Ethan has his sedation dentistry appointment today to fix his snaggle tooth. I didn't go to sleep till almost 3:00 last night because I was worried. I had all kinds of scenarios in my head - none of them good. Since the plan was to give him an oral sedative mixed with Sprite just to calm him enough to do the procedure, not to knock him out - I realize that all my worrying was WAY over-the-top, but this is my baby boy and I was freaking out. I was fine right up until yesterday actually and then all the worry set in.
We took Alex to daycare this morning so he could play with kids while we were at the dentist. I was actually worried about how Alex would do at daycare by himself since he's only ever been there with his brother & protector & best friend. That was misplaced worry as well - he went right in and started playing and was just as happy & fine when I picked him up. He did fall and hit his chin on the coffee table and apparently bled pretty badly from the cut on his lip that resulted which scared them. But given how tired he was this morning, and the fact that it wasn't the first time he's fallen and it's usually in my presence (he has my gracefulness), this seemed somewhat normal to me.
At the dentist office they have a Mario video game with 2 controls - one works and one doesn't. Ethan doesn't know which is which so to keep him occupied, I had the one that works and he had the other one and was so excited when he kept thinking he was getting the coins and stomping the guys then he'd get excited for me when he thought I was doing it. We were both moving the same guy in his mind but some of the time it was me and some of the time it was him - we worked it together. Great way to occupy him and keep him calm. When it was time to go back and take the sedative, the dentist used that to her advantage. He started to take it and then didn't want to because it was "yukky" - she told him to go ahead and finish, it was just a little bit more and he needed to finish so he could go back out and play the game before the other kids got here and started playing. Worked really well - he took it; no problem. She told us to keep an eye on him for a little bit as he'd get wobbly as the medicine took effect so he could fall or trip more easily, etc. This was no problem - he went right to the game to start back where we left off. He seemed really animated to both Steve & I though so we weren't sure it was working. Until, that is, the dentist came out to get him. At that point he turned to look at her and we could see that he was blinking a lot to focus - the animation was all due to being focused on the screen. The meds were definitely working from the look on his face and the way he weaved when he walked - even with the dentist hold both of his hands to help him. He went with her though - without much hesitation at all. I, on the other hand, wasn't so calm.
They should really give the mom some sedative, too, when they do this. I sat anxiously in the waiting area with Steve. I was severely nauseated and just wanted to cry. I didn't cry though because Steve was poking fun at me the whole time like this was no big deal. That was all a front though. How do I know? Because Steve had an appointment for a physical this afternoon which is required in order to renew his drivers license, which is due, because he's still got his CDL. His BP was 170/104 or something like that - his doctor has told him that they typically put people in the hospital for that. However, when Steve explained the stress from our morning; the doctor gave him the benefit of the doubt - put him back on BP meds he'd been off for a while and scheduled him for a follow-up to recheck in a couple weeks. They also rechecked before he left and he had gone down a bit but not enough to cancel out the follow-up. So see - it wasn't just me that was worried.
About an hour and 15 minutes after Ethan went back, they called to tell us he was ready to go. She told me as she showed us the new x-ray which showed what they had done that he was really good through it all and was just picking out his prize. He came up and was trying to smile and half his lip wouldn't move because it was numb - it was really cute, that little half grin. He was slurring a bit telling us he got a little yo-yo. The dentist thanked him for helping her and being so good. He has to go back in 6 months because they'll want to continue to monitor it. They gave us the sheet telling us dos & don'ts for the day and we headed off to get Alex.
My stoned little boy was totally focused on his yo-yo. Excitedly: "Look at my yo-yo. I've got a yo-yo." 1 minute later, crying: "My yo-yo, Mama - where's my yo-yo." 1 second later, excitedly: "oh, hea it is. It dust fell on the seat. I got it. I got my yo-yo." 30 seconds later, crying: "my yo-yo, Mama - can you fix it? Can you roll it back up for me?" Talk about a yo-yo - it was perfect symmetry - his mood & the yo-yo.
When we got home, I got to check out the dental handy work. What was just this morning a snaggly black encrusted tooth, is now shiny & clean. All nice and white with enamel filling to match his other teeth and filled in the cracks so it's smooth around which will help us to keep it cleaned out with normal brushing. They did have to do a complete pulpectomy on both teeth because the decay was down to the nerve. They filled that with a medicated paste and then the enamel so it should keep it free from infection while it heals. I was a bit worried about what would happen when he came down off the sedative but he really seemed to do OK. After a nap this afternoon, which I thoroughly enjoyed with him as I was totally exhausted by now, he did have a little sensitivity on the tooth. I tried to touch it to feel the texture & make sure it was smooth around and he said it hurt a little. One dose of Tylenol though and he seemed completely fine. Even ate dinner tonight with no problems - numbness gone.
So we now have a shiny new snaggle tooth - still deemed a snaggle tooth because cleaning it out, didn't alter the fact that it is still 2 fused teeth with a 3rd one that sprouted onto them - it's just a lot smoother now. I have survived my first experience being on the waiting end of a sedated child undergoing a procedure and he survived it, too. I'd like to not have any other experiences with it but I think that's a pipe dream as I'm sure in the course of their lives, at least one of them will have at least one other procedure requiring partial or total sedation and I'm sure I won't be allowed in those rooms either. It could even happen soon if Alex ends up with another ear infection sometime soon (he could even have one now). I'm sure I'll still freak out about it but I'm hoping all that works out very similarly to how this experience went.
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