When I first found out this "Major Event" was going to have to take place, I didn't want to talk about it. Perhaps it was because it was likely the most mommy guilt (as my friend Tawnie calls it) I have experienced yet in Diego's short little life. I didn't want to tell anyone, I didn't want to blog and I never posted anything on facebook. I finally ended up telling my family and a few friends, who did make me feel better about it. When I told my Dad about it, he said "well, that's a major event in his life." So, I decided to blog about it.
A few weeks ago I took Diego to the dentist for his first visit. We had chosen Dr Cooper (a pediatric dentist) to be Diego's dentist. If you know Diego, you know he is NOT a fan of the doctor and he is NOT shy about his feelings. We went in and he saw they had Toy Story 2 (one of his very favorite movies) playing and some toys for him to play with. When they called us back, he began to get uncomfortable and didn't want Dr Cooper to look in his mouth. Dr Cooper was able to get a peek and get some flouride treatment in there, but Diego was so upset he could hardly calm down so Dr Cooper and I could talk. When he did, Dr Cooper told me he had a cavity. Dun dun dunnnnnn. I immediately felt super guilty that we obviously hadn't been brushing his teeth properly. Then, even worse news, Dr Cooper recommended putting Diego under general anesthesia to do the filling since he got so upset during his visit. Oh. My. Gosh. Now I started to feel like I was the reason my poor child would have to endure this "major event." I wanted to cry right there in the office (I'm not shy about my feelings either.).
Today, they did the surgery. Diego couldn't have any food or drink after midnight last night and we got up early and headed to the surgery center at 6:30 am. Diego was able to go in his jammies (which he always wants to do, but I won't let him) and we brought "Taddy" his stuffed horse and his favorite Thomas Blankie (from Hank). We told him we were going to see Jami at work. We got really really lucky, because one of my very best friends, Jami, is a nurse at the surgery center and she was able to be the OR nurse for Diego. Diego LOVES Jami, and so do we, so that made us a little more comfortable. When we got there Diego started to get a little upset cause he could tell it was a doctors office. He didn't like it when they used the stethescope to listen to his lungs and heart, but minded a little less when Jami did it. The nurse who checked us in, Megan, was super sweet and Diego kept telling her to leave. :) Again, NOT shy about his feelings. Everyone there was so nice and Jami had told them to give us extra TLC and they did! Dr Cooper is fun and goofy and Diego likes that. When it came time for them to take him back to the OR, Dr Cooper told Diego they would be giving him some sugar water and that sealed the deal, not only was he going with Jami but they were going ot give him sugar water. They told us he talked about it the whole time before he went to sleep. Diego climbed into the little wagon they have with Taddy and his thomas blankie, we gave him a kiss and Jami wheeled him down the hall way, and we heard him chatter away the whole time. He didn't cry. I was so relieved he wasn't upset. We are so lucky to have Jami!
In the OR they fixed his tooth, took x-rays and thoroughly cleaned his teeth. And they say he did GREAT. It was about 2 hours before we saw him, and thank goodness for texting and having Eddie to chat with because it went by really quickly. Dr Cooper came out when he was done to tell us everything had gone well and told us Diego was really fixed on the sugar water. And he thought this was really funny and cute, I guess kids don't normally latch on to that. They sent us to recovery when he was waking up. He slept the whole recovery hour, which is apparently a really good thing. His recovery nurse, Jane, carried him out to us and he was obviously a little disoriented and could have passed for a drunk. She handed him to me and we snuggled for a minute. He was still asking for sugar water. He forgets nothing. Jane was so sweet and he was clearly comfortable with her. She told us that the gourney he was on was a new one and she kept hearing some funny noises and couldn't figure out what it was and just assumed it was the gourney. Turns out, he was farting. That's our boy! He really wanted a drink of water, but they try to limit giving them much in recovery to reduce the risk of vomiting on the way home, but he got a sip or two. We did a quick diaper change and were on our way home. I sat in the backseat with him on the ride home and he clearly liked it, as he held my hand the whole way. He threw up a little bit in the car (obviously the water) and then when I carried him into the house he let it all go all over both of us. But after that he didn't throw up again. He was asking for food and Jane had mentioned yogurt so that's all he wanted. He ate 2 yoplait yogurts and I was so afraid he was going to puke again, but he didn't. Eddie went to the store and got him some Jello and pudding and he ate a little of that too. He was obviously famished because by 11:30 he wanted mac n cheese, which they had said would be good too since it was soft. He ate a bit of that and a few little pieces of bagel and seemed to be holding everything down fine. He really wanted to play, but it was obvious he just wasn't up for it yet because he would go stand by his train table and end up just lying down looking at it. He drank a lot of water and then we told him it was nap time. We all went up stairs and with a little convincing he went to sleep and we all got a much needed nap.
He woke up asking for more to eat and hasn't stopped since. He is much more active and alert after his nap too, and seems to be feeling pretty good.
I'm over the mommy guilt for the most part. Dr Cooper even told me it looked like his tooth may have actually been chipped on a fall, causing the dentin to be exposed and a cavity to form and said that would make sense because everything else looked so good. It wasn't a fun experience but we are so thankful to everyone who took care of us while we were there. Special thank you to Jami!
