A Tennessee woman’s heart swelled with emotion this month when she awoke from wisdom teeth surgery and saw her boyfriend’s face.
Isabella Smith, 18, lives in Columbia, about 45 miles southwest of Nashville. She had her wisdom teeth removed on July 10 and was put under anesthesia during the procedure.
She had a feeling she’d wake up feeling pretty loopy, so she asked her mom to record once she woke up.
That’s when she saw her boyfriend, 20-year-old Joey Phenneger.
Watch the video below to see a teen’s wacky wake-up
The video shows a sluggish Isabella in the passenger seat as her mother, Miranda Smith, tells her that her boyfriend is coming over to the car.
“Do you remember Joey?” her mother asks. “You have a boyfriend.”
Isabella excitedly asks “I do?” her words muffled a bit due to the surgery and gauze.
She puts her hand on her chest, sighing, before turning to look at him. When she finally looks at him, she immediately notices one thing.
“He’s so cute,” she says.
Her boyfriend later thanks her for the compliment and asks if she’s doing OK. He said he loves her as well.
“That’s so nice,” she says before they part ways.
Some things she doesn’t remember saying but she got a kick out of the video nonetheless. Social media did as well. The funny, cute moment made its rounds on TikTok, bringing all the feels to many TikTokers and amassing 2.5 million heart reactions.
Isabella also got pretty emotional seeing her dad via video chat after her surgery. Her family lives together so she sees him every day, but something about seeing his face made her burst into tears.
“I got to see him right after my surgery and I was just embracing him,” she recalled. “I was like ‘I’m so happy you’re here.'”
TikToker says her boyfriend is ‘husband material’
Isabella and Joey have been together for nearly three years. The pair don’t live together but she sees him daily and is a great person, she told USA TODAY.
The pair met when he was in Boy Scouts of America with her older brother, Isabella said. She got to know him better after a double date and the pandemic brought them even closer.
Her mother said he visited their home quite a bit during the pandemic, often doing homework there.
“We just kind of took him in and he just ended up coming over every night,” said Miranda, Isabella’s mother. “He was at our house just about every day. Our grocery bill definitely went up but he’s so sweet.”
Phenneger also spends lots of time with his younger brothers, taking them fishing and out to eat. He also makes friends easily.
“He would take his dog to the dog park out here and literally have five new friends in an hour,” said Miranda, Isabella’s mother.
The Smiths and Phenneger, Isabella’s boyfriend, are from California. When the Smiths relocated to Tennessee, he decided to go with them.
Isabella thinks he’s going to be a great father someday and she loves how caring he is, she said. He never makes her feel bad about herself and he’s loving and sweet.
“I really enjoy being around him, like every second,” Isabella said. “Our relationship just improves every single day and it just gets stronger and better. I just see … husband material. I see the way that he is so patient and kind with me after being so loopy and so strange.”
Viral video opened her eyes about healthcare in other countries
While the TikTok video she posted went viral because of her cute moment with her boyfriend, Isabella said she has learned about healthcare in other countries too.
People from all over the world have reached out to say they aren’t put under during certain medical procedures.
“Most of them were like ‘I’m in the UK … they just numb us and then they just pull our teeth,’” Isabella recalled. “I had no idea that other countries don’t fully go under anesthesia.”
She was pretty nervous and shaking before her wisdom teeth were removed and the staff could tell, her mother said. They were “so sweet” to her and made sure she had a blanket and everything.
“It was done in about 30 minutes,” her mother said. “It was super fast and they were just really, really great.”
As for Joey, Isabella’s boyfriend of nearly three years, he’s the sweetest, the family said.
“He has been a good boyfriend,” her mother said. “We’re very, very grateful for that.”
