Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5

God did it again!

What, you ask, did he do?

He proved that his plans are greater than my own. Once again I planned for something. Something that was a month in the making. And this something happened to be oral surgery to have my wisdom teeth extracted.

I planned and planned for this. No surprise if you know me. I over plan and over prepare by nature. But God was going to show me that his plans were going to be slightly different. It started when my plans of having Josh be my driver were foiled a couple weeks ago when we learned that my appointment fell on the same morning of his PT (fitness) test. I will confess I was slightly mad that this important detail went overlooked when the appointment was made, but being an Army wife and the events of this year are continually reminding me to learn to roll with the punches, and so we made plans for one of our friend's to drive me.

Over the past few days and even this morning God gave me a sense of peace and courage to go through with my wisdom teeth extraction (like I said before, while to you this may not be a big deal, for me, someone who hates doctors and has never had a surgery of any kind, this is/was a big deal). So this morning I confidently and patiently waited for my ride to arrive to take me to my appointment. And guess who strides in through the door 10 minutes before I have to leave? My knight in shining armor ... well really, my husband in sweaty PTs. But I was thrilled he could go with me. It was much more comforting to have my husband there even though I appreciated the help of my friend. Another change of plans.

So I walked into the oral surgeon's office at 8am this morning. I was ready. I felt good. After all, I prayed over it and prayed over it, and I know family and friends said some prayers for me as well. (And I will admit, Hailey was giving me some courage. I kept thinking if her little bitty new baby body could undergo surgery and blood transfusions and so on, and she could be such a brave fighter, so could I.)

The oral surgeon, a very sweet, elderly gentleman, looked at my x-ray I brought with from my dentist, and we discussed the reason behind my dentist's referral - I wasn't having any issues or problems other than occasional jaw / tooth pain around my molars, but that is caused by the fact that I have been known on occasion, specifically stressful occasions, to clench and grind my teeth when I sleep) so the surgery was purely preventative. (I should mention that this oral surgeon does the surgery the same day as the consultation.) After the doctor heard what I had to say, he looked at my x-ray some more, and said, "Well, I'm going to have to tell you that I am not going to extract your wisdom teeth today because the risk is too great."

Did I just hear him right? What?!

Here I am all planned and ready (even have cases of jello, pudding, and ice cream ready and waiting at home), and I'm not have surgery?! Change of plans again!

The surgeon explained that the roots of my wisdom teeth appear to have grown into my nerve (especially on my left side) or at least are very, very close to the nerve (on the right). If he hit the nerve during surgery, it would cause me to have permanent numbness in my mouth. Therefore, his expert opinion was to not do anything so that I could enjoy feeling in my mouth for as long as possible. Here is a picture of my x-ray (sorry for the poor quality, it's a scanned copy of the x-ray - oh and I added all the 'stuff' in including the question marks which represent my missing wisdom teeth on the top):

In a sense this was good news for me because I did not want oral surgery. It was also good that my doctor was conservative in his decision making because I could have come home today with nerve damage and without feeling in my mouth that would have lasted for the rest of my life. On the other hand, this is bad news, because at some point or another, my impacted wisdom teeth are going to cause me problems, serious problems. But the doctor and I are hoping this happens when I'm in my 60s so that I can enjoy as much time as I can with having sensation in my mouth. But it is inevitable it seems that one day my wisdom teeth will have to be removed, and there will be unavoidable nerve damage when that happens.... So now my fervent prayer is that this day is many many years or decades from now.

Today is another example of exactly the opposite, of what I expected and planned for to happen, happening. But I feel confident in what happened. I prayed for God's will to be done with my wisdom teeth. I prayed for God to give my doctor wisdom and guide his decisions and hands. And, funny enough, my mother-in-law, who happens to have some unfortunate experience with nerve damage, was praying this morning that I would not have nerve damage from my surgery. I think this just shows that God answered all of our prayers and God's plans and His will for our lives will be done when we ask. You just have to be ready for what he says, because his plans are not always our plans.

So this morning I walked away from the doctor's office full of wisdom ... my wisdom teeth... and some Godly wisdom... :)