Bye Bye Wisdom Teeth

The night before (preparation):  RJC was not allowed to eat after midnight, and could not have anything to drink after 3 am.  We had a very late dinner and kept her up until 10:30 pm in the hopes that she would sleep through the night.  Once she went to sleep we poured out all of the pitchers of water and the orange juice.  We hid the bags of popcorn as well as the straws (it's a big no-no to use straws after this surgery).  I went to bed at midnight and set my alarm to 3 am so that I would be awake if she happens to get up and want something to drink.  I couldn't quite figure out how I'd stop her but the loose plan in my head was to toss her in the car and drive around for three hours if necessary.  Luckily, she slept quite well and as soon as she woke up we told her we were leaving - and we did - pajamas and all.  She grabbed her favorite bear (Buddy), I gave her Ativan to help her relax and we were off to the hospital.

The arrival:  We arrived and went to the assigned room where we found other families who had woken up at a ridiculously early hour to get their kids to the hospital.  RJC was well behaved while we waited for our intake.  Within half an hour or so we were called over to do the admission paperwork.  We answered the same zillion questions we had answered previously but in truth, it felt good to know they triple and quadruple check things like allergic reactions and illnesses.  Once finished, I requested a DVD player which was brought up within minutes.  I also made sure there were clear notes about how things were supposed to go and was reassured that everything was in place.

Preop:  We were called to follow a lady to the preop area.  She brought us to our curtained space and was very helpful in setting up RJC to be able to continue watching her DVDs.  So far, so good.  RJC was happy and quiet. Hooray for Ativan.  It didn't knock her out but it definitely took the edge off.  We were there for quite a while, watching this cute little kid play on the floor and observing the hospital staff deal with a younger teen who was clearly telling them that she was not going to take the medication or have her surgery.  I felt for her.  The staff did a great job though, and eventually their patience led their patient to cooperating (Watching this interaction was really a large part of my morning).  The dental surgeon came by to reassure us that this was very routine.  Then came the important guy - the anesthesiologist. 

Knocking her out:  The anesthesiologist was young, maybe too young for my comfort level.  I explained firmly my concerns and wanted to be sure there was a plan for how he was going to knock her out.  We talked for quite a while about the "dart" (the shot that would only takes minutes to get her in a state where he could anesthetize her) and he was honest - it was "not pretty" and he didn't like using it but he understood that there were times that this was the only way.  I was pleased that though this was not his choice of method, (especially having seen it used on RJC before - though that time it was not planned and was done in sheer desperation) he had a clear understanding that in some cases this was truly the only way to do so safely.  I asked if there was a private room to move RJC where this could be done and they found one immediately.  Again, they set her up with her DVD player and the plan was that he would sneak in, jab her, and walk out.  Yup...that was the plan.  The problem with the plan was twofold.  First, RJC is hypersensitive to her surroundings and immediately felt that something was up.  Second, it was a pretty small room and there were four or five people involved.  It didn't go as planned.  There was alot of screaming and I got out of the way quickly since I really did not want to be the one who got the shot. RJC slapped him pretty darn hard - the sound was seriously loud.  One guy lost his badge which was later found on RJC's bed.  She yanked it right off of his neck.  In the end, the shot was given and within minutes she was looking at her hands funny and slurring her words.  I really, really did not like this.  It's very scary to see your child this way. They asked me to wear the hairnet and gown and go with her into the OR so she would feel less anxious with me there.  Once they started the mask, I left...a little teary and feeling really bad about my part in this whole ordeal.  Yes, in my head I knew this was best and was in fact, the only way.  My heart told me different.

Postop:  We went to the waiting room and the coolest thing ever - they gave us a number assigned to RJC so we could keep track of her progress.  There are different colors shown on a screen by her name that allowed us to know when she was in the OR and when she was moved to the Recovery Room.  It was not long at all before the surgeon came out to tell us he was done, gave us some instructions, asked if we had any questions, then suggested we head out quickly to the Recovery Room since she was waking up. 

