I just made a very rare foray into the medical care vortex

Yesterday, I had to have minor oral surgery. You see, I neglected my teeth as a teen and have been paying for this error ever since. I won’t share all the details but I’m fine now and would like to share three brief anecdotes.

I will own up to feeling some genuine anxiety as the day neared. Then it hit me. This was my first medical procedure since I was in my 20s. Back then, I developed a ganglion cyst on my right wrist. It was sitting on a nerve and causing intense pain, so I had it removed in same-day surgery. 

Prior to that, the only other surgeries I’ve ever both had took place when I was two years old — tonsillectomy and hernia repair.

As soon as I remembered this positive reality, I understood why I was so anxious. This was virtually uncharted territory to me and some stress was to be expected. So, I accepted the silver lining and stopped being so hard on myself.

Of course, yesterday’s experience involved filling out forms. I left the pharmacist section blank. The young woman at the desk assumed I just overlooked it. I explained that since I haven’t taken any prescription medications in a very long time, I don’t have a “regular pharmacist.”

For a few seconds, it was unclear what to do since the office required that a pharmacy be listed. She finally just wrote in the local Duane Reade and left it at that.

Before commencing the procedure, I was asked if I wanted local anesthesia (e.g. Novocaine), partial sedation, or full sedation. The dental assistant seemed a little surprised that I asked for just the bare minimum of local anesthesia. It seems many if not most people choose sedation.

She agreed with my decision and explained that oral surgery is often not too painful in the moment. But all the pressure, tugging, etc. scares people in theory so they choose to sleep through it rather than find out for themselves that something is not as dangerous as they were led to believe.

Overall, things went very smoothly. I appreciate everyone in the oral surgeon’s office for being so incredibly nice and professional. Most of all, I’m super grateful to have had very minimal exposure to such experiences in my life.