The Age of Wisdom

Aaron had all four wisdom teeth removed yesterday, but it felt like they extracted his pleasant, easy-going personality. After his surgery, the nurse and I helped him walk out to the car. On the way home he tried talking to me and was very frustrated that I couldn't understand him. He seemed to think I was really stupid or possibly deaf, but I patiently explained to him that his mouth was full of gauze and that made it difficult for him to talk.

At home, he sat down on the bed and then laid his head down with his feet still on the floor. He was annoyed that I wanted him to put his feet up on the bed. He couldn't understand why I wanted him to eat some yogurt and take a pain pill. He finally agreed, but insisted that he could take the pill lying flat on his back. After much coaxing, I finally got him to sit up a bit. When I put ice packs on his cheeks, he questioned my motives, but I assured him that I was just following the doctor's instructions. He kept saying, "Did the doctor tell you to do this?"

After several hours, he was still deathly pale and seemed groggy so I tried talking to him to see if the anesthesia was wearing off. He was clearheaded enough to grab his computer and type, "Will you stop asking me unnecessary questions?"

Hours later I asked him what he had been doing on his phone right after surgery. He explained that as soon as he woke up he took a picture of himself and posted it on Facebook. "Why did I do that?!" he wondered aloud.

Twelve hours after surgery, he finally seemed like himself and was able to eat and drink. I reminded him of the pre-op movie we had watched at the surgery center. The film explained that the third molars are commonly called "wisdom teeth"' because they usually come in around age 18. The narrator then explained that the age of 18 is often referred to as "the age of wisdom". I laughed out loud at that line and fortunately Aaron was wise enough to laugh too!