Ouch! Part 2

I slept early last night thinking that I needed rest post-surgery, as part of the healing process. I slept at half past eight and woke up at quarter to seven this morning. I went out to drink some water and found that my fingers were blood-stained. I touched my face and felt the wet patch on my cheek. Immediately, I took my spectacles, still in daze, and looked at the mirror. My face was stained with blood and my mouth, when I opened it, was oozing blood!

I quickly spat out the water that I just drank. I thought it was disgusting! I was drinking my own blood. As I spewed out the liquid, I could see blood clots falling through. I kept rinsing and the red colour did not dissolve to a lighter hue. I realised my attempt to stop the blood was as futile as trying to wash off a deep wound of an injured leg. Instead, I drank some water and swallowed the blood with it. I needed to drink because I felt I was dehydrating and the anxiety/trauma that came with it further exacerbated the dehydration.

My body became cold. I was shivering; in this tropical climate, this was absolutely unusual! I thought I lost too much blood or I had not eaten something since yesterday. So I forced myself to eat some bread.

The clock ticked really slowly. It was only half past seven and I thought of returning to the dentist immediately. The clinic wouldn't open until 10am. So I had a good 2.5 hours to kill and nurse the bleeding gum, my way.

When the clock struck 9, I called the clinic hoping someone would be in early on a Saturday morning (how ridiculous)! Lady luck was with me. Someone picked up the phone and I was really happy.

"Hello, Good morning. I am Yap and I went for surgery yesterday. My gums are still bleeding. I think there's something wrong. I need to see the doctor."

The nurse replied, "Oh yes, Mr Yap, I remember you. Are you alright? Yes, you can come. What time would that be?"

"Right away! I think it's killing me!"

"Sure, Mr Yap. See you soon."

I hung up and quickly made my way to the city and saw the doctor. I kept mouth close all the time and swallowed lots of blood in between.

When I saw Dr T, he greeted me, "Hi Good morning. Now what happened to you?". Dr T gazed at my cheek and added, " O great, no swelling on your cheek."

"Morning, Dr. I was bleeding non-stop. It's not the lower jaw but the upper."

"That's weird. Usually people will have complications with the lower."

As the dentist was checking, he said, "Oh, you have a dry socket. You get that when the blood clot is dislodged from the socket. Hence, the bleeding. Don't worry about it, it's a simple procedure. I can fix that easily."

The procedure went on for another 20 minutes. It started with local anesthetic, then the doctor tried scraping the socket. I could hear the scraping sound though it felt numb and then, some stitching, laser, laser and more lasers. I don't actually know what happens when the laser is in contact with the gums but I saw smoke coming out of my mouth. It must have burnt the gums or something.

"Okay, done. I have stopped the bleeding. The lower socket is healing well. Remember, no activities for the next two days. You don't want it to bleed while you're jumping up and down."

"I am glad I came to check."

"Yes. The flap of gum dislodged and the blood clot meant to stop the blood from oozing out was dislodged too."

I pondered what the dentist said. I can only imagine having a cork unplugged and the blood was oozing freely. Could I have bled to death? But I was also drinking every drop of it. I don't think the body works that way. However, I did notice that the loss of blood certainly led to great anxiety and sent shivers to the body. Oh well, I am not eager to experiment this any further and I pray that I don't have to! Pheww...that was a close one.