I was a big fat baby too! Put it off for over 10 years, and was late in my 30's before I finally did it! Both of mine were impacted, and had cavities too - these wisdom teeth really, really needed out. But I was just too scared.
My plan was just lie in bed following Dr's orders: changing my guaze, replacing my ice pack and taking my pain meds (highest dose at closest intervals for first day, highest dose for furthest intervals second day, and lower the dose third day -- can you tell I didn't want to feel pain, LOL
)
Keep in mind, it is much easier to keep pain at bay, than to bring it back under control once you've let it get too bad. I had them out on a Friday morning of a holiday weekend and didn't have to be back at work for 3 days so I had plenty of time to lie in bed and let my body heal, so that's what I did.
Frankly, I'm a mom and I never get to lay around doing nothing - so maybe I milked it a bit
But I think it helped me sail through it with no complications or pain.
The two suprises were 1. that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (I should have done it years earlier!) and 2. I did bruise a lot more than expected, but I bruise easily so I shouldn't have been suprised, even though I was. I looked like an abused wife and couldn't go into a store for about a week because of all the sideways, pitiful looks I drew!