Getting registered for Heidi's appointment was a rather convoluted process involving going to the first floor which was actually the second floor, signing in, then going to up to the second floor and getting registered, then going back down to the first floor with Heidi's chart to wait (and asking directions every time because it wasn't obvious where we should go).
When Heidi's name got called we went back to the exam room and met Dr. Blakey and Dr. Rasmussen (who is in our ward and is a resident there). I wasn't surprised when Dr. Blakey said the bump was a mucocele because I had done a google search and that was what I thought it was too. I was a little surprised to learn that they would need to put Heidi under general anesthesia to have it removed, but as Dr. Blakey pointed out, Heidi would probably bite him if he tried to take it off while she was awake.
Three days later at church, Dr. Rasmussen came over and said that they had found out that they would have to do the surgery at the children's hospital instead of at the dental school since Heidi is so little and needed general anesthesia, which meant that a different oral surgeon would be doing the procedure. He also said they could do it the next Thursday (May 28th), but they would call to confirm that appointment. They didn't end up calling until Wednesday morning, so even though I knew we were probably having the surgery on Thursday I hadn't done a lot of planning and it felt a little rushed. Our neighbor, Malica, agreed to watch Ann Marie for a while since Ryan would need to be at work before Heidi and I got home, and I got juice and some soft foods at the grocery store.
We had to check in at the hospital at 6:30 am on Thursday morning (since Heidi couldn't eat anything after midnight the early time was actually nice because missing breakfast wasn't so much of a problem), so Ryan dropped Heidi and me off and then came home and got Kevin off to school and took care of Ann Marie. Checking in took a long time because there were some issues with the patients ahead of us in line, and Ryan told me later that he got several panicked calls from the children's hospital wondering where we were because we were stuck at the check-in. But the nice thing was that after Heidi was checked in they took us right back and started getting ready. We met the surgeon, Dr. Golden, who was a really nice guy, and talked to the anesthesia team about what to expect. Heidi was scared. When I tried to change her into the hospital clothes, she lost it. The nurse anesthetist came in and said that since Heidi was obviously having a hard time, there were a couple of options: They could give her a pre-medicine to help her relax, but the pre-medicine can make waking up after the procedure a little harder, or I could get into one of the bunny suits and come into the operating room with her to help her until she was asleep. She wanted to make it very clear that I should only choose to come back with them if I felt like I could handle it and be helpful. I was pretty sure I could handle it, so she brought in a bunny suit and I got dressed. I tried to cheer Heidi up by pointing out that her hospital clothes were much cuter than mine, but she wasn't impressed.
Once I was dressed it was time to go back to the operating room. The nurse anesthetist found a Daniel Tiger video on her smartphone for Heidi to watch while they were getting things ready, but once she was on the table Heidi was pretty inconsolable. Poor thing, it must have been so scary for her. When they brought the mask up to her face she tried to hit it away, so I kept one arm around her and held her arm with my free hand, and at that point she cried really hard. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, though, and then I left and took off the bunny suit and tried to stay occupied in the waiting room by checking my email and reading my scriptures.
After a while Dr. Golden came out to tell me that the procedure went perfectly and Heidi was doing fine. They removed the mucocele and a couple of the salivary glands that looked like they had been affected, so hopefully the mucocele won't come back. Dr. Rasmussen also came out a while later to tell me basically the same things. It was actually really reassuring that someone we knew was there helping with the surgery.
I still had to wait quite a while before I could go back to see Heidi because she wasn't awake yet, and that seemed to take a long time. But they brought me back to the recovery room just a few minutes before she woke up. She was a little disoriented at first, and then she was really mad about the IV and the wires that were all over her, but the nurse had to leave those on her a little longer. They had used some numbing medicine on her lip, so she was also upset that her lip felt weird. She refused to take any Tylenol or drink juice. (We also realized that at some point Heidi's ducky had disappeared, and the nurse wasn't able to find it. Fortunately Heidi hasn't really been upset about it, and in some ways it's probably a good thing it's gone because it was getting a little gross.) After a couple of minutes the nurse took off the wires and the IV, but she had to tape a gauze bandage over the IV location, so Heidi was upset about that.
Soon we left the recovery room and went to one of the private rooms in front. I changed Heidi's clothes and they turned on the Disney channel to distract her. I think this was when the pain kicked in, because Heidi started crying really hard and said she wanted the medicine, so when the discharge nurse came in I asked if she could have the Tylenol now, and the Tylenol seemed to help. After that the nurse went over the discharge instructions and then we left to ride the bus home.
Here is Heidi waiting at the bus stop. The purple mark on her chin was to show the various doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists where-ish they're supposed to be operating. (Kevin got dots by both ears.)
Kevin's ear tube surgery went so smoothly that I figured Heidi's surgery would be a similar situation. I don't know why, but I didn't really factor in the fact that she's younger and more emotional and that her surgery was in a place that would be a lot more bothersome. So when we got home she still needed a lot of cuddling and attention, plus she wasn't very steady on her feet, and I also had Ann Marie to take care of. We watched Frozen, and towards the end of the movie I was finally able to convince her to eat some yogurt. The main diet restriction was that she couldn't have sharp foods like chips or crackers that might poke her lip. By the time we picked Kevin up from the bus Heidi was still a little sensitive, but doing a lot better.
It's been a week and a half and Heidi doesn't really mention her lip anymore unless she wants to tell people the story. It doesn't seem to bother her anymore, although a couple of days after the procedure she did tell me a few times that she missed her bump and wanted it back. :) I know going into the operating room was a scary experience for her, but I feel like we made the right choice for her in having the mucocele removed. In my prayers the night before I asked whether we should proceed with the surgery, and I felt that it would be fine. After nearly five months I don't think the mucocele was going to go away on its own, and it was causing her discomfort quite frequently, so I think once her lip has completely healed and the stitches have dissolved she will be a lot happier. She has a little scar where the bump was, but it doesn't really look gross anymore, so it seems like it's healing well.
The day was further complicated by a bad flood in our bathroom. We had some friends over, and their mom and I thought they were just playing nicely in the bedroom when I heard Kevin giggling about how they were going swimming. My initial reaction was to wonder if they were taking their clothes off, but when I went to check on them I saw water flowing out of the bathroom and realized one of the kids (no idea who) had plugged the sink and turned the water on. So the other mom put towels down to keep the water from flowing out of the bathroom anymore, while I cleaned up most of the two inches of water by swishing it into a plastic container and dumping it in the tub. Once I had gotten most of the water cleaned up this way we were able to use towels to mop up what was left. After our friends had left the maintenance men stopped by to ask if we were having plumbing problems because there was water pouring through the ceiling into the garage, so then I had to explain to them what had happened. We went to pick up Ryan from work and I showed Kevin the huge puddle of water that had fallen through to the garage because of the flood. Hopefully it didn't cause much damage. I don't think Kevin appreciated what a pain it was to clean all that up.
On top of all this, I was also hosting book club that evening to talk about the book Ender's Game. Yes, I agreed to schedule my child's surgery on a day when I knew I was hosting bookclub. She had been bothered by that bump for so long that I wanted to get it taken care of as soon as possible, so I took the first appointment we could get. It worked out just fine, and we had a nice time. I hardly ever invite people over, so this was pretty far out of my comfort zone, but it was fun. I started going to book club last fall and have really enjoyed it.
1 comment:
I am so glad it went well, I am sorry it was so hard for her. I bet she was scared.
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