Lucky me! I get to be the medical miracle!

I used to be a gum chewer. I always had gum in my purse and most of the time I was chewing it. I liked the flavor, I liked having something to chew on, and not worrying about bad breath is a nice perk too. It all stopped abruptly in 2005 when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. I was 25, one of them was bothering me a bit, so I went in for a routine extraction. I didn't have any that were impacted so it should be a piece of cake, right? WRONG!

I woke up that evening with a pain medication hangover, Dave was watching something on ESPN classic, I had a plethora of mashed potatoes and chocolate milkshakes because my friends are the bomb, and I felt like I had been hit with 2x4's on both sides of my face. I got out of bed and went to sit in the living room because who could resist the 1987 classic: LSU vs. Georgia Bulldogs...I remember it like it was yesterday...

I digress...so I woke up and began to change all of the necessary dressings and I realized the right side of my tongue was still really, really numb. Like crazy numb. I told Dave how weird it was because the rest of the anesthesia seemed to have worn off. A couple of hours later, my doctor called himself to check on me. At this point it was around 6:30pm. Dave told him I seemed to be doing really well, didn't have a lot of swelling, no immediate bruising, but the right side of my tongue was still very numb. My doctor seemed a bit baffled, but figured I was just highly receptive to the anesthesia and told me he would check in the next morning.

Well, let's just say it's now March of 2010 and my tongue is still numb! Yep...freaking weird!! And guess what, "In his 35 years of practice he has never had this happen." Lucky me. I get to be the medical miracle!

It seems the doctor severed a nerve while taking out my wisdom teeth and as a result I have no feeling in the right side of my tongue and very hightened sensation in the gums on the lower, right side of my mouth.

I've had corrective surgery, I've had one of the top oral and maxillofacial surgeons in.the.country. take my case and he is the one that performed my corrective surgery....and it didn't work. Ah, friends, it's always fun to have doctors calling you to interview you when they are WRITING THEIR BOOK because you are a "very interesting case".

I'm virtually the 8th wonder of the world. You know, the 8th wonder that bites their tongue when chewing gum and can't feel the right half of their tongue....