Vegan MoFo #5: Green Protein Smoothie and Oral Surgery

I had a visit to the oral surgeon this morning, and left minus 4 teeth and plus 1. The teeth to go were of the wisdom variety, and the tooth being added is a molar that never came in when it was supposed to. They did what they call an "exposure" -- exposing the molar to the light of day and attaching a little chain to it so that my orthodontist can start slowly pulling it down. Really fun stuff, let me tell you.

To help me relax they gassed me up immediately. This was soon followed by the assistants strapping down my arms and legs to the chair, whilst starting to lay out their invasive looking tools on the table that hovered a few feet over my lap. Funny stuff that laughing gas is, I could care less about all of this normally alarming stuff going on. I was daydreaming, remembering something that happened back in college, and I actually had to hold back a giggle! How cliché it would have been to start laughing. I fought it. Then the oral surgeon made his first appearance, and he tried to have a conversation with me. Major buzzkill, I don't want to talk about surgery, man!

Then they hooked me up to the IV and started administering the anesthesia. They had enough time to tell me that I would start to feel really nice, and that's all I remember. Then both assistants were calling my name telling me it was over. But I didn't want to wake up, and I especially didn't want to put both feet on the floor and try to stand up! I was overcome with thirst, so I pointed to my throat and said, "WAA. WAA-ER." So she poured some water in my mouth, but turns out I couldn't feel the lower half of my face. I did manage to swallow some, but the rest ended up on my shirt.

Lost your appetite yet? I hadn't. I was not allowed to eat or drink anything for six hours prior to the surgery, and at this point it had been about 16 hours since my last meal. Eating, even a liquid meal, was out of the question for a couple of hours. Way too much gauze and way too numb. Then the novocaine started to wear off and with it came a big old headache. I was ready for some ibuprofen, but didn't want to take it on an empty stomach. One great thing about being vegan is not having to plan ahead for times like these, vegans always have great smoothie-worthy ingredients lying around. I went for protein, healthy fats, and some greens, and served it up with a spoon. Steve had a good laugh snapping pictures of me dribbling smoothie down my chin, I think it was payback for my last post. Since he was such a good sport, I decided to post one of my glamour shots to reciprocate. All things considered, I think I look pretty good!



Green Protein Smoothie
Serves 1

1 cup almond milk
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 avocado
2 handfuls of chopped kale
1 tbsp organic peanut butter
1 tbsp flax meal
2 scoops Garden of Life RAW Protein
1 tsp maple syrup
Ice







I'm happy to report that just 7 hours later I am doing great. No more gauze, no swelling, and no need for the pain meds. So glad that this ordeal is over! Now to catch up on all of the MoFo posts that I missed today!