oral.surgery

Yesterday I had oral surgery. I had some glands taken out of my lower lip. It's no big deal, and I had the same surgery four years ago. The thing is, I don't remember having any problems with the first surgery. I went in, the Dr. shot my lip full of novocain, made a little incision, and sewed it all back up. No swelling, problems talking, eating, etc. It goes without saying that I was expecting the same thing for the second surgery. This wasn't the case. First of all, the novocain shot hurt like heck, and I'm no baby with needles- I donate platelets every other week, and have a needle in each arm for over 90 minutes. The actual surgery itself didn't bother me since I was numb from the novocain, but the whole left side of my lower lip was swollen and bloody despite the six stitches I got. It actually wasn't that sore (it felt very much like a canker sore) but because it was so swollen, my lips didn't close all the way, making swallowing difficult and drooling necessary. When I tried to swallow, I made this whistling noise through my teeth. When I tried to talk, I sounded like I had a mouth full of cotton. When I tried to drink something, I dribbled it down my chin. I tried a straw, but because I couldn't form a seal with my lips, it didn't work so well. I'm getting a little off track, so I'll get back to my point...Was the first surgery really so easy? Or did I "forget" the unpleasant aftereffects of surgery? I can't imagine that there could be such a drastic difference from one to the other, but I also think I'd remember it being such a pain. Hmmmm...