Nathan's Oral Surgery Update

Got up yesterday morning, left the house, stopped at a store where Dennis got me a soda and a muffin and $20 out of the cash machine so I had some cash.  So then dropped him off at work, and off to the hospital we went.  Checked in…

 We were taken back into his pre-op room and was told he'd have to change into some hospital attire ... we all know we're jealous of him, cuz hospital fashion is the BOMB!

However, he didn't think so ....   He wanted to draw so we pulled out the color wonders from the activity bag, and he made me draw Mickey Mouse...

He's telling me to STOP! ...  he doesn't like Mammarazzi out on days like these! 

He wanted down, so I let him walk around a bit and be goofy, first, he visited the hall... 

Then he decided to take a trip in the curtain... 

I even managed a before picture of his poor little tiny teeth before they were removed.  (If you don't know the story and stumble across the entry, please look at the previous entry ... this kid brushes all the time but due to some medical issues, his teeth have been decaying quickly) ... 

Eventually they came in and gave Nathan some meds in his nose to help make him groggy...  it made him silly, that's for sure (I even have a video) ... 

He was goofing around with his tongue too... he would stick it out and I would pet it... and he'd laugh and laugh....  

 And then he started randomly pointing to body parts ....  Here is a video, you can see how the medicine is kicking in...
 
Anyway, so eventually Dr. Banks (his dentist) came to get him, she even took a picture of him and I before she took him back

She carried him back herself (instead of making him ride the bed, the nurse followed her with the bed) ...  she said (later) that it wasn't until they got into the room where he realized I hadn't followed and whined.  But he did really good.  So she had told me that it would take about an hour and a half.  She had told me before hand that she was going to do x-rays once he was asleep (since we hadn't done any due to his anxiety) and that if things were worse then what she thinks, he may need a baby root canal or two (or more) ... but other wise she would fix the damage and then extract those four bottom front baby teeth that were to far gone... and then cap all of his teeth.  She told me she was going to try to get the white faced caps on all the front teeth she could, and crossing her fingers about getting them on his eye teeth... and then the rest (molars) would be all silver.  So I was out in the waiting room, trying not to fall asleep, trying to keep my mind off stuff by doing stuff on my cell phone, and in an hour, I killed my battery practically!   :: Sigh ::  But I kept an eye on the screen they had out there... when you check in, you are given the number of your loved one to track their progress.... it gives you the time they start that portion of the process...

Sure enough, the procedure took an hour and a half and she came out and talked to me, said everything went really well, they were able to save all his teeth except for those four, and no baby root canals were needed, and she managed to get the white faced caps on all the teeth she wanted to.  She did say that some of the decay was worse than she thought and was just on the verge of needing baby root canals, they were deep cavities, but luckily she got them fixed before they went deeper.  She said she was personally going to call and check on him last night..  (which she did)

So they came and got me and took me back and I heard him walking down the hall.  He was already crying and rolling about trying to get away from everyone.  So I basically dropped my bag and stuff and scooped him up, IV and all to try to calm him down.  He wouldn't.  He just wouldn't.  He kept grabbing at his IV and trying to pull it out, then when I'd get him away from that, he'd sit there and stick his hand in his mouth trying to pull at his teeth and end up gagging himself...  and then he'd go back to the IV ...  so the nurse just decided to take out the IV and make him more comfortable...  well, she unwrapped it and took off the splint and found, he had practically pulled it out himself, it basically fell out and started bleeding all over before she was really ready ...  eventually, he threw up, then calmed down

I managed to get a couple sips of water in him, and then he threw up again...  then he managed to keep a little something down after that.   So when we left I hoped the vomiting was over.... but alas... it wasn't... 

On our way home, he started to throw up in the carseat, so I swung into the Fred Myer parking lot, rushed into the back, and started getting him cleaned up...  I had tucked Dennis' keys in between the carseat and the door, on the seat... I grabbed my Fred Myers card and the $20 since we were there, figured I might as well get some 7-up and such... and then... locked the door, grabbed Nathan and shut the door.  So we ran in, grabbed the stuff we needed and then came back out to the car.  I grabbed him out of the cart, the 4 bags of stuff (including 4 two liter bottles) and walked to the car.  As I'm walking to the car, I'm thinking, I don't feel my keys in my pocket, I sure hope I didn't leave them on the trunk (where I normally toss them when I'm getting a baby out of the car) ...  I get over to the car, don't see them on the trunk, and then go to open the door and......... it's locked...... I start to panic... I toss the bags on the hood and try all the doors.... they are ALL locked...... CRAP CRAP CRAP ....  I look in the backseat, and sure enough, I see them.... just barely, but there they are, on the seat between the carseat and the door...  I almost started to cry, cuz my set of keys, the only other set we have, was at the bottom of my purse, IN THE CAR........ seriously - insert panic and fighting the need to burst into tears here. 

