This is me. I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday. My cheeks are so big that I can see them when I glance down. I feel like I've packed them with nuts in preparation for winter.

I had laughing gas (nitrous oxide... let's see, that would be NO3, right?) to put me under, and let me tell you, that was the trippiest experience of my life. The room started to spin and my arms and legs started to tingle and it felt like I was moving in slow motion and the dentist and his assistant were at x20 speed. I closed my eyes and the darkness and the weird 70s music and my body all blurred together in one giant spiral, spinning in on each other, and then they did things in my mouth. And then I opened my eyes, a little more oriented, to find out that they were only done with the first stage. There were at least two more stages of them cramming things between my teeth, and a stage where the assistant kept pushing on my jaw and nearly closed off my trachea in her efforts. And there were drills and pliers and other things. But the most important part was that it was fine. A little freaky with the crunching noises, but not that big of a deal.

When they were done and after they had x-rayed me and I'd come up out of the gas I cried just a little bit--not because it hurt, but because it had all been so much, and they'd left me alone and I was worried and scared and disoriented. I would say that having someone to pick you up and help you get your prescriptions and get you home and settled is the most important thing. Mom and I don't get along real well but it was really good to see someone who knew me and cared about me when I was ready to leave.

Surprisingly, I found myself quite well able to talk, and now (about 22 hours later), the numbness is gone (even though my root was exposed and they were worried about long term numbness). However, I have to admit that I am RAVENOUS. I can't even eat soup for another 3 hours, so all I've had is 4 milkshakes in the past 24 hours. And a pudding cup. No straws. Seriously, though, I would kill to get down a vasty cheeseburger with sauteed mushrooms and crispy onions. And some bacon on the side. Plus some potatoes.

Wisdom Teeth Food

Milkshake:

Get a big glass.
Pack half full of ice cream of your favorite flavor (vanilla, or chocolate--no crunchy bits!)
Fill the rest with milk.
Stir until it's a good texture.
Drink (no straw!)

Orange Smoothie: (for when you get sick of milkshakes)

Freeze some vanilla yogurt
Chip out 1/3 of a big glass of vanilla frozen yogurt (or vanilla ice cream might work--but at this point in time you probably need protein! go for the yogurt!)
Add a half cup of milk
Fill the rest of the glass with orange juice.
Stir until it reaches a creamy consistency.
Drink (no straw!)

Soon I'm going to upgrade to soup. I can't wait. :)