Yesterday, I got all four of my wisdom teeth removed by an oral surgeon and needed to receive general anesthesia due to my wisdom teeth being so close to a nerve in my gums. I found that getting general anesthesia was a painless and easy process. Below I will talk about what the process was like.

Right before I was about to receive the anesthesia, I was given an oxygen tube where oxygen was fed through my nose. I also had EKG wires all over my chest to monitor my vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygenation level. What I found to be interesting is when I worried about the surgery, my heart rate went up and the machine would beep faster and the machine would beep slower if I stayed calm and relaxed.

At the time I was ready to be anesthetized, the doctor told me to make a fist so he could put an IV needle in my forearm. I did that and he put the IV in my forearm. He then attached a syringe to the IV to prepare to administer the anesthesia. Then, I vaguely remember a white milky substance being fed through the IV. Almost literally when I started to see the milky white substance flowing through the IV, in about five seconds, I was unconscious.

So what did it feel like being unconscious? It felt great and immediate. It also felt the closest thing to time travel that I could think of. Even though the surgery lasted about forty-five minutes, it felt as if it took only five seconds. I felt as though I woke up immediately after the anesthesia was administered. When I woke up, I felt groggy and I had two gauze pads in my mouth. My teeth were bleeding (more specifically, the sockets where my wisdom teeth were) a lot but I did not feel anything. I had no memory whatsoever of what happened during the surgery, however, I do remember what has happened to me. The only memory I had was the discussion I had with the doctor and nurse pre and post surgery.

When I was being driven home, I realized my whole lip was numb. It appears they also used a local anesthetic to keep the pain level down. This numbness lingered for about a day.

When I arrived at home, I was so tired I immediately went to sleep. I was asleep for about an hour and a half before I woke up again. When I woke up, I realized I was still bleeding and I needed to use another gauze pad. I needed to keep using gauze pads throughout the whole day. The only foods I could eat were soft foods and drink such as mashed potatoes or milkshakes. I continued to bleed throughout the day and through the night, but the bleeding stopped the next morning.

So if you’re wondering, should you be afraid of general anesthesia during surgery? The answer to that question is not at all, you should not. In fact, it is much more nerve-wrecking to be conscious than unconscious. When you are conscious, you may feel things such as pain and you make new memories. When you are unconscious via general anesthesia, you feel and remember nothing and you wake up in what feels literally like the blink of an eye.

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