Weak stomachs: beware...this is not for you!!
On Wednesday September 21, 2011, Mother got her wisdom teeth removed.
She came out of the anesthesia all right, came home with Dad, and started vegging on the couch. Everything seemed normal, so Dad left for work, leaving me to care for her. After a time of sitting on the couch and watching TV together, mom had eaten some yogurt, and had drunken (lol) some water and juice with her pills.
Then she pulled out some gauze she had put in her mouth...and it was soaked...soaked with blood.
She was like "This isn't right. I don't think I should be bleeding this much" (not exact words considering that she had a bloody and numb mouth). She rushed to the bathroom and motioned to me to call the dental office. I did so, and they told me to put pressure on the wound with the gauze- I told mom, and then called dad, and he told me the same thing. Mom sat back down after putting more gauze in, and we thought it was going to be fine...(I was traumatized at this point, having just seen blood seeping out of my mothers mouth...and not knowing how to deal with it.)
Finally dad got home, and I explained the situation, mom frustrated that something was wrong and not knowing what to do and not being able to talk (she wrote to us on her "cow pad"). Dad and I kept trying to get the bleeding to stop, but it wouldn't...it was all drippy and seepy and congealed. It was trying to clot, but wouldn't. EWwWwWwWw.
Dad read in the little booklet they sent mom home with that wrapping a tea bag in gauze and pressing that against the wound would help it clot. So I went to the store in search of tea. (Note: I have never bought tea. I don't know the difference between herbal, iced, regular, green and whatever tea!) Needless to say, I bought the wrong stuff. The book said no herbal tea...so I bought green tea. That was a fail. I came home and after mom saying it wasn't the right kind, I went in my room and cried.
All the while, dad kept helping mom change the gauze in her mouth. Every 15 minutes it seemed, mom would get up and motion that her mouth was full of blood and that she was going to choke. Then she'd lean over the sink trying to drain it of the red sticky stuff... I was in shock, and I couldn't even help my dad with mom. I still feel bad. After HOURS of trying to get the bleeding to stop, the office called and asked how mom was. i handed the phone to dad and he explained the situation. They said to bring her back in and they'd take a look. I stayed home, and dealt with trying to recoup from the experience... Mom came home WAY better than she had been, and its been normal ever since.
I now know that any medical profession dealing with blood is not for me. I'm still a little sick, and I get queasy when i think of it. Thank goodness for Dad and his willingness to clean up the...blood.
