by katlipari

First of all, relax… it’s not like that. Here’s the story— this summer I got my wisdom teeth out. Classic, routine, normal, right? Well that is not so! I was very nervous. To start, the oral surgeon looked to be about 16 years old, but overall I was pretty pumped about getting laughing gas and guess what I did not receive? Laughing gas… something about me already being too funny? They still knocked me out anyway so I guess that’s fine. I woke up feeling pretty okay. Nothing terrible, but I definitely did get four teeth pulled out of my mouth. Being who I am I naturally started talking to the nurses and my mom who joined us in the room (apparently that is frowned upon). One of the nurses told me I should try not to talk for an hour which is a crazy ask for me. I was then wheeled down to the first floor and my mom drove me home, or so I am told. I truly have very little recollection of what happened between waking up and then being in my bed at home. 

The healing process went pretty well. I was not too swollen, but something I did not expect was that they just left the holes in my mouth. Like no stitches, nothing. Because of that I had to rinse out my holes after eating every day. Excusing yourself from the function because you need to ‘flush your holes’ is also apparently frowned upon, who thought! I was told that during the operation the surgeon bumped a nerve, which is not super chill, but they all acted like it was no big deal. I was told feeling could come back in a few months, so since the end of July a small triangular portion of my chin has been numb which somehow surprises me everytime I touch my face. 

by bemmy

Now you’re probably thinking, that’s tough, but “Kim there’s people that are dying!” Well, get this! My mouth’s trials and tribulations do not end there! Recently, I woke up and thought, “that’s weird…I don’t remember swallowing literal glass last night?” and that is because I didn’t, I was experiencing strep throat. This is the fourth time I have had strep in the past few years so strep and I are pretty familiar with each other. I take a peek at my tonsils and lo and behold my tonsils are large and in charge. To spare you some deets they looked pretty gross and had some white spots on them, which can happen if you have strep. I text my mom and try to find solutions. I end up going to urgent care in Colchester at the UVM Fanny Allen Medical Center and let me tell you fanny is the right name for them because they are ass! Also! Urgent care is quite ambitious considering I was there for 4 hours. 

I knew what I was dealing with when I arrived, it was for sure strep, I just needed the antibiotics. However, that was not the game plan for anyone else at the Fanny Allen. The doctors run a strep test and tell me that it is not strep…this is verbatim what was in the appointment write up:

“She also noticed that her’s tonsils looked swollen when she looked in the mirror and she thought she saw white spots as well…Discussed that her rapid test was negative.  Patient was very surprised to hear this and would like antibiotics anyway.  Discussed that this would not be indicated.” 

So that was super cool…like yes believe science but also believe me more. The doctors then told me that they could run a strep culture test, which I guess would test for more strep? But that takes a few days to get results and I needed medication asap. I scheduled a student health appointment for the next day, I got another strep test (this one was aggressively down my throat) which was also negative. The practitioner that saw me suggested I get my blood tested (I passed, don’t worry the blood is still there). 

I got my blood tested which costs a whopping $746 (my venmo is @kat-lipari thanks for asking) and that came up with nothing, but luckily I was able to get antibiotics because my symptoms were so bad. Finally I got a diagnosis and you’ll never guess what it is… FUCKING STREP THROAT. Moral of the story believe me more than science.

Categories: bemmy, kat lipari, reflections, sept. 19, Vol 27