So, the joke amongst the Palmer family for some time now is that Drew will get stitches or go to the ER before cousin Luke (2 years older). Well, Joyce was the first to say it, and she was right! While I heartily agreed, the naive part of my mind never thought it would be this soon, and never thought through what that might entail physically and emotionally. Sadly, now I know...
We got a call from Drew's daycare around 4:30 today (though mom didn't recognize the phone number because it was coming from the teacher's cell phone, so it was ignored, oops!) So Daddy got the call and was quickly on his way, even though Mommy was only moments away - he needed to be on his way to join us anyway as it turns out, so it was ok...
So Mommy walked into the daycare, unknowing that an emergency call had put in, and was taken back a bit when approached so quickly by the director's daughter, essentially escorting me to my son in his room where he always was...then they mention, if the tooth falls out, put it in milk and they might be able to save it...now is when I realize that something has gone awfully wrong. I get my hands on Drew and peek into his mouth to see the top left front tooth cracked and part of it slipped down past the rest of the tooth. More is starting to sink in...Drew is doing quite well, not crying or fussing, just not crazy about anyone getting too close to his mouth. The teacher explains he was playing with the door to the classroom & it bounced back from the wall and caught him in the face. We sign out, including the inevitable incident reports, and head home, where Daddy is waiting and calling our dentist, who we can't get a hold of. We get back in the car, drive to our dentist, just in case they are still in the building, since they are only minutes away, but no luck. Mommy starts to call the list of pediatric dentists that Dr. Worsley (pediatrician) has given us and told us to make an appointment with multiple times...now I'm regretting not doing that. It's after hours, and low & behold, they don't offer call backs from the on-call for people that aren't their patients - go figure! :) So, I call our pediatrician's after hours clinic, explain what's happened, and they say to the ER we are to go.
So, we head back home, pack a few things in the diaper bag to hopefully entertain Drew, and head downtown to Cook Children's ER. We got in pretty quickly with a nurse, and then onto a different area to wait for the doctor. Drew was doing MARVELOUS, staying calm & content, and even letting all sorts of strangers look into his mouth - quite impressive! The doctor took a look, and realized this was meant for a dentist, so put in the call to their on-call. We waited to hear back and it was decided that the dentist really needed to come in to see what could be done. Drew is still doing really well at this point, only having a few times of 'melt-down' which is quite reasonable considering it was dinner time and night time to shortly follow, but neither of those things were about to happen. Poor kid wasn't even allowed anything to drink until a dentist could see him! :( Thankfully Mommy's lap & the movies on TV were quite comforting and distracting. Unfortunately, pregnant Mommy was starting to get to the end of her ability to hold out for food, so made a quick escape to the hospital cafe to grab something to keep her on her feet during the rest of the ordeal. The dentist was surprisingly quick and in the room when Mommy returned. It was quickly decided that x-rays of the mouth were needed - these were NOT easy. Unfortunately, Mommy was no help since x-rays are a no-no for baby on the way. They were able to get a partial glance, and it confirmed that the tooth couldn't be saved, but needed to be pulled - here comes the fun part, right!
So, Drew got some 'giggle juice' sprayed in his nostrils and quickly became quite loopy and goofy - pretty funny stuff. Very similar to before getting the ear tubes placed. So all is well until it comes time to wrap him up to keep him from moving - a pillow case behind his back with his arms in it, then wrapped snuggly with a blanket to keep the rest of him still. They put a clamp on this teeth to keep his mouth spread apart - this is where Drew really starts to be unhappy. He gets a few shots of numbing agent in his upper gum - not fun either - and then almost immediately the dentist starts to pull the tooth, so not sure how effective the numbing agents were there. Drew is miserable and screaming. Mommy & Daddy are in the room, praying, holding Drew's legs for the little bit of comfort we could give, but mostly just enduring the pain our boy is going through with him, not able to do anything to help. The tooth ended up being cracked into 3 pieces - split vertically to the gum line, and then horizontally - this last piece was NOT easy to get - Drew's heart rate got up to 200 bpm at this point. They weren't overly concerned with this, and I know it's tolerable for a short period of time for them, but Mommy started to cry along with Drew at this point - I just was so sad for my little boy being hurt so much!
It did all end, and Drew was quickly swept into Mommy's arms. He didn't want anything to do with gauze to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Was quieted relatively quickly, and was happy to take to the popsicle offered by the nurse. No reason to hold back, he grabbed it with both hands and devoured it before the nurse even left, quickly asking "More!". The nurse could hardly refuse, so another was brought and quickly eaten as well. At the end of 2 popsicles, with teeth fragments in our pocket (in a cute little tooth container of course), we left the ER about 4 hours later than we arrived.
We got home and fed Drew some more soft foods - on his diet for the next week or so - which he happily ate. Then upstairs to get ready for bed, and not a moment later, Drew of course is running all over the place - he obviously didn't realize the connection! Aunt Lynne & Cousin Taron were here when we got home, working on a graduation present/project for Cousin Julia, so they got to be the first to re-live the entire encounter with us and see the partially gummy smile that Drew is now toting. After Drew was in bed, and all was cleaned up, they were also the ones to offer support to Mommy crashing in and crying over the events of the evening...mourning the loss of a baby tooth and the vanity of a 'perfect' smile for the next 4 years, plus or minus 2 years! We were expecting to be at Drew's preschool graduation where he with his class were to sing a song or two (would have been hilarious, right?!), but ended up in the ER instead. The exhaustion, physically and emotionally, coupled with pregnancy hormones made it impossible to avoid a full blown cry...ah well.
We all slept well that night, though Drew had some rough nights the next 2 or 3 following, resulting in Daddy sleeping on the floor of Drew's room and Mommy doing lots of laundry of blood-stained sheets and blankets. But by Monday, all seemed on the mend. We aren't seeing any blood anymore, and food doesn't seem to bother him, though we are taking it easy with anything that could be a little too harsh. He quickly adapted to chewing initially on the right side of his mouth until broken down enough for the left side to play a part. Poor kid will probably feel weird when the permanent tooth finally comes in - he won't remember ever having a tooth there! The pediatric dentist did say it is likely that the adult tooth will take longer to come through, seeing as that the path will be closed. Our dentist said it was likely that they'll have to cut through the scar tissue to let the tooth come through. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, as soon as this new baby arrives & we can make changes to our insurance plan, we'll be adding Drew to our dental insurance and making an appointment, just like our pediatrician asked us to about a year ago!
No comments:
Post a Comment