Wisdom Teeth and Cheat Codes to Life

I was scheduled to get my widsom teeth removed today which meant a couple of things.  Most importantly, I got a day off of work.  It's really sad to say, but I'd prefer to have surgery over spending a day at work.  I was really pumped I was able to have a 4 day week, even if it did mean the extraction of 4 of my teeth with a drill.

Another item that came up throughout this process was an interesting theory that Heath and I developed over the past few weeks.  Heath got his wisdom teeth out a few years back, and was told not to eat anything for hours before the procedure due to complications that could arise with the anesthesia.  He forgot about those doctor's orders and got a muffin and chocolate milk at Wawa around 12:26 AM in the early morning before his procedure.  Heath went through with the surgery regardless, and had one of the smoothest transitions from surgery to normal life.  He didn't have to take any of the pain pills, and was even playing basketball later in the day.

So how does Heath's surgery impact me?  Good question.  As a joke, Heath mentioned that the reason he had such an easy time with the surgery was because of the accidental blueberry muffin and chocolate milk.  A few weeks back, we actually began to ponder if that actually was the reason he didn't experience much pain.  What if, in life, there were actually "cheat codes," that could get people through traditionally difficult situations with relative ease?  That sounds ridiculous, right?  Not so fast.  Anyone remember playing Mortal Kombat or Sonic, and entering a random series of buttons to give yourself unlimited lives or unlock secret levels?  In normal circumstances, they seemed absolutely ridiculous, but they actually worked in enhancing the game experience.   The programmers entered those options on purpose, and we were more than happy to take advantage of them.  Well, what if life's programmer (presumably God or some other higher power) made cheats available in life, but no one ever realized them because they seem so absurd and have no obvious correlation to the activity you're trying to accomplish?  Sounds insane, but it's kind of interesting to think about.

What if the way to cure cancer is to drive your car exactly 10 miles, run around it 7 times yelling "Silly Balls," drink a caramel frappuccino from Starbucks at 3:47 PM on a Thursday, and then watch 3 consecutive episodes of Lost?  You would never realize it because the series of events is so random and has no relation to cancer.  But that's the whole point of cheat codes, they don't make sense and have no relation to what you're actually trying to do.  So the next time something odd or extremely improbable happens in your life, re-trace your steps.  If you know someone who is in the same situation as yourself, tell them to try what you did and see what happens.  You just never know.

Needless to say, last night, at around 12:26 AM, I went to Wawa with Heath and had him pick out a blueberry muffin and chocolate milk for me.  We went back to his house, and I ate and drank away, not knowing what would happen today.  Well, so far, I've had extremely minimal amounts of pain, except for right when I came home from the oral surgeon's office.  I took one pain pill, and I'm not sure how much that is contributing or if it's the chocolate milk and muffin.  While I haven't played basketball or anything like that, I feel absolutely normal except for some minor jaw pain, and definitely feel like I could resume normal life activities tonight.  And come to think of it, I am watching basketball right now (2 boring blowout games between Louisville and Arizona, and also Oklahoma and Syracuse).  Very interesting...

Last item of business related to my surgery is that this was the first time since I was a year old that I had gone under anesthesia.  They told me I was about to go under in about 30 seconds, and I really didn't feel anything.  I was trying to stay awake (absolutely pointless) and was out within seconds.  The next thing I knew, I was in a waiting room with my parents, apparently repeating myself 3 or 4 times.  I guess me repeating myself doesn't only occur when I'm telling strippers how fantastic they smell.  The anesthesia thing was pretty cool because it's not like you're falling asleep and groggy, it's basically just time that is completely lost.  It can best be equated to when you've had a little too much to drink (OK, a lot too much) and you don't remember many hours of the night.  Glad that my surgery was able to bring me back to my college years.  All in all, a pretty successful experience.

You can expect many more posts from me throughout this weekend and this week, since I probably won't leave my couch until Monday morning.  Check back often.  Enjoy.

- Kaps

Song of the Day:  Ludacris - Blueberry Yum-Yum