I had spoken to the anesthesiologist about my concerns in recovery.  She would not tolerate the gauze in her mouth so the bleeding had to be under control and the gauze out before they started to wake her up.  Previous experience in watching RJC coming out of anesthesia was that she became scared by the needles and machines and would stand on the stretcher completely freaked out.  It was incredibly dangerous as then a bunch of staff would wrestle her down, putting her (and themselves) at risk for injury.  We explained that it'd be best for all of the bells and whistles to be off of her before she noticed.  He gave her some intravenous Ativan and they did an amazing job at hiding her IV under a big bandage so she didn't notice the needle.  They also had some of the monitors on her back so she couldn't see them.  Watching her come out of the anesthesia was creepy.  Her words were slurred and she could not see well enough to maneuver her DVD player nor could she control her hand. Without getting terribly graphic, the anesthesia also made her sick to her stomach and there was still bleeding going on so...yeah. 

The anesthesiologist came back and checked on her a few times.  He was excellent at reassuring us that she was fine and we had a conversation about the meds for her aftercare.  He told us we could stay until we were comfortable taking her home.  One of the nurses did attempt to prod us into leaving but we were having none of it.  We were staying until she was able to speak clearly and maneuver her DVD.  At one point she said, "Give a hug" very quietly.  But I heard her.  I leaned over and we were wrapped together for quite a while.  I don't know who needed that more - me or her.  She fell asleep again and when she woke up she seemed more alert so we decided we'd bring her home.

Home:  I won't go into the details of the home trip.  Suffice to say, still sick to her stomach and not really strong enough to walk up the steps on her own.  Not fun.  We brought her straight to her room and she drifted off holding my arm. I was so tired but just could not sleep.  Instead, I did a bit of texting (a great feat since I had one arm tied up) and watched her breathe.  We were diligent in giving her the pain medication as well as the anti-swelling med.  She was not intersted in food but did have some water.  Eventually, she fell asleep for the night - with me in her bed.  It wasn't an good night's sleep for me.

Day one of recovery: A disasterous morning.  It started when she found out she could not have popcorn.  For ten days.  From there it was all downhill. Screaming and rubbing her arms and the worst part - she slapped her face.  Ug.  We finally got desperate and thought if we could get her outside for a while she'd be distracted, so we decided to go to ride the trolleys.  We were just about there when it became obvious that she was still agitated so we turned around and went back home for Ativan.  Then we were off the trolleys again.  It was probably a better idea than staying home but it was definitely not relaxing.  She was scripting like crazy.  There was one real highlight of the day though.  It was obvious that she was not in much pain!  She was eating (pancakes - no syrup) and mac and cheese.  I decided to change from the heavy duty pain med to Motrin and see if that would still keep the pain in check and as far as I could tell, it did.  She has never complained in fact, and as the day went on she became more settled on this idea of no popcorn.  We went over the calendar a zillion times which was probably helpful as well.  In truth we are dealing with two issues.  Not only the postop week coming up but the fact that she still does not have school.  Dealing with this long unstructured time combined with this wisdom teeth ordeal has really added to her overall stress...and mine.

So here we are, the end of the first day postop.  She seems to be much more settled, though very tired.  In fact, at 8:30 pm she asked to go to sleep which is unheard of!  She's a bit swollen still and is very bothered by the feel of the area by her teeth (well, more technically, by the holes where her teeth used to be) but she is asking to go miniature golfing tomorrow and we will accomodate her.  For me, these two days have been exhausting.  The worry alone about all of the things that could go wrong is exhausting.  The preplanning was well worth the tons of phone calls and had that not been done, I cannot even imagine how we would have done this.  All is all, it could have been a much worse experience.  With that, I am looking toward my own bed.  A good night's sleep would be helpful to my mental health.  I'm quite sure.