Noah's oral surgery

I had been dreading yesterday for several weeks now. We had gone to the dentist in January and he saw a spot on the roof of my 6 year old's mouth and referred us to an oral surgeon. About 6 weeks ago we saw the oral surgeon who said he wasn't sure what the spot was. He took a picture and an xray and told us to come back in a month or so to see if it had changed. If there was no change, then he would take a biopsy of it.

So, yesterday was the day. Noah had to be NPO after midnight Thursday night (which was kind of hard to explain to a 6 year old who is very hungry and thirsty right after he wakes up), which he handled great....and we went to our 8:00 appointment. I was so nervous for him. I had prepped him a little last week...just talking about anesthesia and a few procedures that I have had done with it, just so he had an idea of what it was when the time came.

We got there at 8:00. We went back immediately and talked to the dr. and nurse. They looked at the spot, and since there was no change decided to proceed. The nurse and I talked to Noah about the oxygen mask...tried that first...but that did not go over well. So, she gave me some liquid Versed/Motrin to give to him to help him relax. He is a great medicine taker at home, but there he knew something was up and did not want to take the medication. I finally talked him into it, then we waited for it to take effect. I answered ALL kinds of questions about the heart monitor, what your heart does, how many times should it beat per minute...what if it's too low or high? oxygen level, how they measure it.. blood pressure...what are good numbers for it..what if it's too low or high? You name it, he asked. :) Finally enough time had gone and he was starting to act a little silly, so I said, okay...do you think we can try this mask again? He said yes, so I went and got the nurse. We put the mask on him, first with just oxygen, then the anesthesia, and he began to relax. He was still fighting sleep so much, though! Finally we got the IV started without any problems, and he went to sleep. I left to wait outside.

I have to say at this point...I have taken care of countless children pre and post surgery. I was not a mother at the time, but it was obviously always hard on the parents. I couldn't quite understand at the time. But now, I so do. It is so hard to leave your child when they are having surgery, etc. You are leaving them in the hands of someone else who is going to do something (for their good) but possibly painful. It was a very strange experience being on this side of it. I left in tears, but trusting he was in good hands with them, and with the Lord.

25 minutes later they came to get me. I went back to see Noah and he was totally out.....snoring even. I was so thankful to see that he was okay, and it was over with. Things (even as small as these) really make you think about how much you love your children and just how precious they are!

I spent about 20 minutes trying to get him to wake up. Finally his eyes started fluttering and he started talking some. They let us go and I carried him to the car. The day before when we had talked about him not being able to eat before we went to the dentist...I told him that I would go get him something for us both to eat (Mommy was fasting with him;) as soon as it was over and he felt like it. He wanted a doughnut. We got in the car and headed to the doughnut shop.  My mom followed us to stay with he and Emma in the car so I could run in. When we got there, Noah started taking off his seat belt and was insistent that he was going in too. I told him that I would either have to carry him, or he would have to hold on to me....we got out and walked inside. When we got in, he started kicking, hitting and pushing me, telling me to leave him alone. I taken back a little, as I did not expect this behavior after we left...I expected it as he was initially waking up.  We wrestled all through the doughnut shop...he was so mad for me even to touch him. He even fell into the doughnut case, after I tried to help him stand! It was quite an ordeal. A few people asked us  what was wrong, and we explained....thankfully they were very understanding. At that point, I just wanted to get out of there! We finally got him out, kicking and hitting, and got him in the car. We got home and had trouble getting him into the house. Once inside he was the same way...pushing me..hitting me...kicking...telling me to leave him alone...telling me he was really mad at me....I chased him all over the house, since he could barely even walk! He ate a doughnut laying on the floor on his side! He fell into several things even with me right beside him. I finally had to call Andy for some help, since we had been doing this for 45 min and I had Emma to take care of, too.  He came home and held Noah...and they watched some TV. He still wrestled with Andy, but then finally after a total of 1 1/2 hrs, it was like a switch went off and we had our old Noah back. He started asking for a doughnut. Asking how he got home. Asking where Grandma was. Asking how the dentist worked on his mouth...and did he really go to sleep? He had no memory of any of it. It was so crazy since he "looked" awake during all of it...but we were so thankful to have our Noah back, and that it was all OVER!! Later that afternoon he was playing and eating like normal....and still amazed that he was asleep while they were working on him. Even wanted to see what his mouth looked like. :)