gone through was also dental, back in 3^rd grade. I had lost both of my baby front teeth, and they didn’t want to grow. Months and months passed, and they wouldn’t grow. I think it was because I kept putting my tongue on them hehehe. My mami used to tell me, “Yerika, si sigues haciendo eso no te van a crecer los dientes.” Of course, I didn’t listen to her and continued putting my tongue on them. Fast forward to going a couple of times to la Dentista Doctora Jimenez in Dyckman, and finding out that I actually had a real problem. Side note: She is the reason why I am not a fan of dentists :|

I remember lying on a dental chair, looking at her putting the anesthesia on my gums with the biggest syringe ever. Mind you, needles, and I don’t get along. I don’t remember much of the operation, only that my mami was there with me. I don’t know where Ivets was. (Before you continue to read, just know I did a little bit of research on the operation to explain what it was to you. You may call me Doctora Yerika :) 

The surgery is called Labial Frenectomy. This procedure is done when the frenulum (the small V-shaped band that connects your mouth and gums together) is too thick, preventing your teeth from growing properly. So what Doctora Jimenez did was cut that section off, and then boom, my teeth started to grow. This surgery saved my life. I am not kidding, and no, I am not being extra either. Just imagine a third grader without both of her front teeth, the horror. The number of times people used to make fun of me because I was toothless was insane. Plus, I had a crush on this kid, Vincen. He had become my 3rd-grade hero, hehehe. He always sat next to me, teaching me English and how to write non-cursive. So imagine, liking someone and worrying about smiling so you wouldn't scare them lol.

After the surgery, my teeth started to grow super fast. I started to smile 24/7. I used to love smiling with all my teeth, but after being toothless for so long, I stopped smiling. Once they started to grow, I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt like a brand new child hehehe. The amount of “Wao, Yerika, your teeth are growing” that I experienced was so many lol. My confidence skyrocketed.

Now, fast forward to the 25-year-old beautiful woman who lives everywhere, that I am today, I was back at the surgery table. And you guessed it, once again, for my mouth. I came to New Zealand to take out all 4 of my wisdom teeth.

Before applying to the Peace Corps, as you know, I needed to go through a tedious medical clearance process. In that process, I had to get X-rays of my teeth. There, they spotted that my wisdom teeth were impacted and that I needed to take them out. Well, I didn’t want to take them out then because I felt that I was too young, and could have forgone a few more years with them in. Well, let me tell you that decision was the best decision I could have made. You might be wondering, well, why? Keep reading.

A year into my service in Fiji, my teeth started to hurt. I didn’t want to take them out because I didn’t want to deal with that in Fiji. But I couldn’t handle the piercing pain I kept experiencing, so I had to do something about it.

Let me tell you a little secret that I learned. When you are a volunteer and experiencing wisdom teeth pains, if you haven’t taken them out, well, the Peace Corps pays for your extraction. Yup, you heard me. They pay for flights, hotels, surgery, medicine, transportation, and daily expenses. Everything is PAID. Like, talk to me about blessings upon blessings upon blessings. Now, blessed I am, yes. And all the praise and thankfulness go to my Lord Almighty. He did that :) 

I arrived in Auckland on Sunday. I went to church. Oh, how I love LIFE Central. That was the same church I went to for the Christmas holidays. After I went and had dinner next door. Then I went back to Oaks, the hotel that I stayed at, and watched Catch Me If You Can. The following day was Monday. I finally went to Rosie’s and had their nachos, which were absolutely delicious and massive. I didn’t eat them all, so I decided to package them and give them to the homeless at Karangahape. The walk was a little far, so I just made way and started to explore other parts of Auckland. I ended up at Café Elohim, which is a beautiful Christian café. I spoke to Claire whose family owns the café (Turns out that Claire was also at the 6 pm church service yesterday night.) I can definitely attest that the Spirit of God was there :) If you are in the Auckland area and searching for a Christian community, you will definitely find it at Café Elohim!

After, I continued to walk and ended up at a Japanese store, which I had visited on my first trip to Auckland. I was hunting for a specific lip balm I had purchased before and couldn’t find it. I ended up buying “one,” which later turned out to be a foundation and not lip balm lol (I learned this later on when I had applied it on my lips, and it was burning :/) After the shopping, I ended up getting froyo and then went to the supermarket. I needed to stock up on food because I was about to be a prisoner at the hotel. Due to my surgery, going out and about was not an option. At the market, I bought eggs, cheese, potatoes, jello, juice, bananas, soup, salt, and ice cream. I went back to the hotel and watched 2 more movies, What to Expect When You're Expecting, and He’s Just Not That Into You. 

The following day was surgery day. I woke up and got ready. A cab was waiting for me downstairs (Bless the PC for arranging all these transportations.) Turns out that I was having my consultation and surgery on the same day. Usually, the consultation occurs first, and then a week later is the surgery. But due to time constraints, everything happened all at once. They told me that my situation was a bit delicate (which I already knew) because the teeth were touching my nerves. A common risk of this delicate surgery was that if not done properly, I could have ended up with permanent nerve damage resulting in numbness and tingling forever. This knowledge threw me of and I was very nervous and scared. I started to pray and then cry. Then I sent a quick voice note to Shiru, my faith warrior, asking for prayer, and then headed towards the operating room.