So, back into Fred Myers we go, I am frantically trying to call my mom to use her for her AAA ...  no answer, no answer... text her "Call me NOW" ... try again, no answer....  then just as I'm about to REALLY panic, she calls ... WHEW!!! ...  So I answer the phone and first thing I say is "Mom I am so stupid!!" and then explained to her that I was so flustered by him throwing up that I left the keys in the car.  So she came down from work (half hour away) and got a lock smith to open it.  But before she got there and we were waiting for her, I went up to customer service and asked her for a bunch of paper towel, and boy am I glad I did... shortly after I asked for it...  Nathan started to do the tummy trouble whine and then threw up.  So I managed to catch it on the paper towel and not get it on him or his blanket at all. 

So ...  we ended up getting home around noon, he instructed me (by pointing) that he wanted his couch ... and when I laid him down, I went back out to get stuff, ran stuff into my room, and then when I came out of my room, he was in Ashley's arms... so I asked her what happened, she said he was walking around looking for me.   So I brought him in my room, put him on my bed, turned the fan on high cuz it was hot in here (yeah, and when I mean hot, I mean above 70!  LOL...)  but you gotta realize I do not have A/C and we don't have a lot of windows to cross breeze ... so it gets hot in the house...  and he refuses to take off his slippers, his long sleeves and his pants... he just absolutely melts down about it. 

So, we got home, and basically we hung out in my bed.  He threw up 5 times in 3 hours, and then finally fell asleep for an hour. 

I didn't want to leave him until that hour was up, because he'd usually throw up between a half hour and an hour... so once the hour was up, I was pretty sure he wouldn't wake up sick anyway.   So I got up to get something to eat cuz I was shaking at that point.  All I had up to that so far was that muffin Dennis had gotten me that I had eaten while Nathan was in surgery, and it was 3 in the afternoon.  And of course, as soon as I do, Nathan comes into the living room with his blanket and whining and I rushed over all concerned he threw up all over the bed, but he hadn't.  So I got him comfy on the couch, he started to drink some 7-Up... and watch cartoons, and was doing good, and I didn't want to eat in front of him, so I sat at my computer.... 

By the time I was done, he was doing the tummy trouble whine again, but he didn't throw up.  He insisted on going back in my room too, so we're back in here.  I ended up draggin my laptop in there... and started typing up this ...  he'd watch cartoons happily and graduated to drinking milk ...  and Kaedyn has came in here too at one point and he was sitting in one of the kids chairs next to me being goofy .. which is fine, I missed him, felt like I only saw him for 30 seconds when I got home... then he got laid down for his nap, and when he got up Cal was taking care of him cuz Ash was getting Dennis from work and I was busy with Nathan ...

So I was trying to get some pictures of his new teeth and he wouldn't let me... 
 
He got so sick of the Mammarazzi that he grabbed the camera and started to take his own pictures...  here is one of his masterpieces ... 

And then while changing his diaper, he took this one of me... LOL... I figure I embarrass my kids, why shouldn't they embarrass me once in awhile...  

I will try to get pictures of Nathan's *new* teeth in the next couple days.  He's still pretty sensitive about it all ... but I did manage to get him to show Daddy and Ashley when they got home..

Then last night he got his first visit from the tooth fairy ....  Dr. Banks gave him his teeth in a tiny treasure chest ... (and they have LOOOOOOOOOOOONG roots!)

And Daddy got him 4 gold dollars.... 

So they went under his pillow ... 

Usually the kids get $5 for the first tooth lost, and $1 for each one after that in our house, but we think that the $5 is a right of passage and should happen when he loses his first tooth by wiggling... but then again, with the caps, how will that work?  Hummm.... 

So that's the update....... thanks for all the thoughts sent his way yesterday...