Caitlin's Surgery

Right before school started I took all the girls to the dentist to get their teeth cleaned. While there the dentist looked at Caitlin's x-rays and reminded me (because I forget things easily) that she had an extra tooth up in the gums blocking the permanent tooth. Her right front tooth had fallen out and had been replaced by the permanent one quite a while ago. Her left baby tooth hadn't fallen out yet because the permanent couldn't come down with that extra tooth in the way. So the dentist suggested that we take her to an oral surgeon soon to get it removed so we can make room for her tooth to make its way down.

We went and saw the oral surgeon, Dr. Mark Newey, in Clearfield. They were all really nice and assured Caitlin that it would be fast and painless. He pointed out that her baby tooth was already dead. They could tell that after asking all her questions that she was still nervous about the needle and how she was going to get put to sleep. So they brought in everything to show her exactly what they would do on surgery day. I scheduled it for the next Tuesday (first week of school) so we could get it over with. Caitlin looked over at me and gave me a thumbs up, she agreed that she wanted to get it over with. :)

Everyday she would ask when she was going to get her teeth out. She seemed a little excited, but I knew things would change rapidly the day of surgery. Our appt. was at 10:30, but then they pushed it back to 11:00 am. She couldn't eat anything, so Caitlin wasn't too happy in the morning when she REALLY wanted a bowl of cereal. On the way there she told me that while putting her shoes on in her room she said a prayer. I was so proud of her for thinking of it all on her own. If I would have been thinking I would have had Ken give her a priesthood blessing too.

The minute we pulled up in the parking lot she started to get all antsy. We got out of the car and she wanted me to hold her hand. We were at the reception desk and she started crying, she knew there was no turning back. We got called back shortly after and walked back to one of the surgery rooms. She soon became inconsolable. These pictures were taken right before they hooked her all up. The second picture is me trying to get her to smile and to show how brave she was. It didn't last more than 5 seconds. :)
They got things moving pretty fast. They got her all hooked up to watch and listen to her heart, watch her breathing, and pulse. They were very efficient. Dr. Newey came in to put the needle in and she freaked out. Luckily it was in fairly fast and she was on her way to sleep. As a parent, it kind of makes you worried when one minute your child is active (throwing fits and crying) and the next totally out. It's crazy what medicine can do! I had total confidence in the Dr. though and I knew she was in good hands. Once she was out they took me out to the waiting room. Part of me was hoping they'd forget I was there and let me stay back there with her, but I knew it wouldn't be pretty. They called me back about 45 minutes later and they were all done, she was awake and laughing. I pulled the car around to the side of the building through the recovery room. She was sitting in the chair, with a blanket and gauze smooshed between her teeth. I asked "So was it as bad as you thought?" And of course the answer was "No".Her recovery wasn't too bad. We kept up on the Tylenol for a couple days and she was great for the most part. A couple days after surgery I noticed her top lip was really swollen...it reminded me of the characters in who-ville in the movie "Horton Hears a Who!" Caitlin lifted up her lip to show me that she found stitches up inside her top lip too. I then remembered they mentioned they would have to cut the inside top lip so they could see the whole jaw line. She toughed it out though and I'm proud of her for being as brave as much as she could. Now we just hope the tooth comes down on it's own, if not then they will have to put a chain (brace) to help it come down.

The next day I was getting ready to take Caitlin to school late and there was a delivery at our door. I looked out the window and it was a flower truck bringing flowers for Caitlin from her Dr. and the staff. I thought "When have we ever gotten flowers from a Dr. before? NEVER!" It had a sweet note wishing her a quick recovery. I would highly recommend them to anybody needing oral surgery of any kind. They were kind, caring, informative, personable and Caitlin thought they were "So Nice!" with the way the nurse gave her a blanket and then of course the flowers.

Caitlin on day 3