Olivia's Dental Surgery - 7/2/14

Olivia did great, and her teeth look fantastic.  The good news is that they were able to cap the front two teeth and did not have to extract them, which was the hope.  We had to be at the surgery center at 9am.  Little did I know that they did not have her scheduled until 10:30am to actually start the procedure – yikes!  Thank goodness there were some sweet people in the waiting room that enjoyed playing with Olivia.  This little one makes friends very fast!  Here is a "BEFORE" picture:

I was very impressed with the surgical center.  I had no idea that such places existed; silly me, I thought all surgeries took place in a hospital.  While we were there, people had broken hands operated on, ACL (knee) surgery, and I don’t know what else.  They had a pediatric anesthesiologist on-hand from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for us.  He was wonderful!  They took us back right around 10:30am, and the anesthesiologist talked to me for a long time about what would take place.  It was a tiny room like you see in a doctor’s office with a tiny little hospital bed.  Unfortunately, I have no medical history except for what I was able to ask while we were with the orphanage workers, so he basically took a very conservative approach with Olivia.  He brought in a mask like they would put on her, so that she could play with it and not be scared.  They flavored it with watermelon, and she seemed to like that.  After they gave her gas, they would begin the local anesthesia.  They would put the IV either in her arm, or in her foot.  The dentist would then begin the x-rays and procedure.  After the procedure, they would keep her in recovery until she began to wake up.  At that time, they would bring me back, and give her to me to complete the “wake up.”  He told me to expect some crying….from confusion more than anything.  After she was able to drink a few sips of water, they would let us go home.  Tylenol/Ibuprofen would do the trick for the rest of the day, so no heavy pain meds.  They said that she should be a little drowsy for the rest of the day and back to normal tomorrow.  She needed to be on a soft food diet for the rest of the day.

After I talked with the anesthesiologist and signed some papers, they carried her back.  I didn’t get to any farther with her at this point.  She had made friends with him, so she didn’t mind him carrying her down the hall.  (Thank goodness.)  I went back in the waiting room, and they had a really neat monitor that showed each patient’s name and where they were in the process.  (see picture)  I waited in the waiting room for about 30-45 minutes when the dentist came out.  He told me that she did great, and the teeth were in better shape than he had anticipated.  He was able to cap them and not extract them!  The teeth should come out as normal when it is time.  But, no hard candy for her moving forward!!

A few minutes later, they came out for me, as she had begun to wake up.  I went back, and they brought her to me.  They had indeed placed the IV in her foot (see picture).  As she began waking up, she was extremely agitated by the IV still in her foot, so I asked them to please remove it.  It seemed to be causing most of the issues.  After they removed it, she drank a little bit of water and was fine (just sleepy).  So, I packed her up and headed home.  She slept on and off for the rest of the afternoon and was “good as new” around dinner time.  She went to day care the next day and hasn’t looked back since!!  She was cute trying to figure out what was new in her mouth.

It was a huge success, and we are so thankful for her new teeth!  She is proud of them, too.

This was the IV in her foot.  Poor thing; she hated it!

 This was right as she was waking up.

 Here is the mask they let her play with.

AFTER

Thanks for all of the prayers and concerns!  

Jill