I had never been in an actual operating room before. The first time with la Doctora Jimenez, that surgery was in the same room where she did my cleaning. In this operating room, there were about 5 people. The surgery took about 30 minutes. Everything happened so fast. They asked me some questions trying to distract me while they did all the preparations. I said, “Please, I don’t want to talk.” They said, “Okay, we will talk to ourselves.” They told me to lie on the bed. A lady tells me she was placing oxygen into my nose, the doctor is like “I am placing an IV on your arm,” and I just ask, “Wait, I thought you needed to weigh me to make sure that the anesthesia is right,” and then stars. I felt so relaxed and calm. I was staring at 4 balls of lights that were hanging above me. My mind was thinking of so many things, both real and imaginary. I am smiling and laughing, running and jumping with joy. I pray a little. I felt someone's hand holding mine. I then remembered that someone was holding my hand. I squeezed it to make sure that they were still there. And sure did, they squeezed back. The next thing I hear is a drill, and then they are drilling my teeth. The next thing I hear is “open wide,” then “all done.”

“We are going to help you stand," they said. I was like “Okay." I tried to stand, and my legs were jelly. I start laughing. Then three people say, “We will hold you, and walk with you,” then they walk me to a chair in another room. I sit, and again, everyone is speeding around trying to help me. Someone placed placing another IV in my arm, another one is cleaning the blood that was dripping from my mouth, someone else is putting a lemon popsicle in my mouth, and all I can think of is, “Did they take out all 4 wisdom teeth?” and “Where are my teeth?” Time moved slowly, but then I felt every millisecond to the max. I started to laugh and to record myself. I hear the doctors talking and asking me if I am fine. I said yes. The lady who was driving me home appears. We wait a little longer, and then I am in the car. That car ride was nerve racking.

The next few days are a blur of me watching The Vampire Diaries, sleeping, drinking medicine, cooking, eating, and taking multiple naps. I would go to sleep at 2 am and then wake up at 10 am. I stayed in the hotel for 4 days. I left to go back to the supermarket. Came back to the hotel and let the cycle repeat itself.  

Saturday approaches, and I decided to go out. I wanted to fix my computer. I walked 10 minutes to a store I found online. They couldn’t fix it. I said bet. I searched for another store and saw that the train was leaving in 30 minutes. I said, bet. I walked back the same way I came, and then buy froyo LOL. (Can you see my pattern? Anytime I can, I WILL buy froyo :))This time around, it was definitely one for the books. For the first time EVER, I had ONLY gotten froyo, NO toppings. The horror! I didn’t get any toppings because of my surgery obvy! I couldn’t really chew. After a while, I walked to the train, which its station was absolutely beautiful. I hopped on, opened my book and read.

I got off 15 minutes later. Walked 2 minutes to the shop. The man at the counter says, “This will take a few hours, and it's $150.” I'm like, “Nop, thank you very much.” He then starts asking me, “Where are you from?” I hit him with the facts and then said bye. I went back on the train and started walking back to the hotel. The feeling of sadness had come back, knowing that I was headed back to captivity. I was talking to mami on the phone, and then I told her I didn’t want to go back. She’s like, ‘Oh, po sigue caminando.” I’m like bet. I ended up reaching an open mall and seeing an acai store. (I had yet to get acai in the 3 times I’ve been to Auckland.) I purchased a bowl. I told the worker, “Just the acai. I had my wisdom teeth extracted, and I cannot bite anything.” He was like, “Oh, okay.” (Plain acai is quite good.) I sat at a table, ate my acai as I read my book.

Sunday comes, I woke up, worked on my blog, and called a few people. After, I started to get pretty because I was going to church :) Ah, my favorite place. I washed my hair and did my makeup (I had forgotted to put on mascara, which I realized when I contemplated a girl's lashes on the bus ride to the church), and then headed to church. Again, the sermon was mind-blowing. The worship was fantastic. After church, I walked around for a little bit. I purchased a few souvenirs and then went back to the hotel. I did some laundry, packed and cleaned.

Monday comes, and I had another dental appointment, which I ended up requesting myself. Apparently, the dental practice that I visited does not do any post-op appointments unless there’s an emergency. I asked the few questions that I had on my mind. 3 minutes later, I got a mocha at a café, worked on this blog for a little bit, while I waited for my cab. I got dropped off near the hotel and then walked around the city for a while. I ended up at another café, Sierra Cafe, where I continues to work on this blog.

Now, you might be wondering, gurl, this blog is more of a diary than an actual blog. Well, yes, yes it is. It is a recollection of what happened to me this past week. I didn’t have my journal to write it down, so I figured I'd write it here lol. Plus, this surgery was so big and important, I wanted to share it with you. You're welcome!

So, wisdom teeth extraction is not very painful if you are sedated correctly. A very fast procedure. You must eat soft foods for the first few days. Make sure that after each meal, you rinse with salt water. Drink your medicines at the right times. Sleep elevated. Follow all this, and you will be fine. Spoiler: You will be looking like Lord Farqad for the first few days. Swollenness will attack you, lol. Want to see how I looked... hit the chat hehehe!

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this entry. If you have any questions or would like to talk, please hit the chat.

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 Stay tuned for my next blog - > It's Simply Just Not Meant To Be

XOXO Yerika